Wimbledon winners Wimbledon winners Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova [Images via Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports]

Viewership for both the gentlemen’s and ladies’ finales at Wimbledon increased and hit multi-year highs over the weekend.

On the gentlemen’s side, Carlos Alcaraz’s five-set victory over Novak Djokovic averaged 3.198 million viewers on ESPN Sunday, the most-watched finale on the gentlemen’s side since Djokovic’s five-set win over Roger Federer in 2019 (3.329 million). It’s also the second-most watched finale over the last decade, topping every championship from 2014-18.

Over on the ladies’ side, Marketa Vondrousova defeated Ons Jabeur in straight sets, and the finale averaged 1.331 million viewers Saturday on ESPN. That’s the most-watched ladies’ finale since Angelique Kerber’s straight-set victory over Serena Williams in 2018, which averaged 1.485 million viewers.

Both matches had encores on ABC over the weekend that also performed well. The gentlemen’s championship averaged 948,000 on Sunday, while the ladies’ championship averaged 762,000, per Sports Media Watch.

Semifinals earlier in the week were also up. The gentlemen’s semis on Friday averaged 891,000 on ESPN, with the ladies’ semis averaging 699,000. That’s an increase of 38% on the gentlemen’s side and a 31% increase on the ladies’ side.

Overall, ESPN’s coverage of Wimbledon averaged 691,000 viewers, its most-watched edition of the tournament since 2019.

[Sports Business Journal, Sports Media Watch]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.