Todd Woodbridge takes on sports newsreading role on Channel 9

Tennis great Todd Woodbridge is following sports stars such as Tim Watson and Matt Shirvington in taking on a new media gig.

Todd Woodbridge and son Beau at the Phantom of the Opera opening night. Picture: David Geraghty

Tennis great Todd Woodbridge is adding another string to his media CV, reading the weekend sports news on Channel 9 over the holiday season.

The doubles champion joins a long list of sports stars who have spent time in the news reading chair including AFL legends Tim Watson, Matthew Pavlich, Warren Tredrea, Olympic sprinter Matt Shirvington and rugby league great Wally Lewis.

Woodbridge has been expanding his talents behind the camera in recent years and hosted Nine’s Ashes cricket coverage in 2019. He is a mainstay of the network’s tennis coverage and was in London for Wimbledon and New York for the US open this year.

But reading live news is another step up again and it certainly gets the heart racing which is something the 22-time Grand Slam winner knows a lot more about now.

The 51-year-old suffered a mild heart attack in October while exercising at home which prompted him to speak publicly about the scare to raise awareness of the problem for middle aged men.

“I was just exercising and had chest pains and every symptom when you look up google — full sweats and I felt awful,” Woodbridge said.

“I had a little heart episode that goes down as a mild heart attack which is a bit of a shock to me.

“I consider myself to lead a pretty good fit healthy lifestyle — I keep active, I eat well, I do all the right things, I enjoy doing that. It’s been a wake up call to me to make sure I look after myself. If it can happen to me it shows that it can happen to anybody.”

Woodbridge will again be front and square for Nine’s Australian Open coverage in January which last year set a new ratings record off the back of Ash Barty’s historic win and doubles pair Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis claiming the men’s doubles crown.

Originally published as Todd Woodbridge takes on sports newsreading role on Channel 9