The US Open is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, broadcast to more than 200 countries and territories across a fortnight of competition. The tournament’s combination of late-summer scheduling, prime-time night sessions, and the largest stadium in tennis has produced a global broadcast operation that the USTA has built into one of the most commercially valuable rights packages in international sport.
Here is a complete guide to watching the US Open from anywhere in the world, including the major broadcast partners, streaming options, schedule structure, and the practical details every viewer needs.
When the US Open Is Played
The US Open is held over a fortnight in late August and early September, with the main draw starting on the Sunday of late August and ending with the men’s singles final on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Qualifying takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during Fan Week, the week before the main draw begins.
In 2025, the US Open expanded its main draw to 15 days for the first time, adding a Sunday start to the schedule — meaning one extra day of opening-round play and a slightly longer fortnight overall.
Match start times follow a consistent rhythm. Day sessions begin at 11:00 ET on Louis Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand, and at 12:00 ET on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Gates open at 9:30 ET for day session ticket holders. Night sessions begin at 19:00 ET on both Ashe and (during Armstrong’s first-week night session rotation) Louis Armstrong. Night session matches frequently run past midnight, and the latest finishes in tournament history have stretched past 2:00 ET.
Where to Watch the US Open by Region
The US Open’s broadcast rights are negotiated centrally by the USTA, with ESPN holding the largest single package — covering not just the United States but also Canada (in cooperation with TSN/RDS), Latin America, and the Caribbean. From 2026, under a new 12-year deal that runs through 2037, the USTA takes over host broadcaster duties and produces the world feed used by international rights holders.
United States
ESPN is the US Open’s exclusive American broadcaster, with rights extended through 2037 under a 12-year deal estimated at $170 million per year. Coverage is distributed across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, with ABC airing the middle Sunday and the Sunday men’s final. Spanish-language coverage runs on ESPN Deportes.
Every main-draw match is streamed on ESPN+, including outer-court matches that do not receive linear television coverage. ESPN+ also carries qualifying matches from Fan Week and, starting in 2026, expanded “whiparound” coverage during the first week.
ESPN took over the US Open’s domestic rights in 2015, ending CBS’s 47-year run as the tournament’s free-to-air broadcaster. The current ESPN deal is the network’s longest-term tennis-rights agreement and reflects the US Open’s status as one of the most-watched annual sporting events in the United States.
Canada
TSN holds the English-language rights in Canada, with French-language coverage on RDS. Both networks operate under the broader ESPN deal that covers the Americas. TSN Direct offers monthly streaming for Canadian viewers without cable subscriptions.
United Kingdom
Sky Sports is the home of all US Open coverage in the United Kingdom. The US Open is one of three Grand Slams currently behind a UK paywall — alongside the Australian Open and French Open (which moved to TNT Sports in 2025) — leaving Wimbledon as the only major still available on free-to-air UK television.
Streaming options include NOW Sports, which offers daily and monthly passes for viewers without a full Sky subscription.
Continental Europe
Eurosport (part of Warner Bros. Discovery) holds pan-European rights to the US Open and produces multi-court coverage with local-language commentary across more than 40 territories. HBO Max is the streaming home of Eurosport across Europe, with comprehensive court-by-court coverage available for subscribers.
National broadcasters supplement Eurosport’s coverage in major markets, with rights packages varying by country.
Latin America
ESPN Latin America holds rights across most of South and Central America under the broader ESPN deal that runs through 2037, with streaming on ESPN+ / Disney+ depending on country. Local-language commentary is provided across the region.
Australia and New Zealand
Nine Network holds free-to-air rights in Australia under a five-year deal that runs through 2029, with extended subscription coverage on Stan Sport. 9Now provides free streaming of Channel 9’s coverage. The time difference from New York means most US Open matches air late at night or in the early morning Australian time.
In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZ holds the regional rights.
Asia
Coverage varies substantially by country, with rights distributed through regional broadcasters including:
- India: Star Sports / JioHotstar
- Japan: WOWOW
- China and Southeast Asia: various regional rights holders
Middle East and Africa
beIN Sports holds rights across the Middle East and North Africa. SuperSport holds rights across sub-Saharan Africa, broadcasting on linear television and the DStv platform.
Streaming the US Open Internationally
For viewers travelling or in regions where US Open coverage is limited, the official usopen.org website and the US Open app offer match scoring, daily highlights, video features, and selected live streams — though full live coverage on the official platforms is restricted in many territories where local rights holders have exclusivity.
Streaming options that offer live US Open coverage with broader subscription availability include:
- ESPN+ (US viewers; geo-restricted)
- Sky Sports / NOW Sports (UK viewers; geo-restricted)
- 9Now / Stan Sport (Australian viewers; geo-restricted)
- HBO Max with Eurosport tier (Europe)
VPN services are commonly used by viewers seeking to access geo-restricted streams, though their use may violate the terms of service of the streaming platforms involved.
The USTA Takes Over Host Broadcasting in 2026
For more than a decade, ESPN served as the host broadcaster of the US Open — producing the world feed distributed to international rights holders alongside its own domestic coverage. Under the 12-year deal that begins in 2026, the USTA itself will take over host broadcaster duties, producing the world feed that Eurosport, Sky Sports, Nine Network, and other international partners will use.
The shift mirrors what Wimbledon did in 2018, when Wimbledon Broadcast Services (a joint venture between the All England Club and the BBC) took over host production. The USTA’s reasoning is similar: more direct control over how the tournament is presented globally, the ability to invest in production technology that serves the broader rights base, and a structural separation between domestic broadcast partnership (ESPN, focused on the US market) and international production (the USTA, focused on the worldwide audience).
For viewers, the practical difference will likely be subtle. The camera angles, on-court audio, and on-screen graphics may evolve over time, but the core viewing experience — the matches themselves, the production values of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the broadcast rhythm of US Open coverage — will remain recognisable.
What to Watch For in US Open Coverage
Several features distinguish US Open coverage from the broadcasts of the other Grand Slams:
The night sessions. No other Grand Slam treats prime-time evening tennis as central to its broadcast identity in the way the US Open does. The ESPN broadcast schedule is built around the night session, with the day’s marquee matches scheduled to begin at 7:00 ET on Arthur Ashe Stadium — perfect for North American prime-time viewing and producing some of the tournament’s most consequential moments.
The crowd noise. The US Open is the loudest Grand Slam in tennis, and the broadcasts capture an atmosphere that no other major produces. The combination of Arthur Ashe Stadium’s capacity, the closed-roof acoustics, and the willingness of the New York crowd to react audibly during play produces a sonic backdrop that is unmistakably US Open.
The celebrity attendance. US Open broadcasts routinely cut to celebrity guests in the stands — actors, athletes, musicians, political figures. The cultural overlap between the tournament and broader New York entertainment culture is a deliberate part of how ESPN packages the event for American audiences.
Hawk-Eye Live and electronic line calling. The US Open was one of the first Grand Slams to adopt automated line calling, replacing human line judges with electronic systems beginning in 2021. The broadcasts show automated calls on-screen, with chair umpires retaining authority only over overrules and specific judgment calls.
Time Zones and Scheduling
The US Open is played in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT = GMT-4). For international viewers, the practical viewing windows are:
- United Kingdom and Ireland: Add 5 hours to ET (19:00 ET = 00:00 BST)
- Western Europe: Add 6 hours to ET (19:00 ET = 01:00 CEST)
- Eastern Australia: Add 14-15 hours, depending on daylight saving (19:00 ET = 09:00-10:00 AEDT next day)
- India: Add 9.5 hours (19:00 ET = 04:30 IST next day)
- Japan and Korea: Add 13 hours
The US Open’s prime-time North American scheduling — designed to maximise US television audiences — makes the night sessions particularly difficult for international viewers in time zones far from New York. UK viewers wanting to watch a night session live from the start are committing to a midnight start time and a potential 4am finish for competitive matches.
The Bottom Line
The US Open’s broadcast reach is among the most commercially valuable in international sport, with rights worth more than $2 billion to ESPN alone over the next 12 years, and additional substantial rights packages held by Sky Sports, Eurosport, Nine Network, and dozens of national broadcast partners. The combination of ESPN’s comprehensive US offering, Eurosport’s pan-European footprint, and the USTA’s investment in expanded streaming and host broadcasting from 2026 means that anywhere in the world with a television and an internet connection, the US Open is available to watch — usually live, frequently in multiple language options, and always presented with the production scale the tournament has cultivated.
For most viewers, the question is not whether to watch the US Open but which broadcast partner offers the right balance of depth, cost, and accessibility. With the USTA assuming direct control of its world feed from 2026 and ESPN locked in as the American broadcaster through 2037, the structural backbone of how the world watches the US Open is now more durable than at any point in the tournament’s modern history.
