Over the course of roughly a two week time period spanning from the end of August through early September New York City is the host of the final Grand Slam of the professional tennis season, the US Open Tennis Championships. The history of the tournament and its host locations is a tale intertwined with the local history of my hometown and in some ways my childhood. I grew up learning how to ice skate and play hockey a stone’s throw away from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park, Queens, NYC, NY. I have been to every building, museum or activity available to participate in at the park. I have volleyed with friends and played pick up games of tennis on the practice courts. I even worked at two locations at the park working as a camp counselor. During that entire time, I never once attended a single match or day of tennis during the U.S. Open. That is until I suggested to a friend from out of town who is a passionate tennis fan that going to watch some matches was a possibility when they came to NY.
First, a brief history of the U.S. Open & Flushing Meadows – Corona Park. Beginning in 1881 the tournament was held at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island until it changed locations in 1915 to the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, NYC, NY. This site hosted the event for much of the next sixty years with the exception of a short stint in the 1920’s where the Open was held temporarily relocated to the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia. Beginning in 1978 the tournament moved back to New York, but this time it was taking a new home at the then newly built USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park, Queens, NYC, NY. The tournament has been located there since.
Flushing Meadows – Corona Park was the location of the 1939 and the 1964 New York World’s Fairs. Many of the park’s architectural designs and sculptures have their roots in these events. For example, the Singer Bowl which was built for the 1964 exposition was renovated to become Louis Armstrong Stadium. From 1978 to 1996 this was the main stadium. It could hold approximately 18,000 seats. This number was eventually reduced to 10,200 after crews removed the upper tiers of seating during a major construction project in 1997. The same year Arthur Ashe Stadium was opened and now serves as the main stadium for the tournament. It sits over 22,000 spectators. It was named in honor of Arthur Ashe the African American tennis star who won the U.S. Open in 1968 and who later served as an ambassador for the sport, civil rights and AIDS awareness. Later in 2006 the grounds were renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Billie Jean King won 39 major titles over the course of her career including 4 women’s singles championships at the U.S. Open. She is also a pioneer for women’s tennis and most commonly well known for her victory against Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” match.
Keeping this in mind, the USTA National Tennis Center has expanded significantly since it began hosting the tournament in 1978. Over time a series of construction projects resulted in the building of additional stadiums (not yet mentioned the Grandstand & Court 17), locker rooms, office/classroom space, additional match and practice courts. Also constructed was an entire visitors’ area with a variety of food & beverage vendors, merchandise stands, business advertisement booths, eating areas and museum. There are enormous LED television screens that are showing live matches, tournament scores and match times. All the courts are illuminated allowing for night time play throughout the tournament. These renovation projects have turned the complex into a modern sports facility for athletes, the media and ticket carrying spectators.
Spectators have the ability to purchase a variety of different types of tickets. The cheapest option is to buy a ticket where you can view matches on the outside courts and access the grounds, but these spectators will not be able to gain access to any of the 4 main stadiums. Since there are matches going on simultaneously it is necessary to purchase tickets for each specific stadium. These stadium viewing tickets give you access to the entire complex with the exception of the other stadiums. As a result, it is necessary for spectators to know who they want to watch and what court they are playing on. If you are not careful you might purchase the wrong ticket. During the early days of the tournament there are a slew of different ticket options including the grounds pass, tickets for each stadium with ground pass, as well as day and night sessions. As the tournament goes on there are less courts in use and as a result less options to choose from. It will take some of the confusion out of the process, but the prices will go up. Some of your planning and decision making may be directly influenced by the cost of the tickets.
Tickets vary in price ranging from around $60 plus taxes and fees all the way up to tickets that are close if not over the $1,000 mark. Tickets to view high ranked players usually result in increased prices. The same applies for the later rounds of the tournament. Regardless, viewing professional tennis matches will result in an expensive day. You may find cheaper tickets if you purchase early round tickets. Another option is to purchase them in advance without knowing who will be playing in the later rounds as the price will change (typically increasing) once the matches are announced. In general, this is for hardcore tennis fans and not the budget traveler looking to watch some matches.
Based on the schedule of matches we decided to spend the extra money and see the best matches possible. (After a combined 5 months in Asia between us the concept of the value of a dollar meant very little to either of us.) We decided it would be worth the extra $20 to go watch a day session with 3 matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium compared to only 2 matches during the night session the same day. The best part was that we were going to be able to watch Victoria Azarenka (#16), Serena Williams (#1) and Novak Djokovic (#1). Any opportunity where you can watch the two best athletes in a sport perform on the same day is a great time for sports fans.
Today, the U.S. Open is a major sporting event that changes the landscape of the park and traffic patterns in the surrounding area for the two weeks the tournament takes place. Fortunately, since I am a native New Yorker that uses the park and surrounding highways quite regularly I can eliminate some of the headaches associated with traveling to and parking near the grounds. Driving to the park will be slow due to spectator traffic. Also, parking is expensive and you usually still need to walk a good distance from your car to the entrance so if possible park on the streets around the park. Whether it is the day session or the night session street parking will also be challenging, but certainly cheaper.
During the day you must contest with alternate side parking laws because of street sweeping and meter parking. From what I observed you cannot park on one side of the street during the following hours: 11:30-1:00 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, as well as 9:00 – 11:30 a.m. Wed & Friday. Meter parking is not an option as it does not allow you to pay for an extended enough time period, which will result in you getting a ticket. At the same time, there are many free parking spots available you just need to be willing to drive around and comb the blocks for a little while until you find a spot. It took me about 10 minutes to find a spot on a day where alternate side parking signs were in effect.
If attending the night session you can also find street parking, but have a different obstacle. Street signs and meters will no longer be in effect. You will need to compete with members of the local community returning from work and filling up precious spots for the remained of the evening. Once again, give yourself ample time to find free parking and make the short walk to the USTA Tennis Center. If you are not in a rush and want to save some money over the course of what will inevitably be a very expensive day then I recommend following these tips as a parking option.
The day sessions for the early rounds of the US Open began at 11:00 a.m. I decided to leave a bit earlier than I normally would not just to find parking, but also to show my friend a few attractions at Flushing Meadows – Corona Park before the matches started. I was able to find parking near the Lemon Ice King of Corona and the Parkside Restaurant near 108th Street. After acquiring my free parking spot it was time to head towards the park.
With extra time to kill before the matches began I decided to show my friend some of the park. We took an indirect route where I was able to share some facts about the history of the park, point out attractions and many of the buildings used for the World Fairs held here so many years ago. During the walk we first passed Terrance on the Park a catering hall that provides views of the park and surrounding area. We then walked towards the outdoor space and rocket display that is connected to the Hall of Science, which is a fun interactive museum that all ages can enjoy despite the fact that it is geared towards children. I’ve never not had an entertaining time during my visits as both a child and adult. We also passed the Queens Zoo Wildlife Center and the Queens Museum of Art. Finally, we made our way to the world famous Unisphere to take some pictures. After that we made our way to the tennis complex.
The waiting lines to get into the US Open progressively got longer as 11:00 a.m. approached. In an effort to save time spectators should not bring bags or you’ll stand on a slow moving line that can take up to a half an hour to gain entry to the grounds. There is one exception to the bag rule. Clear bags are acceptable and allow you to stand on the no bag check line. This is essentially the express lane where people with bags are riding in the local lane. Anyone who had reservations for breakfast/lunch regardless of whether they brought bags or not were sent to the front of the line so they would not miss their seating. One money saving tip is to bring your own plastic bottles of water. As long as it was clear and sealed spectators were allowed to bring in bottled water saving you some money during the day. Had I known this I would have packed and planned a bit differently, but hindsight is always 20/20 so I hope you are able to benefit from my experiences.
Upon entering the USTA Billy Jean King Tennis Center visitors pass through a Hall of Fame of the greatest tennis players throughout US Open history. As you walk forward you encounter Arthur Ashe Stadium directly in front of you. Side courts and the smaller stadiums pepper the complex. The sounds of tennis balls being smashed by rackets and the cheer of the crowd fill the air around you as you walk around. Spectators can sit so close during many of the side court matches that you can practically touch the players. On a previous day, I have a friend who was so close to Andy Murray they could talk to him as he was warming up. There was a buzz in the air, but the first match was also starting so it was time to head into the main stadium.
Manhattan Skyline
Our seats were in the upper deck, but the view did not make the athletes look like ants on a blue court. Actually, our view of the court was unobstructed and we felt close enough that at no point were we watching the television monitors instead of the court. Interestingly the bottom four rows or so of the upper section are semi-obstructed due to the panes of glass that serve as the balcony fence. As the tournament progresses more spectators will be in attendance and as a result it will be more difficult to move around. Fortunately, we were there on the fourth day of the tournament and there was enough empty seating for us to move to a lower row in the same section. I’m sure we could have even moved down a full section, but we were happy where we were and decided to watch the match from our new seats a few rows down from where we purchased our tickets. You can also walk to the top and catch some great views of the Manhattan skyline and CitiField across the train tracks.
CitiField
Victoria Azarenka made quick work of her opponent Christina McHale after a slow start. By the time we got to our seats Azarenka was beginning to catch some steam and kept the ball rolling as she overcame her opponent. The Serena Williams match was coming up next so we decided to get a quick bite to eat first and then go back to our seats. That was a major mistake. Serena made such quick work of her opponent that she won 6-1,6-1 in a match that took almost around 45 minutes. By the time we finished lunch and began walking back to our seats we noticed on the jumbo sized monitors in front of Arthur Ashe Stadium that Serena was up 4-1 in the second set. By the time we made it to our seats she was already walking off the court. I was thoroughly disturbed that I missed the match. This was the match that I wanted to see the most of the three. I wanted to see Serena’s physical dominance over her opponent as she pounded tennis balls at her next victim, I mean opponent. Clearly, she was so dominant that if you blinked you would miss it.
I missed the Serena Williams match against Vania King due to lunch so it is appropriate to say something about it. Countless vendors were selling beverages and food all around the grounds. The options were actually quite extensive. Many cultures were represented by various food choices allowing people to eat from many regions around the world. For those concerned with clean eating there were vegetarian, organic and grass-fed beef options. Everything was expensive, but when is it not at sporting events in America.
The final match of the day session was between Novak Djokovic and Paul-Henri Mathieu. The speed and pace of this match was the fastest of the day. The power and precision that was used during almost every rally demonstrated Djokovic’s mastery of the hard courts as he convincingly won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Watching Djokovic was a display of tennis greatness. Clearly the young Frenchman put up a decent fight during the second set, but Djoko’s high powered serves and pin point accurate volleys were too much for Mathieu to handle. At times, particularly the third set it looked so effortless for Djokovic it appeared that he was sleepwalking his way through the remained of the match. His opponent was mentally broken and Djokovic physically punished him in the last set as if he was a lion preying on a zebra on the open savannah.
Following his victory Djokovic was interviewed on the court by a television announcer and broadcast for the rest of the world to watch his post match. The announcer asked him to dance. Djoko said or did something on social media a few days earlier that inspired the broadcaster to ask him to dance, which he reluctantly did for a few seconds. Fortunately, for all of us he plans on keeping his day job.
The conclusion of the Djokovic match signified the end of the day session. Most people left the grounds rather quickly going about the remainder of their day. Others hung around eating, drinking, purchasing souvenirs and relaxing until 6 p.m. after which security clears out the grounds of all spectators so that the cleaning crew can prepare for the evening session matches. We left rather quickly after the Nike souvenir stand did not have the US Open t-shirt in NY Mets colors I wanted. For some reason they were only available in children’s sizes. Why make three different colored designs (one for men, one for women, one for children)? Clearly, no one at corporate discussed the idea of making all the t-shirts in the same color as the local baseball team in an effort to cross promote and increase sales. Nike ignored the local market and missed out on additional sales.
The weather was beautiful all day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. However, after sitting in the sun for hours at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center it was time to grab a refreshing snack before heading home. We stopped at the Lemon Ice King of Corona. For over 60 years the Benfaremo family has been operating this famous dessert shop in the heart of Queens. Fresh fruit is used to create natural flavors for their customers. With over 30 flavors to choose from and sugar free ice available the options are almost limitless. You can try a sample and then purchase anything from a small cup to an unopened gallon bucket. No summer day at Flushing Meadows Park is complete until you make a quick stop at the Lemon Ice King of Corona.