How to watch tennis at Tokyo Olympics: Schedule, channels and more

Ready to watch the tennis matches at the Tokyo Olympics? We're approaching the singles gold medal games, but before we move futher, we have to issue a massive SPOILER WARNING for any who didn't watch the very early Friday matches.

Yes, the Novak Djokovic vs Alexander Zverev live stream saw the world's No. 1 suffer a bit of fatigue. In fact, Djokovic lost (his first since May), and now he's going for the bronze in today's Novak Djokovic vs Pablo Carreno Busta live stream.

This also means no Golden Slam, and no sitting in the history books alongside Steffi Graf. Now, Djokovic will only be able to get four grand slam titles max this year, and maybe a bronze to go with them. 

On the women's side, today sees both the bronze and gold medal matches. In the first of these, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan takes on Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, while the big prize will be won by either Belinda Bencic of Switzerland or Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.

The mixed and women's doubles bronze medal games will also play out today, while the respective gold medal matches are due to be on Sunday (August 1), along with the men's singles gold medal match between Zverev and Karen Khachanov of the ROC.

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Of the services you will want for these games, Peacock will help you see highlights at night, while Sling TV and Fubo TV can help you catch games on tape-delay.

How to watch tennis at the Tokyo Olympics from anywhere in the world

The Olympics is a global event and can be viewed in almost every country on Earth. However, if you're not in your home country and can't watch the Tokyo Olympics' tennis matches with your usual services — or you want to watch in your native language — you're not out of luck. 

With a virtual private network, or VPN, you can appear to be surfing the web from your home town (or somewhere that blackouts won't hit), and access the same streaming services you already paid for. They're totally legal, inexpensive and easy to use. 

Not sure which VPN is right for you? We've tested many different services and our pick for the best VPN overall is ExpressVPN. It offers superb speeds and excellent customer service. But you've got other VPN options as well.

We think speed, security and simplicity make ExpressVPN second to none. During our tests, we saw fast connection times, and we're impressed by the service's ability to access more than 3,000 services spread out across 160 locations in 94 countries. 

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Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, ExpressVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view a U.K. service, you'd select U.K. from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your website or streaming service of choice and tune in.

How to watch tennis at the Tokyo Olympics live in the US

Anyone who wants to watch tennis matches from the Tokyo Olympics live ... well, you're going to have to be up late (the live schedule is below), and have a cable login, because NBCOlympics.com requires one. For those who don't want to ruin their sleep, you're going to see tape-delayed matches on the Olympic Channel, NBC SN and the USA Network. 

Of course, the nightly coverage on  Peacock will likely include updates as well. 

The Olympic Channel is part of the Sports Extra package ($11 per month extra) for Sling TV, and Olympics-watchers will want the Blue package, which also has NBC, USA and NBC SN.

Sling is one of the best streaming services alongside our other recommendation for Olympics viewing: Fubo TV, which has 100-plus channels (many more than Sling), including all of the above networks. 

A must for live Team USA men's games

In addition to the Olympics live streams, Peacock also has huge library of licensed content drawn from various brands. That includes shows like 30 Rock, The Voice, Battlestar Galactica, Law & Order: SVU and This Is Us.

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Cheaper Live TV

Sling TV: You can get NBC, USA and NBC SN in the Sling Blue package, which is $35/month — plus the Olympic Channel in the Sports Extra package ($11 per month extra).

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Fubo TV has NBC, USA, NBC SN and the Olympic Channel all its base $65 per month package. It's got a 7-day free trial so you don't need to pay up front. Fubo's dozens of channels include local networks like ABC. 

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How to watch tennis at the Tokyo Olympics in the UK

The BBC iPlayer has been the go-to source for all Olympics coverage for those in the U.K., but they haven't gotten all of these games broken out. The biggest highlight in their comprehensive guide is on Saturday, July 31 @ 6 a.m. BST, the women's tennis singles final.

However, this year the BBC won't have the monopoly on Olympics coverage in the U.K., with the IOC having sold the main European rights to the Discovery network. As a result, the BBC's coverage, though still good, is limited to no more than two live events at one time. 

To watch every event live, you'll instead want to subscribe to Discovery Plus, which is offering coverage of every event at Tokyo 2020. Discovery is currently offering a three-day free trial of the service, with full subscriptions available for £6.99/month or £29.99/year after that. Plus, the service is available to stream through a multitude of devices include Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV and apps for iOS and Android

Americans abroad could just use the service of their choice, provided they log in via a VPN such as ExpressVPN.

How to watch tennis at the Tokyo Olympics live in Canada

Again, details aren't exactly strong here. Sportsnet, CBC and TSN are sharing coverage of the Olympics, and so we've got some, but not all, details you may need.

Tennis is a part of the midnight to 6am coverage on Sportsnet and SN1. 

Again, Americans visiting their friends in the great white north could just use Peacock, Sling, Fubo and other services, provided they log in via a VPN such as ExpressVPN.

How to watch tennis at the Tokyo Olympics live in Australia

Down Under, Aussies can watch the Olympic tennis matches for free on the 7Plus network's streaming service — which has practically everything in the Olympics. Just add 14 hours to the Eastern times listed below to figure out when games start in AEST. 

Currently out of the country? Use ExpressVPN to access your paid-for services.

Tokyo Olympics Tennis schedule

• July 29 @ 11 p.m.: Men's Doubles Bronze Medal Match (Olympic Channel)
• July 29 @ 11 p.m.: Men's Singles Semifinal 1 (Olympic Channel)
• July 30 @ 1:30 a.m.: Men's Singles Semifinal 2 (7 a.m. Olympic Channel via tape-delay)
• July 30 @ 1:30 a.m.: Mixed Doubles Semifinal 1 (7 a.m. Olympic Channel via tape-delay)
• July 30 @ 4:30 a.m.: Men's Doubles Gold Medal Match (later on Olympic Channel via tape-delay)
• July 30 @ 4:30 a.m.: Mixed Doubles Semifinal 2 
• July 30 @ 11 p.m.: Men's Singles Bronze Medal Match (Olympic Channel live, later on tape-delay as well)
• July 30 @ 11 p.m.: Women's Doubles Bronze Medal Match (later on Olympic Channel via tape delay)
• July 31 @ 2 a.m.: Women's Singles Bronze Medal Match (Olympic Channel live, later on tape-delay as well, NBC SN @ 6 p.m. ET via tape delay)
• July 31 @ 2 a.m.: Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal Match (Olympic Channel live, later on tape-delay as well)
• July 31 @ 5 a.m.: Women's Singles Gold Medal Match (Olympic Channel live, later on tape-delay as well)
• July 31 @ 11 p.m.: Men's Singles Gold Medal Match (Olympic Channel)
• Aug. 1 @ 2 a.m.: Women's Doubles Gold Medal Match (Olympic Channel)
• Aug. 1 @ 5 a.m.: Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Match (Olympic Channel)

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