100 Slams Later, Clive Still Capturing Stars' Artistry & Ecstasy

What has changed more over the past 36 years? The way tennis is played or the way photographers ply their craft at tournaments?

Like the ‘greatest player of all time’ debate, there is no clear answer.

One man who has witnessed significant change in both is legendary Getty Images photographer Clive Brunskill, who is celebrating his 100th Grand Slam appearance at this year’s Australian Open. The 55-year-old Briton began his career ‘shooting the scenes, strawberries and cream and pretty girls’ at Wimbledon in 1984, rather than shooting the men’s final between John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. (For those of you doing the math, Clive has missed a few Slams since his debut at the All England Club.)

Below, Clive shares his thoughts and favourite images from his 36 years of covering the majors.

Dustin Brown at Wimbledon, a couple of years ago. I think he was playing Novak that day. Just a really fun guy to photograph.

This is Andy Murray after winning Wimbledon for the first time in 2013. I was focussed on the fans, who were all holding mobile phones. I remember taking a similar shot of Pete Sampras 20 years before, when no-one was pointing a mobile phone at him. There was just the odd camera.

I love this picture of Novak bringing the trophy at the French Open flanked by all the ballkids. Rafa doesn’t normally bring in the trophy. He just high fives the ballkids. He’s just completed the career Grand Slam after trying so hard to achieve it. It was just a great moment.

How has the way tennis photographers work changed since you started?
In the early 80s you would take the films home at the end of a Slam, process them and make a sheet with your best 20 or 40 slides. That was it. You’d then post that into magazines. Then we started transmitting photos. You’d have a black and white photo and you’d have a drum, curl the photo around the drum, type the caption and then you’d have to spin the drum and it would send a wired print down the phone line. You’d be lucky if you got two or three pictures out for the whole day. The lines were terrible and would break. The guy in London would say ‘I didn’t get that mate, can you resend it?’

Then computers came in. You’d still do film, but colour negatives. You’d process that and then scan the negative and you’d send your best 12 pictures of the day, not the 200 we send today. But they would each take 21 minutes to send. You’d sit up till three in morning waiting for the line to send the pictures.

Today, you’re filing courtside straight from the camera. You can send 70, 80 pictures, all while the camera is still shooting. It’s just ridiculous. It’s a massive change.

This was the great Wimbledon final of 2014, the year Novak got married. I went to shoot his wedding the week after this. I love the fact that both Roger and Novak are at the net. You don’t often see that. I was lucky that I was on the right lense at the time. You can prepare all you like but often it’s luck.

Federer’s in the shadow against the blue of the court in Melbourne. It’s just the way he’s silhouetted. You can tell it’s Roger with the hair and the headband and his style.

How has your relationship with the players changed over the years?
My generation was Becker, Edberg, Sampras, but you never got to know them that well. I don’t think they needed to know you that well because there was nothing in it for them. There was no social media, so Pete didn’t need a picture. I’ve done jobs with Pete later in life and he was a completely different guy to when he was World No. 1. Now, the players love the photography. They love their Instagram, so photographers have a value to them. The Nadals, Djokovics, Federers understand they have to do social media for their sponsors or whatever. So they need our pictures.

That aside, I got to know these guys because they were kids coming up. I’ve been very lucky to know Novak and Roger and Rafa and a lot of the other guys.

French Open storm clouds, which is quite nice. I love the gray clouds set against the colour of the clay. Just an interesting picture.

Here’s Andrew Ilie, who was known for ripping off his shirt after a win, at Roland Garros. He fell on the floor, played the shot and won the point. This was the full frame, exactly to the edge. Nothing is cut off. Manual focus on slide film.

Talk a little about the differences in shooting at the four Grand Slams. Has anything changed over the years?
They make it very easy for us here at the Australian Open. No airs and graces. You can shoot from many different places. You can go up the catwalks. And you can have plenty of shooters. We can have four people on centre court.

If you’re at Wimbledon, even if you have four guys sitting in the office, only one can go on court because it’s so tight for space. There are no upstairs positions like other grand slams except a position in the roof opposite the royal box end which holds around eight photographers and positions on platform B which is below to the right of the royal box when looking down the court which holds a very limited number of photographers. The good thing about this position is it’s very close to the player family boxes so you always get players turning to celebrate at you!

Wimbledon is a very special place for me. It’s the home of tennis and the sport feels like it’s being played in an English country garden. I always love the start of Wimbledon and the buzz on the first day around the grounds as players take to the near perfect lush green courts. I always find it sad two or three days in when the courts start to show signs of wear. I wish they stayed like they are on the first day for the entire tournament!

Contrary to the restrictions at Wimbledon, you can shoot wherever you want at Roland Garros, even from the public seats, as long as we don’t annoy people. Next year the French will have a roof, which is great for TV but not so good for us. As photographers we want light, we want the sun, the beautiful magic light that just clips the players in the evening.

The US Open is completely crazy. It’s noise, New York people, very brash and difficult to work now that the roof is on. We don’t have sunlight after 1.30, so it’s like an indoor tournament for us. We used to have beautiful light. That has changed our photography.

The US Open holds some incredibly special moments for me, none moreso than the 2012 Open when I photographed Andy Murray winning his first Slam and Britain’s first Slam since Fred Perry 70 years previous!

I love the atmosphere around the US Open and NYC is a fabulous place to be last week August and first week of September.

Grigor Dimitrov fell over at the Australian Open and still managed to put the ball back into play.

I just love the emotion of Rafa upon winning Roland Garros. We had three photographers on the final so I could afford to be up in the roof. But had he won the match at the other end of the court, that would have been no good for me.

This is Becker after winning the Aussie Open in 1991 to clinch the No. 1 Ranking for the first time. I love the emotion. I captured this of Pete with his trademark slam-dunk smash at Wimbledon.

Novak, in the great match of 2012. He just ripped his shirt and threw it in the air. I just love the emotion in his face when he beat Rafa. This was Pat Rafter after he beat Tim Henman in the fourth round of the 2001 Australian Open. When he won, he did what Andrew Ilie used to do. As he ripped his shirt, I shot it. You can see all the fibres still going. The picture got used all over the place, covers, an advertising campaign for Qantas. Pat was presented with the picture when he retired. It’s one of my favourite pictures, actually.

Here’s Andre Agassi kissing his second US Open trophy. Trophy presentations are always so colourful at Flushing Meadows with the American flags in the background.

Stefan Edberg was one of the most elegant players to photograph. His serve/volleying was a delight to watch, especially at the US Open, where he won the title twice. This was taken leaning over the back of the old centre court, now the Louis Armstrong Stadium. This was a dynamic angle for us in the late ’80s & early ’90s, but sadly we’ve now lost this position due to the renovations.