Climbing the Ladder of Tennis Broadcasting with Matt Dowell

Matt Dowell grew up in the heart of NASCAR country in Mooresville, N.C., – also known as Race City, USA. But it was tennis that captured his heart, a love that began when he received a tennis racket for Christmas 12 years ago. Dowell’s outstanding tennis career at Lake Norman High School concluded with a team state championship his senior year, after which he hung up his racket competitively to focus on his budding broadcasting career at Wake Forest University.  For as much as he loves playing the game, he loves following it even more, especially when it came to the grand slams.

With grand slam tournaments in France, the United Kingdom and Australia, it can be difficult for ordinary tennis fans to summon the energy required to rise as early as 3:30 a.m. to watch the coverage. But Matt Dowell is no ordinary fan.

"I’m always up right when it starts every single day," Dowell says. "I look forward to analyzing every match, who’s going to win, who’s going to lose."

Dowell plans to harness that passion in what he hopes will be a long broadcasting career.

"I’ve always wanted to be in that booth with [ESPN tennis commentators] Chris Fowler and Patrick McEnroe and all those people," Dowell says. "Since I started watching, I was like, 'That’s what I want to do.'" 

Dowell majored at in Communications with a focus in Media Studies at Wake Forest and began a master’s program in Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications this month. Dowell's ultimate goal is to join ESPN’s tennis team for its grand slam broadcasts, including his favorite tournament, Wimbledon. Fittingly, his favorite players are the ones who have had the most success at the All-England Club: Roger Federer and the Williams sisters, who have combined to win 17 Wimbledon singles titles in their careers. Though his playing days are over, Dowell hopes that one day he, too, will become a Wimbledon fixture – in the broadcast booth.

I sat down with Dowell on Friday at the Newhouse School to talk about how he became interested in tennis and where he hopes to go in his career.

Jonathan Gault: Hi, I’m Jonathan Gault, here with Matt Dowell, master’s student at the Newhouse School at Syracuse and I’m going to interview him. So Matt, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit – where you’re from, how old you are?

Matt Dowell: I’m Matt Dowell, I am from just outside Charlotte, North Carolina. I grew up in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is actually Race City USA.  If you want to talk about sports, I grew up with all the NASCAR people and NASCAR drivers. It’s all NASCAR where I’m from. It’s kind of what our economy feeds on and all that. I’m not really a NASCAR fan – I’ve only been to one race my whole life, but that was kind of a big part of my childhood. And I’m 21, just graduated from Wake Forest in May.

JG: Awesome. Well, yeah, I was going to ask, so you grew up in the home of NASCAR, but you’re not really a NASCAR fan. Why is that?

MD: I think it’s just that whole thing that it was always in my face so I just kind of grew to dislike it. I like it a lot more now than I used to when I was younger. I never cared for it. A lot of my friends’ parents worked for NASCAR and all that stuff. It was just always everywhere, so I just kind of got sick of it, I think. Then I went – I think it was last summer – I went to the Coca-Cola 600, which is in Charlotte and it was actually really fun. I really enjoyed it. I mean, the fans are really probably one of the most dedicated sports fans in the world and they really get excited. It was really fun. I like it. I respect it a lot more now than I used to when I was little.

JG: So what sports did you play growing up in North Carolina?

MD: I started out playing – kind of like I think every little kid does – I played basketball, baseball and soccer. And then around like 8,9, I switched to just soccer, kind of focused on that. I started playing club teams and all that. I was on the No. 13-ranked soccer team in the country for awhile until I was 14, and then I switched over to play tennis because when I was 11, my stepdad introduced me to tennis. Maybe I was 10 – I was 10. It was Christmas when I was 10. That’s when I saw my first tennis racket. And then I played it every once in a while and did that whole thing, but soccer was just still number one. And then one day, I just was like “I don’t want to play soccer anymore.” I want to commit to tennis, because my heart was really into that sport. So then I just quit and went to tennis and did that.

JG: So what did you enjoy most about tennis?

MD: I think why I like it so much – I love team sports, team sports are really great – but I think what appeals tennis to me the most is that it’s really the only sport – maybe golf, too – but just the fact that they player is out there by themselves in front of thousands of people. They have to win these things on their own. They don’t have any teammates, they don’t have coaches out there with them. It’s all them, doing it themselves and I just always really respected that. I just think that, you know, you have to use every part of your body. It’s so mental. It’s such a mental game. And I just think that there’s so many things that go into it that are just awesome.

JG: So you played tennis throughout high school, won a state championship in North Carolina. What was the greatest moment of your tennis career?

MD: I think it was that, probably. I played a lot of tournaments growing up. There was just something about representing – it’s kind of like the Olympics, even though it’s not anywhere close to that same kind of prestige as the Olympics – but I was representing, you know, my school and all that. And winning North Carolina, that crown, was just really cool. It was a really cool moment. And my friends were there, my family was there. It was really cool.

JG: So you went to Wake Forest, but you didn’t choose to continue your tennis career. Why was that?

MD: Because since I was like 11 – I love watching – I watch, I follow tennis year-round. I’m a really hardcore fan. I always love the grand slams, it’s my favorite thing. I mean, Australian Open starts at 7 p.m. the day before the day, French Open starts at 5 a.m., Wimbledon 7 a.m. and U.S. Open is obviously East Coast, so it’s 11 a.m. I’m always up right when it starts every single day. I love watching. I always look forward to the schedule of play every day.  I look forward to analyzing every match, who’s going to win, who’s going to lose. And then you saw Wimbledon this year – everyone lost, so you just never know. I’ve always wanted to be in that booth with Chris Fowler and Patrick McEnroe and all those people. I don’t know, since I started watching, I was like, “That’s what I want to do.” So it’s just something that I’ve wanted to do.

JG: Can you talk about that a bit – what would be your dream job in the world of sports?

MD: Working for ESPN on their tennis coverage would be the absolute dream. And f you look at Chris Fowler – a lot of them are tennis pros, former professionals that are part of their coverage – but they have some like Chris Fowler and even Mike Tirico, who went here. They have a lot of lead anchors and things like that and analysts – Tom Rinaldi – that do a lot of their leads and interact with the pros and kind of anchor the whole thing and that would be my dream job, would be like Chris Fowler and Mike Tirico.

JG: Awesome. Pretty good guys to follow.

MD: Yeah, I know.

JG: Well thanks a lot for your time, Matt.

MD: Of course. Thanks man.