{"id":200210,"date":"2025-09-04T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/200210\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T18:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:28:15","slug":"cliff-drysdale-espns-longest-tenured-voice-has-emotional-us-open-retirement-sendoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/200210\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Drysdale, ESPN\u2019s longest-tenured voice, has emotional US Open retirement sendoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

It got a little dusty in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

ESPN played a lengthy tribute to Cliff Drysdale in between U.S. Open matches as the legendary broadcaster is set to retire at the conclusion of the Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

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Host Chris McKendry noted that the 84-year-old Drysdale is ESPN\u2019s longest-tenured analyst, having been with the network since Sept. 14, 1979.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the day this voice of reason and source of endless entertainment became the voice of tennis in our country and all around the world,\u201d McKendry said. \u201cA gracious Hall of Famer, he is our friend and he is our North Star.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cliff<\/p>\n

Cliff Drysdale got an emotional US Open sendoff on Sept. 3, 2025. ESPN<\/p>\n

The touching video was narrated by Drysdale\u2019s good friend and golfing great Jack Nicklaus \u2014 and included commentary from those at ESPN with whom he has worked for the last four-plus decades.<\/p>\n

The South African-born Drysdale was a top player in the \u201960s and \u201970s, winning the U.S. Open doubles title with Roger Taylor in 1972, and was a member of the \u201cHandsome Eight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were the James Bonds of tennis,\u201d ESPN analyst Darren Cahill said in the video.<\/p>\n

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After joining the network as an analyst \u2014\u00a0his first assignment was a US vs. Argentina Davis Cup match \u2014 he later became a play-by-play voice.<\/p>\n

\"Cliff<\/p>\n

Cliff Drysdale with Pam Shriver (left) and Mary Jo Fernandez (middle). ESPN<\/p>\n

\u201cCliff Drysdale is so many things to me: An amazing friend and a mentor,\u201d fellow ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe said during the video.<\/p>\n

Drysdale was understandably emotional after watching the tribute alongside McKendry, Mary Jo Fernandez, Chris Evert and McEnroe.<\/p>\n

\"Cliff<\/p>\n

Cliff Drysdale is retiring from ESPN. ESPN<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you guys would put something nice together,\u201d Drysdale, who still has one more match to call at the U.S. Open, said. \u201cI never thought it would be anything that elaborate. Somebody went through a lot of trouble to put that together and I really appreciate it. It\u2019s been a long road, but it\u2019s been a smooth road.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve always had the full respect of everybody in this company. I felt the love of everybody around this table and all those who are not around this table. Nobody has disrespected me or not given me everything that they\u2019ve had from the beginning, it continues to this day. I don\u2019t know where I am going with this, other than to say my great friend Jack Nicklaus to put his voice on there is something that is really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no official reason for Drysdale\u2019s retirement, although Nicklaus noted in the video it would give the friends a chance to play more golf together.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It got a little dusty in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday afternoon. ESPN played a lengthy tribute to Cliff…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":200211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[110839,110838,5723,31150,110841,110840,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-200210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-chris-mckendry","9":"tag-cliff-drysdale","10":"tag-espn","11":"tag-jack-nicklaus","12":"tag-lengthy-tribute","13":"tag-mary-jo-fernandez","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tennis","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115147447486211869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}