• by Wayne Friedman , July 8, 2008

Fast-serving and fast-swimming by NBC helped the network score big daytime and prime-time ratings.

After one of the closest and best Wimbledon tennis finals in years, NBC went on to win a slow July 4th weekend Sunday prime-time event, helped by another sport: the U.S. Olympics Trials programming.

The Wimbledon Men's Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took a hefty Nielsen preliminary 4.6 household rating/12 share, some 44% higher than last year's 3.2/9. It was the best-rated final in eight years, since a 5.0/14 for Pete Sampras-Patrick Rafter match.

NBC's win in prime time was slight, given the historical trend of the holiday weekend, which always produces low viewing. NBC was the only network on the night to top a two rating among 18-49 viewers, with a 2.0/6. ABC was next with 1.8/6. Then came Fox at 1.6/5; CBS, 1.3/4; Univision, 0.8/2; and CW, 0.5/2.

NBC's U.S. Olympic Track & Field and Swimming Trials from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. had a 1.7/6 in 18-49. Later in the night, "Dateline" earned a 2.2/6, the second-best program of the night.

The best-rated show was a repeat of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" at a 2.2/7. Fox was third on the night, coming from repeats of its animated Sunday night block. Its best effort was from "Family Guy" at a 2.1/6.

CBS came in fourth place among 18-49 -- but first among total viewers. "60 Minutes" had a low 18-49 score with a 1.1/4, but it was the most-watched show of the night with 8.1 million viewers. In second place in total viewers was "Million Dollar Password," at 7.5 million. CBS average 7.0 million viewers for the night.