ESPN is the official channel of the Australian Open. Yet, the network’s coverage of the event has not been stellar. In Week 1 of the tournament, East Coast viewers were plagued by delays in getting to Melbourne for college basketball games that ran 30 minutes into the time slot assigned to Australian Open early-round tennis coverage.
But that’s nothing compared to what happened on Monday of Week 2. Coco Gauff, the 2023 Australian Open champion and the American player who is World No. 3 had a huge quarterfinal clash with Paula Badosa.
Gauff is undefeated in 2024 and just dropped her first set of the year in the previous round to Belinda Bencic.
ESPN failed to cover the match. The College Football Championship took precedence on all of its channels so the Australian Open quarterfinal was relegated to the paid subscription streaming ESPN+ service.
FYI: the #AusOpen women’s Quarterfinal match featuring Coco Gauff taking on Paula Badosa will air live EXCLUSIVELY on @ESPNPlus 🎾
No ESPN or ESPN2 coverage due to…college football 🏈 pic.twitter.com/lHehYbqbY6
— Myles David (@TunedIntoTennis) January 21, 2025
Not only did that feel wrong, but it also caused American fans without ESPN+ to miss Gauff’s first loss of the season.
ESPN not showing the Australian open quarterfinals. Coco gauff is literally playing right now. BOOOOOOO @espn
— arwin from suite life (@heeheehoohoo27) January 21, 2025
27-year-old Paula Badosa won the match in straight sets and is into her first Grand Slam semifinal.
First Grand Slam semifinal, first win against a Top 10 opponent in a Grand Slam – Paula Badosa, this was a lesson in class and conviction 👏👏@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • @paulabadosa • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/O14jgI05KT
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2025
Badosa will face the winner of the Aryna Sabalenka and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova quarterfinal match.
Hopefully, ESPN will show that semifinal match, especially if the two-time defending champion Sabalenka is in it. Sabalenka and Badosa are great friends. Badosa is playing great tennis after finally overcoming all of her injuries in late 2023. If ESPN is inclined to show it on one of its regular channels, it will be a fascinating match.
.@espn’s coverage of the @AustralianOpen this year has been abysmal at BEST and downright disgusting at worst. Cable subscribers should AT LEAST get full Rod Laver (and probably Margaret Court) coverage in the app. I won’t be getting a ESPN+ subscription despite your predation!
— poison either way (@AlrightVic) January 19, 2025
By the way, American Tommy Paul plays after Gauff. His quarterfinal match against Alexander Zverev will also not be shown on regular ESPN.
