How To Watch ESPN’s Australian Open Coverage (For Free and For Pay)

Tennis fans in North America can escape the winter for the warmth of summer down under via ESPN’s live presentation – now exclusive – of the Australian Open, tennis’ first Major of the year, starting Sunday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.  Live “first ball to last ball coverage” across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN3 from Melbourne will include every match from all 16 courts.  ESPN+ will offer more exclusive hours than ever, including the 3 a.m. featured matches (prime time in Australia) on ESPN+ from Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena.  In addition, for the first time, ESPN+ will offer simulcasts of all linear TV coverage, from Day One through the Championships.  The Women’s and Men’s Championships will air late on January 28 and 29, respectively, both at 3:30 a.m. with encore presentations later that day on ESPN2.  New to the schedule this year is a one-hour highlights show each weekend on ABC.   

ESPN has televised the Australian Open since 1984, ESPN’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship.   

The ESPN Tennis Team

Coverage Highlights (ET)

• ESPN and ESPN2

• Live nightly telecasts, generally beginning at 9 p.m. through the quarterfinals
• Semifinals and Women’s and Men’s Championships, including encore presentations
• ESPN2 with 35 additional hours in the afternoon with action from the previous day.
• ESPN+

• Exclusive coverage of all 224 matches from qualifying this week
• Exclusive streaming up to 12 or more courts from the start of play each night at 7 p.m. including more exclusive hours such as two quarterfinals on Monday, Jan. 24, and two on Tuesday, Jan. 25
• Singles, doubles (men’s, women’s, mixed), wheelchair, legends and juniors, and on-demand replays of completed matches
• New: Simulcasts of all ESPN and ESPN2 telecasts, from Day One through the Championships
• A daily highlights show posted at 11 a.m.
• New: On-demand replays of great matches in Australian Open history
• All coverage on ESPN+ will be available in both English and Spanish

• ABC
• First-ever Australian Open coverage via new weekly one-hour highlights show, on Sunday, Jan. 23, at 4 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m.

• ESPN3
• All-day action from select courts
• On-demand replays of completed matches
• ESPN.com
• Extensive previews, reviews, analysis, the latest news, polls, videos and more
• ESPN Interactive TV
• Multi-screen mosaic on DIRECTV featuring ESPN linear feed and other TV courts, during the first seven days of the tournament.  Sam Gore will host with Luke Jensen.
• ESPN Deportes

• On TV, ESPN Deportes will air live the women’s and men’s semis and both Championships, which are all also on ESPN+.
• 30-minute pre-show leading into the Women’s and Men’s Championships
• Coverage every day in Spanish on ESPN+
• ESPNDeportes.com with news and information including results, recaps and chats
• ESPN and its affiliated networks around the globe

• Extensive coverage in Latin America (Spanish), Brazil (Portuguese) and the Caribbean (English)
• Star+ & ESPN Play, ESPN’s direct to consumer and broadband streaming services in the region, will also provide access to every single match from every televised court 
• ESPN will also televise two-hour “Best of the Day” daily (Spanish only)
• Canada – TSN (English) and RDS (French):  comprehensive coverage on television and digital services.

 Surveying the Fields

• Men’s top seed Novak Djokovic, who has been dealing with a visa issue and recently won his appeal to stay in Australia and compete, has a record nine titles, including the most recent three.  He seeks to break the mark of 20 career Majors he currently shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.  His biggest challenge will be No. 2 Daniil Medvedev who denied Djokovic the Grand Slam at the US Open final in September for his first Major title.  No. 6 Rafael Nadal, the 2009 winner in Australia, also hopes to snare a record 21st Major.  Those three will be challenged by a number of players 25 and under seeking to join the club of Major winners – No. 3 Alexander Zverev (24, a finalist at the 2020 US Open), No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas (23, a finalist at last year’s French Open), No. 5 Andrey Rublev (24) and No. 7 Matteo Berrettini (25, a finalist at Wimbledon last summer).
• The women’s draw is again wide open – in the last 19 Majors there have been 14 different champions and seven first-time winners in the most recent 12 Majors.  Crowd favorite top-seeded Ashleigh Barty has a French Open and Wimbledon title on her resume and would love to add her country’s championship.  Defending champ Naomi Osaka, No. 13 after taking a post-US Open break, also won this event in 2019 to go with her pair of US Open crowns (2018, ‘20).  Other contenders: Aryna Sabalenka (No. 2, reached the semis in the two most recent Majors), Garbiñe Muguruza (No. 3, has won two Majors), American Sofia Kenin (No. 11, captured her one Major title down under two years ago) and Karolina Pliskova (No. 5, a two-time Major finalist).  Of course, the tennis world is anxious to see the continued progress of Emma Raducanu, the US Open winner now 19 and seeded No. 17, and American 17-year-old Coco Gauff, seeded No. 18.

 2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

(All times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.

Therefore, the listing Wed., Jan. 26, at 3:30 a.m. ET is actually very late on Wednesday night.)