Lifting the Wimbledon trophy is a dream of each player on the Tour. Surrounded by thousands of fans cheering at the top of their lungs, the whole setup was created to make the victory as glorious as possible for the people sitting in their homes. But imagine the lack of enthusiasm that could be created due to incomplete broadcasts of the show. Sounds terrible, right? Well, this is what the women’s doubles champion Taylor Townsend had to go through.

Taylor Townsend recently won her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon by capturing the women’s doubles championship with her new doubles partner, Katerina Siniakova. The dominant duo took down Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe with a score of 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1) in a match that concluded late on Saturday night.

Despite the action-fueled showdown, the champions couldn’t celebrate with the world. ESPN, the official broadcasting partner, faced backlash on social media for cutting off the broadcast before the trophy ceremony. An active journalist on social media informed fans of the issue. “WTF @espn??!!! You cut off the @Wimbledon women’s doubles final and didn’t show the trophy ceremony. Bad form!! @TaylorTownsend just won her first major title. Show some respect,” she wrote.

This criticism became even more highlighted because ESPN, despite being an American network, didn’t fully cover the final victory of an American WTA star, which the fans were quite eager to witness. ESPN has had exclusive US rights to Wimbledon since 2012 and will continue to broadcast the tournament until 2035, a fact that makes a mistake even more glaring.

Despite the broadcast issues, Taylor Townsend stayed positive and cherished the moment. Reflecting on her newborn partnership with Siniakova, she said, “I remember in my first Grand Slam final (the 2022 U.S. Open) she kicked my butt so it was great to be on the same side of the net this time. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks and it means a lot to get across the finishing line.”

While the players might not have come up directly to open up about the issue, fans made sure to share their dismay at missing out on Townsend’s moment of glory.

“I Felt Robbed” Fans express dismay over incomplete broadcast of Taylor Townsend’s win

As soon as the post started to gather the attention of frustrated fans on social media, they came forward to bash the sports broadcasting network. It turned out that there were many who found this a drastic move and, therefore, dropped their thoughts in the comment section.

Every American fan has waited for this moment for a long time. “I felt robbed and I bet the players did too! Shame on you @espn🤬,” a spectator wrote. Taylor Townsend was hunting down a doubles final for quite a while. She made it to the finals at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Roland Garros but couldn’t win. When she finally made it this time, it wasn’t well-covered.

Another fan, lashing out at the media network, wrote, “DEFINTELY……… @espn once again proving how deplorable the network is!” This was mainly because of the similar repetitive instances from ESPN, and that too for tennis, with this year’s Wimbledon aggravating fans further.

Most of the seasonal fans joined in for the final clash just to witness the glorious moments of the winning ceremony. “DITTO!!!!!! No Ladies Double Final 🏆ceremony! BOO espn 👎🏻👎🏻,” a fan wrote, as he had to miss what he came for.

Along with being a TV channel, ESPN also offers annual subscriptions so that fans can catch up with the broadcasts online. However, one fan found it missing from their website as well “And it’s not on the website…yet,” a fan commented, making it clear that the media channel has failed not just one but many audiences.

The flak wasn’t just limited to the doubles finals. A fan mentioned how there were issues with the women’s singles. “ESPN.com didn’t even leave Barbora on the front page. It was WNBA all day,” he wrote, pointing at the lack of coverage for the singles champion.

With these and several other comments on a similar note, the fans made it clear that they were not at all satisfied with the broadcast from ESPN. As the men’s singles final is scheduled in just a few hours, it still remains to be seen if they will be able to fix it.