Serena Williams' goodbye to U.S. Open a ratings boon to ESPN

NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams' long goodbye to the U.S. Open proved a boon to ESPN.

Facing down the possibility of a first-round knockout, Williams instead gave the sports network four nights of prime-time programming last week, with her eventual loss to Ajla Tomljanovic reaching the largest audience of any tennis match in ESPN's 43-year history.

ESPN happily adjusted on the fly, asking Open officials to move Williams' doubles match with her sister Venus to Thursday evening, and moving a college football game off its main network on Friday to make room for the match with Tomljanovic.

That Friday match reached 4.8 million viewers, peaking at 6.9 million, the Nielsen company said. It beat the previous record-holder, the 3.9 million who watched the 2012 Wimbledon men's final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

“We knew it was going to be a huge story,” said John Suchenski, ESPN's programming director, on Wednesday. “I'm not sure we knew how much it was going to play out, audience-wise. Obviously, we're thrilled by the numbers.”

Williams' first-round victory over Danka Kovinic last Monday, along with a post-match ceremony, was seen by 2.7 million people — or 289% above comparable first round coverage in 2021, Nielsen said. Wednesday's victory over Anett Kontaveit reached 2.3 million. Thursday's sister act, the first time ESPN has shown a doubles match in prime time, averaged 2.2 million.

Suchenski said he hoped for a “halo effect” that would boost the Open ratings for a Williams-less second week, but ESPN is cognizant of reality.

“The first week was the Serena Open,” tennis analyst John McEnroe said during Sunday's coverage. “Now it's the U.S. Open.”

Among broadcast networks last week, ABC led with a prime time average of 4.2 million viewers. NBC had 2.63 million,...