Alcaraz vs. Djokovic AO Final a Ratings Hit for ESPN

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Photo credit: Australian Open Facebook

Carlos Alcaraz hit historic heights at the Happy Slam.

Rallying from a set down, the 22-year-old Alcaraz powered past Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 to capture his first AO championship and make history as the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.

Alcaraz wasn’t the only major winner in Melbourne.

ESPN reports the AO men’s final was its most highly-viewed AO men’s final in nine years, since Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the 2017 final.

Though Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of the United States’ Eastern time zone, many of you either got up early or stayed up late to watch the men’s final. ESPN reports 730,000 viewers tuned it to see world No. 1 Alcaraz defeat Grand Slam king Djokovic to win his maiden Melbourne major.

Overall, the 2026 AO was ESPN’s most widely-viewed Australian Open coverage since 2020.

Here are some stats from ESPN’s news release on increased AO viewership:

Championship weekend highlights
The men’s and women’s championships on ESPN drew a 34% YoY [year over year] increase, marking the most-viewed Australian Open championships since 2017.
The men’s championship, featuring No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz defeating No. 4 Novak Djokovic in four sets, delivered 730K viewers and was up 57% YoY, ranking as most-viewed since 2017.
The women’s championship, which saw No. 5 Elena Rybakina defeat No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, delivered 487K viewers, increasing 8% YoY and ranking as the most-viewed since 2020.

The men’s semifinals across ESPN, ESPN2 and the ESPN App were up 53% YoY, making it the most-viewed Australian Open semifinals since 2017. The Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev 5-set thriller match averaged 743K viewers and ranking as the second most-viewed men’s semifinal since 2014.

The AO delivered strong ratings for ESPN climaxing with a riveting championship weekend.

The tournament began with controversy as many American viewers hit out at ESPN changing to a tiered pay wall for its AO streaming.

Tennis Now writer Erik Gudris reported on the backlash in his ESPN Faces Backlash Over New Streaming Pay Wall article here.

From Erik Gudris’ report: Officially, “ESPN Unlimited” and the rebranded ESPN+, now “ESPN Select”, launched in August of 2025.

The new unlimited tier cost $29.99 a month and states, as part of its benefits, “All ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN2, etc.) and services, including ESPN+.”

The standard tier, which used to be ESPN+, is now called “ESPN Select” and costs $12.99 a month. That tier used to offer matches on all courts, but now it only covers the outer courts in Melbourne.

Consequently, ESPN cashed in on American viewers adding that second, more expensive, paywall.

Obviously, ESPN is not the only network to monetize multi-layered streaming—Tennis Channel charges extra for its “T2” streaming and the NFL has streamed games over Peacock and Amazon—however some American fans told Tennis Now they felt ESPN was “gouging” loyal tennis viewers adding that second paywall for this AO coverage.

Judging by the Nielsen numbers for championship weekend, ESPN is likely highly satisfied with that move.