replays

Tennis Channel has 60 hours of live match play lined up for its annual coverage of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London next week, with more than 120 dedicated hours overall via same-day, prime-time replays.  The network will again offer a complete, wall-to-wall telecast of the season-ending competition, November 21-28, from first-round play to the singles and doubles championship matches.

Tennis Channel on-air regulars Ted Robinson and Leif Shiras will call the matches at the men’s tennis championship, with Jimmy Arias and Justin Gimelstob handling analysis and reporting duties, respectively.  The network’s broadcast team will bring the likes of Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the Bryan brothers doubles tandem into viewers living rooms from 7 a.m.-11 a.m. ET and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. ET most days, followed by prime-time encore replays of the entire day’s action at 7 p.m. ET.  The singles final is lined up for 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 28, with the doubles championship taking place earlier in the day, at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is one of the most important competitions on the men’s tennis calendar, and annually determines the tour’s champion singles and doubles players.  Only the top eight singles and doubles players qualify for the event, earning points throughout the year which determine their rankings.  The event is essentially a “who’s who” of the highest level of professional tennis each November, with every match easily passing for a championship final at Wimbledon or the US Open.

The singles competition breaks the eight contenders into pools of four for a round-robin format of three matches against the others in their group.  Before the top two in each pool advance to the semifinals for traditional, single-elimination play, fans and Tennis Channel viewers are able to watch favorite stars compete in at least three matches against their most challenging contemporaries.  In addition to superstars Roddick, Federer and Nadal, this year’s singles field features Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych.

On the doubles side, joining American twins Bob and Mike Bryan – who this year broke the all-time tour doubles championships record with their 62^nd title – are Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic, Max Mirnyi/Mahesh Bhupathi, Lukas Dlouhy/Leander Paes, Lukasz Kubot/Oliver Marach, Marcin Matkowski/Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Dick Norman/Wesley Moodie and Philipp Petszchner/Jurgen Melzer.  The doubles championship is played in single-elimination format.

Tennis Channel’s Web site, www.tennischannel.com, will offer the latest scores and schedules, in addition to daily highlights during the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.  Facebook users can also follow the action through the network’s dedicated Facebook page,www.facebook.com/tennischannel, while Tennis Channel’s Twitter feed,www.twitter.com/tennischannel, will stay on top of the competition in London as well.

Tennis Channel’s 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Schedule (all times Eastern)

Sunday, Nov. 21-Friday, Nov. 26

7 a.m.-11 a.m. / 1 p.m.-5 p.m.                            Live singles and doubles

7 p.m. / 3 a.m.                                                   Encore singles and doubles replays

Saturday, Nov. 27

7 a.m.-8:30 a.m.                                                Live doubles semifinals

9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.                                              Live singles semifinals

1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.                                                Live doubles semifinals

3 p.m.-5:30 p.m.                                                Live singles semifinals

6:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m.                                            Encore singles and doubles replays

Sunday, Nov. 28

10:30 a.m.-Noon                                                Live doubles championship

3 p.m.-5:30 p.m.                                                Singles championship (same-day delay)

8 p.m.-4 a.m.                                                    Encore singles and doubles championship replays