With Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal winning straight set matches against relative nobodies, overnight ratings plunged for the Wimbledon singles finals on NBC.
Sunday’s Nadal/Tomas Berdych Men’s Final drew a mere 1.9 overnight rating on NBC, down 55% from Federer/Roddick last year (4.2), down 59% from Nadal/Federer in 2008 (4.6) and down 41% from Federer/Nadal in 2007 (3.2).
The 1.9 overnight is easily the lowest for the Men’s Final at Wimbledon since at least 1997. Overnights prior to ’97 were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s S. Williams/Vera Zvonareva Women’s Final drew a 1.8 overnight, down 33% from S. Williams/V. Williams last year (2.7), down 47% from V. Williams/S. Williams in 2008 (3.4), and down 36% from V. Williams/Bartoli in 2007 (2.8).
This marks the lowest overnight for the Women’s Final at Wimbledon since at least 1995. Overnights prior to ’95 were not immediately available.
To put the numbers in perspective, no Wimbledon final — Men’s or Women’s — had drawn less than a 2.0 overnight between 1997 and 2009. The lowest overnight during that period was a 2.2 for the Mauresmo/Henin Women’s Final in ’06, and that was the only final to dip below a 2.5.
In fact, only six of the 26 Wimbledon finals between 1997 and 2009 drew less than a 3.0 overnight.
