This was my first tennis tournament as credentialed press. As such, I wanted to soak up everything I possibly could for future use — assuming I get another chance like this, that is. I was only in Newport for two days, but the experiences there offered plenty of lessons.

Getting Settled

The media room was a small, longish rectangular room with about a dozen desks. It was stocked with drinks, Starbursts, chips, pretzels, Twizzlers, and Jolly Ranchers — there were plenty of blue ones left, thankfully. This was pretty awesome not just because of the sugar, but because I could work at my desk while consuming easy-to-eat snacks. There were a few outlets that made it easy to charge phones or laptops, so it was an ideal place to work (though as I’ll elaborate on later, I did much of my writing while watching the tennis).

Seating

Pretty soon after arriving, I was given a free ticket for Stadium Court. Some seats had been set aside for the media. The joyous rush of not having to pay wore off quickly when I made my way to the seats — they were court level (my least favorite angle) and off-center. Worse, the fence between the seats and the court had an opaque advertisement on the bottom, obscuring part of the court. It was pretty tough to make sense of or evaluate the glimpses of points I got from that angle. 

My best decision of the day was asking the Communications Vice President (who helped out with a bunch of press-related things, not least by recording the press conferences and emailing them to us) if I could make use of one of the couple hundred empty seats on the South stands, which directly faced the court. She thankfully said yes, and I double-checked with an usher before taking one. That led to the angle below — perfect. Looking at the cameraman isolated in the sea of empty seats also gave me the idea to interview one, which I did at the beginning of Day Two.

I learned at this tournament that the sweet spot to watch from is from one of the ends of the court. It’s just a life-size view of what they show on TV, and it’s spectacular. The ball is easy to follow, and I noticed a bunch of things I hadn’t before — like the linespeople shuffling back and forth to cover certain lines, the camerapeople getting really close to the players on the changeovers, and all the little reactions from the players. 

Press Conferences and Questions

Going into the tournament, I had no idea how press conferences worked. I was hoping to get to talk to a player, but wasn’t really expecting to. My media credential didn’t feel real until I had it around my neck (the main reason I waited until the middle of the first day to share the news on Twitter), and it was a similar situation with press conferences. The thrill faded quickly into intrigue and contentment — once I got over the shock of actually talking to a tennis player, I understood that they weren’t performing the task that had made them famous (playing tennis), making us something like equals in the press room. 

I was told in the middle of Day One that if I had a request for press, I was to email the ATP Media Information Manager with the player, whether my wanting to talk to them hinged on the result of their match, and what my question(s) would focus on. Shortly after being told this, I ran into the Media Information Manager himself, who was incredibly friendly. I emailed him with a request right after we met and he responded within five minutes. He was also incredibly good at his job. Every time I asked for a player, he made it happen. He’d also notify all the press when a press conference was beginning. Once, he even apologized to me that an interview would be in a group setting rather than one-on-one. I was over the moon at the interview being confirmed, so wasn’t at all bothered. Point is, he was a great hire for the ATP and everyone who covers Newport.

Something I want to do better next time is prepare questions. The night before the tournament, I’d done some general research on every player in the draw — what was their ranking, how did they do at Wimbledon or on grass in general, etc. This ended up being somewhat of a waste of time due to me unexpectedly getting to choose who to talk to. I had figured I should cover all my bases since getting to talk to anyone would be lucky. But since I didn’t have time to talk to or even watch a good chunk of the players in the draw, the research I did ended up being fruitless for the purposes of me covering the tournament. 

Twice, I was the only person who requested a player. This didn’t really surprise me in the case of Jason Jung — he wasn’t having a good year and was among the lower ranked players in the tournament — but I was shocked at being the only one asking Kevin Anderson questions on Day One. He had been the world number five not three years ago, after all. I didn’t realize this until the press conference ended after I’d asked three questions, though, otherwise I’d have prepared more. 

I was expecting to get to ask one question if I got to go to a press conference, but in Jenson Brooksby’s first presser (the first one I went to), another writer asked him a few in succession, so I followed suit. Next time, if it’s unclear, I plan on asking before the press conference if others are asking questions. That way, I’ll know whether to be afraid of running on for too long. 

The press conferences were conducted via Zoom. The player would be led by the Media Information Manager into a theater with a stage and hundreds of seats, and would sit on the stage in front of a promo for the tournament. The writers (there were never more than three on-site at any press conference I attended) would sit in the chairs in front of the stage — a good fifteen meters from the players — and ask questions into a mic. The player would be recorded, and the Zooms sent to the writers afterwards so that they could transcribe/use the information. This went without a hitch except for Ivo Karlović’s press conference on Day Two, which didn’t record. In general, the tournament was run extremely well. Turnaround between matches was quick and people in the press room were kind and accessible if anyone had a question.

Writing

My attention span isn’t the best, and I was a bit worried going in that I wouldn’t be able to focus long enough to churn out an article on-site. My strategy to remedy this was to write into the Notes App on my phone as I watched from the Stadium Court. I might’ve just been buoyed by watching live tennis on-site, but the writing felt extremely easy, more so than typing into my laptop. When I exited the match, I’d email the notes to myself, then copy-paste them into WordPress (this is the site I use to write my blog) and publish. Making double-use of the time on Stadium Court worked phenomenally and didn’t feel like work at all. I plan on repeating the process at any and every future press endeavor.

Final Reflections

I’m tempted to say that the discovery of all the empty seats from the best angle was the most important of the day, but it comes up second. What I’ll remember most wherever I cover a tournament next is that I should ask questions. Not just of the players, but of those who oversee press or even the grounds. I’m naturally shy, but the more questions I asked, the more comfortable (and better at the job, I think) I got in Newport. 

I have a few small regrets — I wish I’d asked Karlović about what his role in the PTPA was besides just supporting their policies and I wish I’d asked Jung if the repetitiveness in his life on the tour provided challenges beyond just the lack of inspiration for writing. It might have been nice to ask Zapata Miralles or Marchenko what it was like to return a serve as wicked as Karlović’s or Anderson’s. I wanted to ask someone why and how the grass is striped in two different shades of green and never did. And I wish I’d gone fewer than twelve hours between trips to the bathroom on Day One. 

But on the whole, things went way better than I expected. Despite the tennis across the two days not being the very highest quality, it was captivating to be on site with professional players milling about. Learning about the inner workings of what a job in tennis writing entails was also fun, not to mention extremely valuable. And this will be my eighth article in three days. My blog got over 100 views each day I was in Newport, which is a high number for me. I cleared 4000 for the year so far. The best part? None of it felt difficult; it was all fun. I can’t wait to do it all again someday.