“Surely a drop off to be expected,” Andy Murray defends Australian Open despite wavering viewership

Andy Murray responds to statements about Australian Open's deteriorating viewerships on social media.


“Surely a drop off to be expected,” Andy Murray defends Australian Open despite wavering viewership

Andy Murray ( Getty Images )

The two-week tennis extravaganza that was the Australian Open, showcased ATP and WTA talent in all its glory. With Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic winning the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively. Despite having a star-studded draw, including Andy Murray, the Slam saw a significant drop in viewership compared to 2022. 

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Channel 9, the Australian Open’s primary broadcast partner, recently extended its deal with the Slam till 2030. For a giant sum of $500,000,000. But the hits for the Australian Open came in thick and fast before the first serve was even sent across the net.

Firstly, local favorite Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement from professional tennis shortly after tasting success in Melbourne last year. That hit alone would’ve left network executives reeling.

As a result, Murray took to social media to address the deterioration, citing Roger Federer and Ash Barty’s retirements alongside the local favorite’s absence as the chief reasons. While Australians got treated to a homegrown pair’s dance to the men’s doubles title last year, 2023 couldn’t replicate the same success.

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While the host country complained of dwindling viewership, Murray’s post proved informative. As countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom reported double-digit growth in viewership.

A few notable ATP names withdrew from the tournament due to injuries. Amongst them were the 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz & 27-year-old Nick Kyrgios. Considered the biggest draws of the tournament, the absence of these two athletes greatly hurt the Slam viewership. The post further brought to light the boon in tennis fan count in Poland, courtesy of performances by Iga Swiatek, Magda Linette & Hubert Hurcakz.

Related – Novak Djokovic jokes about keeping the ‘special jacket’ with ‘23’ ready for the French Open

Australian Open viewership is nowhere close to the previous edition despite Andy Murray’s words to the contrary

Andy Murray’s words offered little relief as figures showed a severe drop-off in consecutive years. After a horrid opening night, things didn’t get any better for the network throughout the tournament. During the women’s singles final and the men’s doubles final, the ratings peaked at 1.437 million viewers. While those figures are good, they don’t even come close to last year’s women’s singles final and men’s doubles final, which peaked at 4.261 million viewers.

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Records tumbled during the 2022 edition of the Australian Open as Nine reached a national audience of 12.5 million viewers across two channels. One year later and the numbers are coming in three to four million down on what unfolded during a stunning tournament last year.

With the hits piling up the figures were never going to repeat last year’s record-breaking tournament, but the severe drop would be a major cause of concern after a $500m gamble.

A contributing factor to the damning drop-off can be associated with Nine pushing their chips to the center of the table on Novak Djokovic. Despite Djokovic being arguably the greatest player of all time, when it comes to ratings he doesn’t deliver as he does on the court.

I think they have kind of really only marketed three players for the last decade and now it’s kind of caught up with them, so hence they have tried to push some of the Next Gen guys … tennis has struggled to embrace different personalities, like when people go about it differently.” said Australian ace Nick Kyrgios.

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