Wimbledon viewership finished at a six-year high on ESPN.
The Wimbledon tennis tournament averaged 721,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, marking the highest average for the event since 2019 — the last time Roger Federer and Serena Williams made the finals — and fourth-highest since ESPN began airing coverage exclusively in 2012. Viewership increased 6% from last year.
Sunday’s Jannik Sinner-Carlos Alcaraz Wimbledon men’s final averaged 3.2 million viewers on ESPN, up 26% from Alcaraz-Novak Djokovic last year. Sinner’s four-set win, which peaked with four million viewers, averaged 2.9 million during the full telecast window (+31%).
The full telecast window comfortably outdrew the rivals’ five-set epic at the French Open in June, which averaged 1.8 million. Wimbledon traditionally averages more viewers than the French.
The previous day, Iga Swiatek’s historic “double bagel” of American Amanda Anisimova in the women’s final averaged 1.9 million — still up 18% from Barbora Krejčíková-Jasmine Paolini a year ago. The full telecast window declined slightly from 1.4 to 1.3 million.
Keep in mind both singles finals began at around 11 AM ET, about two hours later than the 9 AM start times that had long been the norm (and remain so for the French).
The singles finals were about the only rounds that did not hit a multi-year high, as ESPN had its most-watched semifinals in six years (1.1M, +33%), quarterfinals in six years (488K, +25%) and opening day of play on record.
