Two Czech women carried Wimbledon viewership to new heights on Saturday during the women’s singles final, while the first Alcaraz-less men’s singles final since 2022 took a slight dip.
The audience for the three-set thriller between Czech compatriots Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova averaged 1.9 million viewers on ESPN last Saturday, setting a new record for the women’s final at Wimbledon, according to Rob Schaefer in Sports Business Journal. Viewership for Noskova’s win jumped 46 percent versus Iga Swiatek’s straight-set win over Amanda Anisimova in 2025 (1.3 million viewers).
The telecast was certainly helped by the competitive nature of the match. Muchova incredibly saved five championship points in the second set to force a deciding third set, before falling 6-3 in the third. The length of the match — two hours and 28 minutes — was likely also beneficial for ESPN as the telecast crept later into the morning for West Coast viewers.
On the men’s side, Jannik Sinner’s four-set win over Alexander Zverev averaged 2.4 million viewers, down 17 percent versus Sinner’s win over Carlos Alcaraz last year (2.9 million viewers). The match did beat out Alcaraz’s three-set thumping of Novak Djokovic in 2024 (2.2 million viewers), but not the five-set thriller between the same two men in 2023 (3.2 million viewers).
Earlier in the event, Serena Williams’ return to Wimbledon averaged 1.8 million viewers during her first-round loss to Maya Joint. The match lifted ESPN to its best first-round on record (734,000 viewers).
Overall, ESPN’s coverage of Wimbledon averaged 853,000 viewers over two weeks, up 18 percent versus last year’s average and its second-highest average viewership since it gained rights for the tournament in 2003.
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.