ESPN has been dealt an unfortunate hand as it begins coverage of Wimbledon.
On Tuesday, two of America’s biggest tennis stars, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, experienced First Round upsets at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Gauff and Pegula entered the women’s singles draw as the No. 2 and 3 ranked players respectively.
The losses come shortly after TNT Sports earned the most-watched women’s singles final at the French Open since 2016 on the back of Gauff’s championship performance, which averaged 1.47 million viewers. Historically, the success of American women greatly helps television ratings during the four Grand Slam tennis events. Gauff’s French Open win in May, for instance, nearly doubled viewership from last year’s final between Iga Świątek and Jasmine Paolini.
That hasn’t always been the case on the men’s side, though there’s been many fewer opportunities for American men to even draw large audiences late in a Grand Slam. Last year’s U.S. Open final, which featured American Taylor Fritz, was down 28% versus the 2023 final without an American present.
But given the choice, ESPN would undoubtedly take as many Americans as possible advancing as late as possible into Wimbledon.
Gauff, in particular, has become a superstar in American sporting culture. The 21-year-old has already claimed two Grand Slam titles, drawing comparisons to the former standard-bearer of American tennis, Serena Williams, who was quite the ratings draw herself.
The loss of Gauff and Pegula might not hurt the women’s singles finals as much as one might think. Last year’s final between Barbora Krejcikova and Paolini averaged 1.45 million viewers, the most-watched women’s final since Simona Halep beat Serena Williams in 2019. However, not having Gauff and Pegula throughout the early and intermediate rounds might hurt the tournament’s overall viewership number. Last year, Wimbledon telecasts averaged 677,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2.
Puck sports media reporter John Ourand seems to agree.
Poor ESPN… https://t.co/7pSPxHibMB
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) July 1, 2025
Whether the early exits from American stars translate to a meaningful viewership decline for ESPN remains to be seen. But it’s hard to imagine that two of the biggest names in American tennis losing in the First Round would help the Worldwide Leader.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.