The broadcasting fiasco seems to be a never-ending saga for tennis fans. Earlier this season, fans were left dissatisfied with tennis coverage at various tournaments like the Madrid Open and Roland Garros. Further, another major controversy erupted at the ongoing Paris Olympics. Earlier today, Novak Djokovic took on Rafael Nadal in a blockbuster encounter in the men’s singles second round. However, to the surprise of American fans, the match wasn’t broadcast on any of the channels covering the Paris Olympic Games in the United States. This left fans brimming with anger and they made their emotions felt on social media.

All the eyes were on the Court Philippe-Chatrier as Djokovic took on Nadal for potentially the final time in both their careers. With years of serving thrilling encounters, it was a rather contrasting end to their rivalry as the Serb dominated Nadal throughout the match to clinch a straight-set victory 6-1, 6-4. The Spaniard had injury concerns going into this encounter but managed to play against Djokovic.

Meanwhile, American fans were left disappointed as they couldn’t catch a glimpse of the two in action against each other. The match wasn’t broadcast on any of the over-the-air channels, with only Peacock streaming the match on digital platforms. As a result, fans slammed the poor coverage of the Paris Olympics in the United States.

Blockbuster encounter between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal goes missing in America

In the United States, the Paris Olympic Games are being broadcast on channels like NBC, CNBC, USA Network, and E!, apart from digital platforms like Peacock. While there are select major encounters on over-the-air channels, digital platforms like Peacock stream most of the matches. Unfortunately for the fans, they couldn’t get a glimpse of today’s encounter between Nadal and Djokovic on over-the-air channels, which are comparatively inexpensive than digital streaming channels.

As a result, fans made their feelings felt, with one saying, “For people who have money, yes, they can pay up for Peacock. What about people who don’t have endless reserves of cash to pony up for all these different streaming services?”

In what was an important day for the United States contingent, the men’s basketball team was also in action against Serbia. This match was broadcast by NBC but when some fans wanted to view the match between Nadal and Djokovic, they couldn’t find it on any of the over-the-air channels.

Thus, frustration grew on social media, and one fan commented, “Sunday morning, everyone wanted to watch Team USA basketball vs Nikola Jokic and Serbia. Accordingly, appropriately, correctly, NBC showed the game live in the morning. Djokovic-Nadal? Not only was it not on NBC, it wasn’t on ANY over-the-air channel. Peacock relegation AGAIN!”

Meanwhile, one of the Twitter users recollected how this was a trend at the Olympics. Tennis matches at the Olympic Games seldom got importance in terms of coverage, as one fan highlighted, “I wish it was surprising, but it’s entirely predictable. Even a few years ago (I think it was 2012 Olympics) the tennis matches were aired on Bravo.”

Further, a section of fans were left angry with the broadcasters for not showing the thrilling tennis match between the two legends. One fan blasted the broadcasters, saying, “That is just criminal. It’s a crime against humanity.” 

The next edition of the Olympic Games will be held in the United States in Los Angeles. One of the fans hoped that the situation would be better next time around, saying, “You’ll have it all for LA2028.” 

While it was a disappointing end to Nadal’s singles campaign, Djokovic is on track to win an elusive Olympic gold medal. He will next face the winner of the match between Dominik Koepfer and Matteo Arnaldi in the third round. It’ll be interesting to see if Djokovic can find success in Paris.