The US Open Approaches a New Milestone: 1 Million Fans

At around 10 a.m. on Labor Day, a 7 train pulled into the Mets–Willets Point station in Flushing Meadows, Queens. A couple dozen passengers poured out of 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 is the most auditorily pleasing: the pop of the ball meeting the racket, the squeaks of the shoes, the grunts.

Okay, maybe not the grunts.

The US Open offers more to this sensory smorgasbord with the roars of approval from the throngs of crowds that fill the grounds. The 2024 edition of the tournament is on pace to smash attendance records and hit a benchmark five years in the making. Lew Sherr, the CEO and executive director of the United States Tennis Association, says that the US Open set a goal in 2019 to draw more than a million fans on-site for the event. “I remember being part of the meetings, and there were folks that chuckled,” he recalls.

The goal felt more attainable after last year’s tournament, when the three-week attendance topped 950,000 for the first time. On Monday, as we both sat inside a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, Sherr told me that the target was in sight. “We will surpass a million fans this year,” he said.

The fans have always been the lifeblood of the US Open, helping to create a festival atmosphere that distinguishes the tournament from other competitions. A-listers have long flocked to Queens for the event, lending a dash of glitz worthy of the host city. “We very much lean into the fact that we are in New York City,” said Nicole Kankam, USTA’s managing director of tennis, marketing, and entertainment. This year’s Open drew the likes of Hugh Jackman, Alicia Keys, and Stephen Colbert, along with two members of tennis royalty—Serena Williams and Roger Federer—who were back at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first time since they retired from the sport two years ago. Billie Jean King was also on hand, of course, receiving big roars from attendees when she was shown on the stadium jumbotron.

But this year’s edition of the US Open has felt bigger and like even more of a spectacle. Fan Week, which included appearances from a host of tennis legends and a performance by Dierks Bentley, saw a 37% spike in attendance compared to last year. Through Monday, the qualifying rounds and the first week of the main draw had attracted around 795,000 fans, said a USTA spokesperson.

For the USTA, the not-for-profit organization that puts on the tournament, the drive to get more people through the gate is also designed to get more players on the court. It’s tennis evangelism, and the US Open serves as the pulpit for the gospel. The hope is not simply to get people to become fans, ticket buyers, and suite owners, said Sherr. “For us, the pinnacle is getting people to want to play.”

Of course, not everyone has been thrilled with the hordes. “The US Open Is Busier Than Ever,” read a headline in The New York Times this week. “Some Fans Are Not Happy About It.”

I didn’t find it so bad when I was among the masses on Monday. I saw Jessica Pegula and Daniil Medvedev each advance to the quarterfinals after straight-set wins at Ashe. As the day session wrapped, thousands poured out of the venue and onto the plaza at the complex. Long lines formed at every concession stand, save for those that sold only bottled water. It felt, at times, like a music festival—albeit with a lot more Prada. The US Open is a magnet for the chic and fashionable, and for high-end brands like Rolex and Ralph Lauren. “We’re very deliberate about associating with premium brand sponsors,” said Kankam.

Sherr acknowledges that the US Open is a “luxury event” but prefers the somewhat oxymoronic label of “accessible luxury.” “There’s still $31 tickets to the US Open that would sell for far more if we wanted 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 US Open attendees hail from the tristate area. For fans in New York and elsewhere, attendance at the tournament has become a status symbol. Over the last few weeks, social media has been flooded with selfies of fans posing with the ubiquitous Honey Deuce, the US Open’s signature cocktail (brought to you by Grey Goose vodka), projected to generate $10 million in sales this year.

Kirsten Corio, the chief commercial officer of the USTA, said that organizers have worked to “create more of an aspiration for people to put this on their bucket list as something that they want to come to and experience in person one day.”

The vibe in Flushing Meadows is always supportive, but regular US Open–goers know the cheers are never distributed equally. There is a bond between player and fan at the tournament that is rare in sports.

“I’ve always had a great connection with the crowd here,” the four-time US Open champion Rafael Nadal said in 2018. The same is true for stars like Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff. Cinderellas, however, are not guaranteed support, as the unheralded Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp learned in his second-round match against the number-three-ranked Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz was the pre-tournament favorite, and sports books gave him a whopping -10,000 odds of advancing past van de Zandschulp, but he never found his footing and lost in straight sets. It was an astonishing and historic upset, but those in attendance couldn’t summon much enthusiasm for van de Zandschulp. The fans had more sympathy for the underdog in Medvedev’s match on Monday, offering sporting cheers for the overmatched Nuno Borges.

Alcaraz has been a US Open darling since his coming-out party at the 2021 tournament, when he advanced to the quarterfinals as a little-known 18-year-old. I saw the crowd at Ashe fall in love with him in real time as he won an epic five-setter that year against the third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas. “Without this crowd, I haven’t the possibility to win the match,” Alcaraz said following that game.

The biggest ovations are almost always reserved for the American players, who have provided plenty of reasons to cheer over the last few weeks in Flushing. Following Gauff’s triumph at last year’s tournament, Pegula will try to make it two titles in a row for the United States as she squares off against Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s final on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz have 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 men’s player in a Slam final for the first time since 2009 and a men’s player in an Open final for the first time since 2006.

The USTA is determined to replicate that in the years to come. In April, the group set another lofty goal: to increase the number of tennis players in the US to 35 million, which would amount to about 10% of the population. Sherr said that the number is currently a little under 25 million. “Our goal is to become the most popular tennis-playing nation on the planet,” 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 by the Open.

“We joke that this event is the bake sale that funds our ability to grow participation,” Sherr said.