Teenage phenom Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title on home soil last Saturday, a match that has broken barriers in the landscape of television viewership in the United States.
Gauff fought back from a set down to stun new No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to become the youngest American player to win the US Open since Serena Williams back in 1999. The match was watched by a record 3.4 million viewers on ESPN.
It is the most-watched telecast of any women's Grand Slam final on the giant sports network. Gauff's win fell slightly short of the most-watched US Open match of all time, with that distinction going to Serena Williams' farewell match in 2022.
The 2023 women's final was also the highest-streamed match of the tournament on ESPN+. In totality, viewership of this year's US Open women's final grew by a whopping 92% from 2022 when Iga Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur in the championship match.
By contrast, 2.3 million viewers watched the men's final where Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev to win an astonishing record-tying 24th Grand Slam crown. It represents an increase of up to 40% from last year's men's final.
Djokovic's victory last Sunday was also the second-most watched US Open men's final of all time behind the 2019 championships when Rafael Nadal outlasted Daniil Medvedev in an epic five-set match (2.8 million viewers).
In addition, the men's and women's semifinals jointly set a new record, for being the most-viewed of all time on ESPN averaging 1.9 million viewers. The women's semifinal matches exclusively garnered 1.8 million viewers, and both featured American players - Gauff and Madison Keys.
Coverage across ESPN and sister networks averaged one million viewers for the whole tournament, which is a massive drop of up to 17% from last year's tournament, which is largely attributed to Serena Williams' presence last year.
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