And in the end, Rafael Nadal wins!
On Sunday afternoon, the men's final between Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud was watched by an average of 4.6 million viewers, representing an audience share of 39.4%.
The sporting event even peaked at 6.4 million viewers.
This is the best audience for a men's final since 2012, when the Spanish player already won his seventh victory, against Novak Djokovic.
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France Télévisions, broadcaster of the tournament during the day, had to leave the highlight match of the fortnight Novak Djokovic against Rafael Nadal on Amazon Prime this year, to the dismay of Delphine Ernotte, the president of the public audiovisual group.
However, this did not prevent France Télévisions from achieving very good audiences with a tournament which had finally regained its audience and all its atmosphere.
“The first week of the tournament, viewers were seduced by the beautiful story of the French players with the careers of Diane Parry and Leolia Jeanjean and the farewells of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon. And the second week, the French were passionate about the Nadal epic”
explains Laurent-Eric Le Lay, the sports director of France Televisions.
The antennas of the public audiovisual group experienced some highlights such as the match point between Rafael Nadal and Félix Auger-Aliassime, which on Sunday May 29 fascinated 5 million fans of the little yellow ball.
Just ahead of the match point between Alexander Zverev and the young Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz who finally bowed to 4.4 million viewers.
The women's final, Saturday June 4, between Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, gathered 2.1 million viewers on average, an audience worthy of that of 2014.
73% of the French population
In total over the fortnight, the antennas of France Télévisions attracted 42 million viewers, or 73% of the French population who watched this sports competition at least for a moment.
Highest score since 2012.
“
This is due to a lot of programming work.
Since 2021, we have been on the air at 11 a.m. instead of 3 p.m., we have continued coverage on France 20 until 8 p.m., then we have systematically switched the matches from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on France 3. With this programming, we have given opportunity for more French people to come and see tennis, either at the end of the morning or after returning from work.
It is the true vocation of the public service to offer this spectacle to as many
people as possible,” emphasizes Laurent-Eric Le Lay.
During the day, France 2 attracted an average of 1.9 million viewers, its best performance since 2015, with an audience share of 20.6%, a record since 2008.
France Télévisions holds the rights to Roland-Garros until 2023. Before this date, the French Tennis Federation will relaunch a new call for tenders.
