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Venus Williams and John Isner will have bigger roles on TNT’s coverage of the 2026 French Open, the network announced Thursday.
Last year, Williams contributed pre-taped video packages for the tennis major’s inaugural year on TNT; this year, she will be in the studio for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and women’s final. Isner was primarily part of Bleacher Report’s coverage last year and had spot appearances on-air. This year, he will be involved throughout the tournament.
TNT also announced that Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Lindsay Davenport, Jim Courier, Caroline Wozniacki, Patrick McEnroe, Chris Eubanks, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe, Sam Querrey, and Mary Joe Fernandez are returning as analysts. Genie Bouchard is also joining the team.
Brian Anderson and Alex Faust will call matches again as Adam Lefkoe, Patrick McEnroe, and Mark Petchey host studio (Petchey will also call some matches).
TNT’s debut coverage of Roland-Garros drew a lot of acclaim. Asked about his goal in assembling the talent lineup, Craig Barry, the EVP and chief talent officer at TNT Sports, told Front Office Sports, “When we had the opportunity to present Roland-Garros, I really wanted to push tennis coverage into the 21st Century. I believed it was ready for a little bit of a jumpstart. The philosophy behind it was to bring in a bunch of fresh talent that played the 21st Century game—that had literally stood across the net from some of the players competing currently.”
Examples of these recently-retired players on the coverage both this and last year for TNT include Querrey, Eubanks, Stephens, and Wozniacki. “You inject a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm into the tournament,” Barry said. “And of course, you have the icons and legends along with that … The energy became infectious, and people felt a renewal.”
Agassi, in particular, was a revelation. Despite being an icon of the game, he had been relatively elusive in his media appearances over the past two decades. How was TNT able to land him?
“It really wasn’t a money thing with Andre. We do our shows in a pretty specific way—we have a certain DNA, where we love the intersection of sports and culture. We believe in authenticity, credibility, and for our talent to be unapologetic. You see it on Inside the NBA. You see it with the NHL and MLB,” Barry said.
“I think he saw some of those shows and felt like if some of that sensibility would come to tennis that this would be a good platform for him to express his thoughts on the game. He’s a guy that wants to give back, to talk to the fans and give them perspectives they haven’t thought of before. I think we gave him a platform to be Authentic Andre. I think it was the same for Venus, and quite frankly the same for all of the talents.”
The tournament kicks off on Sunday, May 24.
