Jannik Sinner’s pursuit of a career Grand Slam was thwarted Thursday morning by his poor showing at the French Open, and while tennis fans were already ruing the impossibility of a reprise of last year’s epic men’s final, the departure of the worldwide No. 1 may prove to be an even tougher pill for TNT Sports to swallow.
After the 24-year-old Italian took the first two sets against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (6-3, 6-2), he faded fast in the backstretch; in the wake of a hard-fought 7-5 advantage in the third, the Argentine cruised to straight 6-1 margins in the fourth and fifth sets. Sinner, who historically has had his work cut out for him in tropical conditions, visibly crumpled in the stifling heat of Roland Garros, where the air temperature reached 91ºF and the dew point did its level best to prevent sweat from evaporating on the skin.The winner of four previous majors, Sinner had been a mere four points away from securing a three-set sweep before the heat undid him.Sinner’s early exit and the absence of his rival and the 2025 men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz makes this year’s French Open fair game for a number of younger players who have yet to win a Slam. (The biggest draw left on the bracket, 39-year-old Novak Djokovic, saw his latest bid for a 25th major dry up Friday with a loss to Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.)Aside from Fonseca, among the players who may be gunning for a title are Alexander Zverev, who is in search of his first major victory, and two-time French Open runner-up (2022, 2023) Casper Ruud. While fun to watch, none of these guys is a household name; as such, it’s unlikely that TNT Sports will out-deliver last year’s final.Per Nielsen, Alcaraz’s five-set win in the 2025 tilt averaged 1.76 million viewers across TNT and TBS, good for an 8% lift compared to the previous year’s TV turnout on NBC. The Spaniard’s victory peaked at 2.6 million viewers; by way of comparison, the earlier Coco Gauff-Aryna Sabalenka capper averaged 1.47 million viewers, nearly double what NBC managed for the previous year’s Iga Świątek-Jasmine Paolini final.Gauff’s win was the most-watched women’s final since Serena Williams bowed to Garbiñe Muguruza in front of 1.51 million NBC viewers in 2016.If the impossibility of another knock-down, drag-out Sinner-Alcaraz clash may put a damper on TNT Sports’ overall deliveries, the ratings numbers have been strong in the early going. Per Nielsen, TNT’s coverage of the first two days (Sunday and Monday) at Roland Garros coincided with a 36% audience lift versus the year-ago deliveries, with Djokovic’s four-set defeat of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard peaking at 623,000 viewers. Beating all comers in the early stages of the tournament was Monday’s Daniel Merida-Ben Shelton showdown, which hit a high-water mark with 793,000 viewers.This marks TNT Sports’ second French Open, as the company last spring got the fête started with its very first Paris spree under a new 10-year, $650 million rights deal. Advertisers rushed to nail down premium positions in and around the telecasts, as Vanda Pharmaceuticals signed on as the presenting sponsor of TNT’s studio coverage while serving double duty as the backer of Bleacher Report’s (B/R) MacZone, an altcast featuring acerbic and insightful commentary from John and Patrick McEnroe. Also in the mix is AT&T Business, which serves as the featured match presenter, and Rolex, which will be highly visible throughout this year’s tourney as a heavy buyer of in-match spots.(As it happens, the younger McEnroe last week told reporters that severe weather was probably the only thing that might derail the Sinner train. How right he was. Following Sinner’s wilting defeat on Thursday, John McEnroe characterized infernal weather conditions as the young player’s personal “Kryptonite.”)All told, the top-spending categories are mostly unchanged from the year-ago roster, as pharma, financial services, luxury goods and automotive brands are ruling the roost. The lone exception this time around is alcohol, which has been usurped by tech. (In recent months, dwindling U.S. spirit consumption and falling retail sales have conspired to stifle boozy TV buys, a development that could have significant ramifications during the traditionally beery fall football season.)That said, some of the beer money that may have otherwise been pouring into Paris appears to have been diverted to Fox and Telemundo’s coffers in advance of the upcoming FIFA World Cup.According to Jon Diament, WBD’s exec VP and head of sports sales, ad inventory in and around the French Open is effectively sold out, with a good chunk of the avails having been snapped up during the 2024-25 upfront bazaar. Units being held back for potential make-good liabilities will be shifted to scatter if the ratings hold up.Meanwhile, the beer money should bubble back up next year, when the international soccer competition has died down. “Frankly, we didn’t really need the beer money,” Diament said, noting that while TNT viewers fans may pick up on the lighter volume of suds that’ll be on display during the ad breaks—last year’s tourney featured a healthy serving of Stella Artois spots—the other tennis-friendly categories have more than made up for the lager drought. “This has definitely been a weird year with World Cup in the same quarter,” Diament said. “Anheuser-Busch has a crazy big deal with them, so it’s not surprising that the category is down for us.”Instrumental in juicing the ratings for pretty much every major sporting event on the dial this season, the new-ish Nielsen Big Data + Panel currency is also expected to work its magic for WBD in France.The growing popularity of the men’s game has given tennis’ top media partners reason to believe that there may be no letdown as the era of the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer) gives way to all things Sincaraz. Sinner’s loss snapped a run of nine consecutive Slams won by one or the other player. With his 2023 victory at the U.S. Open, Djokovic was the last man to win a major before the Sinner/Alcaraz streak began in January of the following year.Along with the traditional appeals to fuse fannies to sofa cushions during the French Open, TNT Sports is bringing the Roland Garros experience to New York this weekend with an on-site activation at South Street Seaport. Fans will be able to take in the action from under the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, where they’ll be loaded up with French Open merch.A global sponsor of the tourney, the skincare brand Isdin will also be in the mix at the weekend Seaport activation. While sunscreen spokesman Alcaraz is recovering from a wrist injury, Isdin marketing chief Alain Vallejos said the pop-up is “a natural fit” for the brand.The men’s final will be staged on Sunday, June 7 at around 9 a.m. ET, with the remaining two women set to have it out 24 hours earlier. Both finals will air live on TNT and truTV, with HBO Max serving as WBD’s primary streaming outlet.
