ESPN, the major US sports network, attracted a record audience for the final of the men’s US Open final and delivered huge viewership throughout the final tennis grand slam of the season.
Sunday’s final, in which Germany’s Alexander Zverev defeated American Ben Shelton in four sets, drew an average of 3.2 million viewers on ESPN’s sister network ABC.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
This represented the largest viewership on record since ESPN began televising the tournament in 2009. Viewership for the match peaked at 4 million.
Shelton became the first Black American man to reach the US Open singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972.
With the triumph, Zverev secured his first US Open title and second grand slam, after winning the French Open earlier this year.
ESPN also delivered its most-viewed men’s semi-final ever, with the All-American clash between Shelton and Frances Tiafoe attracting 3.1 million viewers.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s women’s final, won by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina over Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, averaged 2.7 million viewers, peaking at 3.2 million.
The audience was up 13% year-over-year (YOY) and was ESPN’s largest since 3.4 million watched American Coco Gauff beat Sabalenka in 2023.
This year’s men’s and women’s finals combined to average 3 million viewers, up 9% YOY.
The women’s semi-finals brought in 2.2 million viewers, which was up 24% and became the most-watched in ESPN history. The semi-finals peaked at 2.6 million viewers.
The men’s and women’s quarter-finals averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN.
Earlier in the tournament, ESPN delivered its largest US Open opening day audience ever on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, with 914,000 average viewers, up 13% YOY. Action on ABC averaged 1.25 million viewers, a 7% rise from 2025.
Meanwhile, the second round drew 834,000 average viewers on ESPN/ESPN2, and the third round across ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1.1 million, up 27% from last year, making it the most-viewed since 2022.
Overall, the event ranks as ESPN’s most-viewed US Open since 2022. The two-week-long tournament across ESPN networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) averaged 1.2 million viewers, a 4% increase YOY.
ESPN holds the exclusive domestic broadcasting rights for the US Open through 2037 under a 12-year contract extension that was signed with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in 2024.
The long-term renewal came into effect with the 2026 tournament and is valued at an estimated $2.04 billion ($170 million annually).
