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Tennis Channel to Premiere Six-Part Coaching Series Hosted by Tracy Austin: Tennis Channel Academy

LOS ANGELES, November 20, 2008 - Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and passionate lifestyle of tennis, will launch Tennis Channel Academy, a cutting-edge, celebrity-packed six-part tennis coaching series hosted by Hall of Famer Tracy Austin on Sunday, Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m. (EST). For a complete schedule, visit www.tennischannel.com/schedule/.

To offer viewers more than simple instruction, Tennis Channel sought out the greatest tennis coaches in the world including Nick Bollettieri, John and Chris Evert, fitness guru Pat Etcheberry, Robert Lansdorp, and Carlos Rodriguez with Justine Henin. These “Zen masters” with a proven track record of developing champions give viewers an inside look at the training process they have created. Although each episode focuses upon four major areas: technique, strategy, fitness and the mental game, viewers will be amazed at how each teacher offers a different perspective.

The first episode presents an all-inclusive visit to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., providing an unprecedented in-depth look at the world’s most famous tennis training facility. At 77-years-old, Bollettieri, who has worked with ten world champions including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Monica Seles and Jim Courier, starts his day with a 4 a.m. workout and is on the court by 5 a.m. Tennis Channel Academy takes viewers through the paces of a typical training day, beginning with an on-court lesson with Bollettieri, followed by a fitness training session specific to tennis players. The episode then focuses on the psychological aspect of the game and finishes with Bollettieri’s take on offensive and defensive strategies to “close out the match.”

A tennis prodigy, Tracy Austin is best known for dethroning four-time U.S. Open champion Chris Evert in 1979 at the mere age of 16, making her the youngest U.S. Open champion in history. Although she ranked as the number one women’s singles player in 1980, a variety of injuries cut short her storied career. Austin boasts an impressive 30 singles titles including two U.S. Open singles titles and the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.

Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and passionate lifestyle of tennis. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by eight of the top 10 MSOs and has a national footprint via DIRECTV and DISH Network.

Posted on November 20, 2008
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