Eurosport reported an 18% increase for its French Open coverage, according to Julian Clover of BROADBAND TV NEWS. The Discovery-owned broadcaster combined live coverage from Roland Garros with long and short-form content including re-titled magazine show "Game Schett & Mats" and Commissioner of Tennis episodes featuring John McEnroe, which scored an average audience of over 1 million. As Rafael Nadal picked up his 10th title, audiences in his home country of Spain "climbed" by 60% when compared with '16. An "average audience of 62,000 across the tournament beat the previous best of 41,000" in '12. Nadal's final victory over Stan Wawrinka was watched by 407,000 tennis fans, securing the network's "second-best programme ever," the previous being the encounter between Roger Federer and Nadal at the Australian Open earlier this year. Eurosport 1 Romania also reported its second-best program in the history of the channel, with more than 780,000 viewers tuning in to the semifinal match between Simona Halep and Czech Karolina Pliskova (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 6/14).
