French Open Ratings Suffer Without Americans In Finals

Following Serena Williams' loss yesterday, no American entrants remain in the French Open men's or women's draws. No American has played in the men's final since Andre Agassi in '99.  On the women’s side, the last American appearance was the Serena Williams-Venus Williams final in ’02, which earned a 2.8/10 from 11:00am-2:00pm ET. In the four years prior, the women’s finals began in the afternoon in the U.S. and averaged a 2.6 rating (with Jennifer Capriati’s victory in ’01 as the only American appearance). In the four years since, with the event airing at 9:00am ET and without any American appearing, the women’s finals have averaged a 1.6 rating. With the ’07 men’s and women’s finals set to air this weekend, the following presents a Nielsen ratings trend for NBC’s coverage of the French Open from recent years, along with ratings for the men’s and women’s finals (THE DAILY).