What made ESPN’s Serena-Venus blunder worse was that the graphic was supposed to honor Coco Gauff’s place in American tennis history, not rewrite it. Earlier this year, Gauff’s 75th Grand Slam win at the Australian Open pulled her level with Pam Shriver, and her very next victory pushed Shriver out of the Top 5. By the US Open quarterfinals, Gauff was already sitting on 89 wins and breathing down Chris Evert’s neck, while Serena and Venus remained the two names at the top. ESPN had one job: get the legends on the graphic right.
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ESPN tried to celebrate the five American women with the most Grand Slam wins before turning 23, but somehow botched the Williams sisters. In a glaring oversight, Serena’s photo appeared above Venus’ name, effectively showing Serena twice and erasing Venus from her own record. Fans spotted it instantly, and ESPN was ripped for a mistake involving two of tennis’ most recognizable icons.
One fan blamed ESPN’s limited tennis footprint for the mistake. In the US, the network carries the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, while TNT has the French Open and Tennis Channel handles much of the ATP and WTA calendar. And this was hardly ESPN’s first graphics embarrassment at this US Open.
During Alexandra Eala’s first-round match against Mary Stoiana, the network displayed the Czech flag instead of the Philippine flag beside Eala’s name, triggering another round of fan criticism over basic quality control.
Graphics were not ESPN’s only problem.
Fans were already frustrated with ESPN Unlimited, which left older Select subscribers unable to freely choose every US Open match. Some even missed Naomi Osaka unless they paid for the pricier tier, adding to growing complaints about the network’s tennis coverage.
Then came the Serena-Venus graphic. One fan mocked how hard it should have been to make that mistake at all:
“Even if somehow one can’t differentiate their faces there are so many context cues that it’s Serena. Like, lemme reserve my energy.”
Another questioned ESPN’s professionalism, calling the error disrespectful to both sisters. “Makes me sick. Such a lack of professionalism and a slap in the face of both Venus and Serena. @espn needs to do better and immediately. I’m sick of this nonsense.”
Others were more blunt. “Like how did no one notice they got a picture of the same person twice mane,” one fan wrote, while another simply called ESPN “embarrassing.”
One fan also blamed ESPN’s limited tennis schedule. “This is what happens when your Network only covers 3 tennis tournaments a year,” they wrote.
John McEnroe has also kept ESPN under scrutiny, with viewers repeatedly criticizing his commentary and calling for his removal. That frustration surfaced again after Carlos Alcaraz’s match against Ben Shelton, adding another controversy to a network already taking heat from tennis fans.