The Happy Slam will retain its American home.

ESPN and Tennis Australia have signed a nine-year agreement—2023 to 2031—for continued exclusive live “first ball to last ball” coverage across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+ for the Australian Open.

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In a statement announcing the deal, ESPN said "action from Action from Melbourne will be comprehensive, with every match from all 16 courts – all singles (including qualifying), doubles, juniors, wheelchair and legends."

Under the new contract, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise more AO matches starting in January.

ESPN came under fire from some viewers and die-hard tennis fans for pulling a digital bait-and-switch shifting many of the AO night matches to ESPN+ last January. Traditionally,  ESPN2 or ESPN built a bond with American audiences staying up all night with viewers for electric Melbourne night matches.

The shift to ESPN+ was a troubling trend for many viewers, however the network and TA appeared to have heard viewers complaints and responded in the new deal.

The agreement continues ESPN’s longest professional sports programming relationship—since 1984.

Last year, ESPN extended its pact with Wimbledon through 2035. The Bristol, Connecticut-based channel owns US Open rights through 2025.

Tennis Channel owns exclusive Roland Garros rights after ESPN divested from the clay-court Slam.

The 2023 Australian Open will be staged January 16-29th, 2023.

“We are proud of our nearly four-decade relationship with Tennis Australia and are thrilled to continue our exclusive coverage of one of the sport’s most important events,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content.  “The Open has provided so many memorable moments on our networks. With the capacity and quality of ESPN+, we can bring fans Down Under for every match, from qualifying through the championship of each division.”



Craig Tiley, Australian Open Tournament Director, said, “ESPN has been an outstanding partner of the Australian Open for nearly 40 years and I’m delighted to extend and expand our collaboration.

“As one of our most longstanding broadcasters, ESPN has a reputation for innovation and great storytelling, both of which form part of the Australian Open DNA.

“Together we look forward to connecting with an even wider fan base in the United States and Canada and attracting new audiences across multiple platforms,” he continued. “As well as comprehensive coverage of the compelling on-court action, we will work together to also showcase the human stories, the personalities of the players and their teams, their preparation for competition on the Grand Slam stage and their journey to greatness.”

With this agreement, ESPN+ will feature more than 1,300 matches and 3,000 hours of coverage from the sport’s Majors throughout the year, with rights to three of the four.

ESPN Australian Open Deal Highlights, 2023-2031

ESPN/ESPN2

Live nightly telecasts, generally beginning at 9 p.m. ET through the quarterfinals featuring multiple matches, and an increase of hours on linear TV Semifinals and Women’s and Men’s Championships, including encore presentations of the Finals Action from the previous day each weekday on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. and in the morning the middle Saturday and Sunday

ESPN+

Exclusive coverage of all matches not on linear TV, including the 3 a.m. featured matches (prime time in Australia) and four quarterfinals On-demand replays of completed matches All doubles, juniors, wheelchair and legends championships A daily highlights show Exclusive coverage of all 224 matches from qualifying On-demand replays of great matches in Australian Open history ESPN+ coverage available in English and Spanish

ABC

A one-hour highlights show during the middle and final weekends

ESPN Deportes and Additional Regions

ESPN Deportes: the live women’s and men’s semifinals and both Championships TSN: continued extensive schedule Under agreement announced in January: coverage in Latin America (Spanish), Brazil (Portuguese) and the Caribbean (English)

Photo credit: ESPN