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Written by Richard Paglia | @TennisNow | Thursday, September 12, 2024
Photo Credit: US Open/USTA
Tennis has proven to be a dynamic force in New York.
The 2024 US Open has a mission statement of “Celebrating the Power of Tennis,” and the USTA has created a record-breaking event that will provide a welcome return to the sport for recreational players who have stepped away from the sport in the coming months.
The Flushing Meadows Major was the first US Open to attract more than 1 million fans, setting a record for the largest attendance at a tournament in history with 1,048,669 fans over the three-week event.
All sessions at Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium were sold out.
During the three-week period, including qualifying events during Fan Week, 1,048,669 fans visited the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, an 8% increase over 2023.
The USTA reported a new record attendance of 832,640 for the two-week main draw, with Arthur Ashe Stadium (25) and Louis Armstrong Stadium (14) both selling out. As someone who sat in both stadiums throughout the tournament, I can tell you that the sellout statistic is accurate.
Even the early rounds at Armstrong were packed with fans. Of course, this is good news for the USTA’s bottom line (remember, they lost a whole year’s worth of revenue by holding the 2020 Open without fans during the pandemic). Considering the crowds at Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati and New York this year, this is good news for American tennis.
Don’t cry over a beer (or a Honey Dew) at the USTA’s good fortune. Next time you sip on a Grey Goose, consider that the 2024 US Open will have served 556,782 shots of the US Open’s signature cocktail, the Honey Dew, at $23 a shot. I’m not a math major or a bartender, but that’s about $12.8 million in Honey Dew sales alone.
Although pickleball has overtaken tennis in popularity on public courts across the country (at least in a few places near me), attendance at the nation’s biggest events is still high.
But if you attended the U.S. Open during rush hour this year, you know that even walking from the fountains to Armstrong Field was as arduous as trying to squeeze through a packed 7 train during rush hour. The crowds were overwhelming.
Interestingly, while attendance soared, TV viewership for the men’s and women’s finals dropped slightly despite the fact that the American finalists were competing in their first major title matches. As several readers have pointed out, DirecTV’s decision to cut ESPN during the tournament was a major reason for the drop in viewership, as viewers were unable to watch.
World’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner wins over Taylor Fritz ABC drew about 1.7 million viewers, which was fewer than the 2.3 million who watched Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev in the 2023 final.
It was also the first time a US Open men’s final has averaged less than 2 million viewers since Dominic Thiem came back from two sets down to beat a shaky Alexander Zverev in the pandemic-era 2020 US Open final.
On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka’s 7-5, 7-5 win over Buffalo native Jessica Pegula drew about 1.8 million viewers, a significant drop from the 3.4 million who watched Coco Gauff fight back from a one-set deficit to beat Sabalenka in the 2023 final. For comparison, qualifier Emma Raducanu’s win over Leylah Fernandez in the 2021 US Open women’s final drew an average TV audience of 2.4 million on ESPN.
Here are some facts and figures about the 2024 US Open from today’s USTA press release:
Over 216,000 First-Time Fan Week Attendees
The US Open saw a 37% increase in Fan Week attendance compared to 2023, with 216,029 fans taking advantage of the eight-day tennis and entertainment festival, which included complimentary stadium admission and a variety of activities and signature events. These included: The new US Open Mixed Madness presented by IHG Hotels & Resorts and fan-favorite Open Stars presented by Chase Signature Events, which attracted nearly 40,000 attendees combined; Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, which drew a record-breaking 47,875 attendees;
Louis Armstrong Stadium made its official debut as a full-fledged concert venue, kicking off Fan Week with ‘Sounds of the Open’ headlined by Dierks Bentley, followed by the 3rd annual Flavors of the Open presented by DOBEL Tequila food tasting featuring 10 celebrity chefs.
The US Open Fan Access Pass, a digital resource offering a variety of Fan Week benefits and more, saw 205,000 registrants this year, a 20% increase over 2023. More than 300,000 unique devices visited the Fan Week section of USOpen.org, a 30% increase over last year.
Signs 12-year deal with ESPN; Expands global distribution
The USTA and ESPN announced an extension of their partnership during the US Open, which will see ESPN retain exclusive broadcast rights to the US Open in the Americas through 2037.
Here are the full 2024 broadcast highlights: More than 15,000 hours of US Open coverage of every match distributed to more than 60 channels in more than 200 countries and territories.
ESPN and its networks’ 2024 domestic broadcast highlights included more than 170 hours of television coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. ABC’s expanded schedule included mid-Sunday coverage of the main draw and, for the first time ever, live coverage of the men’s championship. More than 1,000 hours of coverage from every game and court streamed live on ESPNApp, ESPN+ and ESPN3. More people are engaging than ever through digital and social channels.
The official social media channels of the US Open achieved a total of 2.3 billion engagements during the three weeks of the event, surpassing 2 billion for the first time and up 39% from 2023. The official YouTube channel of the US Open generated 110 million additional views during the three weeks of the event. The US Open’s digital platforms, powered by IBM, generated 40 million visits across 12 million unique devices during the three weeks of the event.
Tennis Storm, a mini-box PVP Fortnite game built exclusively for the US Open, has had 7 million players play 1 million matches since the game launched on August 12. US Open: Champions of the Court, which launched on Roblox, has had over 6 million total visitors worldwide since its launch in 2023.
Historic champion and success on the court as an American player
Arina Sabalenka She won her first US Open and third career Grand Slam women’s singles title. By winning both the 2024 US Open and Australian Open singles titles, she became the fifth player in the Open Era to win both women’s singles hard-court Grand Slam titles in the same season.
Sabalenka is the ninth woman to win the US Open in the past 10 years. Serena Williams, who was welcomed to a thunderous ovation by the Ashes Stadium fans, is the last woman to successfully defend the US Open. Serena won three in a row from 2012 to 2014, and in 2015 Roberta Vinci rejected her attempt at a calendar Grand Slam. Flavia Pennetta defeated Vinci in the famous All-Italy 2015 final.
Yannick Sinner By winning the men’s singles title, he became the first Italian to win the US Open men’s singles title and only the third man to win two Grand Slam titles in the same season since the Open era.
Single Finalist Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula The Americans have set a standard. Fritz and Pegula made the 2024 US Open the first event since 2002 to feature American men’s and women’s singles finalists.
Semi-finalist Emma navarro and francis tiafoe It also marks the first time since the 2003 US Open that an American men’s and women’s singles team has reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam.
Lyudmila Kichenok Postponed her wedding to win the women’s doubles title. Yelena OstapenkoAustralian Tandem Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson The two men won their first men’s doubles title together.
Sarah Errani and Andrea Bavarosori Won the mixed doubles title against the American wild card tandem. Taylor Townsend and Donald Young; The man who made a dream run to the final in Young’s last professional tennis tournament before retirement: the US Open
The Junior Championships were won by Mika Stojsavljevic (women’s singles), Rafael Zodar (men’s singles), Emily Sartz-Lunde and Malak El Alami (women’s doubles), Maxim Mirba and Rey Sakamoto (men’s doubles), Charlie Cooper (men’s wheelchair singles), Yuma Takamuro (women’s wheelchair singles), Rio Okano and Takamuro (women’s wheelchair doubles), and Ivar van Rijd and Benjamin Wenzel (men’s wheelchair doubles) from the United States.
