Back in 2009-2010, ESPN’s Chris McKendry decided to make her own luck.
With contract talks looming, she could either continue on “SportsCenter” — ESPN’s flagship studio show which she had anchored since 1996 — or the former college tennis player could try to work her way into ESPN’s elite tennis coverage team. The possibilty to achieve a better life balance between being a TV personality and a wife/mother.
Seven years later, McKendry has what colleague Trey Wingo calls the “best job at ESPN.” Her unique arrangement with the bosses in Bristol could point to a different relationship in the future between on-air talent and TV networks.
After 20 years on “SportsCenter,” McKendry officially transitioned to all tennis coverage on ESPN in 2016. As the network’s Grand Slam Tennis host, she travels to to glamorous locales to host coverage of the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open for stretches of weeks.
The rest of the year she’s free to be a mother to her two young boys, or work for another network — as long as she’s not covering tennis. McKendry anchored her last “SportsCenter” on March 31, 2016.
Sounds like a dream job, right? Not quite.
Pro tennis is a different sport to cover and televise. When she’s on the job, McKendry and the rest of ESPN on-air tennis team — including Chrissie Evert, John and Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Mary Joe Fernandez and Pam Shriver — often work 15-16 hour days for two or three weeks at a time.
Unlike announcers for the NFL or college football, tennis broadcasters don’t usually know their next day’s assignment until late the night before.
McKendry attended Drexel University in her hometown of Philadelphia on a tennis scholarship. The relaxed, friendly host is in her element here the Open, which attracts celebrities ranging from Tiger Woods to Robert Redford.
With ESPN offering exclusive “first ball to last” coverage, McKendry hosted over 150 hours of U.S. Open coverage this summer. ESPN was happy when it was all over: the network’s TV audience grew 8 percent to an average of 948,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2.
