WIMBLEDON, United Kingdom — Serena Williams’ Wimbledon singles return was watched by a median of 1.8 million viewers on ESPN, making it the community’s greatest viewers for the second day of a grass-court Grand Slam.
The match, Williams’ first singles contest in almost 4 years, reached a peak viewers of two.1 million viewers within the U.S., the community introduced Friday, regardless that it happened on a Tuesday afternoon.
The 44-year-old Williams misplaced 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to 20-year-old Maya Joynt of Australia, however after an prolonged interval of absence, she confirmed she will be able to maintain her personal in opposition to opponents lower than half her age.
The viewership was increased than final 12 months’s males’s semifinals, which averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN. Final 12 months’s males’s last between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz had a median viewers of round 2.9 million viewers.
Williams was given a wild card invitation to compete in each singles and doubles at Wimbledon. It stays to be seen whether or not she is going to proceed to play doubles along with her sister Venus.
Serena introduced Wednesday that she had tweaked her proper knee late within the first set of the joint match.
On Tuesday, ESPN averaged 937,000 viewers for Wimbledon, a rise of 55% from final 12 months and a document excessive for the second day.
General, Monday and Tuesday averaged 734,000 viewers, making it the most-watched Wimbledon first spherical on ESPN. Defending champion Sinner received in 5 units on Monday, whereas seven-time champion Novak Djokovic received in 4 units.
