“Don’t buy rights if you’re going to blow it”: Heavy criticism levied towards American broadcaster ESPN for Australian Open coverage

While players like Korda, J.J Wolf, Shelton, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are having a great tournament, the company's coverage in the USA has been criticized in the tennis world.

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The 2023 Australian Open has been going on for a week and several of the United States representatives have had an excellent tournament. The television rights in that country are exclusive to the ESPN network, and the first major of the year is being covered only by the ESPN+ payment service, so fans have not been able to follow tennis on free-to-air TV, since the channels that has the company has carried out a high coverage in other sports during this week, relegating the Melbourne tournament only to premium service.

Many fans and people from the world of tennis have spoken out against the reduction in coverage. Former tennis player Jesse Levine used his Twitter to criticize the situation:

“"How is tennis not on tv in the states right now? Yes espn + I get it, but one of the biggest tournaments in the world and can’t even watch!!"

https://twitter.com/jesselevine7/status/1616403005074456576?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

https://twitter.com/jesselevine7/status/1616853729872838656?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

Australian tennis player Ajla Tomljanovic, who withdrew from the tournament before it began, added to the discontent:

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“How is there no coverage of this match in the States.”

https://twitter.com/Ajlatom/status/1616107544040161280?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

Also the tennis journalist Matt Zemek opined that it is “Bitterly ironic that at a tournament where American tennis players are doing so well, ESPN has dramatically scaled back its coverage and, accordingly, any real attempt to make the Australian Open more visible and accessible to the American public.”

https://twitter.com/mzemek/status/1616428614190501892?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

Other tweets about the situation:

https://twitter.com/MicheSutter/status/1616149440406097922?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

https://twitter.com/Mrmosman66/status/1616109313067724800?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg

https://twitter.com/leonc807/status/1615905674000584704?s=20&t=xZEJp4SBKCnExhvShYAdVg