Cliff Drysdale retires from ESPN after 46 years

Sometimes you see a retirement done right. ESPN paid tribute to Cliff Drysdale during Thursday’s US Open coverage as he wrapped up his final assignments for the network. After 46 years behind the microphone, he signed off on his own terms.

Drysdale’s goodbye came less than a week after ESPN said farewell to another legendary broadcast figure in Lee Corso and both struck the perfect notes.

“That was never a question for me,” he said. “ESPN, this whole production team, it’s hard for me to express in words just how great I feel about all of these years we spent together, because we travel together like a team. We have been a team. We’ve been there for each other.”

Cliff Drysdale called ESPN’s very first tennis telecast on Sept. 14, 1979, just one week after the network launched. He was there when ESPN was just a startup in Bristol, trying to figure out if cable television had a future. He’s been the voice of tennis for the network longer than most viewers have been alive.

Mary Jo Fernandez fought through tears as she told Drysdale it had been “the best 25 years” working with him. “I think you’ve been the Roger Federer of broadcasting,” she said. “Smooth, gracious, you make it look effortless.”

After a lengthy tribute earlier in the week, ESPN surprised Drysdale with a video message from Jack Nicklaus, who joked about all the $50 bills Drysdale had lost to him over the years in golf matches. Nicklaus said he kept those bills attached to his kitchen cupboard, and when he moved houses, he brought all of Drysdale’s money with him.

It was a nice personal touch that showed how respected Cliff Drysdale was beyond just tennis. It was also the kind of content that makes viewers stick around for the next segment.

Drysdale’s longevity was impressive, but that wasn’t what made him special. He was the last connection to tennis broadcasting’s early days, when former players moved naturally into the booth because they’d actually been there. Drysdale reached No. 4 in the world and made the 1965 US Open final.

That South African accent became part of tennis broadcasts. Rod Laver once said Drysdale “could talk a lion into becoming a vegetarian,” and you heard that gentle persuasiveness every time he called a match. He never had to manufacture excitement. The tennis did that.

Drysdale shaped the game off the court, too. He helped found the ATP and served as its first president from 1972-74. He led the 1973 Wimbledon boycott that made the players’ union a real force. Tennis history has his fingerprints all over it.

The man bridged eras in ways most broadcasters never could. He called John McEnroe matches in the 1980s and Novak Djokovic matches in the 2020s. He was there for the rise of American tennis, the Williams sisters’ dominance, Federer’s artistry, and everything in between.

“You went out like Pete Sampras, with your fastball,” Patrick McEnroe told Drysdale.

Although he is no longer ESPN’s lead tennis caller, the 84-year-old was still calling matches at the highest level, but he decided he was ready to walk away.

“Can I just say I’m just kidding?” Drysdale quipped.

While some people wish that he were, ESPN’s longest tenured broadcaster served tennis faithfully for 46 years, earned the respect of everyone around him, and left when he was ready. As former ESPN executive Mike Soltys noted, Drysdale was the last of the original broadcasters from September 1979 still working at the network, so his goodbye represents a true end of an era for the network.

The game will miss that voice, but the man earned the right to enjoy whatever comes next.

Not many people get to sign off on their own terms after nearly half a century. Cliff Drysdale did.