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RAFAEL NADAL’S INAUGURAL ONE-SET TOURNAMENT HIGHTLIGHTS FIRST NIGHT OF TENNIS CHANNEL’S BNP PARIBAS OPEN COVERAGE

Network to air All-Time Great’s Star-Powered Eisenhower Cup Event Live March 5, on Eve of Main Draw Coverage in Indian Wells, Calif.

Tennis Channel’s “Match Madness” is Back in March

 

Tennis Channel’s 2019 BNP Paribas Open coverage in Indian Wells, Calif., will get underway with a new one-set tournament led by tennis star Rafael Nadal. The Eisenhower Cup, “Rafa and Friends” event will air live at 10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, March 5, the first of 27 consecutive days dedicated to the sport’s annual “Fifth Slam” tournaments – the BNP Paribas Open in Southern California and Miami Open in South Florida. From March 5-31, the channel will offer daylong match blocks, all-night encores, more than 240 hours of live coverage and more than 540 total during a monthlong celebration of two of the biggest, most prestigious events in the sport.

 

Nadal, thought of as the greatest clay-court player in history and one of the best overall regardless of surface, will headline his roughly two-hour tournament on the eve of the BNP Paribas Open’s main draw. The inaugural “Rafa and Friends” Eisenhower Cup will be contested using a rapid, Tie Break Tens format, with each competition a single tie break won by the player who scores 10 points first. Players will compete in two round-robin groups followed by a final match, giving fans in the stadium and Tennis Channel viewers nationwide seven head-to-head battles between some of the best in the game today. Stars Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic are slated to play, with others to be announced. Currently second on the all-time list of men’s major singles championships, Nadal has won three BNP Paribas Open singles title (2007, 2009 and 2013) and two doubles crowns (2010 and 2012).

 

Tennis Channel will show qualifying matches throughout the day leading up to the Eisenhower Cup on March 5, before coverage of the BNP Paribas Open main draw gets underway Wednesday, March 6 at 1 p.m. ET. The network’s typical daily telecast begins with one-hour lead-in show Tennis Channel Live from the BNP Paribas Open, followed by 11-to-12 hours of live match coverage (complete schedule below). As play concludes in the hours after midnight ET, encores of the day’s play immediately begin and take viewers through the late night and next morning, right up to the start of the next day’s 1 p.m. ET lead-in show.

 

The network’s live coverage at the BNP Paribas Open begins with qualifying matches at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 5, and runs through the men’s and women’s doubles finals on Saturday, March 16, beginning at 6 p.m. ET. Tennis Channel will also air encores of the women’s singles final and men’s singles final on Sunday, March 17, at 9 p.m. ET. In all, the network will dedicate more than 130 live hours to the 2019 BNP Paribas Open from March 5-17, and more than 260 hours total.

 

The one-hour Tennis Channel Live at the BNP Paribas Open takes place on an upper-level set inside Stadium 1, the competition’s main court. A large window behind the studio desk allows viewers to see out onto the tournament grounds and lets fans on site to look up and follow network on-air talent and guests who appear throughout the day. The team introduces each day’s match lineup with news, storylines, analysis, expert opinion and detailed conversation.

 

Tennis Channel’s YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/ tennischannel), Facebook (www.facebook.com/ tennischannel) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/tennischannel) pages will also provide regular video highlights, updates, photos, news and other content through which viewers can engage with the events in Southern California and South Florida this month.