Eurosport announced yesterday that it drew 54.8 million different European viewers for tennis’ French Open over the 15 days of competition, an 11 per cent increase on 2008.
The audience figures represent the number of different individuals who watched at least 1 minute of the tournament across Eurosport’s pan-European network.
The men’s final between Roger Federer and Robin Söderling was watched by an average of 2.2 million viewers per quarter of an hour, Eurosport’s third best French Open men's final in its history. The Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova women's final was the second best ever and was watched by an average of 1.6 million viewers.
Eurosport’s coverage of the final in Sweden benefited from the "Söderling" effect and coverage of his semi-final against Fernando Gonzales achieved a 23.5 per cent market share.
The 54.8 million figure marks Eurosport's best-ever television audiences for the French Open since the channel began coverage of the tournament in 1991.
