The 2023 Australian Open ended a few days ago, and the first Grand Slam of the year brought great victories for Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. The Serbian champion triumphed with a “movie” success, returning to the place that had left him out only twelve months ago and winning with authority over everything and everyone.
Nole dominated the tournament, joining his great rival Rafael Nadal with 22 Grand Slam titles. Now this year he faces a great opportunity and can become the tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles in history. Despite the successes of Novak and Aryna, there has been much controversy surrounding the qualifications for this first major tournament of 2023.
According to various matches, Channel 9, the network that broadcast the tournament in Australia, registered a drop in audience of more than 40%, impressive figures that have worried connoisseurs. Channel 9 bought the rights to the Australian Open until 2030 a few months ago and many have pointed to the huge drop.
Illustrious absences before the tournament have contributed to this, mainly due to the loss of Australian tennis player and local idol Nick Kyrgios. The retirement of Roger Federer and Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty has made things even more complicated and tennis is going through a very difficult time.
In the last hours, a new fact is alarming the whole world. If before we only talked about audience ratings in Australia, now we also get news from the rest of Europe and even here the news is not the best. The final between Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas was followed on ESPN by an average of 439,000 viewers, 36% less than last year.
Not only that, because the figures for this final are nightmarish and Djokovic vs Tsitsipas was the least watched final even in the last decade.
Nole won his 22nd Grand Slam
Former Spanish tennis professional Alex Corretja has spoken highly of Novak Djokovic after his record-extending 10th Australian Open title.
“Look how Djokovic celebrated the other day [Australian Open win] and how he hugged his family and especially his brother and his mother. When he hugs his brother, he feels that harmony that works with Pepe Imaz and at that moment Djokovic feels that this work is not in vain,” he told Cadena SER (via Express).
“In tennis, everyone is very closed to their team,” he added. “The same thing happened to us, they are different habits, you have different schedules, another way of being. Just as Federer and Nadal had a rivalry but turned it into something closer, Djokovic and Nadal have been on opposite paths at the level of ideals and sharing things with the fans”.
