This week of the US Open has been quite emotional. Before heading into the tournament, tennis legend and arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time, Serena Williams had announced that she’d be hanging up her shoes following the tournament in order to focus on being a mother as well as on the next chapter in her life.
“I’ve been thinking of this as a transition [retirement], but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she told Vogue almost a month ago.
As a result, it wasn’t surprising to see millions of eyeballs glued to television sets and streaming services and thousands filling up the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands as attendance records crumbled one after the other in a bid to watch the final hurrah of the 23-time Grand Slam winner.
There was no final hurrah, however, as despite fighting with the grit that was the template for her magnificent and star-studded career, Williams endured a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic and the sad reality of her retirement finally came to pass.
Watching the 40-year-old’s final exploits proved to be an eye-watering affair for the world of Tennis as an average of 4.6 million viewers tuned in to ESPN’s telecast of Williams’ third-round match against Tomljanovic, making it the most-watched tennis telecast in the sports network’s 43-year history.
According to the ESPN Press Room website, the viewership peaked at a figure of 6.9 million which The New York Times journalist Christopher Clarey later dubbed ‘The Serena Effect’ in a tweet.
The previous record of the highest average viewership stood at 3.9 million when Roger Federer and Andy Murray contested the 2012 Wimbledon final.
Further data from ESPN Press Room website also shows that an average of 1.1 million viewers tuned in to catch the first five days of the US Open, not only 101% higher compared to last year, but a record for the first five days of the tournament on ESPN.
Notably, those five days included Williams’ first to third round matches as well as an emotional reunion with her elder sister Venus in the doubles category, all of which set their own respective records on the sports network.