The U.S. Open Is Bigger Than Ever This Year
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On the first night of the U.S. Open, Arthur Ashe Stadium was packed to the rafters. As Sloane Stephens took the court, the crowd didn't get quiet—as is expected when watching a tennis match. Instead, the atmosphere almost seemed to get louder, as if the attendees in the stands were prioritizing socializing over watching tennis.
If week one of the U.S. Open is any indication, the famed tennis tournament has become a staple of the late summer social calendar for celebrities, influencers, and well-connected New Yorkers; less to watch tennis, and more to see and be seen. Last year, VIP attendees included Barack and Michelle Obama on opening night; Matthew McConaughey sitting in Novak Djokovic's player's box; Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet making a rare public appearance as a couple; and stars ranging from Martha Stewart to Leonardo DiCaprio. This year promises to be just as star-studded—if not more; it seems like everyone, from movie stars to average New Yorkers, wants to go.
"This is a party," tournament director Stacey Allaster says. "I'm in the fun business, we're in the entertainment business—featuring world-class tennis. The fans are the epicenter of the success for everyone."
Those fans aren't just coming to watch matches. As Enzo Gouedar, the U.S. head of Moët & Chandon, the official champagne sponsor of the tournament, tells T&C, "they come for the social aspect of the event." U.S. Open attendees are enjoying the tennis, but they're also going to Flushing as a fun outing with friends, with family, or with a date. Fans are there to take photos with a Honey Deuce to post on their Instagram, or try the "6 foods you MUST eat at the U.S. Open," as Matt James, former Bachelor star, posted on his TikTok. "There's something so raw and cool about this event," influencer Paige Lorenze, who founded the lifestyle brand Dairy Boy and is dating American tennis player Tommy Paul, says. "It's an incredibly old event. It's in Queens every year. The U.S. Open has this aura. You can't pay for the aura, but you can try to attach yourself through it by sending people dressed in [your] clothes."
The increase in popularity of the U.S. Open this year stems from multiple factors. The post-pandemic desire to pursue in-person experiences is absolutely playing a part; the growth of the sport during 2020 and 2021 as a social-distance-safe activity is having an impact as well. "The business of recreational tennis has been booming, and even now that the pandemic is lessening, people are still staying with tennis," Patrick McEnroe told T&C in 2022. So, too, is the increasing centrality of the sport in mainstream culture, thanks to the rise of young stars like Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz, and films like Challengers, Luca Guadagnino's tennis drama starring Zendaya.
The 2024 U.S. Open also comes on the heels of the Paris Olympics and the Democratic National Convention—two events that inspired patriotic feelings in many of the millions of viewers who tuned in. (The Olympics averaged 30.6 million viewers on NBC; the DNC had an average of 21.8 million viewers over four days.) "Between the DNC and the Olympics, it’s clear we need some kind of monoculture back. We like to watch together. We like having something to cheer for," writer Akilah Hughes posted on X. The U.S. Open, with its New York City glamour and American stars, offers just that.
The increase in interest was clear, even before the main draw started. There was an inkling that the tournament would be bigger than ever this year when over 200,000 people attended Fan Week, which takes place during the U.S. Open's qualifying rounds and allows fans free access to the grounds to watch qualifying matches and practice sessions by top stars—a remarkable 37% increase from last year, according to the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the organization that puts on the U.S. Open. On the very first day of the Open this year, the tournament set a single-day attendance record, with 74,641 attendees; the night-session crowd of 31,775 also set an all-time night-session record.
The USTA is looking to break the one-million visitor mark for the tournament this year. "Last year, we saw record attendance and record engagement and we thought it had seen maybe a peak, but it just continues to grow," Nicole Kankam, USTA's managing director of pro tennis marketing and entertainment, says. Early ticket sales put them on pace for that; USTA's chief commercial officer Kirsten Corio told Sports Business Journal that in the first hour of presale in June, they sold more tickets combined than during their first five presale days last year.
Technology company Logitix, a ticketing platform, has also observed a spike in demand on for resale tickets. "In prior years, we would see spikes on the secondary market for specific sessions at the U.S. Open once the matchups unfolded, notably Serena Williams's famous sendoff into retirement in 2022," Travis Apple, chief revenue officer for Logitix, tells T&C. "At the same time, we're seeing this consistent rise in demand for the tournament as a whole." Now, Apple says, looking at all ticketed sessions for the Open (day and night), "demand is up across the board throughout the entire two weeks." He adds, "The U.S. Open has become one of the must-see American events of the sports calendar, regardless of the matchups and the players involved. It's an incredible experience people want to see live and in person."
The shift from wanting to see stars like Serena to just going for the atmosphere is key to understanding the changing crowds at the U.S. Open. The tournament's sponsors, too, have leaned into the Grand Slam as a cultural moment, and more brands than ever want to capitalize on the energy of the Open. Hospitality sales are up 27% over last year, according to CNN. Maestro Dobel Tequila, the tournament's official tequila sponsor, had been investing in tennis tournaments in Mexico for over a decade, expanding into the U.S. three years ago (and signing on with the Open last year) as tournaments have become more lifestyle and entertainment driven. "Inviting celebrities to Maestro Dobel Tequila's suite is part of our strategy to introduce Dobel to an audience that’s likely unfamiliar with the brand," Lander Otegui, the senior vice president of marketing at Proximo Spirits, tells T&C. "The suite provides a controlled environment for us to bring the right people and right crowd. Bringing in recognizable celebrities also gives us an opportunity to introduce our brands to more tennis fans around the world."
It's not just in Queens where the buzz around the tournament can be felt. For example, Pharrell teamed up with Evian and Humanrace for a special capsule clothing collection; Emirates will be serving Honey Deuce cocktails on flights to NYC for the duration of the tournament; Coco Gauff launched her first-ever fashion collection with American Eagle; Heineken even renamed their zero-alcohol beer, Heineken 0.0, to Heineken Love.Love, a nod to tennis's scoring; and on and on. "On my personal brand side, we've never seen anything like this," Lorenze says of the hype leading into the U.S. Open. "It's been crazy. I think I have anywhere from 15 to 20 brand deals during [the Open]. I am not kidding; I've never been this booked before!"
The core of the U.S. Open, though, is still the tennis. There's been a clear passing of the torch in recent years, with Williams's retirement in 2022 and Gauff's win in 2023. As the Open began, five American men (including the top-ranked American man, Taylor Fritz) and five American women (led by defending Open champion Coco Gauff) were ranked in the Top 20 of the latest singles rankings, for the first time since October 1996. The up-and-coming players bring new fans into the sport, as has the Netflix series, Break Point, which followed top stars. "It's the perfect storm," Lorenze says.
American players are a "a boon to the sport," Kankam says. "But I can remember a time when there may not have been an American champion for a while, and tennis is such a global sport—people still are able to connect with Carlos Alcaraz, Naomi Osaka, and others that are international superstars and have their own brand and personalities that extend beyond the court."
The players, too, can feel their sport is becoming more popular. "You have a lot more Americans now who are higher up in the rankings and are having better results," Sebastian Korda says. "Especially with Ben [Shelton] last year, the tournament that he had, how much energy he was bringing into it, and I hope the fans can see that."
He adds, "the U.S. Open's always pretty packed, but I would say now that [fans] have a lot more guys to support, they're really getting into it. They're really backing us and we can really definitely feel that when we're playing on the court, they basically play the tennis match with us. I think that's pretty cool; in tennis, a crowd can really influence someone with how they play and the outcome of the game."
As Allaster, who has been the tournament director since 2020, put it: "These are the best fans in the world. They bring their own New York enthusiasm and energy, and the athletes feed off that."
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