Live From US Open 2023: ESPN’s Jamie Reynolds on the Rise of a New Generation of Players and ‘Mic’d Up’ Audio

The Open and tennis in general are revitalized by young folks making a mark

The 2023 US Open will be remembered as much for the rise of a new generation of tennis talent as for Novak Djokovic’s record 24th major championship. SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer caught up with ESPN VP, Production, Jamie Reynolds to discuss the new era in tennis, new ways to connect players to fans, and the, literally, sticky situation when a protestor glued his feet to the ground and delayed play for more than an hour.

ESPN’s Jamie Reynolds: “Our goal has always been to help the USTA recognize that [miking players] is a benefit for the audience, for the transition of this sport moving forward.”

It has been a fascinating exercise to go through that journey this year specifically from Carlos Alcaraz’s tipping point last summer and the energy of Ben Shelton and Coco’s maturation and her range of ability and her charm, which is a very valuable resource to rejuvenate tennis. It’s great. We’re in a brilliant period right now when, all of a sudden, these young guns with their own unique personalities, especially on the American side, are an unexpected gift that keeps on giving. It was just day after day, hour after hour here at the Open. When you looked at that first week and the draw and saw all the American flags in each quarter, it was like, wow, we just have to get out of the way and let them start making their statement. That has been really powerful.

Technically, you had Mic’ed Up this year with players on the practice courts. What has that meant to you and the team?
We pushed this initiative at the All England Club [and Wimbledon], and Head of Broadcast, Production, and Media Rights Paul Davies and the club were very open to the technology and our approach. We have so much real estate, we have so many hours, and we have this conduit of connection to do things from the warmups to the practice sessions. Many of the players became very comfortable with it as they have been hitting with [the head sets] to either listen to music or talk to family. So it’s not a foreign concept to them. Now we get this two-way dialogue.

I think they are appreciating this connection to the fans. We’re not necessarily doing it on the field of play during competition but during warmups, getting a texture, a tone, for how are they feeling, and that adds a whole other dimension.

The tide turned during qualifying week when they were saying, “When is it my turn?” They were actually inviting us to stop by and say hello during a practice session. Once we got to that tipping point, things headed in a great direction. They recognize the amplification; they recognize this connection that they’re getting. I think it’s valuable for the sport and the fans. It’s breaking down this wall of feeling isolated in their own bubble through the fortnight.

What  potential do you see for it beyond practices?
Our goal has always been to help the USTA recognize that this is a benefit for the audience, for the transition of this sport moving forward. The USTA has a challenge because they have a couple of mission statements: they’ve got to manage the competition, and they have to manage access to the players. They have to find that middle ground. Do the athletes still have a safe haven that they can retreat to when they don’t feel like they have to be on stage? We’re kind of pushing the edges on practice, courts, hallways, warmup rooms, cool-down rooms.

Ben Shelton was one of the players who embraced wearing Bluetooth headsets for live interviews during US Open practice sessions.

We like to get that intimacy because, at the end of the day, players are using their devices to separate their own unique brands already. They’re taking selfies, they’re posting images, they’re engaging with their fanbase. We want to take that experience and get it out to a broader audience on a linear platform.

Arthur Ashe Stadium has a lot of coverage right now with cameras and such. Is there anything else you would like to add or expand on?
I think we’re getting more creative with a lot of the tools and a lot of the assets. I think audio is emerging as probably the most attractive ingredient this year, especially with the advent of coaching. You’re now hearing the players’ boxes more aggressively. That texture, that consciousness is woven into the match, and I sometimes have to get some of our talent to lay back a little bit so you can take advantage of what Ben Shelton’s dad is saying to him.

One thing we need to overcome is the language barrier. We have a translation problem, certainly with Carlos Alcaraz, who has a very dynamic exchange with his coaches that happens almost point by point, game by game. I’ve asked [analyst] Mary Jo Fernandez to sit close in an isolated position, just listening to that audio and weave back for us what she’s hearing: what is the texture, what are the unique things she might be hearing that those who are not fluent in Spanish can understand and appreciate?

Last question. We did have a unique situation with protestors during the women’s semifinals that delayed the event for about an hour after one of them glued his feet to the ground. Can you walk us through producing during that delay?
It was a fascinating incident when you think about our responsibility as host broadcaster, our responsibility as a sportscaster, and how we navigate that as someone handling the host feed and ESPN’s domestic feed.

Through an incident like that, we’re respectful to what the USTA is doing to manage the incident, and we’re also responsible for the images that go out to the world. At some point, when a sporting event becomes a news incident, we are responsible to switch voices and find a balancing act.

It was in the upper deck, so the only camera we had to cover it was the Spidercam. We weren’t quite sure what was going on and had to wait for the official response from the USTA. Another aspect was social media, which was very aggressive with the images, the story, and reports that were conjecture. That created a snapshot in real time as well.

When the situation began, how did you sort through things?
Our responsibility in that initial moment is to figure out where and what’s happening to the athletes and then start assessing the situation in the stands. You could have anything from, as we had the other night, somebody having a seizure in the stands to the hecklers that we’ve experienced. On the spectrum of everything that might be happening in a moment, you’re not totally sure, and you have to make that editorial judgment of what’s actually happening. You need to pause, assess the situation, and figure out the best way to handle it. You also don’t want to rush to judge what’s going on as you keep your eyes on the situation. And then there are the jurisdiction issues, like whether it is an arena security issue or requires a medical team or the police. Those are the kinds of things you have to think about.