Eurosport hails “best ever” French Open

Eurosport has recorded what it says was its “best ever French Open” tennis championship with record-breaking audience figures.

According to the Paris-based sports network, the tournament attracted an average live audience of 1.36 million European viewers on Eurosport, a rise of 17% on the 2012 tournament, which held the previous record.

Maria Sharapova’s victory over Simona Halep was the most watched women’s tennis match in Eurosport’s history with an average live audience of 3.8m viewers, up 24% on the 2012 WTA Miami final between Agnieszka Radwańska and Sharapova, the previous best match.

The men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was the most-watched French Open final on Eurosport with over 4.1m viewers in Europe and the second best ever tennis match on the channel, just behind the 2012 Australian Open final between Nadal and Djokovic.

This year’s French Open saw the highest live average audience rises against 2013 in Romania and Spain, both up 128%, the UK, up 79% and France, up 49%.