NEW YORK — ESPN is bringing the fast-moving format of NFL RedZone to tennis, launching a new streaming program that will jump between as many as 16 courts during the US Open to show viewers the tournament’s most important moments as they happen.
“RedZone at the US Open” will debut Sunday, Aug. 30, when the tournament’s main draw begins at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. It will stream daily through Sept. 4 on the ESPN App for subscribers to the company’s ESPN Unlimited plan.
The program will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET and move between live matches rather than requiring viewers to select and follow a single court for hours at a time.
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ESPN said the broadcast will have a dedicated production team that decides which matches and moments deserve attention at any given time. The format could move from a seeded player facing an upset to a deciding set or another significant point elsewhere at the tournament.
The approach closely resembles NFL RedZone, which became popular by moving continuously among football games on Sunday afternoons and taking viewers to matches where significant plays were developing.
For ESPN, adapting the concept to tennis offers a way of addressing one of the challenges of covering a major tournament: numerous matches can be taking place simultaneously.
The US Open will have action across as many as 16 courts during the opening rounds.
Instead of requiring viewers to monitor multiple streams themselves, the RedZone broadcast will serve as a curated feed of live tournament action.
ESPN said the service will be available to subscribers of ESPN Unlimited, the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming offering. Every match from every court will also remain available individually through the ESPN App for those subscribers.
The company is also distributing the tournament across its traditional television networks.
Coverage will appear on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, while ABC will carry part of the opening day. Disney+ subscribers will also receive access to selected US Open coverage on the first day of competition.
The experiment comes as television companies increasingly seek ways to make live sports more suitable for viewers accustomed to short-form digital video and rapidly changing feeds.
Reuters reported that ESPN hopes the format can replicate some of the appeal of NFL RedZone by eliminating much of the downtime associated with watching a single sporting event.
Tennis is particularly well-suited to such an approach during the early stages of a Grand Slam because matches are taking place simultaneously across numerous courts for much of the day.
The launch also comes during a broader expansion of ESPN’s streaming business.
The company introduced its full direct-to-consumer ESPN service in 2025, making its television networks and additional programming available without requiring a traditional cable subscription.
ESPN also has a long-term relationship with the US Open. Its current agreement with the United States Tennis Association gives the company U.S. broadcast rights to the tournament through 2037.
The new RedZone feed will initially operate only during the opening portion of the tournament, from Aug. 30 through Sept. 4.
Whether ESPN eventually adopts the concept for other tennis tournaments or sports could depend in part on how audiences respond to the US Open experiment.
For now, the launch represents another attempt by traditional sports broadcasters to combine conventional live coverage with viewing formats shaped by the streaming era.
