Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Aryna Sabalenka, and Jessica Pegula are set to join defending US Open champions Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek for two weeks of tennis in New York, and you can follow all the action this year without having to pony up for cable.
The 2023 edition of the US Open Tennis Championship will get underway on Monday, August 28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, and it will conclude on Sunday, September 10. The women’s championship match will take place at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, September 9, while the men will square off the following day at the same hour.
Once again, ESPN will be offering “first-to-last-ball” coverage of the US Open on cable, marking the ninth year of the sports network’s 11-year exclusive on the tournament. (ESPN snagged the broadcast rights for the US Open from CBS in 2015.)
No cable? No problem. Cord-cutters have a variety of options for streaming US Open tennis this year, including live TV streaming services such as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV, all of which carry the ESPN and ESPN2 cable networks, as well as offering access to ESPN3 via the ESPN app. ESPN+, a streaming-only companion to ESPN, will also stream US Open matches.
While most of the US Open Tennis Championship will only be available to watch via streaming or cable, there will be some live over-the-air coverage on ABC during the “middle Sunday” of the tournament, according to the USTA. That’s slim pickings compared to the wall-to-wall coverage CBS used to offer, but it’s better than nothing. (Bad over-the-air reception? Check out our TV antenna reviews.)
Where to stream the US Open Tennis Championships 2023
ESPN+
Pros
- Excellent original programming
- Well-designed apps with minimal ads and broad platform support
- Good selection of less-popular live sports
Cons
- No live channel or commentary to tie everything together
- Resuming unfinished programs is a hassle
- Pay TV package still required for full-season sports coverage
The five-year-old ESPN+ remains a perplexing and frustrating experience for sports fans. On the one hand, it delivers a dizzying amount of live and on-demand sports coverage; on the other, there’s no equivalent to SportsCenter on the flagship ESPN cable network, while such ESPN mainstays like Monday Night Football are only sporadically available. In short, ESPN+ is supplement to the ESPN cable network, not a simulcast of it.
As for US Open tennis, ESPN+ will stream a number of matches this year as well as all the qualifying matches (which run from August 22-25), but don’t expect it to cover every match from the main tournament. So if you want wall-to-wall US Open coverage, you should also consider subbing for streaming live TV service for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 (the latter of which is accessible via the ESPN app, same as ESPN+). As you’ll learn in a moment, Hulu with Live TV (detailed below) comes with ESPN+ included, along with the other main ESPN networks. You can also get ESPN+ as part of a Disney Bundle that also includes Disney+ and Hulu ($19.99 ad-free, $12.99 with ads).
(Note: On October 12, 2023, the price of ESPN+ will increase to $10.99/month.)
Sling TV
Pros
- Lower base price than most other live TV services
- Easy-to-navigate app and grid guide
- Video quality settings help avoid data caps and buffering
Cons
- DVR storage is frustrating to manage
- 60-frames-per-second channel support is limited
- Multiple base packages and add-ons can cause confusion
Want to stream the flagship ESPN cable network without paying full price for a live-TV streaming service? If so, Sling TV might be your best bet, for both the US Open and beyond. Besides CNN, AMC, TBS, and other basic-cable networks, the Sling Orange package offers ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3, all for just $40 a month, well below the $70-plus you’ll spend on a typical live streaming TV plan. If you’re wondering why Sling Orange is so much less expensive than regular live streaming TV services, here’s the reason: your local TV affiliates aren’t included. (Sling TV does offer local ABC, Fox, and NBC affiliates in select markets, but only if you sign up for a Sling Blue or Sling Orange + Sling Blue package.)
Hulu + Live TV
Pros
- Excellent value for Disney bundle subscribers
- Expansive on-demand catalog
- Recommendations and staff picks make the app fun to explore
Cons
- Live TV can be inefficient to navigate
- Hard to figure out which programs allow ad skipping
- Can’t watch on TV devices while traveling
Hulu + Live TV isn’t the best cable replacement service, but for some cord-cutters, it might be the best value. For $70 per month, you get a wide variety of live broadcast and cable TV channels, including ESPN and ESPN2. Even better, you also get the full Disney bundle, including Disney+ with ads, Hulu‘s on-demand service, and ESPN+, which means you’ll have even more ways to watch the on-court action in Flushing. If you’re a tennis fan who’s already paying for Disney+ or Hulu, snagging Hulu + Live TV for the US Open is a no-brainer. (Note: On October 12, 2023, the price of Hulu + Live TV with ads will go up to $76.99, while the ad-free version will increase to $89.99.)
YouTube TV
Pros
- Simple interface makes live TV easy to navigate
- Unlimited DVR allows for a huge on-demand library (with skippable ads)
- Broad selection of local, news, sports, and entertainment channels
Cons
- Can’t delete recordings or mark them as watched on TV devices
- One-off recordings only work for live sporting events
- Menu doesn’t clearly separate DVR and on-demand video (with unskippable ads)
YouTube TV isn’t the value it used to be, but it’s still a compelling replacement for more expensive cable and satellite TV packages. For $73 per month, you get broad local channel coverage, a wide range of entertainment channels, and popular news and sports channels–including, of course, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN News, perfect for keeping tabs on the US Open Tennis Championship. All this comes in a simple interface with a cloud-based DVR that lets you skip through commercials in your recordings. Still, YouTube TV’s DVR setup takes some getting used to, and rival Hulu + Live TV provides more for your money at $70 per month—a price that also includes Disney+ and ESPN+.
DirecTV Stream
Pros
- Excellent grid guide with useful sorting options
- More sports (at least in its $100-per-month tier) than other streaming services
- DVR is easy to navigate and has its own dedicated menu section
Cons
- No visual preview when fast forwarding on Fire TV and Android TV
- Sluggish performance on some lower-end streaming devices
- Some national sports channels are pushed out to more-expensive packages
In the realm of live TV streaming services, DirecTV Stream is on the extravagant side. Its sports coverage–including ESPN, meaning your US Open tennis needs will be satisfied–is without peer, and there are no major gaps in its lineup, provided you’re willing the pay the price. Formerly known as AT&T TV, and DirecTV Now before that, DirecTV Stream nods to cable with its excellent grid guide, easily-accessible DVR list, and the way it jumps directly into live TV at launch. But with a starting price of $75 per month, DirecTV Stream is also one of the priciest live TV streaming services, and adding regional sports pushes the price to $100 per month or more.
Fubo
Pros
- Better regional sports coverage than most streaming services
- Well-designed app with unique features, especially on Apple TV
- Generous DVR storage with no time limits
Cons
- Lack of TNT and TBS leaves big holes in sports coverage
- Managing DVR storage can be a hassle
- Fire TV and Android TV apps are much worse than other platforms
Fubo (formerly known as FuboTV) is a well-designed live TV streaming service with a big emphasis on sports–and for the purposes of the US Open Tennis Championship, Fubo does offer both ESPN and ESPN2, giving you live coverage of the entire tournament. Besides national sports, Fubo’s $75/month Pro plan delivers a big bundle of sports, news, and entertainment channels, including the regional sports coverage that many other services lack. Fubo brings its own set of trade-offs, though. You’ll give up TBS and TNT, which themselves are important sources of basketball, baseball, and hockey, and it’s missing some popular channels found in cheaper services.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.