MELBOURNE: As Novak Djokovic waved at the chair umpire, indicating that he was quitting his semi-final against Alexander Zverev, Australia was a whisker away from missing the story.
As is the preferred TV formula when a pivotal point is won, the cameras first focus on the winning player to capture the good vibes. More often than not that player's elation and celebration immediately after a set is clinched sends the broadcast to a commercial break, with tennis building in a three minute breather between sets, for the players to regather themselves and for the crowd to leave their seats to buy drinks or go to the toilet.
And so unexpected was Djokovic's retirement that there was a real danger the producers pulling the strings behind the scenes of the broadcast could have missed it completely and pushed the button on a commercial break.
But the instincts and the eagle eye of Nine caller Brenton Speed ensured the correct decisions were made and the biggest story of the Australian Open was allowed to unfold on Australia's TV screens.
Brenton Speed (right) has been one of Nine's main callers during the 2025 Australian Open. He's pictured here calling a match with John McEnroe (left) and Lleyton Hewitt. Nine
"I'm watching Djokovic because he's got the volley, and you know, expecting him to put that away and then we move on with that tiebreaker, but instead it's into the net," Speed told Wide World of Sports as he reflected on what he'd just seen immediately after the call in Nine's green room at Melbourne Park.
"So I'm watching Novak and straight after he put that volley into the net he looked at the chair umpire and once a player looks at the chair umpire, he's either calling for the trainer or the match could be over. Novak's under an injury cloud, so I'm sort of keeping an eye on him.
"And the coverage is showing Zverev because he's just won the set, and showing the German fans, which is traditional.
"But the focus was on Novak, so once I saw him wave at the chair umpire I knew he was done. And then he starts looking towards Zverev as well, so you know it's definitely match over."
It's at this point that Speed has to think and act quickly.
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Knowing that the producers are seconds away from cutting to an ad break, Speed makes the call that the match is over and starts describing what's unfolding, rather than going with the kind of one-liner – "and Zverev leads the semi-final" – that would cue pictures to fade and a commercial to roll.
"We've got ad breaks to take, so I've got to alert our people in the truck that, you know, don't take the ad break now, because the match is over, so I did it with my commentary. So that's why I went that way and described the sensation that Novak's done and the match is over," Speed said.
"I'm trying to explain that (to the viewers) on behalf of our team and as an extra set of eyes, we're lucky enough to be in the bunker commentary box, so we see everything, and thankfully we didn't miss that."
Speed credits "luck" but that brushes over the years of experience he has calling big matches, and the hours of research that goes into a big match like a semi final.
Like everyone else Speed was acutely aware that Djokovic was carrying an injury and throughout the 81 minutes of the match he was watching closely for signs that the Serbian was struggling.
Two points at different ends of the set were enough to raise alarm bells.
"There were a few moments – the first sign was the first point of the entire match," Speed said.
"I've watched a lot of Novak, and Zverev hits one, you know, pretty precise towards the sideline, but Novak didn't go for it. And a fit Novak would have easily got to that in the backhand corner and kept the point alive."
Then, with Zverev serving at 5-6 and 40/0 up, another uncharacteristic Djokovic moment unfolded.
"Novak gave up on the point and just allowed Zverev to roll it into the open court," Speed said.
"I think Jim Courier described that in commentary, that Novak's preparing for the tiebreaker and he's given up on that point.
"So there were two or three points like that where a fully fit Novak would have gone for it but he didn't today and maybe that was the writing on the wall."
It was with this context in mind that Speed instinctively kept his eyes on Djokovic after he dumped his volley into the net, rather than looking for Zverev's reaction, even though the German was much closer to his commentary position.
The commentary bunker is situated at court level, behind the baseline, and when the decisive moment was played Zverev was playing from the commentary end.
"When they're between points and preparing to serve, you could almost reach out and touch them if there wasn't perspex glass," Speed said.
"So from Novak, he was at the net and we're at Zverev's end when the match ended. So, we're about 20 metres away from Novak Djokovic and Jim Courier immediately, as soon as he heard and saw what was happening, his headset's down because he knows he's got to interview the winner.
"He's got to get out there in a hurry, so he was off and John McEnroe was there alongside to describe what was happening as well and he was stunned and shocked and summed it up really well and also called out those fans for booing Novak Djokovic as he left the court as a 10-time champ and obviously in discomfort."
But if not for some quick thinking, Australia's TV viewers may not have been able to share it.
