A pair of made-for-TV French Open singles finals delivered viewership increases and multi-year highs in the tournament’s first year on TNT Sports.
Sunday’s five-set Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner French Open men’s final averaged 1.76 million viewers across TNT and truTV, up 8% from last year’s Alcaraz-Alexander Zverev final on NBC, which also went five sets but was not as compelling (1.6M).
Alcaraz’ win, which peaked with 2.6 million in the 2:30 PM ET quarter-hour, was the most-watched men’s final at Roland Garros since Novak Djokovic-Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021 (1.9M). Viewership was on par with the Sinner-Taylor Fritz US Open men’s final on ABC last September, which aired on broadcast television and featured an American at a U.S. tournament (though it also aired opposite the NFL).
On Saturday, the three-set Coco Gauff-Aryna Sabalenka women’s final averaged 1.47 million — up 94% from last year’s record-low 756,000 for Iga Świątek-Jasmine Paolini on NBC last year.
Gauff’s win, the first by an American at Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015, was the most-watched women’s final since Williams last made the final in a 2016 loss to Garbine Muguruza (1.5M).
As was the case throughout NBC’s run with the French Open, the reported viewership figures encompass the entire telecast window. (Though as the Alcaraz-Sinner went the full five sets, the telecast window and match window would be one in the same.)
The full tournament averaged 399,000 viewers across TNT Sports, up 25% from last year on NBC and Tennis Channel.
