NBC airs the 2010 Wimbledon tennis tournament finals

By Ryan Berenz

NBC has coverage of the Wimbledon men’s and ladies’ singles finals July 3-4. Here’s the complete schedule from NBC:

Wimbledon on NBC July 2-4

Friday, July 2
Noon- 5 p.m. all time zones
Gentlemen’s Semis (live and same day tape): Tomas Berdych vs. Novak Djokovic; Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray
11:35 p.m.-12:05 a.m. ET/PT
Wimbledon Update

Saturday, July 3
9a.m.-2 p.m. ET
“Breakfast at Wimbledon”
Ladies’ Final (live): Serena Williams vs. Vera Zvonareva

Sunday, July 4
9a.m.-3 p.m. ET
“Breakfast at Wimbledon”
Gentlemen’s Final (live)

The complete release from NBC, including analysis from Mary Carillo and John McEnroe, after the jump:

MCENROE, CARILLO, ROBINSON BREAKDOWN “BREAKFAST AT WIMBLEDON”

“The only non-surprise will be Serena winning her fourth Wimbledon title.” – NBC Sports’ Carillo
“It was definitely the best first week that I’ve been apart of as a commentator.” – NBC Sports’ McEnroe

NEW YORK – June 30, 2010 – “Breakfast at Wimbledon,” one of the great traditions in sports, highlights NBC Sports’ extensive coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon that continues this week.  In all, the network is presenting more than 38 hours from Wimbledon concluding with live coverage of “Breakfast at Wimbledon,” the Ladies’ Final Saturday, July 3 at 9 a.m. ET and the Gentlemen’s Final, Sunday, July 4 at 9 a.m. ET.   Host Ted Robinson anchors NBC Sports coverage from Wimbledon, joined by three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe and Mary Carillo, with interviews and essays from Jimmy Roberts.  For NBC Sports, this is the 31st anniversary of “Breakfast at Wimbledon” and the 41st anniversary of NBC’s Wimbledon coverage from the prestigious grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Borg-McEnroe epic five-setter that Borg won 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6.  It was the last of Borg’s five straight Wimbledon titles and McEnroe’s first Wimbledon final.  McEnroe then went on to beat Borg in 1981 on his way to three Wimbledon singles titles in four years. NBC Sports today conducted a media conference call with McEnroe, Carillo and Robinson previewing its coverage of the tournament. Highlights of the call follow:

MCENROE ON WIMBLEDON SO FAR THIS YEAR: “Expect the unexpected. It was definitely the best first week that I’ve been apart of as a commentator.  Each day that Mary and I do the late night show she will open by saying ‘well this has been a little crazy,’ and I go ‘now what, you’re going to tell me that some crazy upsets happened?’ Sure enough it just gets more unbelievable as each day progresses.”

ROBINSON ON THE FIRST WEEK-AND-A-HALF OF WIMBLEDON: “It’s been a bizarre and incredible week-and-a-half at a championship that is generally predictable, or at least as predictable as single elimination sports can be.  Just think that what happened today with Federer out and Venus out in doubles, this will be the first time since 1999 there will be a championship weekend played here without both Roger Federer and Venus Williams. It’s been that jarring. There’s been 70-68 (Isner-Mahut); there’s been not a drop of rain to interrupt play; it’s been hot; it doesn’t feel like your traditional Wimbledon by any stretch. But Serena is still alive. Rafa is still alive. Andy Murray has all the local focus on him with England out of World Cup. Despite the unpredictability, there are still some familiar names there.”

MCENROE ON THE MEN’S SEMIFINALS: “It’s really interesting, both of them.  Nadal, I picked to win the tournament, and I still think he wants it so bad because he is in essence defending his title from two years ago, but it would be quite great for the game and certainly here, where we are, for Murray to pull that off; and that’s a competitive match. The last few times they played in the majors Murray has beaten Nadal.  Berdych, played the match of his life (against Federer) and it’s all come together for him in the last month or so.  There are people that thought for sure, and myself included, that he would win majors five or six years ago. Then there is Djokovic.  He’s really good for our game, looks to be really enjoying the sport, and finally seems he’s gotten his act together so that’s the toughest one to call.  So the men’s side is far more unpredictable than the women’s.”

CARILLO ON THE WOMEN’S SEMIFINAL: “Kvitova has had such a long, rocky road beating Azarenka and beating Wozniacki easily, holding off five match points against Kanepi, but now she’s got to play Serena.  I’ve never been more impressed with Serena. The only other time that Serena played Kvitova she beat her 6-2, 6-1. Serena is 57-7 on grass, Kvitova is 5-4 so I’ll join John and stand on my head if Serena doesn’t win this title.  Pironkova looked really smart against Venus and Zvonareva looked really bold against Clijsters, so that’s a bit of a pick ‘em.  You have to assume that Zvonareva has had a lot more big match experience and that could decide that one.”

MCENROE ON ROGER FEDERER: “When you’ve accomplished what Roger has, at some point, the guy’s a human being. He’s going to have to face the fact that he’s not going to win these things, and he may never win another thing. So everyone’s waiting, predicting when that’s going to happen. Let’s not forget a couple years ago when he lost to Nadal in the finals, ‘It was over, he was done, he’s a bum.’ Then he beats Pete’s (Sampras) record, he wins the French, and then he follows up and wins Australia and he plays some amazing tennis. So to write anyone off that’s accomplished that is stupid.  Of course at the same time at some point, it’s inevitable that it’s going to happen.”

CARILLO ON FEDERER’S ‘SLUMP’: “Roger has lost in the quarterfinals in the last two majors. This is a guy whose reputation was growing stronger and stronger due to the fact that he’d made so many straight Grand Slam finals. It’s that old baseball line, ‘if you’re young and in a slump, it’s just a slump.  But if you’re old and in a slump, you’re just old.’ I think that’s what Roger’s going to be facing, and he’s not going to like it. He’s made it clear that he’s had critics over the years who’ll continue to follow him around with that line of conversation because this time next year he’ll be pushing 30, trying to win a record-tying Wimbledon with Sampras.”

CARILLO ON FEDERER TALKING ABOUT INJURIES AFTER HIS LOSS TO BERDYCH: “I feel badly that Berdych, who played the match of his life, had to defend his win against Roger Federer’s talk about injuries. That’s always a pity. Roger did talk about it, I heard him give a bunch of different interviews, and he kept bringing it up, which is not like Roger.”

CARILLO ON SERENA WILLIAMS: “Serena has looked absolutely magnificent throughout. There are two unseeded players in the Grand Slam semis in Pironkova and Kvitova. Zvonareva is playing great and I’m anticipating that she’ll probably beat Pironkova. The only non-surprise will be Serena winning her fourth Wimbledon title.”

MCENROE ON HOW THE THIS YEAR’S WIMBLEDON WILL BE REMEMBERED: “Well certainly that Isner-Mahut match is something that will never happen again. That was free multi-million dollar advertising for our sport about how fit we are and how tough we are, physically and mentally, so that was a great thing. That will long be remembered despite the fact it was a first round match.  If Murray were to win this that would be huge, and if Nadal were to win it, doing it for him to be able to get back after what appeared to be life-threatening injuries would be really important for our sport. There are a lot of good things still to come. The unpredictability of what’s gone on in this event is something that I haven’t experienced in the 33 years that I have been part of this tournament.”

MCENROE ON HIS EPIC 5-SET FINAL AGAINST BJORN BORG: “This match has stuck with me my entire career. It changed me as a person. It gave me respect among the players, the press, the fans. I felt like for one of the few times in my life I was a part of something historic. I knew what was happening. It was like when Isner was playing Mahut, they knew that this is the same thing that will always be in the record books. I’m proud to say that that match is still talked about. A couple weeks ago Bjorn and I got a chance to go out and play on Court 18, which ironically is where Isner played Mahut, and play in sort of an anniversary match. It certainly brought back a lot of memories and I look forward to seeing Bjorn in a couple days.”

LIVE AT WIMBLEDON: NBCSports.com is your online companion for NBC Sports coverage of Wimbledon.  Live at Wimbledon, powered by Microsoft Silverlight, will offer simulcasts of NBC Sports’ broadcasts from Wimbledon, live streaming of up to three concurrent courts including Centre Court and Court One, on-demand replays of the best matches from every day of The Championships, alternate camera angles for NBC Sports’ finals coverage, and daily video highlights.   Live at Wimbledon is available throughout The Championships, Wimbledon with on-demand coverage.  Live streaming of NBC Sports’ coverage and additional matches will begin this Saturday at 12 p.m. ET, concluding with the Ladies’ Final on Saturday, July 3 at 9 a.m. ET and the Gentlemen’s Final on Sunday, July 4 at 9 a.m. ET.

WIMBLEDON ON NBC SPORTS MOBILE: Again this year, NBC Sports provides live mobile coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon.  Starting Saturday, June 26 (12-3 p.m. ET) and extending until the end of the championships, tennis fans can watch NBC’s coverage on either NBC 2Go or NBC Sports Mobile, including live coverage of every exciting point of the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Finals.  Plus, tennis fans will be able to get news and scores right on their cell phones with the NBC Sports Mobile site or exclusive text alerts; users can just text the word TENNIS to 51515 or visit HTTP://M.NBCSPORTS.COM.