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Tennis fans are less than impressed by the new Sky Sports tennis poster, which includes Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek but excludes a few top players such as Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev.
Sky Sports announced a new five-year exclusive deal with the ATP and WTA Tours on Friday, November 24. The channel is set to replace Amazon Prime Video, which was the UK’s exclusive tennis broadcaster from 2018 to 2023.
Apart from the UK and Ireland, the Sky Group has also secured exclusive rights in Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and non-exclusive rights in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol.
As part of the deal, the British subscription-based sports channel plans to broadcast more than 4000 tennis matches across 80 tournaments over the course of the season. The coverage will include the ATP and WTA year-end championships, the Next Gen ATP Finals, as well as all 250s, 500s and Masters 1000s tournaments.
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To announce the heavyweight partnership, the channel’s social media page shared a poster featuring several tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Jannik Sinner. The poster also included British tennis players Andy Murray, Katie Boulter, Dan Evans, Jack Draper, Jodie Burrage, Cameron Norrie and Emma Raducanu.
However, Aryna Sabalenka, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who are among the top 5 WTA and ATP players in the world, were noticeably absent. The trio's exclusion shocked tennis fans, who voiced their disappointment on X (formerly Twitter).
“No Aryna Sabalenka or any Russian players but hey there's the superstar Burrage. Also, Gauff being 1/3 of the poster.... lord help us all cause the Wimbledon is gonna be unbearable and mind you, it already was this year ffs,” one fan wrote.
Several others pointed out that World No. 3 Coco Gauff and World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz were given more prominence than Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek.
“Looking at this poster... I fear for the quality of it *Alcaraz and Gauff being shown more prominently than Djokovic and Swiatek (both ATP and WTA number 1, respectively). No Sabalenka (WTA number 2), and no Medvedev (ATP number 3). Good luck tennis fans,” another fan wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka were among the Grand Slam winners in 2023
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz dominated the Grand Slam tournaments on the men’s side this season.
Djokovic clinched three out of the four Majors – the Australian Open, French Open and US Open. He was, however, denied a clean sweep by Alcaraz. The Spaniard defeated Djokovic in the final of the Wimbledon Championships to lift his second Major.
While the men’s side did not produce any new Grand Slam champions, the women’s side witnessed three new winners in Aryna Sabalenka (Australian Open), Marketa Vondrousova (Wimbledon), and Coco Gauff (US Open).
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek won her third French Open title this year, and a fourth Major overall.
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