By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Photo credit: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport
A wild Wimbledon 2026 gave us upsets, underdogs and unlikely comebacks.
The Championships were massive ratings winner for ESPN.
ESPN’s coverage of The Championships scored double-digit audience increases and ranks as ESPN’s second most-viewed Wimbledon ever, highlighted by ESPN’s most-watched Wimbledon ladies’ final in history.
Overall, the two-week grass-court Grand Slam across ESPN networks—ABC, ESPN, ESPN2—saw an 18% year-over-year increase, averaging 853,000 viewers.
Serena Williams lost her Wimbledon singles comeback, but propelled ESPN to a record-setting start to the tournament.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion’s three-set loss to Aussie Maya Joint on Tuesday, June 30th, delivered record viewership for host broadcaster ESPN.
It was ESPN’s most widely-viewed Wimbledon Day 2 on record.
The network reports an average of 1.8 million viewers, including a peak audience of 2.1 million between 4-4:15 p.m. Eastern time, tuned it to see the 44-year-old iconic champion battle the Aussie 24 years younger. To put that viewing number in perspective, some non-Grand Slam matches on Tennis Channel, for instance, draw fewer than 100,000 viewers.
The Championships
The first all-Czech ladies’ Grand Slam final on Saturday gave ESPN a major ratings bounce.
No. 9 Linda Noskova’s 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over No. 10 Karolina Muchova, averaged 1.9 million viewers, an increase of 48% compared to last year and ranking as ESPN’s most-viewed women’s championship ever.
On Sunday, No. 1 Jannik Sinner was crowned 2026 Gentlemen’s Wimbledon Champion, earning his second Wimbledon title, and fifth Grand Slam overall.
Sinner’s 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 2 Alexander Zverev averaged 2.4 million viewers, which is a 16% drop from 2025 when Sinner defeated archrival and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. The Sunday final drew a 10% larger audience then Alcaraz’s 2024 triumph over Novak Djokovic.
ESPN reports: “coverage on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 853K viewers and was up 18%, marking ESPN’s second most-viewed tournament ever, only behind 2019.”