Cal Tennis Alum Covers USA-Colombia Davis Cup Qualifier

BERKELEY – Former Golden Bear Audrey Mayer mixed tennis with her current role in television news when the Davis Cup qualifiers came to Nevada.
 
The Cal women's tennis alumna (class of 2018) is a general assignment reporter for KRNV News 4 in Reno, which hosted Davis Cup qualifying matches between the United States men and Colombia from March 4-5. While Mayer hadn't covered sports before, she jumped at the chance to report on the elite event at the Reno Events Center.
 
"It's the one sport I knew a lot about, so I decided I had to show off my knowledge and skills," she said. "It was actually my first time covering tennis, and for a tournament like the Davis Cup as my first go around, it was a huge opportunity."
 
Reporting on the qualifier also put her in touch with another Golden Bear in U.S. player Rajeev Ram, a former Cal men's tennis volunteer assistant coach. Mayer interviewed Ram before the matches, and she also got on the court to hit with the four-time Grand Slam doubles champion and Olympic silver medalist.
 
"Anyone like Rajeev who has ties to Berkeley knows what a special place it is and what a great university it is," she said. "We shared that Golden Bear connection, even though that was the first time we met. We immediately clicked because we both had that in common."
 
Mayer enjoyed covering the qualifier, which resulted in the United States beating Colombia, 3-2, and advancing to the Davis Cup finals. Ram and partner Jack Sock clinched the victory with a 6-3, 6-4 doubles win over Nicolas Barrientos and Juan-Sebastian Cabal.
 
But sports haven't played a big a role in Mayer's professional life the last few years. She worked as a reporter, producer, and anchor for KULR-8 in Montana for two years and has worked at KRNV as a reporter for the last year. She's even started forecasting the weather at News 4. 

 
"In the broadcast industry you often have to start in a local market," Mayer said. "I've had to wear so many hats because you sometimes have small newsrooms. It's a cool opportunity for me to experience a broad spectrum of jobs and see what the right fit is for me. I've done everything under the sun in the news industry. I eventually want to narrow it down and focus on a specialty."
 
Mayer was able to foster both of her passions at Cal. When playing for Cal didn't work out her freshman year, she joined CalTV, a student-run online broadcast station. She even interviewed her future head coach, Amanda Augustus, in a preview of the team's season. Mayer later walked on to the Cal squad as a sophomore and spent three seasons playing for the Bears.
 
After graduation, Mayer spent a year as a Pac-12 Conference Sports Management Fellow in San Francisco. The position included event marketing, public relations and administrative work.
 
"I wanted some connection to sports since it had been a big part of my life," she said. "But sports management was not my passion. I worked around great people, and when I watched the Pac-12 Network staff work on their stories, I knew I wanted to try that out. That's what I wanted to do all along."