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The 2024 US Open men's singles final will be aired on ABC, one of the major broadcast television networks in the USA. However, the women's singles final at Flushing Meadows has received the short end of the stick and will remain on ESPN, which has ticked off a small section of the tennis community on social media.
On Wednesday (May 15), Tim Bunnell, Senior Vice President of Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN, disclosed that ABC will present the men's singles title clash in New York. Both men's and women's finals have been covered on ESPN since 2009.
"The US Open is one of the signature events on the sports calendar, and we are pleased to bring its culminating match, the Men’s Final, to tennis fans via ABC," Bunnell said (via ESPN Press Room).
Although ESPN is one of the major players in the sports broadcast television game, ABC is arguably a bigger network than it. In that context, tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) were well aware of this year's US Open women's singles final receiving unfair treatment and voiced their displeasure at the above news.
One fan claimed that ABC has no regard for female tennis players.
"So ABC just said f**k the women huh?" they wrote.
Another insisted that Coco Gauff winning the 2023 US Open women's singles title alone should've guaranteed this year's summit clash moving to ABC.
"Men's but not women's is strange considering Coco Gauff just won the thing. She hasn't had a great season, but still..." the fan wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
"Women’s finals has had better US ratings than the men 7 of the last 8 years lmao," one fan wrote.
"Classic example of how, by insisting the men’s final is always the last of a tournament, the women don’t get chance to have the equivalent exposure," argued another fan.
"As of right now, I'd bet on the women's final to be more interesting for the audience," a fan claimed.
"What about the women’s match? you know, the one the Americans have a better chance of winning," wrote another fan.
"And the women’s???" one fan questioned.
"Let's do the women's final, too," another fan wrote.
Coco Gauff's maiden US Open triumph attracted more than 1 million more viewers than Novak Djokovic's 24th Major win
The quality of the game and the storylines on the WTA Tour has been edging higher over the last few years, with Coco Gauff coming from behind to win her maiden Major title at last year's New York Slam being a prime example of it.
Last year, Gauff overcame a set deficit to beat second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles title clash. The then-teenager's triumph was watched by 3.4 million viewers on ESPN.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, took apart familiar foe Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 to win his fourth US Open title. The 2023 men's singles final didn't receive an astounding viewership, though, being watched by just 2.3 million viewers.
