ESPN to Finally Grab US Open Tennis Coverage?

ESPN is truly on the verge of becoming the “Grand Slam Network.”
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that this will be the last year of US Open coverage for USA Network, leaving an opening for ESPN which has long desired the US Open. ESPN already broadcasts the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

USA Network, the longtime home of weeknight coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, will no longer televise the tournament after this year.

USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said the organization is currently negotiating with “a number of different parties about the cable package for 2009” and beyond.

Over the last couple years ESPN has concentrated its tennis coverage in the U.S. on the Slams, dropping coverage of Davis Cup, the Masters Series tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, and other tennis events.