The US Open has a problem, and it’s not the tennis

NEW YORK — Forget the Honey Deuces and the celebrities-in-the-audience shots. The finest element of the U.S. Open — the Grand Slam held in the largest tennis stadium in the world — will always be the tennis itself. The trick, in 2026 and beyond, is how to get audiences to actually care about, you know, that tennis.

Ben Shelton and Alexander Zverev did their very best on Sunday, bringing both narrative and firepower to the four-set men’s final. Yes, the influencers were posing at every aisle on every changeover, and more than a few fans appeared unclear on the basic concept of “sit your butt down while the point is going on.” But when Shelton and Zverev locked in, unleashing serves that nearly hit 150 mph or lashing shots that skipped a fingernail’s width in bounds, the crowd was right there with them, rising and falling, a living thing that pulsed with energy unlike any other stadium in tennis. 

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Less than 24 hours earlier on the same court, Elena Rybakina finished off Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set triumph of resolve and willpower over emotion and firepower. Sabalenka, who had won the previous two Opens, entered as the crowd favorite. But the fans in the stands at Arthur Ashe love hard-fought on-court battles as much as they love the endless scroll of celebrity cameos on the video boards. So after a couple dozen Hollywood and music stars took their turns to varying volumes of applause, the crowd focused in on the match. Sabalenka drew motivational cheers, and then, once the result was clear, Rybakina inspired celebratory ones. 

The two matches ended this year’s U.S. Open on a triumphant note. At last, the tennis tournament centered on actual tennis, not ticket prices or runway-style entrances to Arthur Ashe Stadium or hundred-dollar chicken nuggets. (Yes, I admit it, I was part of the problem with that last one.)

The influencers’ presence dominated the early coverage of the U.S. Open, in large part because they did their job of drawing attention to themselves. But by the time the tournament reached its final crescendo, the influencers had moved on. Two hours before the men’s final, the cheapest tickets to get in the stadium could be had for less than $400, suggesting that tennis for tennis’ sake isn’t the primary motivator for many attending the U.S. Open. 

Those lucky thousands in attendance on Saturday and Sunday witnessed two potentially formative moments in tennis history: the ascendance of the American men’s game and the true flowering of a new rivalry in the women’s game. And you didn’t need to hold a Honey Deuce in the forefront of the frame to appreciate it properly. 

But the influencers are only part of the U.S. Open’s public-facing challenge. The far larger obstacle is the calendar itself. By starting the tournament in late August, positioning Labor Day at its center, and ending on the next Sunday, the US Open’s marquee men’s final faces off against the NFL’s Week 1. 

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There’s no shame in admitting the NFL owns American audiences, just as there’s no shame admitting that a day in direct sunlight will roast you. Several other leagues have altered their calendars to accommodate the NFL; golf has backed its season-ending playoffs into August, and NASCAR runs many of its fall races on Saturday nights. 

So what does the US Open do — stand pat and accept the audience loss, or think bold and rework its traditional schedule? Pulling the tournament back earlier into August is a non-starter given the summer heat that already roasts the outdoor courts. Pushing the tournament later into September disrupts fall schedules and costs the US Open its traditional Labor Day date, while not solving the core issue of scheduling vs. football. Moving the men’s final to Saturday evening has the same problem. 

Any weekend event in the fall risks running afoul of football, whether on NFL Sundays or college football Saturdays. (A 90-minute weather delay in Oregon-Oklahoma State on Saturday pushed the game into the window of the women’s final, forcing football onto ESPN2 and then ESPNews. Football fans, as you would imagine, were not pleased.) 

Moving the men’s final to Monday makes sense, from logistical and ratings perspectives if not necessarily traditional ones. A Monday date would remove all but one game’s worth of competition. Yes, the international market would take a hit, but the French Open and the Australian Open force Americans to set their alarms, and we survive. 

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With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the forefront and Zverev ascendant, the men’s game is at the dawn of a new age of greatness, and American men are working their way into that story. The women’s game features a budding rivalry between Rybakina and Sabalenka that has world-class potential, and again, American women are staking out their territory. Their national tournament ought to have its turn in the spotlight, with the focus squarely on tennis.