Timeline of tennis on UK television facts for kids
Here's a look at how tennis has been shown on TV in the UK over the years!
Contents
Early Days: 1930s to 1950s
- 1937
- On June 21, the BBC made history! They broadcast live television coverage of the famous Wimbledon Championships for the very first time.
- 1956
- After starting up the year before, ITV also began showing tennis from Wimbledon Championships. This was their first time covering the big tournament.
The 1960s: Colour and Changes
- 1964
- On June 23, a new show called Wimbledon: Match of the Day aired. It showed highlights of the best tennis matches from that day.
- 1967
- 1968
- From June 24 to July 6, ITV showed the Wimbledon Championships for the last time.
- 1969
- On June 23, the BBC became the only TV channel in the UK to show the Wimbledon Championships.
The 1970s: More Tournaments on TV
- 1977
- 1979
- On June 14, the BBC showed live coverage of the Queen's Club Championships for the first time. Even today, the BBC still shows a lot of this event live!
The 1980s: Expanding Coverage
- 1981
- On June 7, the BBC started broadcasting the French Open tennis tournament. Their coverage was mainly for the final weekend of the event.
- 1984
- 1987
- 1988
- On September 10, Channel Four broadcast the 1988 US Open.
- 1989
- In January, the BBC showed the Australian Open for the first time. This was a one-off, and they didn't cover it again until 1995.
- On February 5, Eurosport started broadcasting. Tennis was the very first sport they showed, with Davis Cup matches. Eurosport now shows a lot of tennis, especially the Australian Open and the French Open.
The 1990s: New Channels and More Live Tennis
- 1990
- On June 25, Wimbledon: Match of the Day was renamed Today at Wimbledon. For the first time, this show was repeated the next morning on BBC Two.
- Besides the BBC's live coverage, British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) showed highlights of the 1990 Wimbledon Championships every night.
- From August 27 to September 9, BSB showed live coverage of the US Open every day. This was the first time people in the UK could watch this event live every day.
- 1991
- Sky Sports showed highlights of Wimbledon every night. This was the only time Wimbledon was shown on Sky Sports.
- On August 26, Sky Sports began covering the US Open. This was the first big tennis event Sky covered, and they showed the whole tournament live.
- 1993
- The BBC extended its live coverage of Wimbledon each day, showing matches until 8:30 PM.
- Sue Barker started hosting Wimbledon coverage for the BBC. She first co-hosted Today at Wimbledon before becoming the main presenter.
- 1995
- In June, the BBC showed more of the French Open. For the first time, they showed live matches during the second week. Before this, they only showed the finals weekend and sometimes semi-finals if cricket was delayed by rain.
- On July 9, the BBC showed the men's singles final live on BBC One for the first time. Before this, it was shown on BBC Two as part of Sunday Grandstand.
- 1997
- Today at Wimbledon moved back to BBC Two. For the first time, the highlights show had a set time of 9:30 PM on weekdays.
- 1999
- On April 2, the BBC started showing full live coverage of Britain's matches in the Davis Cup. This happened after Britain moved up to the World Group. Before this, the BBC only showed short highlights of these matches.
- The launch of BBC Choice the year before allowed the BBC to show an extra match at Wimbledon for the first time, beyond just after 4 PM.
The 2000s: Digital TV and HD
- 2000
- ONdigital (later ITV Digital) bought the rights to the ATP Masters Series and showed live matches on its ONsport channel.
- 2001
- On August 11, the ITV Sport Channel replaced ONsport. Coverage of the ATP Masters Series moved to this new channel.
- 2002
- After the ITV Sport Channel closed, coverage of the ATP Masters Series moved to Sky Sports.
- 2005
- Today at Wimbledon moved to an earlier start time of 8:30 PM. Live coverage of matches still playing was moved to the BBC Red Button.
- 2006
- Today at Wimbledon moved even earlier to 8 PM. If big matches were still going on, the show wouldn't be broadcast. On other days, live tennis moved to the BBC Red Button at 8 PM.
- 2007
- High-definition television (HD) coverage of Wimbledon was broadcast by the BBC for the first time. The BBC HD channel showed live coverage of Centre Court and Court No. 1, plus the evening highlights show Today at Wimbledon.
- 2009
- In December, the BBC broadcast the end-of-year ATP Finals for the first time.
The 2010s: New Players in Broadcasting
- 2012
- On May 27, ITV Sport became the main free-to-air broadcaster of the French Open. ITV showed full live coverage, mostly on ITV4. This was a lot more coverage than the BBC had shown. It was the first time since 1968 that ITV had shown one of the four biggest tennis tournaments.
- On July 28, tennis was also played at the same venue during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
- 2013
- On July 7, Andy Murray became the first British man to win the Men’s 2013 Wimbledon Championships Singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.
- 2014
- In January, BT Sport took over from Sky Sports as the broadcaster of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour.
- In June, BT Sport showed men's tennis for the first time. They broadcast live coverage of the AEGON Championships from Queen's Club.
- 2015
- In June, the BBC's Wimbledon highlights show changed its name and format to Wimbledon 2day. It became a lighter, magazine-style show, but this new format was stopped after just one year.
- In September, Sky Sports showed the US Open for the last time. They had shown the event every year since 1991.
- 2016
- On June 27, Eurosport showed live and recorded coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the first time. This made them the first pay-TV channel to show live UK coverage from the All England Club. Their live coverage was limited to the finals weekend. This was the first time since 1968 that the BBC was not the only broadcaster of Wimbledon in the UK.
- 2017
- In May, Dave replaced Sky Sports as the broadcaster of the Tie Break Tens tournament.
- From August 28 to September 10, Eurosport showed the US Open for the last time. They had been the only channel to show the last two tournaments.
- 2018
- On June 18, Amazon Prime showed its first live sport in the UK: the Queen's Club tennis tournament.
- On August 27, Amazon Prime broadcast the US Open for the first time. This was the first time a major sports event was only available on a streaming service.
- In December, Sky Sports stopped showing tennis after losing the rights to the ATP Tour to Amazon Prime.
- 2019
- On November 3, BT Sport ended its coverage of the WTA after losing the rights to Amazon Prime.
- In November, the BBC lost the rights to Britain's Davis Cup tennis matches to Eurosport. The BBC had shown these matches since the late 1990s.
The 2020s: Streaming Takes Over
- 2020
- On January 6, Amazon Prime Video expanded its tennis coverage. They became the UK broadcaster for the WTA, showing 49 tournaments each year.
- The 2020 Wimbledon Championships were not held for the first time since World War II due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next tournament took place from June 28 to July 11, 2021.
- 2021
- On June 13, ITV broadcast the French Open for the last time. Eurosport gained the exclusive rights to the event from 2022 onwards.
- On September 11, Channel 4 made a last-minute deal with Amazon Prime to show live coverage of the final of the 2021 US Open – Women's Singles. This happened because Britain’s Emma Raducanu reached the final. It was the first time since the late 1980s that tennis had been shown on Channel 4.
- From September 24 to 26, Eurosport became the only broadcaster of the Laver Cup. They will show the event until 2030.
- 2022
- In June, for the first time, there was no free-to-air coverage of the French Open. All live and recorded coverage was shown on Eurosport.
- On June 27, for the first time since 1983, the BBC scheduled live evening coverage of Wimbledon on BBC One. This was to help reduce changes to the BBC's schedule. Sue Barker hosted Wimbledon for the last time after 30 years.
- 2023
- In July, Clare Balding took over as the BBC's main presenter for its Wimbledon television coverage.
- On August 28, the US Open returned to Sky Sports.
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