Australian Open 2026’s main draw action got underway on Sunday, January 18, in Melbourne, featuring big American names such as Venus Williams, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda, and others. However, what should have been an exciting start for U.S. fans quickly turned into a nightmare due to a major broadcasting fiasco.
In the States, the Melbourne Major is shown on ESPN and ESPN2, with streaming coverage also available on ESPN Unlimited, ESPN+ and Fubo. This setup was meant to give fans easy access to the tournament across platforms.
However, many fans have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to complain that ESPN+, which costs around $12.99 per month, does not allow them to watch all matches. According to them, full coverage requires an upgrade to ESPN Unlimited, priced at roughly $29.99 per month. Notably, fans with a DirecTV Entertainment package do have access to ESPN Unlimited, but the service must be manually activated through the account settings.
“Finding out an ESPN+ subscription is no longer enough to watch all the AO matches and you need an ‘ESPN Unlimited’ subscription?! it’s gone from worse to worser,” one Fan wrote.
“Spent an hour trying to figure it. So annoying and disrespectful to tennis fans. Money grabbing scheme,” another wrote.
“What the heck is wrong with ESPN. Cable – not enough. ESPN+ not enough. 1st matches need espn unlimited. I’m done,” one user posted.
“Literally so pi**ed. No heads up and no options – trying to watch this sport shouldn’t be this damn hard,” another added.
“So unless ESPN is showing the match on their main network, fans have to buy ESPN Unlimited to watch any of the three biggest courts (John Cain, Margaret Court and Rod Laver) at the Australian Open.
@espn screw you. No wonder no one in America watches tennis… too damn hard to,” another added.“That is pathetic considering the amount of Europeans playing college tennis in the states you’d think they’d try promote the sport,” one user tweeted.
Venus Williams & Frances Tiafoe’s Australian Open 2026 Day 1 Opponents
Venus Williams and Frances Tiafoe are set to begin their 2026 Australian Open campaigns on Day 1, Sunday, January 18. Williams will face Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, while 29th seed Tiafoe is scheduled to take on home favorite Jason Kubler.
Other American players in action on Day 1 included Hailey Baptiste, Taylor Townsend, and Caty McNally. On the men’s side, Sebastian Korda, Michael Zheng, Emilio Nava, and Patrick Krypson featured, with Jenson Brooksby and Zachary Svajda yet to take the court.
