Arguably, the two biggest stars in men’s tennis secured a nine-year record for ESPN over the weekend.
The Australian Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, which began Sunday at 3:30 a.m. ET on ESPN, averaged 730,000 viewers. Alcaraz’s four-set win over Djokovic marked a 57% increase over last year’s AO men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev. It’s the largest audience for a men’s singles final since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s five-set thriller in 2017, which averaged 1.1 million viewers.
The men’s semifinals performed well, too. A five-set win by Alcaraz over Zverev averaged more than the men’s final, likely because its length allowed some viewers to wake up and watch the end. Alcaraz’s win averaged 743,000 viewers, marking the second-most-watched men’s semifinals since 2014.
The women’s singles final also saw a healthy increase over last year. Elena Rybakina’s win over Aryna Sabalenka averaged 487,000 viewers on ESPN, up 8% versus 2025 when American Madison Keys defeated Sabalenka.
Overall, the 15-day tournament saw a 29% year-over-year increase across ESPN, ESPN2, and the ESPN app, averaging 303,000 viewers per window, good for the most-watched Australian Open since 2020.
While Australian Open viewership data is hardly do-or-die for ESPN, considering the massive time difference, this year might’ve taken on a bit of added importance because of the network’s decision to move several featured early-round matches behind the ESPN Unlimited paywall. As a result, this year’s Australian Open was less accessible than in prior years, where all matches aired on the much more affordable ESPN+ service.
That decision lost some goodwill among tennis fans, but apparently not enough to prevent a trove of them from tuning in during the overnight hours to watch the action stateside.