Thousands of tennis fans travel to tournaments every year to watch the best players in the world take to the court, surrounded by thousands of people. However, it should come as no surprise that the number of fans watching from home on tv or through live streaming is much bigger. But just how much bigger? Well, to answer that question we’ve put together a list of what we believe to be the most interesting tennis viewership statistics for some of the most popular tennis events in the world.
General tennis viewership statistics
Based on 2019 data, Eurosport found that the growth in digital Grand Slam viewing was up 20% with fans watching 36% longer.
Approximately 973 Million viewers watched ATP events in 2015, compared to 395 Million that watched WTA events in 2015.
The WTA estimated a record breaking global audience of 700 million viewers for WTA events in 2019.
Between 2009 and 2019, the ATP Tour Finals hosted at the O2 Arena in London reached a cumulative global audience of more than 850 million across more than 175 territories.
In 2018, the WTA noted a projected broadcast viewership of 600 million and a digital viewership of 300 million, up 20% on the previous year.
The WTA’s Chinese broadcasting partners iQiyi reported a growth in viewership in China from four million people in 2014 to 39 million people in 2017.
Australian Open tennis viewership statistics
The 2020 Australian Open Men’s Final between Novak Djokovic & Dominic Thiem achieved a national peak audience of 2.668 million viewers and an average of 2.043 viewers.
The 2020 Australian Open Women’s Final which saw Sofia Kenin defeat Garbine Muguruza secured a national peak audience of 1.639 million.
French Open tennis viewership statistics
According to Sports Pro Media, the 2020 French Open Men’s Singles Final drew its best average domestic television audience since 2013, with an average of 3.77 million viewers watching as Rafael Nadal won his 13th title at Roland Garros on FTV 2.
The 2020 French Open Women’s Singles Final attracted an average audience of 1.8 million viewers to FTV 2 when Iga Swiatek became the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam event.
NBC’s French Open coverage of the Men’s Final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic attracted an average audience of 1.58 million viewers in the US, down 11% since the previous year.
The 2020 French Open Women’s Singles Final recorded an average audience of 763,000, down 26% on the previous year despite American Sofia Kenin challenging for the title.
According to FTV2, a total, 38.1 million viewers saw at least one minute of the French Open in 2020, which is eight million more than in 2019 and a record since 2013.
In the US, the 2019 French Open Men’s Final between Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem attracted an average audience of 1.62 million viewers to NBC’s broadcast of the event.
The 2019 Roland Garros Women’s Final between Simona Halep and Sloane Stephens drew an audience of 1.45 million viewers on NBC in the US, up 37% on the previous year.
Wimbledon tennis viewership statistics
The Wimbledon 2019 Men’s Singles Final that saw Novak Djokovic defeat Roger Federer in a five hour epic match recorded the highest viewership since 2012. A total of 9.6 Million viewers watched on BBC1 in the UK. In America, ESPN reported a total of 3,329,000 viewers, making it their third highest tennis audience ever.
Johanna Konta’s victory over Simona Halep in the 2017 Wimbledon Women’s Singles Quarter Final set a new British television record for the women’s tournament, with a peak of 7.4 million viewers watching the BBC’s coverage.
The Wimbledon 2012 Men’s Singles Final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray recorded a peak viewership of 16.9 Million viewers towards the end of the match, and an average of 11.4 Million viewers across the four sets. This was the first time a British man reached the Men’s singles final in 74 years.
The 2009 Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick attracted a peak audience of 11.1 million viewers to the BBC’s live coverage of the event. An average of 7.5 million viewers was recorded throughout the four and a half hour, five-set thriller, eventually peaking as Federer sealed victory over the American.
The highest average figure for a Wimbledon final was 17.3 million when Bjorn Borg beat John McEnroe in 1980.
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US Open tennis viewership statistics
The 2015 US Open Men’s Singles Final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer attracted 3.32 million viewers to ESPN’s live coverage of the event.
The 2019 US Open Women’s Singles Final which saw Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu defeat Serena Williams recorded an average audience of 3.22 million viewers on ESPN.
Serena Williams' controversial defeat to Naomi Osaka in the 2018 US Open Women’s Singles Final attracted 50% more viewers than the Men’s Final the following day. The Women’s match recorded an average of 3.1 million viewers, while the men’s match between Novak Djokovic and local favorite Juan Martin del Potro attracted 2.07 million viewers.
average audience of 3.1 million viewers. That’s 50% more than the 2.07 million viewers recorded during the Men’s final the following day between Novak Djokovic and local favorite Juan Martin del Potro.
The 2001 US Open Women’s Singles final which saw Venus Williams defeat Serena Williams to claim her second consecutive title was watched by a total of 22.7 Million viewers on CBS prime-time television.
Recent years have seen greater viewership numbers for the US Open Women’s Singles Final than for the Men’s Final. The US Open appears to be the only Grand Slam where local viewership is higher for the women’s finals than for the men’s finals. It is worth noting that the women’s final traditionally takes place on the final Saturday of a Grand Slam event, while the men’s takes place on the final Sunday. In the US, NFL matches are traditionally played on Sundays, clashing with the men’s US Open men’s final.
Influence of local players on viewership
It seems that tennis viewership rises when local heroes take to the court.
The 2020 Roland Garros Women’s Final between Polish player Iga Swiatek and American Sofia Kenin achieved a record audience in Poland, with 2.52 million people watching on Eurosport and TVN.
The 2020 Australian Open Fourth Round encounter between Rafael Nadal and home favorite Nick Kyrgios peaked at 3.363 million viewers and achieved an average audience of 2.473 million. The peak viewership was more than that year's men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem.
The 2019 Australian Open Women’s Singles Final was the most-watched TV programme in Japan during the Australian Open, and at its peak moment around 22.5m viewers tuned into local channel NHK to watch a match that saw Osaka crowned as the first Japanese champion in Melbourne – and the first Asian World No.1.
During the 2019 Australian Open, Naomi Osaka’s and Kei Nishikori’s matches averaged between 2.5 million and 6 million viewers in Japan on long standing pay TV broadcaster WOWOW.
Simona Halep’s imperious display over Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Final saw a 110% increase in average audience numbers on Eurosport Romania, compared with Williams’ final against Angelique Kerber in 2018.
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