The TV ratings and viewership for the 2023 US Open were revealed recently. The women’s singles final fared better than the men’s, but both were dwarfed by NFL and NCAA Football numbers. Tennis fans on social media reacted to the statistics, suggesting many possible reasons behind this gulf. And competing against NFL is never going to help.
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The viewership in the USA remains low for their Grand Slam. Contrastingly, the French Open had much higher domestic viewing numbers. Watchers in the United States, however, had to deal with the ESPN blackout midway through the tournament. A corporate dispute between ESPN owners Disney and cable provider Spectrum meant ESPN was abruptly pulled for millions of Spectrum users.
Fans react to low US Open ratings and viewership
The women’s singles US Open final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka drew comparatively higher numbers. With 3.42 million watchers, it garnered a favorable rating of 0.72. The women’s summit clash happened on a Saturday (September 9), when no NFL games were scheduled. Additionally, with local hope Gauff on the court, it can be assumed more Americans tuned in to the final.
The men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev faced a tougher time. Played on a Sunday which also saw a full NFL schedule, it attracted 2.32 million viewers and a rating of only 0.46.
Fans on Twitter (now X) reacted to the relatively low numbers raked in by the two finals in New York. One fan pointed out how the domestic viewership for the US Open is low despite the USA’s huge population. He compared it to Roland Garros, which had more local watchers than the US Open despite France having a much smaller population.
A few other users pointed out that the finals clashed with NFL Week 1, which grabbed all the ratings. While there were no games on Saturday, the men’s singles final was competing with a packed schedule of 14 NFL matches on Sunday.
More American users said other sports have better viewing facilities and programs. They claimed tennis is not readily and freely available in the USA, like how one fan said the French Open was in France.
Few fans pointed out that the Disney-Spectrum issue negatively affected numbers. They believed that had this dispute not happened, the US Open would have gotten higher ratings.
Streaming/telecasting issues is a problem faced not only by American tennis fans, but by fans all over the world.
Tennis continues to suffer because of off-field issues
All the aforementioned reasons discussed by fans have contributed to the US Open finals, as well as tennis in general, having low numbers in the USA. Many other countries around the globe do not have a fixed broadcaster for tennis tournaments. Some countries, despite being huge potential markets, do not get to see all tennis events across the year.
India, for example, has a fixed broadcaster for Grand Slams but does not telecast any ATP/WTA competitions. For that, viewers in India have to access other means and pay extra. A similar story can be found in many countries, making tennis inaccessible to the masses.
Even players are not spared. Medvedev confessed to using pirated streams to watch matches in the USA because of the Disney-Spectrum dispute. The financial standoff between the two companies over carriage fees and payments meant that Spectrum cable subscribers missed out on crucial portions of the US Open. The higher-ups in tennis need to ensure such debacles do not repeat and that the sport grows and reaches a wide audience.
