BY DAVE SCHUTTE
Enquirer contributor
MASON -- No expense has been spared to achieve the lofty goal.
The budget has been doubled and the production staff expanded from 33 to to 99 workers in an attempt to make the television coverage of the Great American Insurance ATP Championship the most elaborate in the history of the sport.
"We want to make everyone at home feel as if they're at the match," Jan Wigley, ATP Tournament news operations manager, said. "If we pull it off, this will be the coverage offered at most tournaments in the future."
Sensing that television is the key to regaining lost fans while adding new ones in the future, the ATP has gone overboard this week as evidenced by the nine production trailers at the site to handle the worldwide telecast.
Twenty-eight cameras, compared with six at most events, were used to cover action on the four courts where the matches have been contested. The expanded coverage allowed stations throughout the world to select matches most interesting to their viewers. "We're most excited about the "Go Camera,' which is located in the (south) end zone," Wigley said. "It allows the viewers to feel the speed of the ball and experience the athleticism of the players."
Mounted on a cable, the Go Camera is located in the Center Court Stadium under a canopy and is operated by two workers seated behind the courts. It travels 40 miles an hour and has been used very effectively. Also, a Sky Cam is mounted above Center Court, along with eight other cameras on Center Court, including two at ground level, one in each end zone.
A visit to the World Wide Production trailer revealed a dark room with the wall filled with television screens displaying pictures from every camera in use.
The producer views the screens and instructs the engineer on duty which button to push, designating the picture that the viewers on the worldwide broadcast will see.
ESPN can also use the worldwide feed but usually sticks with the match on Center Court. At times, the all-sports network occasionally switched to other matches during the afternoon telecasts.
"We're trying to bring the beauty of the sport into every home," Wigley said. "Everything seems to be going pretty good this week, and this is what viewers will get at matches in years to come."
Another trailer houses the ATP Web Site with instant updates of every match in progress at all ATP tournaments. Short features of the players are also produced and available from the Web Site. An experiment that could become reality in the future involved the use of a camera on the player.
Todd Martin and Alex Corretja agreed to wear special glasses equipped with a miniature TV camera during a practice session as part of an experiment that could alter future television coverage of the sport.
"The only problem is the heavy power pack the players wore," Wigley said. "Some of the shots of the players serving are fantastic and have been used by ESPN as lead-ins to telecasts."
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