Serena Williams still seems to be getting a lot of attention.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion drew an average of 1.8 million fans to her first-round match at Wimbledon, her first singles match since 2022, the network announced Thursday. The broadcast reportedly reached a peak audience of 2.1 million viewers.
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According to ESPN, the match had the highest Day 2 ratings in the network’s history and was the most-watched first round in Wimbledon history.
But ESPN may not get any more ratings help from the 44-year-old Williams.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion lost in three sets to 20-year-old Maya Joynt, earning her place as the all-time great with her serve and competitive performance, but her powerful groundstrokes were too inconsistent to keep pace with players closer in age to her two-year-old daughter.
Williams was also scheduled to play doubles with her sister Venus, which was also likely to influence ratings, but a knee injury suffered in a singles match has put her out.
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It was a bold choice for Williams to choose Wimbledon out of all the tournaments for her first singles match in four years. Although she was hardly considered one of the favorites to win, she still presented an unknown major in a vast field and could at least go toe-to-toe with the joint. Join lost in the second round to 29th seed Alexandra Eala in three sets.
However, it’s clear that ESPN isn’t complaining about that choice.
