- Wednesday’s 6+-Hour Late Session Tops Action to Date with 0.8 Rating
- Venus vs. Serena XXX – Friday 7 p.m. ET – Now on ESPN
After three long days at the US Open, tennis’ fourth and final Major event of the year, ESPN’s overnight ratings – combining ESPN and ESPN2 – are up 20%, from 0.5 to 0.6. This covers 35.5 hours of exclusive live coverage, 2.5 more than the 33 scheduled (8% extra), thanks to late-night, long-running matches. This year’s schedule features the US Open’s first ever “double doubleheaders” as there are scheduled night session twinbills on both Arthur Ashe Stadium and the new Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The highest-rated telecast so far was last night’s six-hour, 15-minute marathon featuring Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and more that lasted until 1:15 a.m. ET. The telecast peaked with a 1.3 rating from 8:30 – 9:15 p.m.
The top 10 metered markets after three days:
West Palm Beach, Fla. 1.3
Columbus, Ohio 1.1
Tampa 1.0
Washington D.C. 1.0
Norfalk, Va. 1.0
New Orleans 0.9
Birmingham, Ala. 0.9
Las Vegas 0.9
New York 0.8
Richmond, Va. 0.8
Venus vs. Serena XXX – Now on ESPN
On Friday, the action also starts at noon on ESPN, and now will stay there for the 30th meeting of sisters Venus and Serena Williams in a third round match (was to transition to ESPN2 at 6 p.m.; will now change at 9 p.m.). The older sister, Venus, 38, is seeded #16 while Serena, 36, is #17. It is the earliest the two have met in a Major tournament since their very first professional meeting, the Round of 64 at the 1998 Australian Open.
ESPN and the US Open
ESPN has exclusive live action of the US Open with 130 hours on television and 1,300 more streaming live on the ESPN app via ESPN+ and ESPN3. The daily action from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will culminate with the Women’s Championship on Saturday, Sept. 8, and the Men’s Championship on Sunday, Sept. 9, both at 4 p.m.
| Date | Time (ET) | Event | Network(s) |
| Aug 27 – Sep 5 | 11 a.m. | US Open – up to 16 courts | ESPN+
ESPN3 |
| Fri, Aug 31 | Noon | US Open Third Round | ESPN |
| 7 p.m. | Primetime at the US Open presented by IBM – Third Round
Venus Williams vs. Serena Williams |
ESPN | |
| 9 p.m. | Primetime at the US Open presented by IBM – Third Round | ESPN2 |
-30-
