2026 Week 3-4
Ready (or not)...Play!
The season may just have started, but we already find ourselves on the start of the first major of the year. The Australian Open will kick off Saturday evening here in the states with coverage jumping over to ESPN Networks/Streams.
This will be the first slam with the newly launched ESPN subscriptions, and a few interesting items to point out. The ESPN PR page outlines its broadcast schedule and calls out ESPN + will feature all outer courts, you’ll need ESPN Unlimited or a TV provider log in to stream the three show courts courts (Rod Laver, Margaret Court, John Cain).
Admittedly, not exactly clear how this plays out compared to past experiences (personally) have always had access to a cable provider to log into ESPN if needed until this year. Drop a note in the comments with what setup you have and how this worked out for you—the potential snag we see popping up is if you are looking to stream show courts before ESPN 2’s coverage block opens up and if you stream multiple show courts at once, but you don’t have a cable provider that grants you access to ESPN Unlimited.
As referenced last week, ESPN.com/watch outlines the subscription options for you. There is a pretty big jump in price between ESPN Select and Unlimited so if you aren’t sure what you will need you may want to sign up for ESPN Select, and if you feel you are missing matches important to you, quickly upgrade to ESPN Unlimited (you are only charged the difference between the two if you this route).
Be sure to double check if ESPN Plus is part of any of your existing subscriptions (Disney/Hulu). Of note, Disney Plus subscribers will get access to Australian Open coverage for day one matches.
UPDATE: With matches kicking off, hearing of a number of frustrations with the ESPN tier subscriptions. As mentioned, we did have some concern with the callout that ESPN Unlimited Subscription carrying show courts with ESPN + showing all outer courts. That frustration is valid too—for past slams if your existing cable provider had ESPN as part of its package that login would work for getting any matches that ESPN+ didn’t show. With the move to ESPN Unlimited, that list of cable providers is more limited. Below are the cable providers that include ESPN Unlimited.
Tennis Channel will also air a daily recap show and match replays throughout the day.
Tennis Watchers Content Corner
This weeks content corner is featuring Bounces, the tennis newsletter from Ben Rothenberg. Bounces began in October 2024 and has been going strong ever since, including on-site coverage of major tennis tournaments, exclusive interviews, features, and more. Ben is onsite at the Australian Open this year so check out his Twitter, Bluesky, or No Challenges Remaining Podcast for additional on the ground updates.
Australian Open
ATP Singles Defending Champion: Jannik Sinner
ATP Singles Top Seed: Carlos Alcaraz
WTA Singles Defending Champion: Madison Keys
WTA Singles Top Seed: Aryna Sabalenka
How To Watch
Links
Main Links: Tournament Website/ AO Radio
Tournament Links: Draw/ Order of Play / Scores / Results
Time/Weather Links: Time and Weather Converter
Apps: Google Play/ Apple
I decided to get the ESPN unlimited for the month. $30 for ESPN+ and ESPN2. In the past, i just did ESPN+ and missed out on some matches. We’ll see how this new set up goes!