At about 10 a.m. on Labor Day, the No. 7 train pulled into the Mets-Willets Point station in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Two dozen passengers exited each car, barreling down the rickety boardwalk. We were all there for tennis, one of the best sports in the world to watch in person. For my money, it’s the most aurally pleasing: the pop of the ball meeting the racket, the squeak of the shoes, the grunts.
Well, maybe not grunts.
U.S. The Open offers more of this sensory smorgasbord, with roars of approval from the crowd that fills the arena. The 2024 edition of the tournament is on pace to break the attendance record and hit a benchmark in five years. Lew Sher, The CEO and executive director of the United States Tennis Association says the US Open has set a goal of attracting more than a million fans to the site for the event in 2019. “I remember being part of the meetings, and there were people laughing,” he recalls.
The goal seemed more attainable after last year’s tournament, when three-week attendance topped 950,000 for the first time. On Monday, as we both sat inside a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, Sher told me the goal was in sight. “We will surpass one million fans this year,” he said.
Fans have always been the lifeblood of the US Open, helping to create the festival atmosphere that sets the tournament apart from other competitions. A-listers have long flocked to Queens for the event, lending a dash of glitz worthy of the host city. “We lean heavily toward the fact that we’re in New York City,” said Nicole Bestie, USTA’s managing director of tennis, marketing and entertainment. This year’s Open was chosen Hugh Jackman, Alicia Keys, And Stephen Colbert, With two members of tennis royalty-Serena Williams And Roger Federer-who returned to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first time since retiring from the game two years ago. Billie Jean King She was also on hand, of course, receiving huge roars from attendees when she was shown on the stadium jumbotron.
But this year’s edition of US Open looks bigger and more like a spectacle. Fan Week, featuring appearances and performances by a host of tennis legends Dierks Bentley, Attendance saw a 37% increase over last year. As of Monday, the first week of qualifying rounds and the main draw had attracted about 795,000 fans, a USTA spokeswoman said.
For the USTA, the non-profit organization that organizes the tournament, the drive to get more people through the gate is also designed to get more players on the court. It is tennis evangelism, and the US Open serves as a pulpit for the gospel. The hope isn’t just to get people to become fans, ticket buyers and suite owners, Sher said. “For us, the pinnacle is making people want to play.”
Of course, not everyone was thrilled with the mobs. “The US Open is busier than ever,” read the a headline in The New York Times this week. “Some fans are not happy about it.”
I didn’t feel it so bad when I was among the people on Monday. i saw Jessica Pegula And Daniil Medvedev Each advances to the quarterfinals after winning in straight sets at Ashe. As the day’s session ended, thousands poured out of the venue and onto the complex’s plaza. There are long lines at every concession stand, save for those that only sell bottled water. It felt, at times, like a music festival – albeit with a lot more Prada. The US Open is chic and fashionable and a magnet for high-end brands like Rolex and Ralph Lauren. “We are very intentional about associating with premium brand sponsors,” Kankam said.
Sher acknowledges that the US Open is a “luxury event” but prefers the somewhat oxymoronic label of “accessible luxury”. “There are still $31 tickets to the US Open that sell for more if we want to do that,” he said. “We want to make sure people can be here.”
Kankam tells me that the most recent data indicates that half of the participants in the US Open are from the tristate area. For fans in New York and elsewhere, tournament attendance has become a status symbol. Over the past few weeks, social media has been awash with selfies of fans posing with the ubiquitous Honey Deuce, the US Open’s signature cocktail (brought to you by Gray Goose Vodka), which is projected to generate $10 million in sales this year.
Kirsten Corio, The USTA’s chief commercial officer said organizers have worked “to make it more aspirational for people to put this on their bucket list as something they want to experience in person one day.”
The vibe at Flushing Meadows is always supportive, but regular US Open-goers know the cheers are never evenly distributed. A tournament creates a bond between player and fan that is rarely seen in sports.
The four-time US Open champion said, “I’ve always had a good relationship with the crowd here Rafael Nadal said in 2018. The same is true for stars like Naomi Osaka And Coco Gough. Cinderella, however, as an unheralded Dutch player, is not guaranteed support Boutique from Zandschulp learned in his second-round match against the number-three seed Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz was the pre-tournament favorite, and the sports books gave him -10,000 odds to advance past van de Zandschalp, but he never found his footing and lost in straight sets. It was a surprising and historic upset, but those in attendance could not summon more enthusiasm for Van de Zandschalp. In Medvedev’s match on Monday, fans were more sympathetic to the underdog, offering sporting cheers for the overmatched. Nuno Borges.
Alcaraz has been a US Open favorite since his coming-out party at the 2021 tournament, when he reached the quarterfinals as a little-known 18-year-old. I watched the crowd at Ashe fall in love with him in real time as he won an epic five-setter against the third seed that year. Stefanos Tsitsipas. “Without this crowd, I don’t have a chance to win the match,” Alcaraz said after that game.
The biggest ovations are almost always reserved for the American players, who have provided plenty of reasons to cheer over the past few weeks in Flushing. Following Goff’s victory in last year’s tournament, Pegula will look to make it two titles in a row for the United States as she squares off against Aryana Sablenka In the women’s final on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Francis Tiafoe And Taylor Fritz Set up the first all-American semifinal at a men’s Grand Slam since the 2005 US Open. Their match on Friday ensures that the United States will have a male player in a Slam final for the first time since 2009 and a male player in an Open final for the first time since 2006.
The USTA is committed to replicating this in the coming years. In April, the group set another lofty goal: to increase the number of tennis players in the US to 35 million, which would be about 10% of the population. Sher said the number is currently small Under 25 million. “Our goal is to be the most popular tennis-playing country on earth,” he told me. The US Open helps subsidize grassroots efforts, allowing the USTA to partner with local tennis groups across the country. Last year, the organization reported a record $580.8 million in revenue, most of which was generated through the Open.
“We joke that this event is a bake sale that funds our ability to grow partnerships,” Sher said.
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