Nadal is the commodity in the rivalry; plus, US ratings

Nadal-Federer draws 2.1 rating for NBC
Posted 6/12/2006 7:55 PM ET

NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings for the French Open men's final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were up slightly from last year's championship match.
Nadal's four-set victory Sunday over Federer, who was trying to win his fourth straight Grand Slam event and first French Open title, drew a 2.1 rating on NBC. Approximately, 1.6 million households watched Nadal win at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year.

The Spaniard's 2005 four-set victory over Mariano Puerta drew a 2.0 rating for NBC.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.




Inside Sports

Telegenic Wie, Nadal provide a boost
Posted 6/11/2006 11:01 PM ET

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The Golf Channel and NBC were able to capitalize on two of the sports world's most telegenic young stars, Michelle Wie and Rafael Nadal, because of fortunate circumstances this weekend.
Golf Channel announcers seemed to thank the golf gods for canceling its planned coverage of the Bank of America tournament with torrential rains. That providential flooding enabled them to provide an additional two hours of coverage of Wie, 16, during Sunday's final round of the McDonald's LPGA Championship. Although Wie didn't win, she was a human highlight reel, bashing one drive 342 yards.

"A big thanks goes out to the Champions Tour and Bank of America," studio host Stephanie Sparks said.

After weeks of play, NBC got the men's final it wanted in the French Open: Roger Federer vs. Nadal, the world's top tennis player against the top clay-court specialist.

Nadal, 20, gave viewers quite a show, dancing like a boxer during warm-ups, rolling in the red clay after his victory and leaping into the stands to kiss his parents.

Rivalries always boost tennis' ratings. Federer-Nadal bring back memories of the sport's great duels, such as Jimmy Connors vs. Bjorn Borg in the 1970s. NBC hopes that translates into higher viewership for its 2006 U.S. Open this summer.

"There's a buzz here," said analyst John McEnroe, who participated in memorable duels with Borg. "People are coming up to me in the streets in Paris, people who aren't tennis fans are calling me. That's when you know you hit the jackpot."


Both articles are from USA Today.

is it me or does that rating suck. 1.6M households. Super Bowl gets 130M households. i know you cant compare tennis to football(american) in US but thats a huge difference.

is it me or does that rating suck. 1.6M households. Super Bowl gets 130M households. i know you cant compare tennis to football(american) in US but thats a huge difference.
Well, you have to remember that:

1) It's airing at 9am EST on a Sunday morning (and if you're anywhere else in the US, forget it).

2) There are no Americans


That said, the women's final was down this year at 1.7 shares.

Where in either one of these articles does it prove that the ratings increase (just barely) was because of Nadal? I'd say going from 2.0 to 2.1 is barely worth mentioning. The US Open final last year was over 100% increase from 2004 at a 6.2 share. Of course that increase was mostly due to Agassi but still according to CBS it was the second highest rated mens final since 1999, so it scored more viewers than Agassi/Sampras did in 2002.

That's actually good for an early morning show period... and for sports? Yep.

Yes I think Roger and Rafa in a Final is great for tennis :) And I think people can and do like both of them. And also I happen to like Andy Roddick and think there are other people who like him also :)

I don't think Nadal really had that much of an impact. Maybe the difference between last year and this year can be attributed to more people wanting to see Federer instead of Mariano Puerta (AKA Dopey Doperson).

To be honest, I live in the Eastern time zone in the US so I only had to get up at 9 to watch the match. I had a terrible hang-over. LOL

Anyway, the men's final was miserable until the end of the fourth set. I can't imagine any casual tennis fan watching it. I'm a die-hard fan, and I was bored stiff.

Well, you have to remember that:

1) It's airing at 9am EST on a Sunday morning (and if you're anywhere else in the US, forget it).

2) There are no Americans


That said, the women's final was down this year at 1.7 shares.


Not to mentioned, wasn't there some kind of soccer tournament going on in germany at the time??? ;)

americans?

clay?

what do you expect?

yea i live in california. I told my firends i woudl invite them over if it was Nadal and Federer in the finals. aND it was . So we all woke up at 5:30 to watch the match at 6AM. Kinda disappointed us cause we were all cheering for federer but ah wells. Just wait until next year's Australian open. To finish the final live, we gota stay up till 4AM.

yea i live in california. I told my firends i woudl invite them over if it was Nadal and Federer in the finals. aND it was . So we all woke up at 5:30 to watch the match at 6AM. Kinda disappointed us cause we were all cheering for federer but ah wells. Just wait until next year's Australian open. To finish the final live, we gota stay up till 4AM.

That's much easier for me than having to get up at 5:30 or 6AM to watch a match. ;):lol:

Not to mentioned, wasn't there some kind of soccer tournament going on in germany at the time??? ;)
What soccer tournament :confused: ;)

I haven't been watching, but I don't think USA was playing at the same time the FO was going on. But anyway, USA got destroyed. There goes the audience (what audience there was).

What soccer tournament :confused: ;)

I haven't been watching, but I don't think USA was playing at the same time the FO was going on. But anyway, USA got destroyed. There goes the audience (what audience there was).

its a shame that other americans dont give a shit about football or tennis. The ESPN commentator for the USA match was saying its a good day to call in sick or take a long lunch break :haha: this isnt europe man. I like watching the World Cup on Univision. The commentators are much more enthusastic there. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all the hype this "rivalry" has been getting, and even the hype the World Cup has been getting on US TV sets, ratings for both are dismal. :o