SHOOT YOUR SHOT

“I always loved photography and sport,” says London-based, but globe-trotting tennis tour photographer Julian Finney. “I started photography when I was 14 and I played tennis and football, so I was trying to work out how I could make a career out of both. Then I had a dream of specialising in sports photography.” The dream became a reality after Finney shot the Nottingham Open grass court tournament in his university city aged 22, then within a year, was called up to shoot the biggest beast of them all: Wimbledon. Now with 18 years of experience shooting tennis for Getty Images (the world’s biggest photo agency, and the ATP and WTA tours’ official agency) under his belt, super-amiable Finney gives us a taste of life on the road and shares some shots that capture tennis players in superhero states.

TOP: SERENA WILLIAMS, INDIAN WELLS 2015

How many photographers are on the road covering the tour? 

There are probably five photographers who travel around the world tournaments and there's others that pick up the regions. There's Ray Giubilo, who’s Italian and Australian, and he has a place in both places. He starts off in Australia, then he’ll come across to America, then he’ll navigate to Italy. He’ll be living out of hotels and suitcases, so it’s like a player would feel and experience. He's got great libraries. 

Were there sports photographers who you idolised when you were younger?

Bob Martin used to work on all sports and now works at Wimbledon and he loves to shoot tennis. He has a great set of images from the 80s and 90s and still shoots a bit now. I look back at key moments in the sport and love to see what he got. It was very much shooting on fixed lens and film, which has a look and feel that I love. And Clive Brunskill who's my senior at Getty and he shoots tennis regularly. I would look at his work and Gary Prior’s, another UK photographer who was specialising in tennis in the 90s to 00s. 

What’s the vibe like in the photographer pits? 

That's probably the most special thing about shooting the tour: you have access that no one else has. A spectator would never be able to even pay for that seat.

ONS JABEUR, WIMBLEDON 2021 

ROGER FEDERER, LAVER CUP 2019

Why’s it better shooting from the pits?

That’s the old-fashioned word for it because they would generally be dugouts, so the photographer would be lowered in, which would allow the public to see over you. That's changed. Modern stadiums wouldn't have dugouts or pits because they would just make more of a backboard with sponsorship usage and the crowd starts a little bit further up. Also flooding of the pits was an issue back in the day, especially with football. So they filled a lot of them in. It's actually a nicer angle to shoot from: you're really low, you get that foot off the floor moment and the aspect is really cool. If a player comes close to you, you're really looking up at them. Maybe you're making them look more heroic and more powerful. The modern day angle is more mid-level to the body or their level. It's more natural. 

Who are your favourite players to shoot?  

On the men's side, Rafa has been a clear favourite for me. I started my shooting career as he was just starting, so I shot his first French Open win and I've been there for his whole career. He's the photographer’s dream because he celebrates so much, he's so emotional, he sounds like he's going through it more than other players. And the way he hits the shot, the amount of topspin he puts on the shot, that kind of muscles showing through the shirts. I’ve got my best pictures from him. And now we have Carlos Alcaraz who's now taking his mantle and he's gonna be quite similar. He's already giving us pictures that are like Rafa’s. Roger Federer was the opposite. He was more stylish and perfect. On the women's side, clearly Serena. Again, the last 15, 20 years whilst I've been shooting, she's been the clear standout player. Unfortunately, no one else has really come that close. Maria Sharapova tried her best and many others have tried and failed. We're going through a period of finding a new top 10 and Swiatek is obviously doing well now. 

 RAFAEL NADAL, MADRID 2015

KAREN KHACHANOV, US OPEN 2018 

Who are your other new favourites? 

There are some characters coming through now. Frances Tiafoe, Holge Rune. They’re quite special. It's exciting again because we've come to the end of a certain generation. After you’ve shot the same players for so long, you want something different and new. We're getting that right now, so it's exciting. They’re a different breed. The way they've been brought up, it feels like they're gonna be more accessible and we'll be able to shoot them in a different way, maybe in the build-up and at the end of the match. I'm excited because the way we shoot tennis will evolve. Some previous players actually said, “No, we don't want a photographer in that part or right in the tunnel. We don't want this part represented or shown.” 

Whereas now obviously with Netflix’s Break Point coming out and more players sharing on socials, they're used to being filmed in locker rooms and around the tournament grounds. As well as being up against other professional press photographers, there are so many Instagram tennis accounts now, plus the public posting. How do you compete with that? 

There's a little competition amongst ourselves to get the best angle or seats or positions sometimes during a match as a professional photographer, but you're right, with the change of social media, there are a lot more short clips and videos being taken by anyone around that court.  They’re two steps behind us, shooting on a phone. They’re capturing things that we wouldn't probably do because we're trying to shoot in a certain way, but we are up against all of that now. I'm very conscious of the way that we shoot. Speed is really important now. We have to be able to keep up with everything in this world now, so we do need to send live photos to our clients and shoot in a different way. 

People who haven’t been to tournaments might not realise how incredibly intimate it can feel. You get even closer. What ways have you seen players interact? 

Andy Murray's quite a classic for complaining about things and just recently at Indian Wells, in between points, he was saying, “I'm too tired. I should have gone to bed much early last night.” There are silly things you wouldn't expect them to say to their coach and their box. It's heard by the photographers, but it's not really picked up on TV or the microphones and it's funny and interesting to hear.

ANDY MURRAY, WIMBLEDON 2012

FABIO FOGNINI, ROME 2022

What else do you hear the players saying from the pit? 

They’re battling their own demons most of the time. It's generally their battle with themselves and blaming their coaches. I don't think the coach ever takes it personally though, because they’re always absolutely fine afterwards. It's just them releasing some anger and the coach has to put up with. 

Tennis can be so frustrating. You see people battling themselves and getting so angry… 

You have to be so mentally strong. Rafa was always told not to smash his racket or throw it and he's kept to that brilliantly. And Federer was so calm, so you didn’t know what he was feeling, which is probably hard for an opponent. And then you've got the opposite, which is Kyrgios. He'll absolutely show everything that he's feeling and thinking on the court. 

What’s the vibe like between the photographers? 

There’s a camaraderie, but you’re still competing against each other. There are a lot of pit arguments. The rule is that the ones at the front should stay low and then the ones at the back get their shot higher up. Sometimes a photographer on the lower deck will stand up just because they're trying to create a different angle — and they're in their right to move to get a better picture — but it affects others and there's been arguments. It’s replicating what's on court: they're having a contest and the pit gang are also having our own contest. You have jostling and clashing of cameras. It gets tense. There are some rivalries, and there are some tough ones that you'll never win over, but generally it's a lot of fun.

Words: Stuart Brumfitt
Images: Julian Finney