Average of all US Open games aired on CBS. **2002 data is w/o rain delays. *2006 data is Live+SD. Click on image for full-sized version.
No Americans in either the Men’s or Women’s finals spell ratings doom for US Open Tennis telecasts.
(Seidman adds: Maybe Ted Leonsis is on to something & update 9/10, not that we didn’t see it coming, but this year’s finals fared worse than last year’s for both the men and women).
The number of American players in the Men’s and Women’s finals track fairly well [correlation coefficient of 0.27] with the recent ups and downs of US Open ratings. Particularly considering that the ratings are a total for the 7-13 telecasts for the entire tournament.
Note that the 2002 US Open was plagued by rain delays and ratings might have been even higher with a normal broadcast schedule.
Full finalist list:
US Open Finalists
| Year | Men's Finalists | Women's Finalists | Americans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | LENDL/WILANDER | NAVRATILOVA/GRAF | 1 |
| 1988 | WILANDER/LENDL | GRAF/SABATINI | 0 |
| 1989 | BECKER/LENDL | GRAF/NAVRATILOVA | 1 |
| 1990 | SAMPRAS/AGASSI | SABATINI/GRAF | 2 |
| 1991 | EDBERG/COURIER | SELES/NAVRATILOVA | 2 |
| 1992 | EDBERG/SAMPRAS | SELES/SANCHEZ-VICARIO | 1 |
| 1993 | SAMPRAS/PIOLINE | GRAF/SUKOVA | 1 |
| 1994 | AGASSI/STICH | SANCHEZ-VICARIO/GRAF | 1 |
| 1995 | SAMPRAS/AGASSI | GRAF/SELES | 2 |
| 1996 | SAMPRAS/CHANG | GRAF/SELES | 2 |
| 1997 | RAFTER/RUSEDSKI | HINGIS/WILLIAMS | 1 |
| 1998 | RAFTER/PHILIPPOUSSIS | DAVENPORT/HINGIS | 1 |
| 1999 | AGASSI/MARTIN | S. WILLIAMS/HINGIS | 2 |
| 2000 | SAFIN/SAMPRAS | V. WILLIAMS/DAVENPORT | 3 |
| 2001 | HEWITT/SAMPRAS | V. WILLIAMS/S. WILLIAMS | 3 |
| 2002 | SAMPRAS/AGASSI | S. WILLIAMS/V. WILLIAMS | 4 |
| 2003 | RODDICK/FERRERO | HENIN/CLIJISTERS | 1 |
| 2004 | FEDERER/HEWITT | KUZNETSOV/DEMENTIEVA | 0 |
| 2005 | FEDERER/AGASSI | CLIJSERS/PIERCE | 1 |
| 2006 | FEDERER/RODDICK | SHARAPOVA/HENIN | 1 |
