Sony Sports Network is all geared up to live broadcast this year’s second Grand Slam event — the Roland-Garros 2022, scheduled to begin on May 22, 2022.
Ahead of the prestigious event, the network has said that this will be the first year when it will be showing the Grand Slam in four languages.
“For the first time in India, audiences will get to watch the Roland Garros in a language of their choice, English, Hindi, Tamil & Telugu across SONY SIX, SONY TEN 2, SONY TEN 3, and SONY TEN 4 channels as well as live-stream the tournament on its on-demand OTT platform SonyLIV,” the network said in a statement.
It also said that it will provide the viewers with an unapparelled viewing experience of the marquee event with a holistic coverage of the tournament with four language feeds and a live Studio show. The tournament will see the return of Extraaa Serve, which is the broadcaster’s flagship show for Grand Slam tournaments.
“The show will be hosted by Sarthak Lal and will feature expert panelists like Olympian Somdev Devvarman, Davis Cup player Purav Raja, and former tennis player Gaurav Natekar. The Hindi commentary on SONY TEN 3 channels will be provided by Manish Batavia, Atish Thukral, and Gaurav Natekar. Current Indian player Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Arun Venugopal will be part of the Tamil commentary panel, while Asian Game medalist Vishnu Vardhan and Sandeep Kumar will be seen doing Telugu language commentary on the channel,” the statement added.
Commenting on the development, Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India said: “Sony Sports Network has been a premiere destination for tennis fans in India and with Roland-Garros 2022 we intend to bring the best of the international tournaments to a larger audience base across the country. We are proud to announce that for the first time in India, the Roland Garros will be broadcast in four languages, English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.”
“Our viewers will be able to watch the tournament in a language of their choice. The tournament has also received a great response from advertisers with nine brands on board and more in the pipeline,” he added.
Notably, Roland Garros has always been circled by tennis fans as this is the only Grand Slam where they get to watch the top ranked tennis players from across the world perform on the clay court. While the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal is an absolute fan favourite, last year’s champion Novak Djokovic will also look to defend his title and look to join Nadal in the 21 Grand Slam winners club.
Apart from the tennis giants, Carlos Alcaraz has also caught the interest of fans with his brilliant performances. In the women’s matches, World No. 1, Iga Swiatek will look to extend her stupendous performance and win her second Grand Slam title against the likes of Barbora Krejcikova, and Paula Badosa. The marquee tournament will also see participation from top-seeded Indian players like Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza among others.
Meanwhile, Sony Sports Network has received a huge response from advertisers with brands like Hyundai, Amul, Rolex, Apple, 1x News, Target One, Fairplay News, Lottoland and Dafa News coming onboard.