How to watch the US Open 2019
The final Grand Slam of the year - The US Open - takes place in Flushing Meadows, New York, until 8 September
The two-week tennis tournament is held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York City.
Coverage begins at 11am ET/4pm BST. All matches are broadcast live on Amazon Prime in the UK, and ESPN+ in the US.
All eyes will firmly be on defending champion and the player to win four of the last five Grand Slams dating back to last year – Novak Djokovic.
A little more than a month ago, he toppled Roger Federer in the longest singles final in Wimbledon history. The match lasted nearly five hours, with the Serian triumphing to deny Federer another title.
Not surprisingly, Djokovic is the top seed going into Flushing Meadows with Nadal and Federer second and third respectively.
This means that if all three men win all their openings rounds, then Djokovic will face Federer in the semi-finals of the US Open and Nadal in the 2019 US Open Final.
In the last decade, few other men’s singles players have managed to get the better of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Grand Slam finals.
Federer holds 20 men’s Grand Slam titles, which is sensational any way you see it. But it would be even more epoch-making had it not been for Nadal’s 18 and Djokovic’s 16.
With age on their side, both players can overtake Federer in the next few years, provided they keep fit.
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Speaking of health, Andy Murray was firmly in that mix of the top four players in the world before his hip injury derailed his career.
The Scot has opted out of the US Open men’s singles category and has yet to announce whether he will be playing in the doubles category. He is currently competing in the Rafa Nadal Open Challenger tournament, where he has won his first two rounds.
In stark contrast to the men’s singles Grand Slams, the women’s singles draw has been a bit more unpredictable with no consistent winners and an array of different winners over the past few years.
Last year Naomi Osaka won the US Open in a rather controversial contest that saw her challenger Serena Williams get angry at the referee and the American audience boo the champion Osaka during the trophy presentation.
Osaka starts as the top women’s seed going into the US Open, followed by French Open champion Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova in third, and Wimbledon winner Simona Halep fourth.
Serena Williams’ best days may be behind her but she’s always a threat on the tennis court, especially on home turf, where she’s won six Grand Slam titles, the last one in 2014. She’s currently the eighth seed.
Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens are the tenth and 11th seeds respectively going into their home tournament, but all eyes will be fixated on the progress of a promising youngster who will be playing in her first Grand Slam tournament at home.
15-year-old Cori Gauff went from obscurity to immense popularity in a matter of days after defeating Venus Williams in her opening game at Wimbledon, then putting aside two other players ranked way above her before losing to eventual Wimbledon champion Simona Halep.
She counts the Williams sisters as her idols and will be hoping to follow in their large footsteps as the next big American contender that’s always a threat at every Grand Slam.
How to watch the US Open 2019 in the UK: Amazon Prime Video
None of the terrestrial UK television channels will broadcast live coverage of the US Open. That’s because Amazon Prime holds the exclusive UK broadcast rights to stream the US Open until 2023.
The company is slowly expanding its reach to broadcast live sports game. Amazon Prime will also broadcast select Premier League games in December.
You basically have three options to subscribe to Amazon Prime – all three options include a 30-day free trial, which means – in theory – you could stream the US Open from the UK without paying a penny.
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The best value for money is a yearly Amazon Prime subscription which costs £79 a year and included tons of benefits, such as Prime Video, unlimited one-day delivery on thousands or products, unlimited music streaming and photo storage.
Alternatively, you could subscribe to a monthly Amazon Prime account, which costs you £7.99 a month and includes all the aforementioned benefits, including the ability to cancel your subscription at any time.
The final option is a £5.99 monthly subscription to Amazon Prime Video. This will give you access to all the Prime Video content, including live coverage of the US Open in the UK but you won’t get any other Amazon perks.
How to watch the US Open 2019 in the US: ESPN+
If you’re based in the US, then the best way to watch live coverage of the US Open online is to subscribe to ESPN+, the brilliant streaming service that is the official home of the MLS, MLB, FIBA Basketball World Cup, UFC and the Italian Serie A football league, featuring soccer superstar Cristiano’s Ronaldo’s juggernaut Juventus team.
The service will offer a “digital grounds pass” to tennis fans with more than 1,300 hours of coverage from all 16 courts streaming live and on-demand on ESPN+.
ESPN+ is a subscription service that costs $4.99 a month and lets you cancel anytime, which means streaming the entire US Open tournament won’t cost you more than $5.
You can stream live sports on any of your devices, including Smart TVs, PCs, laptops, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and even gaming consoles.
How to watch the US Open abroad: use a good VPN service
If you’re travelling or are based outside the UK or US and want to watch the US Open on Amazon Prime Video or ESPN+, your best option is to use a VPN service. This basically lets you virtually geo-shift your device’s location to pretend that you’re browsing from anywhere in the world.
Apart from letting you access geo-blocked content like Prime Video UK and ESPN+, VPN services also create an encrypted tunnel when you use your device. This basically means that all the browsing activity you do when connected to the VPN service is encrypted and invisible to everyone, including your ISP.
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There are many VPN services on offer but the ones we mentioned below both work with Amazon Prime Video UK and ESPN+ in the US. We can’t guarantee this with other VPN services. Apart from that, both VPN services have 24/7 customer support, online tutorials and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can cancel at any time if you’re unhappy with the service.
ExpressVPN: Our favourite VPN service is ExpressVPN. It’s one of the few services that has been independently audited to prove that it doesn’t log or store any user data. You can use it on five devices simultaneously, making it a great option to cover all your devices at one time. Best of all, our readers get three months free when they subscribe to the one-month plan.
CyberGhost VPN: CyberGhost VPN has an entire tab dedicated to streaming services, giving you one-click access to Prime Video UK and ESPN+ in the US. You can speak to its 24/7 customer support if any of these services don’t work as advertised. The service can be used on seven devices simultaneously, making it a great option for your entire family.