Serena Williams’ final U.S. Open match last Friday was a grand slam for ESPN. The third-round faceoff, in which Williams lost to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovich 7-5, 6-7, 6-1, was the most-watched tennis telecast in ESPN’s 43-year history. An average of 4.6 million viewers (P2+) tuned in to watch the match held at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, which likely signaled the end of Williams’ storied 25-year career. That bested the previous record of 3.9 million for the 2012 Wimbledon Men’s Championship, when Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray, in ESPN’s first year with exclusivity and first-ball-to-last-ball coverage from London.
ESPN averaged first-day record of 1.7 million viewers for PrimeTime at the U.S. Open (7 p.m. – 12:03 a.m. ET) on Monday, an increase of 279% over last year and up 40% over the previous high in 2019.
Serena Williams has signed a deal with Amazon Studios under which she will create scripted and non-scripted programming, including a docuseries that follows her exploits on and off the court, […]
