Coco Gauff’s US Open win drew bigger viewing figures than Novak Djokovic’s final match

Coco Gauff’s maiden Grand Slam title win at the US Open was the “most-viewed” women’s Grand Slam final match on ESPN and it attracted more viewers than Novak Djokovic’s victory over Daniil Medvedev on the Sunday.

American broadcaster ESPN has released its viewing figures for the 2023 US Open and they make for pretty reading for women’s tennis as Gauff’s final win over Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday delivered 3.4 million viewers.

That is an incredible 92% increase on the 2022 total when Iga Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur, but it is not too big a surprise as Gauff was the first American winner since Sloane Stephens in 2017.

The 19-year-old defeated Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the showpiece match on Arthur Ashe Stadium to become the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 1999 to win a major.

However, although these figures are higher than in recent years, they are still lot lower than compared to historical figures as Serena Williams’ 2013 US Open final win over Victoria Azarenka attracted 6.2 million viewers.

Meanwhile, the Djokovic- Medvedev final drew 2.3 million viewers, an eight per cent increase from last year when Carlos Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud to win his maiden Grand Slam title.

This year’s Djokovic-Medvedev encounter – which was won 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 by the Serbian as he secured a fourth title at Flushing Meadows and a record 24th Grand Slam trophy – was also the most-viewed men’s final since Rafael Nadal’s 2019 win over Medvedev when 2.8m viewers tuned it.

And while some will say it was a result of a boring final, tennis competes with NFL on Sundays so the figures are always likely to be lower.

Furthermore, the tournament averaged one million viewers overall on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 – a 25% increase from 2021, and down 17% from 2022 – although Serena Williams’ final US Open appearance last year gave the ratings a big boost.

This year’s men’s and women’s semi-final matches averaged a record 1.9 million viewers – up one per cent from 2022 – while the women’s last-four clashes between Gauff and Karolina Muchova and Sabalenka and Madison Keys delivered 1.8 million viewers on ESPN – a 56% year-on-year increase.

The boom in viewing figures comes on the back of the United States Tennis Association announcing a major jump in attendance figures for the season-ending Grand Slam.

A total of 957,387 fans attended the three-week event at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with the figure including the main draws and the US Open Fan Week.

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