Fans expressing their frustrations with broadcasters has been a recurring theme during the grass-court season, as ESPN faced considerable backlash from the American audience for airing Novak Djokovic‘s match against Roman Safiullin at Wimbledon instead of American players.

At the same time, Djokovic is in a hard battle against his opponent on Center Court, two seeded American players, Jessica Pegula and Iva Jovic, were engaged in a tough contest on Court 1. Understandably, ESPN chose to air the Serb’s match, as he is a legacy name playing on Center Court, but that decision did not sit well with the American audience, who wanted to see the All-American women’s clash between two of the top WTA players.

This problem also stems from ESPN’s change in subscription model, especially online. Fans now have to subscribe to the ESPN Unlimited platform to have access to all court coverage. People who have the old ESPN Plus coverage won’t be able to watch the match of their choice; they’ll have to settle for whatever is shown on the single stream. Fans have been pointing out this discrepancy as well.

Another issue fans had with the scheduling was the quality of the match: Pegula and Jovic are a competitive matchup, whereas Djokovic playing a qualifier in the fourth round does not scream top billing, as an easy Serbian victory is expected. However, the first set of the match was competitive, with the seven-time champion recovering from 2-5 and winning the tiebreak while saving two set points en route. ESPN is not the first broadcaster to be criticized by fans in grass-season, with the BBC previously coming under fire for prioritizing Serena Williams over the likes of Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter.

Even though showing Djokovic’s match made sense from a commercial standpoint, it was clear that the audience, especially the American one, was not impressed with ESPN’s coverage.

Fans Not Pleased With ESPN’s Choice of Airing Novak Djokovic Instead of American Players

Fans were critical of ESPN’s decision to show Novak Djokovic face an unheralded opponent rather than a potentially more competitive clash between two top WTA players, Jessica Pegula and Iva Jovic. “@espn Way to go, ESPN- cutting away from the American women’s tennis match, Pegula/Jovic, to show us Djokovic and some Russian. Your coverage has been terrible”, said a fan.

Another fan echoed similar sentiments, saying, “@espn People want to watch Pegula vs. Jovic, not Djokovic vs. an also-ran. Stop switching coverage from a great women’s match to an inferior men’s. Two American women are battling in an outstanding match—give it the airtime it deserves”.

ESPN would also like to capture every moment of the Serb’s Wimbledon campaign, as the seven-time Wimbledon champion is going through the latter stages of his career, and still has the possibility of winning another Major, which would put him on an altogether different pedestal. However, fans were not shy about stating that Djokovic is well past his prime and that his matches, especially one against Safiullin, had lost any coverage value.

“Totally agree. Washed up Djokovic and an unknown Russian? Jovic is 18, she may be good so let’s hide her, wth”, said a fan, whereas another stated, “@espn You have 2 seeded women playing at Wimbledon and you’re showing Djokovic play an unseeded player so stupid stop thinking he will win another major @Wimbledon”.

Another fan echoed similar sentiments regarding the potential competitive level of the Djokovic-Safiullin match, while pointing out the issues with the new ESPN subscription. “Like again, why are we forced to watch washed-up, no good for tennis, Djokovic when there’s 2 Americans playing? And why is ESPN Unlimited a thing now? I have ESPN+ and have had it for many years. I used to be able to watch whatever match I wanted”, said the fan.

Fans were not totally amiss with their point, as the Pegula-Jovic match was quite a close contest for the first two sets, before the veteran Pegula drove away in the distance in the final set. On the other hand, having dug himself out of a hole in the first set, Djokovic had an easy outing in the second set against Safiullin, setting up the Serb well for a win.