US Open women's final gets higher TV viewership than men's final in America, Emma Raducanu emerges as most-searched player
Following a fortnight of high-octane tennis action, the 2021 US Open drew to a close last weekend with medvedev' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>medvedev" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu lifting the men's and women's singles trophies.
The major story to have emerged from this year's tournament was the improbable women's final featuring Raducanu and fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez. The two youngsters were part of some of the most thrilling contests over the course of the fortnight at Flushing Meadows, gaining thousands of new fans.
The release of the television ratings for this past weekend only furthered their status as the breakout stars of this year's tournament.
While both finals were amongst the top-viewed programs over the weekend, the encounter featuring Raducanu and Fernandez managed to outperform the men's final across American cable in terms of viewership figures. The women's final also fared slightly better in the key 18-49 demographic.
The men's final that saw Medvedev deny World No. 1 Novak Djokovic a Calendar Slam drew a total of 2.05 million viewers in the 4.00pm slot, a viewership-high for Sunday night. The final finished No. 5 in the key 18-49 demographic with an overall rating of 0.35.
The women's final, on the other hand, drew a larger audience of 2.44 million viewers in the same timeslot on Saturday night -- otherwise dominated by college football. This figure was only beaten by the NCAA game between Texas and Arkansas, which drew a massive 3.5 million viewers.
The women's final was also the most-watched non-football program of the night, scoring a 0.38 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.
Emma Raducanu leads Novak Djokovic, Leylah Fernandez in terms of Google searches
In another interesting trend from the weekend, the 18-year-old Emma Raducanu emerged as the most-searched player on Google amongst the four finalists.
Raducanu, who capped off her dream run in New York with an emphatic 6-4, 6-3 win over Fernandez in the final, became the first-ever qualifier and first British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977 to win a Grand Slam title.
The Brit was initially no. 3 in Google search trends, trailing both Djokovic and Fernandez, but experienced a sharp rise over the course of the weekend.
Raducanu emerged as the clear frontrunner in terms of total searches towards the business end of the tournament, with Djokovic and Fernandez finishing a distant second and third. Men's singles champion Daniil Medvedev was the least searched player among the four finalists.