Serena Williams is off the court: How to watch the Australian Open
The women’s singles semifinals were underway Thursday at the Australian Open. Though she put up a good fight, Tennis GOAT and all-round bada** Serena Williams will not be moving on to the finals, losing in two straight sets to Japan’s Naomi Osaka. Rumors are flying that Williams may hang up her racket for good now that the Australian Open has concluded.
But just because Serena Williams is out, doesn’t mean the rest of the Open is a wash. Osaka, 23, is set to face the American Jennifer Brady who, though lower-ranked, is up and coming in the tennis world. Their match is on Saturday. For the men’s singles, the Serbian Novak Djokovic is definitely going to the finals against either Russia’s Daniil Medvedev or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Since the Open takes place in Australia, you won’t be able to get local coverage in the states. However, we have compiled a list of viewing options so you can still see the Australian Open even if Serena Williams is out of the running.
Tennis Channel
If you’re watching the Australian Open, we already know if you are a tennis fan. This channel add-on, available through your cable provider, will give you all the tennis matches you can ask for. Access to the Tennis channel is an extra fee each month, but you should be able to find it through your provider’s sports package, giving more specialized sports channels.
ESPN
If you have a traditional cable provider like Fios, Comcast, Xfinity, or Cox, the Australian Open will be airing live on ESPN. Make sure you head to the right channel! If you aren’t home to watch, but still want to see the match live from wherever you are, you don’t have to schedule a recording or watch at a later date. You can use your cable provider login information to watch from the ESPN app.
If you don’t have a traditional cable provider (look at you keeping up with technology trends!), here are some options with free trials that have ESPN, so you can watch the final showdown between Japan’s Naomi Osaka and the U.S.’s Jennifer Brady.
Sling
Sling is available on AirTV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox One, and even Oculus. The service offers two plans for the same price of $35. However, if you’re a tennis fan and want to watch the Australian Open finals, make sure you have the orange plan. It’s the only option with ESPN.
Right now Sling is offering your first month for just $10. They also offer a three-day trial if you want to watch for free. You can get the Tennis Channel in their sports extras package for an extra $15 a month, which also includes the NHL Network, the Olympic Channel, Fox Sports 2, the MLB Network, NFL Red Zone, ESPN News, ESPN U, and NBC TV.
Fubo
FuboTV should be the go-to TV streaming app for sports. After all, the company started out as a soccer streaming service. A similar setup to Sling, it’s available as an app on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox One, and most mobile devices.
Offering a free seven-day trial, the service has access to ESPN and Tennis Channel, as well as FOX, CBS, NFL, NBC and NFL Network. After the trial, FuboTV’s family plan is $64.99 a month with a hundred and twenty channels.
VPN
Want to try and access local Aussie coverage of the Australian Open? Want to try to watch for free? Then you can easily download a VPN to change your location to something in range of the match – say Australia. Express VPN, NordVPN, Proton VPN offer low-cost, per month options that come along with free trials so you can watch wherever you are.
