Nine’s tennis ratings slide as Novak Djokovic is crowned Australian Open champion again

Serbian star Novak Djokovic’s three-set victory in the Australian Open men’s final drew nearly 300,000 fewer TV viewers than Rafael Nadal’s win in 2022.

Novak Djokovic failed to draw as many TV viewers as Rafael Nadal did in his 2022 Australian Open final victory. Picture: AFP

Novak Djokovic’s straight-sets victory that saw him claim his 10th Australian Open title drew 1.322 million television viewers but fell well short of last year’s win by Spanish star Rafael Nadal.

Official data from TV ratings firm OzTAM showed across the five metropolitan cities 1.612 million viewers tuned in to Nadal’s win in 2022 – 290,000 viewers more than the Serbian star’s Sunday night match.

Djokovic defeated Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final winning 6-3, 7-6, 7-6, and despite lower TV ratings the match did record the highest ever live BVOD (broadcast viewing on demand) figures for an Australian Open match with 245,000 viewers.

The 2022 Nadal win drew a live BVOD audience of 227,000 viewers.

Nine Entertainment has the broadcasting rights to the tennis and has been plagued by falling ratings throughout the two-week event largely due to some early exits of big names, however on the weekend they were able to draw significant audiences in the tournament’s final days.

Djokovic said after the match it had been, “one of the most challenging tournaments I have ever played in my life considering the circumstances not playing last year”.

Last year he was detained for five days and later deported from Australia after he failed to meet Covid-19 vaccine requirements.

Nine have been broadcasting the tennis since 2019 and at the end of last year signed a $500m, five year TV deal – the highest in the sport’s history – to broadcast the Australian Open and other tennis events until 2029.

Industry sources have said the falling ratings would be of concern to the executives at Nine.

In other matches on the weekend, the men’s doubles pairing of Australians Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata proved victorious against Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Poland’s Jan Zielinski, 6-4, 7-6.

The match didn’t start until after 11pm and managed to draw 447,000 viewers but it certainly didn’t have the viewership pull of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis, better known as the ‘Special Ks’, who were victorious in the 2022 men’s double final and drew 1.725 million viewers.

The women’s final on Saturday night which saw Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in three sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-4), drew 762,000 viewers and was the lowest ratings for a women’s final in more than a decade.

It was also well down on Ash Barty’s final’s win last year which was the highest rating Australian Open women’s final in television ratings history and drew 2.581 million viewers across the five major cities.