Chris McKendry

Long a familiar face on SportsCenter, in 2016 Chris McKendry’s focus shifted to the sport she grew up loving and playing: tennis. McKendry currently hosts ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

McKendry joined ESPN in 1996 as a SportsCenter anchor, shifting to ESPNEWS for the 1997 launch of the 24-hour sports news network. She returned to SportsCenter later that year, co-hosting the weekend morning and weekday 6 p.m. editions. From its debut in August 2008, McKendry co-hosted the mid-day SportsCenter on ESPN. Along the way, she added hosting the ABC and ESPN coverage of the Little League World Series and served as co-host of ESPN’s coverage of the Winter X Games and late-night host for the X Games in 1997 and 1998. She was the sideline reporter for ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports’ telecasts of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup and has hosted ESPN’s coverage of the National Spelling Bee.

McKendry also served as a columnist on ESPN.com‘s “Page Two” in 2001 and 2002.

Prior to joining ESPN, McKendry had been at WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., where she was a sports reporter, as well as the first woman to work as a television sports news anchor in the market (1994-1996). In June 1996, she received a regional Sports Emmy in the Best Sports Segment Category for “NFL 101,” which illustrated how to watch football.

Born in Philadelphia, McKendry graduated from Drexel University in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in humanities. A dean’s list scholar for three years, she attended Drexel on a tennis scholarship and now serves on the school’s Board of Trustees.