TNT Sports drew 1.3 million viewers for the men’s French Open final. That’s a 25% decline from last year and the lowest men’s final audience in at least 20 years.
What We Know: Alexander Zverev defeated Flavio Cobolli to claim his first Grand Slam title. Meanwhile, top stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were both absent from the final. The women’s final drew 826,000 viewers, down 44% from last year’s Coco Gauff-Aryna Sabalenka match. TNT holds a 10-year, $650 million deal with Roland-Garros signed in 2025, making it the network’s longest rights agreement.
What The Numbers Show:
| Year | Network | Final | Average Viewership |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | NBC | Men’s Final | 1.56 Million |
| 2024 | NBC | Men’s Final | 1.62 Million |
| 2025 | TNT Sports | Men’s Final | 1.8 Million |
| 2026 | TNT Sports | Men’s Final | 1.3 Million |
| 2023 | NBC | Women’s Final | 1.04 Million |
| 2024 | NBC | Women’s Final | 756,000 |
| 2025 | TNT Sports | Women’s Final | 1.5 Million |
| 2026 | TNT Sports | Women’s Final | 826,000 |
What Remains Unclear: How TNT Sports could adjust next year. Especially if the approach doesn’t include an American in either final in back-to-back years.
What It Means: Finals ratings without marquee names consistently underperform, so context matters here. Stars matter to viewership. TNT’s first-week coverage — when top players were still competing — was actually up 25% year-over-year. The network averaged 387,000 viewers across all windows, down just 1% from its debut French Open. For a property in just its second year, the overall picture still does remain more encouraging than not.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
