tennis
US Open men's final draws record audience of 3.2 million
The US Open men's final between champion Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC, the largest viewership for that match since ESPN's family of networks began televising the tournament in 2009.
16 September 2026 04:39 · 1 min
NEW YORK -- The US Open men's final between champion Alexander Zverev and American Ben Shelton averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC, the largest viewership for that match since ESPN's family of networks began televising the tournament in 2009.
The women's final -- won by Elena Rybakina over Aryna Sabalenka -- averaged 2.7 million and was up 13% from last year, ESPN said Tuesday.
The quarterfinals averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN. The latest-finishing match in US Open history between Carlos Alcaraz and Shelton averaged 1.6 million, with 967,000 viewers staying with the broadcast even during the match's final moments from 3:30 a.m. to 3:40 a.m. ET.
The semifinal featuring Americans Frances Tiafoe and Shelton averaged 3.1 million viewers and was the largest men's semifinal audience for ESPN.
ESPN's full US Open coverage averaged 1.2 million viewers, the largest audience since 2022.
