Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 3, 2026
Photo credit: Shaun Brooks/CameraSport
Wimbledon—Serena Williams lost her Wimbledon singles comeback, but ESPN emerged as a big winner.
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.
For the entire Tuesday broadcast, ESPN averaged 937,000 viewers, an increase of 55 percent over 2025, making it ESPN’s most-viewed Wimbledon first-round telecast on record.
Serena Williams’ comeback also contributed to ESPN’s most-viewed Wimbledon first round on record (combined Monday and Tuesday viewership), with an average of 734,000 viewers.
The four-time Olympic gold-medal champion has long been a massive ratings winner for ESPN. During her peak playing years, Serena Williams once accounted for six of the Top 10 most highly-viewed ESPN Grand Slam telecasts in history.
Naturally, the woke-folk, joke-folk ate it up, unbelievably even made her the early betting favorite, what a joke! It would have been better served giving to an up and comer needing the money! Just go away and play with your kids! Honestly they just can’t be without the adulation they crave!