Dick Enberg says goodbye to Wimbledon

A legend at "The Big W" says goodbye!

Wimbledon:  Enberg’s Finale Marked by “Enberg’s Reflections” Vignettes

Dick Enberg – whose voice, eloquence and enthusiasm, including his signature “Oh, My!”, have graced ESPN’s Wimbledon telecasts since 2004 – is calling his 28^th and final fortnight in London.  He first worked the event he calls his favorite in 1979, the first year the men’s final was televised live in the U.S.  To mark the occasion, ESPN2 has been presenting “Enberg’s Reflections” penned by the winner of 13 Sports Emmy Awards – nearly half of them for writing – plus the Sports Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award.  Here’s the first few: daily “Enberg’s Reflections” vignettes.  

Enberg on: The Lure of Wimbledon
“This event invariably grabs you.  I had no background in tennis when I first came here in 1979, but quickly learned the emotion expressed by the fans and players is so strong that it envelopes you and you end up caring as much.  The players know that with a win they will be part of tennis history….after all, it’s called ‘The Championships.’”

Enberg on: Writing about Wimbledon
“When you are in love with someone, it is easy to write to them.  At Wimbledon, the words come easy to me through that love.”

1972 Wimbledon Champ Stan Smith on Enberg:

“When I think of Dick Enberg, I think of class.  This guy has done it with class for over 40 years, not only in tennis, but in other sports.  Wimbledon has a special place in his heart, because we’ve talked about it several times, I was able to be involved at NBC with Dick for five years here at Wimbledon and he always loved being over here, he loved following the tennis, he knew the tennis well, he knew the players well and he is the type of guy, you give him 30 seconds to do a closing of a show and that clock goes in his head and right at 29 he’d be ready to finish and it would be so eloquent as well as informative and it really got the gist of what was happening that day.

“I hope that Dick has a great last year here at Wimbledon.  It’s going to be some special memories for him as he looks back at the best shows he’s ever done and the best matches he’s ever covered.  I know he’s going to be doing baseball in San Diego, so I know he’ll enjoy that as well, but Wimbledon will miss Dick Enberg.” 

Wimbledon & ESPN

ESPN2 and ESPN3.com will conclude live Wimbledon action with the no. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. no. 2 Novak Djokovic Gentlemen’s semifinal Friday, July 1, live at 7 a.m. ET. The other semifinal, no. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. no. 4 Andy Murray, will be reviewed in that evening’s highlights show at 8 p.m.  The finals will be available on ESPN3.com as of late Sunday, July 3, at midnight. Chris Fowler will call the Tsonga-Djokovic match with Darren Cahill.

ESPN 3D will show its first tennis with the Tsonga-Djokovic semifinal match Friday, July 1, live at 7:45 a.m. and will air both semifinals later that day.  Cliff Drysdale and Brad Gilbert will be on the call for both matches on ESPN 3D.  On Monday, July 4, the network will show both finals in the morning with reairs later in the day.

In addition, on Monday, July 4, the 30^th anniversary of the match, at 8 p.m. ESPN Classic will show the 1981 Gentlemen’s Final where John McEnroe ended Bjorn Borg’s historic streak of five consecutive championships.