US Open Tennis Experience, In-Person Tips & What to Bring

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Better Together Here podcast with your host,
Devin. And Ashley?
Helping you make the most of your time in New York City,
everyone. And welcome to today's episode
of the Better Together Here podcast.
My name is Devin. And my name is Ashley.
In today's episode, we're going to give you a Quick guide to the
US Open tennis tournament that takes place in Queens in New
York City. It is an amazing experience.

(00:23):
We're going to cover some reallyimportant topics.
We're going to talk about how the tickets work because it's
not like your standard. You just buy a ticket and that's
where you go. There's kind of some nuance to
it. We're going to go over some
important etiquette so that you don't make a fool of yourself or
get in trouble. And we have an awesome you'll
have to check it out segment. So let's get right into it.
We are by no means U.S. Open tennis tournament experts,

(00:44):
but we have been a few years in a row.
We've done a lot of research andwe have a lot of friends who
have been more than we have. So we want to give you some of
the kind of high level importantthings.
We're also going to link to someother resources that are very
valuable, including stuff specifically from the US Opens
website and another website thatactually found that has just
like a ton of great info and he talks about where the best seats

(01:04):
are. We're not going to go into that.
It's like a little bit too long,but we will link to that in the
notes. The US Open tennis tournament is
held in New York City every year, and it is the last Grand
Slam tournament of the year. Because of that, it holds a lot
of importance. It's usually when a lot of
players are really trying to make their mark on their year in
professional tennis. And because it's a Grand Slam,

(01:27):
higher cash prizes, more meaningas it comes to ranking.
So it's a very, very competitivetournament, which makes it very
fun to go to. So let's start with how the
tickets work. The ticketing can be a little
bit confusing the first time yougo on.
And if you were look on like Ticketmaster, there's a handful
of different options. It doesn't do the best job of
communicating how they work. So we're going to give you an
overview. So basically there are four kind

(01:47):
of different you can think of them as years of tickets.
You have Arthur Ashe, which is at the top.
Then you have Louis Armstrong grandstand and grounds pass.
Basically, if you have an ArthurAshe ticket, you can go anywhere
in this the grounds. Keep in mind where the US Open
happens, there are three major stadiums which are Arthur Ashe,
Louis Armstrong and grandstand. And then there are the grounds

(02:08):
where there are a dozen or more different courts with matches
happening at any given time. It might be singles, it might be
double S, it might be mixed double S Tons going on.
If you get Arthur Ashe, the way the ticket works for Arthur Ashe
is if you have, you will get an assigned seat within Arthur
Ashe, but then you also get access to Louis Armstrong
grandstand and all of the grounds with the caveat of if

(02:29):
you don't have a dedicated ticket for a specific stadium,
you only get first come, first served general admission.
So what that looks like is in Louis Armstrong, for example,
there is dedicated seating for people with specific tickets and
then there are areas that are general admission.
If there's not seats in the general admission, you're
standing around waiting to get into the arena, so you just have

(02:50):
to think about what's most important for you.
The beauty of Arthur Ashe is #1 it is the biggest tennis stadium
in the world. It seats over 23,000 people, it
is massive. It is a beautiful stadium and
often the biggest names end up placed in Arthur Ashe for their
matches. If you really want to see like
the most popular best tennis players in the world play, I

(03:11):
recommend just going right to Arthur Ashe and buying a ticket
for the Arthur Ashe Stadium. You're guaranteed to see the
best tennis players play here. With that being said, you can
still see some amazing matches at Louis Armstrong, at
Grandstand and even out on the general grounds.
If you get tickets to Arthur Ashe, let's say you're going for
the daytime session, you get to see 2 tennis matches in that

(03:33):
time slot. So usually the women go 1st and
you'll see the women's match, and then you'll see the men's
match afterward. So you get 2 great tennis games
back-to-back. If you get a Louis Armstrong
assigned seat, you will have a specific seat in there, but you
also get GA access to grandstandand the grounds pass.
Similarly with grandstand, if you get a Grandstand specific

(03:53):
seat, you have an assigned seat and then you can still get GA
access to Louis Armstrong and the field courts.
So understand that if you want to see a match in Arthur Ashe
Stadium, you have to get an Arthur Ashe specific ticket.
None of the other options, LouisArmstrong Grandstand or Grounds
pass will let you into Arthur Ashe, whereas the inverse is

(04:14):
true that if you have an Arthur Ashe ticket, you can get into
any stadium. We usually do Arthur Ashe.
It's a little bit more expensive, but we found it to be
worth it because you get such a wide variety of options for the
tickets and matches that you're going to see.
One thing I want to know, there are two sessions that you can
get tickets for so you can have the day session and go earlier
in the day. Usually the gates open around 10

(04:37):
AM and the game start around 11:00 AM.
You can stay all day long if youhave a day ticket and just go in
the general admission areas likeDevin mentioned, if you have a
evening session ticket, the games usually start around 7:00
PM and they can go very late. And when I say late, I don't
mean midnight, I mean like 2:50 AM late.

(04:58):
There was a game that happened within the last couple years
that was in Arthur Ashe that themen's game ended almost at 3 O
clock in the morning. So just know if you really want
to go see a match in Arthur Asheand you don't, you want to risk
staying up that late and you want to be able to get the most
bang for your buck, I would maybe recommend a day session
versus the evening session if you don't want to stay up that

(05:19):
late to watch Dennis. So ultimately choose whatever is
going to be most realistic for your budget, but also keep in
mind that the best experience overall is going to be to have
an Arthur Ashe ticket and you can go see all the other
stadiums as well. OK, in regards to buying the
tickets, they usually go on saleat the end of May.
They have some pre sale options like an Amex one, but really

(05:40):
you're fine either way. If you're really looking forward
to this and you're going to planon going, you should sign up for
text alerts on the US Open website so that you get alerted
when tickets go on sale again. If you buy a day session, you
can stay until the evening, but if you have an Arthur Ashe day,
that's not going to work for Arthur Ashe at night, but it
will work for the GA sections ofall the other stadiums.

(06:00):
Absolutely. You should consider they're
buying a seat that is in the shade.
I would prioritize that over most other things.
I'm not an expert on exactly where the shade is going to be
found in each section. Like Devin said, we are going to
link resources for you so you can know specifically which
ones, which seats are going to be in the shade and which are
not. But just think like the US Open

(06:21):
is happening at the end of August and early September in
New York City. It's going to be hot, it's going
to be humid, it's going to be very sunny.
So I would definitely prioritizefinding a seat in the shade
versus a seat in the sun. When you're buying tickets, just
be aware children two years and older do require their own full
price ticket. My personal opinion, and trust

(06:43):
me, I have 24 nieces and nephews.
I love kids. With that said, I would not
recommend bringing a small childor a baby to the US Open.
We'll talk about this later in our etiquette portion, but if a
baby cries during the game, it can really disrupt the entire
match. There was a recent headline in
the news from a couple weeks agowhere there was a small child

(07:04):
crying during a match and the tennis player actually asked for
the child to be removed from thegame.
Created some controversy, but itcan be quite distracting just in
the world of tennis if there is a lot of noise happening while
the game is going on. And, well, that might sound kind
of outlandish or like pretentious to you.
You have to understand that the etiquette of tennis is just
very, very different. So we'll cover that in depth in

(07:25):
a later section. And that leads us to this
episode's you'll have to check it out segment.
The next stop is Revival Bar restaurant.
OK, so we went to this place forthe first time recently and had
an amazing experience. This is in Hell's Kitchen.
It's on 54th St. and 9th Ave. I believe.
It's a very small space, but they've decorated it really
well. It's an Argentinian soccer

(07:47):
themed bar. So all of the around on the
walls are like the classic lightblue and white stripes, like the
Argentinian national teams jersey.
They have massive frozen drinks.They had one that I think was
like 100 ounces of like different liquors with shots on
the top. Huge like fishbowl style
cocktail. Yeah, I mean, those are like
kind of wild and expensive and probably just gonna give you a

(08:09):
hangover, but they're cool fun. With like a group though, yeah,
everyone kind of puts a straw in.
Try a fun drink, yeah? And so they have some really
funky drinks. They also have bar bites, a lot
of them with like an Argentineantwist.
There's plenty of TV's, almost all of them have soccer going on
at all times. And they have a nice outdoor
seating and an indoor outdoor kind of bar area when the

(08:30):
weather permits. But what we loved most about
this place is it just felt very comfortable.
It felt very like just like yourlocal neighborhood spot and not
a lot of bars in New York feel like that.
We met one of the owners, one ofthe Co owners.
He was super nice, friendly. We chatted about soccer, very
great experience. They also have a wonderful happy
hour. So their happy hour is rare for

(08:50):
a couple of reasons. Number one, it's cheap.
But #2 Sunday through Wednesday,their happy hour is all day
long. Thursday through Saturday, it
goes until 7:00 PM. But what's included on that
happy hour is $5 margaritas or $5 house shots, and then for
$7.00 you can get draft beer, house red or white wine, and
even $7.00 house mixed cocktails.

(09:12):
So a really, really strong happyhour as far as Midtown Hell's
Kitchen area goes. Like Devin mentioned, this place
just had a very cozy local vibe to it.
It wasn't pretentious, everyone in there was really nice.
We talked to the co-owner who was very friendly.
It just had like good vibes, which I think is something that

(09:33):
is nice to have in the middle ofNew York City, especially in
Midtown. Yeah, agreed.
And if you love soccer, can't think of a better bar for you to
check out. So that's this episode.
You have to check it out. Segment Revival, Bar, restaurant
and now back to the US Open stand.
Clear of the closing doors, please.
All right, getting to and from the US Open, this is one of the

(09:54):
best parts about #1 New York City in general.
But New York City sporting events is you do not have to
worry about driving, finding parking, leaving.
If you're having some drinks at the event.
You have to worry about, you know, being sober to drive.
Like, I actually genuinely thinkone of the best parts about
visiting living in New York Cityis public transit.
Like, it's amazing. So for the US Open, we usually

(10:15):
try to get there. If we're doing a day session, we
usually try to get there about 30 minutes before the first game
starts. The longer you wait to get in,
especially like right around when matches are starting,
you're just going to, you're going to fight crowds.
So just be prepared for that. I mean, we always have felt like
it's worth getting there a little bit early to beat some
crowds. Getting to and from the grounds
very, very easy from Midtown Manhattan to the grounds and

(10:37):
even through security usually takes us about an hour.
It's pretty seamless. You can take the subway.
You'll end up transferring at some point to the seven train.
The seven train is what takes you all the way out to the
grounds, or you can even take the Long Island Railroad.
Some of those have stops out there.
If it happens to be more convenient for you to take the
LIRR, there is an LIRR station right by where the Seven train

(11:01):
let's off. So if you happen to be staying
in Manhattan, right next to Grand Central Station, it might
even be easier for you to take the Long Island Railroad, or
LIRR to get the to and from the US Open.
And once you're there, a lot of people don't realize this, so we
want to talk about some food anddrink options.
Keep in mind, you're in the grounds.
There's not reentry, which meansyou are beholden to whatever
prices they want to charge for food and drinks.

(11:23):
And the food is very expensive. Even for New York City
standards, it's grossly overpriced.
It's very expensive. I will say that they do have a
lot of food vendors that are NewYork City based companies.
So they do have a wide variety of really good food.
And I mean if you look on socialmedia, at least for me on my
algorithm every year I get so many like people showing me all

(11:45):
the like the cool food you can eat at the US Open and how like
delicious it is. It is very expensive and in my
experience the lines are crazy. Unbelievably long lines.
Like you'd have to wait an hour in line to get like a hamburger.
Crazy. I mean, we've mentioned this
before. I am so anti line when it comes
to life, especially in New York City.
Like there are a few things in the world that are worth

(12:06):
standing in a line longer than like 3045 minutes before.
And yeah, some of these just basic food options middle of the
day, like between noon and 1:30.I mean, sometimes it's like hour
long lines for food, so. We have a remedy for that.
We do have a remedy for that. We recommend, and a lot of
people don't know this, you can bring food in.
They do not allow backpacks, butthings like tote bags or those

(12:28):
types of like drawstring bags, like those are OK.
You can bring food in. We last time we went, we went
and got a big giant sandwich from Len Witch put it in our
tote bag and had that in the stadium and it was so much
cheaper. We didn't have to stand in line.
We didn't even have to leave ourseats.
We just pulled it out of our bagand enjoyed the match.
You could also bring like any other packaged foods like if you

(12:48):
want to just to bring chips or cheez its or candy you can bring
all of that. In the US open tends to be an
all day affair so I personally think it makes sense.
If you don't want to be beholdento long lines and expensive
food, just bring in your own food.
If you have to get food, we talked about this before,
chicken tenders are the best value.
The best value? Is it the best food you're going

(13:10):
to get in the US Open? Absolutely not.
But it's the best value. It's the best bang for your buck
100%. And it's still good.
It's decent. We can't talk about food and
drink options without mentioningthe honey deuce.
The honey Deuce, it's the official drink of the US Open,
which it's kind of bizarre. Like, again, if you're not into
the tennis world, like this might sound interesting or like
weird to you, but this has kind of become a thing.
Like, each of the big tournaments have their, like,

(13:32):
signature drink, and it's kind of a whole thing now.
I guess this is kind of the age of social media in a way, too.
But like the Honeydew, it's expensive.
It's $23, which is, again, it's grossly overpriced, but it's
amazing. It's so good.
Such a good cocktail. Like I understand why it's the
official drink after having thema couple years in a row now.
It's basically a take on a Raspberry lemonade.

(13:53):
It has vodka cham board, which is a Raspberry liqueur and
lemonade. And to top it off, they have
these cute little honeydew melonballs with a skewer through them
as a garnish. And it makes it look like a
little tennis balls. It's very cute, very delicious,
crushable, you could even say. And one of the best parts is it
comes with a souvenir cup that has all of the names of the past

(14:16):
U.S. Open champions on it.
So you kind of are getting, you're getting a cocktail and a
souvenir in one. Honestly, like that kind of
makes the cost feel like a little bit more manageable
because the cups are good. Like they're good, nice souvenir
cups that I mean, we have some in our pantry that we've had
for. People every year yeah, yeah,
they're great cups so. Honeydews, it's worth getting at

(14:36):
least one. OK, so that's food and drink.
The last kind of main thing we want to cover is general
etiquette. Again, if you are not like a
tennis person, you don't really know how it works.
It can be a little bit overwhelming and confusing.
It's very different than most sports.
Like I grew up going to live sporting events my entire life.
I've been to every pro sport team here in New York.
I've been to like all kinds of pro sporting events.

(14:57):
But tennis, it's just different.It's a different experience.
It's definitely a different animal and requires a lot more
etiquette than any other professional sporting event I
think I've ever been to. And I think, like, sometimes
that can feel like annoying or like, feel like it has a higher,
like, barrier of entry for people.

(15:17):
But I also think, I don't know, tennis has been around for a
long time and it gives you an opportunity to learn more about
a different sport and the way that the culture is around that.
So I think lean into it is what I'm trying to say.
I. Mean it's kind of like golf,
right? It's like golf has very peculiar
etiquette and you don't want to be messing that up because it's
people look down on it. But the main things to be aware

(15:38):
of #1 is getting to and from your seat.
You should wait between points. You do not want to be standing
up or sitting down or walking through an aisle or blocking
people's views during a point. That's just, it's just like it's
kind of common sense in a way, but we don't think about it as
much as we should. But like, you don't want to be
blocking someone's Like tennis is like very like stop and go.

(15:59):
Or it's like the points going like that's where you're paying
attention. And then there's a break in
between, like wait for the breaks.
Yeah, I would say this is different than like going to a
basketball game or a baseball game when people are like
getting up at any point during the game.
And it's not usually considered rude.
It's considered like very rude if you are like moving around
while the point's happening. And on that same note, you

(16:20):
should not be making noise during play and this is actually
something like you've maybe seenit on TV.
Like they will shush the crowd if the crowd is being too loud,
they'll get called out. People.
We've seen people get thrown outlike it.
They don't mess around. This is something I kind of had
to learn the hard way. I didn't grow up watching tennis
or really playing tennis. And I went to watch a friend
play in like a tennis tournamentone time just for her high

(16:43):
school. And I cheered for her when she
made like a great hit against her opponent.
And it wasn't the end of the point.
And I like cheered and was like,yeah, like go Caroline.
And every single person that waswatching the tennis match like
turned and looked at me and was like, who invited this girl?
It's just different. Like in basketball you make a
great 3 pointer. Like people are going to cheer
no matter what or like throughout the game people are

(17:04):
kind of hooting and hollering. Tennis is not like that.
You pretty much cheer at the endof the point.
The other thing to think about, there is no strict dress code at
the US Open, but I would say generally speaking, people kind
of dress up nicer than you wouldfor another sporting event.
Some people go all out and wear like summer dresses and like
kind of intense attire. Like, we don't do that
necessarily, but we usually try and look a little bit nicer than

(17:25):
we would like, I'm not gonna wear a Basketball Jersey to the
US elephant. Like obviously I wear a
Basketball Jersey to a basketball game.
Like, I don't know, it's just a little bit nicer.
Like Top Hat? Level yeah, Monocle's required.
Monocle's required. OK, yeah, pocket watches.
Optional, OK. Keep in mind as well, it's very
hot. Like we mentioned earlier, it's
late August, early September. It's probably gonna be in the

(17:46):
80s with little cloud cover, probably humid.
So wear something that's light and breathable.
Which leads us to our last section about recommended items
to bring. So again, bring a bag.
We recommend a tote bag. It's just kind of easiest for
this situation. What we usually throw in our
bag? Sandwiches.
We've gone to language. You can bring some, make some at
home, whatever. You can also get like a like a

(18:06):
sweet green bowl or like a some type of like salad like premade
salad that would be good to bring to.
Some type of just like good sustenance, bring sunscreen for
sure. Bring sunscreen, bring
sunglasses, a hat. You're going to want a hat.
Again, you're sitting out in thesun, especially when you're out
on the ground. Sometimes it's like you have no
coverage. So bring a hat, bring

(18:27):
sunglasses, sunscreen, those types of things, lightweight
clothing. And then we also recommend a
reusable water bottle because there are a lot of water
fountains that you can refill water.
You don't need to be buying bottles of water.
It's so expensive. Bring a portable phone charger
because again, you're probably going to be there for a good
amount of the day. You're going to want your phone
charged. Bring a small handheld fan or
collapsible fan. We'll link to a really nice

(18:49):
rechargeable one that we have. And I also recommend bringing
like a small towel or like a sweat towel, like even if that
seems weird too, even if you don't use it to wipe the sweat
off your face. I'll tell you what, there are
some seats I'm envisioning specifically grandstand, like
where it's just so unbelievably hot and there's no sun coverage.
And even if you have a hat on, that's going to cover your face

(19:10):
and like being able to take yourtowel and kind of put it over
your neck or like put it over a party, like it's hot.
It's super hot some of the days.I feel like every time we've
gone to the US Open, I'm always surprised at how hot it can get.
If you're out in the grandstand or if you are in one of the
field courts, you're pretty muchsitting on like a metal Bleacher
and you are just baking in the sun.

(19:30):
Like you're sitting in one position and you are just baking
in the sun. It's just another use for the
towel is you can just put it on.There was one time we went to
grandstand and we went to sit down and our it was like burning
the backs of our legs. Yeah, we so having a towel for
that even could be helpful. Bring a towel.
Bring. A towel so that it.
So there you have it. Our Quick guide to the US Open
tennis tournament in New York City.
If you're trying to figure out atime to come to New York,

(19:52):
honestly, if you like tennis, ifyou like sports, this is a great
time to come to New York. Late August, early September, it
can be a little bit crowded because of Labor Day, and the
tournament always falls on LaborDay, but it's a really solid
time to visit New York City. The weather is warm.
You get to experience the city kind of out in its full.

(20:12):
Energy and it's just a good timeto come to New York.
The US Open has, I will say for myself, going to the US Open
with Devin the last couple yearshas made me a fan of
professional tennis. I never grew up playing tennis.
I never grew up watching tennis.And I feel like going to the US
Open will make you a tennis fan and open up a world to you that
like maybe you're not familiar with, maybe you are.

(20:34):
But I highly recommend planning a trip around going to the US
Open. If you like tennis, if you like
sports, you want to learn something new, have a new
experience. This is a great time to come to
the city. We hope this episode has
prepared you to do that. If you have not already, be sure
you sign up for our newsletter. We e-mail once a week, but we
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(20:56):
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US Open Tennis Experience, In-Person Tips & What to Bring

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