Gauff's Historic US Open Triumph Most-Watched Women's Grand Slam Final Ever On ESPN

| by Nurein Ahmed

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.

'Who Were Those People': McEnroe Hits Out At Gauff Haters After US Open Triumph
'Who Were Those People': McEnroe Hits Out At Gauff Haters After US Open Triumph

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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