Americans fuel US Open ratings surge

Whether Serena Williams in week one or Frances Tiafoe in week two, Americans dominated the US Open in the ratings, if not on the court.

Coverage of the US Open averaged 1.21 million viewers on the ESPN family of networks, marking the third-largest audience for the event since ESPN began airing it exclusively in 2015. This year’s average trails only 2015 — when Williams pursued the calendar Grand Slam (1.27M) — and 2019 (1.28M).

Williams, playing in what was believed to be her final US Open, was the primary draw of this year’s tournament. Her final match was the most-watched tennis telecast window ever on ESPN and her three total singles matches were among the five most-watched of the tournament. Even her doubles match with sister Venus Williams averaged an audience on par with the eventual men’s final and well ahead of the women’s final.

Though Williams was the driving force behind the viewership gains, she was not the only draw. Last Friday’s Carlos Alcaraz-Frances Tiafoe men’s semifinal averaged 3.1 million viewers, trailing only Williams’ second and third round matches as the most-watched of the tournament. Tiafoe, whose semifinal run was the longest by an American man since 2006, played in two of the top five — with his fourth round upset of Rafael Nadal fifth at 2.4 million.

Viewership for the full Alcaraz-Tiafoe telecast window (2.96M) jumped two-thirds from last year to rank as the highest for any Grand Slam semifinal — men’s or women’s — ever on ESPN. The full men’s semifinal coverage, which included Casper Ruud’s afternoon win over Karen Khachanov, averaged 2.2 million viewers, was the most-watched semifinal day of any Grand Slam event in ESPN history.

The top Coco Gauff match was her semifinal against Caroline Garcia last Thursday, which averaged 2.1 million viewers. Nick Kyrgios’ matches topped out at 1.7 million for his win over Daniil Medvedev in the round of 16 and his quarterfinal loss to Khachanov.

As for the singles finals, the Alcaraz-Ruud men’s final averaged a 1.15 rating and 2.15 million viewers last Saturday and the Iga Swiatek-Ons Jabeur women’s final a 1.0 and 1.78 million last Sunday. Both figures are for the full telecast window. That is a more significant caveat for the women’s match, which ended well within its three-hour timeslot.

Ratings for Alcaraz-Rudd increased 3% over last year’s men’s final, which saw Novak Djokovic go for the calendar Grand Slam (1.12, ~2.1M). Swiatek-Jabeur ratings sank 29% from last year’s matchup of unseeded teenagers Emma Raducanu-Leylah Fernandez (1.4, ~2.4M).

Overall, viewership for this year’s open jumped 50 percent from last year, when Williams did not play due to injury.