Coco Gauff of the U.S. in action during her first round match against France's Varvara Gracheva, at Flushing Meadows, New York, on Aug. 26.Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Imagine if fans at a Major League Baseball game were told they needed to wait until the end of an inning to go grab a beer and a hot dog. Or if folks at an NFL or NBA game weren’t supposed to head to the restroom until after a quarter finished. Would never happen, right?
That, though, is essentially what etiquette long has demanded at tennis matches, particularly at Grand Slam tournaments such as the U.S. Open, which started Monday: No one gets in or out during a game. Indeed, not even between games, sometimes. At the start of a set, for example, everyone has been required to hang on until the first changeover, which arrives after three games.
Not any more at Flushing Meadows. Under a new policy instituted this year, people with tickets for certain sections at every court – from 23,859-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium all the way down to 336-seat Courts No. 8 and 16 – can move around whenever they want, even during play. And there’s no more twiddling thumbs as multiple games go by before entering or exiting; that’s now permitted after every game.
Spectators seemed to love it on Day 1; might take some players a bit to get used to this format, which also was tried at the Australian Open in January.
“I noticed it, but once the point starts, I don’t notice it. I guess with college tennis I’ve played … there’s a lot of situations where I’ve been in that’s a lot crazier than a couple of people walking with drinks back to their seat – Honey Deuces,” said 2023 U.S. Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton, referring to the signature cocktail the tournament peddles for US$23 a pop.
“I don’t really mind it,” added Shelton, the 2022 NCAA champion for Florida and a winner in Ashe on Monday. “I’m sure some players will be annoyed with it this week.”
Most players asked Monday, including defending champion Coco Gauff, echoed Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic’s take: “Doesn’t really bother me that much.”
There are, after all, distractions aplenty at the noisiest Slam, from rowdy late-night crowds to airplanes zooming overhead to the clatter of nearby trains.
U.S. Open tournament referee Jake Garner acknowledged this could “take some getting used to, from the players’ point of view,” because they’ll consider it bothersome. On the other hand, Garner said in an interview, “It might be seen as a radical thing for tennis, but I’m not sure trying to increase the fan experience and making it more enjoyable for them should be that radical.”
During several matches around the grounds on Day 1 of the two-week event, competition generally continued without a hitch as ticket holders wandered up and down staircases, ambled along walkways or just generally milled about. Occasionally, a player who was supposed to serve paused a little extra before starting a point or a returner held up a hand asking for more time.
One thing missing: The usual admonitions from chair umpires about “Find your seats quickly, please!”
Rachel Ferman Halkias, who works at YouTube and has made more than a half-dozen visits to the U.S. Open, was pleased when an usher let her in after the second set’s first game of 12th-seeded Daria Kasatkina’s victory at Court No. 7.
“I was kind of prepared to wait longer, but I like this. Otherwise, I would have been standing on the stairs for who knows how long? As long as it doesn’t disturb the players, it’s a good thing,” she said. “I’m okay with all the rules tennis has, but let’s evolve.”
Kasatkina said the issue is when there’s movement behind the baselines; it’s not a big deal when people shift along the court’s sides.
“It’s tough to compare with other sports, because tennis is one against one, and you’re very focused. With team sports, there can be 10 or 20 players moving all the time. Also with team sports, it’s loud from the beginning to the end and you get used to the noise when it’s constant. When you’re playing in silence and then just some noise comes from somewhere,” she said, snapping her fingers, “you notice it.”
Lisa and Ferenc Miskolczi, a married couple from New Jersey watching at Louis Armstrong Stadium, appreciate the different rules.
“It’s the only sport where you have to be quiet for them to play; it’s pretty funny that they can’t concentrate,” said Lisa, a senior director of accounting. “So I love the change – and players need to get used to that.”
One of the reasons the U.S. Open’s Garner gave for the change was to avoid making spectators miss chunks of matches, especially during the initial three games of a set.
Ferenc, a health care project manager, agreed.
“When you have lines of 100 fans outside, and a game can be 13 or 15 minutes, that’s frustrating,” he said. “This needs to spread to other tournaments.”
Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, expects it to.
“I think,” Berrettini said, “this is going to be the future.”