TNT Sports hires 8-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi for French Open coverage: Sources

Looking to make a big splash for its forthcoming French Open coverage, TNT Sports hired eight-time Grand Slam winner Andre Agassi as a studio commentator, sources briefed on the move told The Athletic.

Next month, TNT Sports will begin a new decade-long arrangement in which it will pay $650 million in total for the two-week event every May. Agassi is expected to be part of the coverage toward the end of the network’s presentation with a featured spot during the semifinals and finals. Agassi, 54, won the French Open in 1999. He has done limited television since he hung up his racket nearly two decades ago.

TNT’s lead commentary team for the French Open is expected to consist of play-by-player Brian Anderson with the ubiquitous analyst John McEnroe.

TNT declined to comment.

TNT likes to aim big with its studio coverage and centering it around an all-time star. While Hall of Famer Charles Barkley leads its NBA coverage, TNT has Pedro Martinez on MLB coverage and Wayne Gretzky on NHL. For TNT executives, Agassi’s hiring is seen in the same vein as Barkley, Martinez and Gretzky.

The network has held talks with Jim Courier and Lindsay Davenport, among other analysts, to join the French Open coverage, according to sources briefed on the conversations. Adam Lefkoe announced that he will be the studio host.

‘Agassi has become an increasingly visible presence in the sport’

Analysis from tennis writer Charlie Eccleshare

Having largely stepped away from tennis after retiring in 2006, Agassi has become an increasingly visible presence in the sport over the last year or so.

He will be Team World’s captain for the 2025 edition of the Laver Cup in San Francisco, a high-profile, annual quasi-exhibition event in which Agassi’s team’s opponent will be Team Europe, led by French tennis legend Yannick Noah. Agassi attended the 2024 event in Berlin, which was the start of his route back into the tennis world, and there’s been the odd appearance on the Tennis Channel.

This role at TNT Sports should elevate its French Open coverage, because Agassi remains one of the sharpest minds in the sport. At last year’s Laver Cup, The Athletic was fortunate enough to watch a set with him, and it was clear that his tennis brain is as analytical as ever. While he endured a love-hate relationship with the sport as a player, he still finds tennis, and the problem-solving it entails, compelling.

“I can’t help but watch someone’s game and first of all put myself in the skin of their opponent and think, ‘What would I do against this guy?’ he said.

Agassi’s appointment is also illustrative of TNT’s need to maximize the number of eyeballs it gets from its 10-year deal for the tournament. U.S. viewers previously had to follow the tournament across a fragmented combination of NBC, the Tennis Channel, Tennis Channel+ (its streaming service) and Peacock, in an illustration of tennis’ uneasy relationship with broadcast media.

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