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U.S. Open

U.S. Open Hints At Tweeking Doubles Competition – For Fans’ Betterment

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The U.S. Open doubles competition has become barely an afterthought in recent years. That might be about to change.

Speaking with Andy Roddick on his “Served” podcast, U.S. Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster discussed a way that might be entertained to ensure more singles stars play in the doubles competition, enhancing the excitement of the event and to better fan value. Rather than the sign-in for the doubles competition taking place on the day before the main draw starts on Sunday, Allaster suggested that perhaps the doubles sign-in should be pushed ahead five days and after the conclusion of the second round of singles, when half of the 128 men’s and 128 women’s singles players are eliminated and do not have to worry about the physical stress of playing both singles and doubles.

“I think there needs to be some adaptation. I would love to see more singles players play (doubles),” said Allaster to Roddick. “I know that’s a tall order, but here’s the reality. Fifty percent of the main draw players are finished on Thursday night, the first week of main draw. And they are singles players that could play great doubles, but we have the sign-in for doubles on Sunday morning, the doubles draw Sunday. If you’re a singles player, you’re not playing, especially the guys. We still have a few women playing doubles. This would be unpopular, but I think we have to reimagine it. That maybe the doubles draw of the U.S. Open starts on Saturday. Doubles sign-in is on Friday.”

Roddick started the conversation asking Allaster where doubles fits in the conversation and landscape of the U.S. Open, suggesting that it’s just not that doubles is not marketed enough.

Said Allaster, “Look, doubles is a great product, and the majority of tennis players play doubles but the only time we can look at proof of reality, generally, when you have singles players playing doubles, we have more people watching.”

Allaster used as just one example that almost 10,000 tickets were sold for the U.S. Open’s special “Mixed Madness” mixed doubles event held during “Fan Week” the week before the main draw of the tournament.

“I love doubles, but the current product is not optimal for this macro 894 matches we have, the 600 players,” Allaster said. “And I don’t think it is about just marketing. It has to do with who’s playing. If there’s a product on the shelf and it’s not being bought, then manufacturers adapt the product.”

At the 2024 U.S. Open, only 38 players from the men’s singles event also played in the doubles tournament. Of those 38, 15 were ranked in the top 50 of the ATP singles rankings, led by No. 8 Casper Ruud, No. 21 Alejandro Tabilo, No. 34 Arthur Fils and No. 26 Nicolas Jarry. In the women’s event at the 2024 U.S. Open, 68 players from the singles event also played in the doubles tournament. Of those 68, 25 were ranked in the top 50 of the WTA singles rankings, led by No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 15 Anna Kalinskaya and No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova.

Some of the “star” male singles players who lost in the first or second round of the U.S. Open singles tournament (and did not play doubles) include Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas (but played official mixed doubles), Hubert Hurkacz, Gael Monfils, Sebi Korda, Matteo Berrettini, Stan Wawrinka, Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassame, Fabio Fognini and American favorites Chris Eubanks and Reilly Opelka. On the women’s side, some of the “star” players who lost in the first or second round (and who did not play doubles) include Danielle Collins, Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu, Bianca Andreescu, Maria Sakkari, Barbora Krejcikova, Amanda Anisimova as well as Karolina Pliskova and Elena Rybakina, who both pulled out with injury, however.

Perhaps more importantly, starting the doubles competitions later will add much needed content over the Labor Day weekend. It will add more value for attending fans, which swell during the three-day American holiday weekend, and also will ease crowding on the grounds because there are more matches on the outer courts for the fans to spread out and watch. This was first brought up in 2022 as you can read here  https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/21267 and also watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fGp1JzwEsM

“There’s a lot of content in singles. That’s one of the other challenges,” Allaster told Roddick. “When you’ve got long three, four-hour singles matches back to back and then there’s a doubles match, they’re only going to have that small niche. Those die hards.”

The start of the doubles tournament gets mostly overshadowed by the second round singles matches. If the doubles tournament started on the middle Saturday of the U.S. Open, it would gain more visibility and would take eight to nine days to complete six rounds of the event.

Said Roddick, “It’s not as if six doubles matches in 10 days is a massive ask physically if you’re not also having to negotiate singles.”

As an example of the little attention / interest in the doubles competition at the 2024 U.S. Open, when three-time reigning champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury were upset in the third round by fellow Americans Nate Lammons and Jackson Withrow, none of the four players were requested to do a post-match press conference or any type of interview.

If the doubles tournaments can see an uptick in interest, one could potentially see an added ticket-selling session at the U.S. Open as the second Thursday of the tournament, the women’s singles semifinal day, could see a split day-night session with one women’s semifinal during the day and one a night, with men’s doubles semifinals also being played as the second match during each respective session. (or potentially the men’s doubles final in one session and the mixed doubles final in another session.) The same could be scheduled for the women’s doubles semifinals around the men’s singles semifinals.

Record Activity For WorldTennisMagazine.com, Affiliated Social Media Profiles During 2024 U.S. Open

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WorldTennisMagazine.com and its affiliated social media sites experienced record numbers during the 2024 US Open tennis championships.

 the website and associated social media platforms on Twitter / X (@TennisPublisher, @WorldTennisMag @ThisDayInTennis @TennisGS @FedererBook, etc) Facebook, Instagram (@WorldTennisMagazine) and YouTube (subscribe to the WorldTennisMagazine.com YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@WorldTennisMagazine) were viewed by approximately 750,000 visitors during the three weeks of the U.S. Open – the one week of U.S. Open qualifying tournament, labeled “Fan Week” by the U.S. Tennis Association, and the two weeks of the main draw of the competition.

WorldTennisMagazine.com is run by Randy Walker, former long-time USTA press officer for the U.S. Open, U.S. Davis Cup team, U.S. Olympic team and USTA Player Development program. He is also the publisher of numerous book on tennis for New Chapter Press, including “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time” and “Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited” by Hall of Famer Steve Flink, “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” by Bud Collins, “Juan Martin del Potro: The Gentle Giant” by Sebastian Torok, “I Always Wanted To Be Somebody” by Althea Gibson among many others. He has also authored books on tennis, including “On This Day In Tennis History” and “On This Day In Roger Federer History.” He now runs the USTA Pro Circuit event in Vero Beach, Florida, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, and is available for media and marketing consulting.

How To Try To Prevent More Late-Night U.S. Open Matches

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

New York Is known as the “City That Never Sleeps” and that certainly was the case at the 2024 U.S. Open…again.

Despite verbalizing some efforts to help prevent matches running late, the U.S. Tennis Association, unfortunately, experienced another year where matches extended passed 1 am and 2 am. The 2024 tournament featured the second latest finish ever (Alexander Zverev beating Tomas Etcheverry at 2:35 am), the latest ever finish for a women’s match (Qinwen Zheng defeating Donna Vekic at 2:15 am) and the second latest finishing women’s match (Aryna Sabalenka beating Ekaterina Alexandrova at 1:48 am, which was also was also the latest STARTING women’s match at 12:08 am)

However, this is something that is not so easily controlled as a match can last as short as seven minutes or as long as five hours and 35 minutes, which was exactly the match times of the shortest and longest matches at the 2024 U.S. Open. You can’t run out the clock in tennis as they like to say in the sport. Now, it is fun to have a really late night match as an aberration or an outlier, but it shouldn’t be something that happens once or even twice every year.

Here are some of my thoughts on how to solve this issue.

11 AM DAY SESSION START ON ASHE

The two late night sessions in Ashe in 2024 were a direct result of the day session running long. When Sabalenka and Alexandrova finished at 1:48 am, the night session started well over an hour later than the usual 7 pm start because of the length of the two day sessions matches, a 2:03 three-set match between Coco Gauff vs. Elina Svitolina and then the 4:03 five-set match between France Tiafoe and Ben Shelton. Novak Djokovic and Alexei Popyrin then played the first night match and that four-set match lasted 3:19, further backing up play.

The day session on Ashe starts at noon, rather than 11 am on the outer courts. The USTA used to also start the stadium matches at 11 am (and also featured three stadium matches) but changed to two matches to prevent matches from interfering with the start of the 7 pm night session start and to a noon start to accommodate ESPN which starts its broadcast at noon. If the USTA really wants to prevent these late night matches, it should return to the 11 am start and if ESPN really doesn’t want to have great US Open might matches concluding in a more ratings-friendly time, they would agree with this. I believe the reason why ESPN doesn’t start its broadcast until noon is they have highly-rated morning sports talk shows that they don’t want to surrender the tennis to. However, ESPN could further air and promote the 11 am to noon window on its pay service ESPN+ and use it as an additional advertisement and promotion to subscribe to that service.

There is the issue that if the day session on Ashe Stadium starts at 11 am, and there are only two matches scheduled during the day session, there could be an issue with the Ashe session ending too early. However, as the USTA did twice in the first week in 2024 when this happened, they put doubles matches on as a third “bonus” match to fill the gap before the night session started at 7 pm, with time for the stadium to clear and be cleaned before the night fans arrive. The USTA could pre-plan to have a two-out-of-three-set doubles match (that lasts shorter than a singles match) that can put on the schedule and can be moved to Ashe in the case of two blowout matches, to start at not before 2:30 or so.

The USTA can kill two birds with one stone with this 11 am start as one of the big complaints from fans has been overcrowding on the grounds. This most noticeably happens when 23,000-plus fans wait to get in for the Ashe night session when the day session runs long, but they are waiting for the 23,000 Ashe day session fans who are still on the stands. If you start an hour earlier at 11 am, this is less likely to happen.

NIGHT SESSIONS SHOULD ALSO BE WOMEN BEFORE MEN

Women play best of three set matches and men play best of five set matches, so by common sense, the women should always start first since their matches will end earlier. It is a complete indignity for a player to START a match after 11 pm or after midnight. So since a five-set match can potentially go four hours and a three-set match can potentially go for about two-and-a-half hours, you have to start the women first. Fans who pay for tickets do want to see at least part of the second match if it is a long session, but if the first match is four hours, fans are going to leave before the second match starts (perhaps even before the first one ends!) The USTA said before the tournament that they would look to potentially start an Ashe Stadium match on another court if that match had not started by 11:15. However, the USTA chose not to, or couldn’t implement this on the two occasions when this happened (perhaps due to not having officials, ball people or TV or court maintenance crew available). However, if the women play the first match of the night session, this would not happen as the women’s match would have to be four hours long for a match not to take the court by 11:15 pm (which almost never happens.)

People will say that women should have to play late (or second) as well because they have to “earn” their equal prize money. This is really silly to compare based on the number of sets played. My argument has always been with regard to comparing men and women and equal prize money in the best-of-three set matches vs. best-of-five-set matches is Doctor Zhivago a better movie at 3 hours and 17 minutes than The Graduate, which is 1 hour, 46 minutes? (or for those younger folks, is Babylon a better movie at 3 hours and 8 minutes than Top Gun Maverick at 2 hours, 11 minutes?) Entertainment is entertainment no matter how long it is. Starting the women first on the night sessions will at least mostly prevent matches from starting at ridiculous hours.

MOVE THE PROGRAM ALONG FASTER

Sure, there is a shot clock to help players start points faster, but play, in general, can certainly be sped up. So many players take breaks between sets going to the locker room to change clothes, go to the bathroom, or just for gamesmanship. One decades-long tennis writer quipped to me “Do players need to pee more than they did in the 1970s?” Sometimes these breaks last 10 minutes or more. This needs to be tightened up and players should face a code violation if they take too long in the bathroom. If a player argues a call, they should also be put on the clock. Players take too many injury timeouts as well. Shouldn’t you be rewarded for being in better shape and stronger and participate in injury prevention? All treatments should be taking place on the 90-second changeovers.

Also, pre-match and post-match interviews are fantastic entertainment and TV, but let’s keep the pre-match questions to two (or even one if it’s a long good answer) and the post-match on-court interview should be only three questions. This can obviously be taken on a case by case basis, depending on the time circumstances. Autograph signing and selfie-taking can also prohibited courtside after a match as they delays the player from exiting the court and delays the start of the next match. I’m sure fans in expensive courtside seats don’t appreciate people rushing down around their seats in the last game of the match to get in position for autographs. The tournament can set up more autograph sessions after practice or on off days for players on the grounds.

Before Zheng and Vekic took the court for their late night epic, I swear it was at least 20 minutes before they took the court after the Djokovic vs. Popyrin match. Certainly some sponsor signs need to be changed and other details, but try to speed it up. Also, when a match time is advertised as starting at 11 am or noon or 7 pm, it usually means the players walk on the court at seven minutes passed the hour and the first point being played at like 20 minutes after the hour. How about players walk on the court at five minutes before the top of the hour and then ball up is 15 minutes later. Many of these examples are a bit petty and don’t take away that much time, but it all adds up. Five minutes here, there, here, there, here and there is 30 minutes.

THESE ARE THINGS YOU CAN’T DO TO PREVENT LATE NIGHT FINISHES

There was a lot of dialogue in person and on social media about how to prevent late finishes. Here are some arguments that I can quickly shoot down and can say are not good ideas…

  • Some say the night session should start at 6 pm. The night session should always start at 7 pm and not earlier because working New Yorkers don’t get off work right at 5 pm. They work later and it takes a while for them to get to Queens to get to the tennis.
  • Some say the nigh session should only be one match. There should always be two matches in a night session, for the same above reason. There needs to be protection against a quick match so there needs to be a guarantee of at the very least three hours of tennis for the night ticket holder. The night sessions are one of the best things about the U.S. Open. Let’s not make it last only two hours.
  • The men should play best-of-three set matches. The men should always play best of five sets. Imagine you had the first night session ticket for the first session of tennis at the USTA National Tennis Center in 1978? You would have seen Bjorn Borg beat Bob Hewitt 6-0, 6-2 and Tracy Austin beat Trish Bostrom 6-0, 6-1. Would you feel like you got your money’s worth? The men did play best-of-three sets in early rounds for a few years in the 1970s, but then it was abandoned because of circumstances like this.
  • Putting doubles as the second night match is from an era gone by. Almost every night session at every pro event in the country used to always have doubles as the second match. However, this is when there was an increased interest in doubles when star players played. Unfortunately, interest in doubles has waned significantly in recent years due to stars mainly playing singles. There have been circumstances when doubles has had a presence in night sessions, when it has involved the Williams sisters, the Jensen Brothers or Anna Kournikova. Perhaps, if there is an attractive enough match, a doubles match could be put on as a second match on a night card. Perhaps even move the doubles competition along quicker in the fortnight and have the men’s, women’s or mixed doubles championship match be played as part of a night session during the second week, but this would be a challenge.
Aryna Sabalenka during a women’s singles match at the 2024 US Open on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024 in Flushing, NY. (Simon Bruty/USTA)

Attention Die Hard U.S. Open Fans: The Qualifying Tournament Runs Monday Through Thursday In 2024

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

One of the best parts of the U.S. Open tennis championships happens before the main event starts…and that’s the qualifying tournament.

And in 2024, it will start a day earlier.

The schedule for the 2024 U.S. Open has been posted on the event’s USOpen.org website showing that the qualifying rounds will start on Monday, August 19 and end on Thursday, August 22. For years, the four-day qualifying tournament started on a Tuesday and concluded on a Friday. The exception was in 2019 when it was held over five days, but following the global COVID pandemic, it returned to a four-day event starting on a Tuesday when the qualifying tournament resumed in 2021.

The U.S. Open qualifying tournament features draws of 128 men and 128 women who play three rounds to determine 16 final spots in the respective men’s and women’s singles tournaments. It is very popular with fans because it is free for the public to attend. Recently, the U.S. Tennis Association has promoted the qualifying week, mixed in with other on-sight promotions including the opportunity to watch the big name players practice, as “Fan Week.” The USTA announced that it will kick off the week with a Sunday night concert in Louis Armstrong Stadium with Dierks Bentley, as you can read about here https://tennisgrandstand.com/2024/06/11/dierks-bentley-to-kick-off-us-opens-fan-week-on-louis-armstrong-stadium/

The positives for U.S. Open qualifying to start on Monday are as follows;

  • It adds in a buffer day before the start of the main draw of the event on Monday, August 26, allowing for qualifiers to have an extra day of rest before the start of the main draw. In 2023, some of the qualifying round finals were pushed into a Saturday finish due to rain, which also conflicted with the U.S. Tennis Associations Arthur Ashe Kids Day celebrations and activities on site. If there was rain during the week of qualifying, matches could be pushed off until Friday or Saturday and still finish on time before the start of the main draw.
  • The USTA could also potentially make the main draws of the tournament on the Friday of qualifying week, after it is concluded, so it can place all the names in the draw when it is made and publicly announced, rather than just announcing that a player will play a “qualifier” and have that name placed in a draw later after the conclusion of the qualifying tournament. The USTA could also make the draw ceremony more of a public event on the grounds that Friday, which would fit in well in the USTA’s “Fan Week” promotion that week, where fans have free admission to the grounds all week. It also opens up that Friday for the USTA to host any number of exhibition events that they have showcased in the past, or potentially a charity fund-raiser which has been put on in the past, benefitting Ukraine, for example.
  • Also, ending the qualifying tournament a day early also opens up considerable practice courts for main draw players who are at full capacity in the days just before the start of the main draw. It gets very crowded on site at the U.S. Open between the player lounge and the practice courts, so getting players from the qualifying rounds off site earlier, helps free up space for the main draw players.
  • While the USTA announced the start of the main draw of the 2024 U.S. Open as Monday, August 26, there has been much speculation that the organization will eventually follow the lead of Roland Garros and the Australian Open and start the event on a Sunday. By ending the qualifying rounds on Thursday, it would provide two entire days before a Sunday start of the U.S. Open so qualifiers would have some rest before potentially having to play on that opening Sunday. A Sunday start would to create an additional weekend day of revenue, making it easier for fans to go to the event without taking a day off of work and spreading out the first round of matches that can help players (and be a buffer against a potential rain out event). According to Amazon’s Alexa, the Sunday start at the U.S. Open was supposed to start in 2024, as you can read about here: https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/23158

It does seem peculiar that the U.S. Open qualifying would start on a Tuesday and not a Monday, when traditional events start. However, this was due to the fact that players had to actually sign in and register for the event in person for the tournament. Therefore, a buffer day was inserted so players playing in Challengers the week before would have time to arrive on site and physically sign in for the tournament. Now, players do not need to physically sign in so the event can start on Monday.

Watch our video on the 2023 U.S. Open here: “What It’s Like To Be At U.S. Open Tennis – A Tour https://youtu.be/108Novikvu8?si=wgIm_dksYbUvuTpZ

Some of my past stories about U.S. Open qualifying can be found below.

Why U.S. Open Qualifying Is Like The Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Movie “The Social Network” https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/22349

An Afternoon and Evening at U.S. Open Qualifying https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/21215

Players From World’s Two Most Populous Nations, Playing Side-By-Side, Showcase U.S. Open Qualifying Round Fan Diversity https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/22366

Main Draw Anticipation, Uber-Competitive Matches And Fan Amenities Make U.S. Open Qualifying Perhaps The Tournament’s Best Week — And It’s Free! https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/17208

Former Georgia Bulldog “Dr. Z” Jan Zielinski Operating Well On ATP Tour In Doubles

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

There is a doctor in the house on the ATP Tour in doubles and he’s doing a lot of operating.

His name is Jan Zielinski and he earned the nickname “Dr. Z” while at the University of Georgia for the way he “operates” on the tennis court with the precision of a surgeon.

“I think it came from me just operating on the opponents, basically just performing surgeries,” said Zielinski of his nick-name which was coined by the Sawyer Duncan, the brother of his former Georgia Bulldog teammate Walker Duncan. “He came up with something like Dr. Z, by me just playing very well and performing a clean surgery on the opponents, and I think it came from that. And it stayed. It stayed with me. I like it. It’s fun.”

Zielinski has had much success in the operating room starting in 2023, which has been a breakthrough year for the native of Warsaw, Poland. He posted a runner-up finish at the Australian Open, his first major doubles final, while winning the prestigious Italian Championships in Rome, both with partner Hans Nys of Monaco. The duo has established themselves as one of the top 10 best doubles teams in the world.

“It’s a lot of ups and downs as well,” said Zielinski of his 2023 season at the U.S. Open, where he and Nys reached the quarterfinals. “I mean, besides the Australian Open and Rome Masters 1000, which we won, it was a lot of unfortunate results in the first rounds. There were a lot of super tiebreakers that we didn’t win.”

Besides winning tournament titles, consistency and avoiding first-round losses is the goal for Zielinski and Hys, he said. With their quarterfinal loss at the U.S. Open, the other main goal for the remainder of the 2023 season is to qualify for the year-end ATP Tour World Finals eight-team doubles field, where they are in contention.

Zielinski began his pro career after playing four seasons for the University of Georgia, highlighted by an NCAA doubles runner-up showing in 2017 alongside Robert Loeb of the United States.

“Jan showed right away in his freshman year that he had tremendous potential and a knack for doubles,” said Georgia men’s tennis coach Manny Diaz. “I am not the least bit surprised with his success on the pro tour and think he will be among the top 10 for many years to come.”

“It was amazing,” Zielinski said of this time as a Georgia Bulldog. “It was one of the best three and a half years of my life. They took great care of me. We’ve all been like one big family.”

Zielinski has many memories on and off the court during his time in Athens, Georgia as a student at UGA. He singled out the 2017 season – his sophomore year – where in addition to reaching the NCAA doubles final, he had memorable wins in dramatic NCAA team tournament wins for Georgia in front of thousands of home fans in Athens as the Bulldogs made a run to the team tournament semifinals.

“Definitely making a run at home (in Athens, Georgia in 2017) to the semis of NCAAs,” Zielinski said of his best memory of being a Georgia Bulldog tennis team member. “We beat USC in the round of 16, a crazy match… then we played a crazy match against UCLA in the quarterfinals where we had to stop because of the rain. And then we came back from 1-2 down. We ended up winning 4-2. I was in the beginning of the third set against Maxime Cressy, who playing really good right now, and I was the one that clinched that match. I remember that was a pretty crazy, crazy night. A lot of great memories, a lot of great pictures, videos, and then obviously making a doubles run with Robert Loeb to the doubles final, and being up a set and a break in the finals, coming very close to actually getting that title, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but it was still a great run.”

Zielinski gave a pro singles career a bit of a go, earning a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 769 in 2021, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that his destiny in pro tennis was certainly in doubles.

“Basically since day one, I would say, I knew I have something extra for doubles, and if singles doesn’t work out, I can always fully focus on doubles, and probably make it there,” he said. “My dad taught me how to play proper doubles, how to cover the net, and he taught me those instincts of doubles, basically the proper way to play.”

“The transition from college to pros wasn’t easy,” he continued. “I mean, you start from the very beginning, from the smallest tournaments, which is a grind where you don’t make any money, and you have to spend the money to actually even play. And you never know if it’s ever going to pay off, and if you’re ever going to actually be making money out of that sport. You can always believe, you can always work hard, but it’s never fully given to you. Especially coming from Poland, where we don’t have that many tournaments in the country where we can get the wildcards compared to France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech, you name it. They all have plenty of opportunities to play, plenty of tournaments that can get into wildcards to the main draws and then get the points without. And basically, by skipping the lower tournaments, we have to find our way from the very bottom. And yeah, I managed. Obviously, COVID hit when I was at my peak, winning a couple tournaments in a row, so it wasn’t the best timing for me. But yeah, I managed, came back, and here we are today.”

Zielinski’s rise up the rankings has come on the heels of the success of fellow Poles Iga Swiatek, who has reached the WTA Tour’s world No. 1 ranking, and Hubert “Huby” Hurkacz, who has reached the top 10 rankings and the semifinals of Wimbledon, defeating Roger Federer en route. Zielinski has played Davis Cup for Poland since 2021 and is in contention to play at the 2024 Olympic Games.

“It’s been great to see Polish crew, I would say, doing so well on such a big stage like this and other majors and other big tournaments,” Zielinski said. “Huby has been someone that I looked up to for the last couple of years, even though he is a younger player. He’s been my best friend since I don’t know how many years. When I was in college, or starting after college, he was the one that I was looking up to, and I was trying to make it here to be with him and to keep him company. He was pretty lonely here. He was the only one basically that I was playing at that level.”

Zielinski said he has a good relationship with Swiatek, the three-time French Open champion, but admits “We’re not like besties.” Said Zielinski, “We’re not texting every day, but yeah, it’s good. We always say hi, asking about the scores of each other’s matches, saying good luck and everything. Yeah, she’s a very nice girl. She’s a very nice person.”

While Zielinski hob-nobs with his fellow Poles in pro tennis around the world, he also has had bonding moments with fellow Georgia Bulldogs on tour. He follows the Georgia football team when he can and has watched the National Championship games in January of 2022 and 2023 while in Australia alongside fellow Georgia great John Isner on the invitation of Steve Baldas, a former All-American tennis player at Georgia in the 1990s who is a sports executive in Australia. Zielinski does admit that when he travels the world, his identification as a Georgia Bulldog is definitely recognized. Does he ever hear anyone yell “Go Dawgs” or bark at him at tournaments around the world?

“Yeah, it happens once in a while,” he said. “I would say once every month, two maybe, but it happens.”

Jan Zielinski

Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic U.S. Open Final Wins Produce Historic Ratings, Despite ESPN, Charter Controversy

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The 2023 U.S. Open women’s final between American rising star Coco Gauff and now new world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was the most-viewed women’s final of any tennis major ever on ESPN. Gauff’s victory ranks as the second most-viewed telecast for the US Open overall, behind only Serena Williams’ final match in 2022, and the most-streamed telecast of the 2023 tournament on ESPN+.

The statistics are even more impressive when you consider that ESPN and and cable distributor Charter Communications were at an impasse and ESPN was not available in 15 million homes during this time.

The 2023 US Open men’s and women’s championship on ESPN averaged 2.8 million viewers, up +40% compared to 2022, making it the second most-viewed US Open of all time on ESPN, behind only 2019’s Championships. 

Women’s Championship: Coco Gauff vs. Aryna Sabalenka

  • Gauff’s win delivered 3.4 million viewers on ESPN, up +92% vs last year’s women’s championship making it the most-viewed major women’s championship ever.
  • The women’s championship was the most-streamed telecast of the tournament on ESPN+.
  • Gauff beat Sabalenka 2:6, 6:3 and 6:2 to win her first major title.

Men’s Championship: Daniil Medvedev vs. Novak Djokovic

  • Novak Djokovic’s victory over Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic’s record-setting 24th Grand Slam title, averaged 2.3 million viewers, up +8% year-over-year, becoming the most-viewed US Open men’s final since Rafael Nadal faced Medvedev in the 2019 final (2.8 million viewers).
  • Djokovic won in three sets 6:3, 7:6, 6:3.

Semifinals

  • The women’s and men’s semifinals combined were the most-viewed of all time on ESPN, averaging 1.9 million viewers, up 1 % from the previous record in 2022.

Women’s Semifinals

  • Thursday’s women’s semifinal matches between Gauff and Karolina Muchova and American Madison Keys vs. Aryna Sabalenka delivered 1.8 million viewers on ESPN.  That represents an increase of 56% over last year.
  • Gauff defeated Muchova 6:4, 7:5 and Sabalenka beat Madison Keys in three sets 0:6, 7:6, 7:6.

For the entire tournament, 2023 US Open coverage across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1 million viewers overall, up 25% from 2021, and down 17% year over year due in part to the impact of the significant interest around Serena Williams’ final US Open appearance in 2022.

Ashe Stadium

US Open Reaches New Heights In 2023

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As the US Open celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Equal Prize Money this year, the 2023 event turned into a three-week-long celebration of unprecedented success, as the US Open set a three-week, Grand Slam attendance record, and again surpassed all-time highs for ticket sales, food and beverage and merchandise sales and digital and social media engagement. All of the above benefit the continued growth of tennis in America, including the newly announced US Open Legacy Initiative.

Highlights from the 2023 US Open include:

On the Court

  • Nineteen-year-old American Coco Gauff captured the hearts of America by winning her first major singles title, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in front of a record women’s singles crowd of 28,143. Gauff is only the third American teenager to win the US Open women’s singles championship, joining Serena Williams (1999) and Tracy Austin (1979, ‘81), and her gutsy, come-from-behind performances – three victories coming after losing the first set – had only been matched in the Open Era by Serena Williams in 1999.
  • Novak Djokovic won his record-extending 24th Grand Slam men’s singles title, defeating Daniil Medvedev. It’s the fourth US Open men’s singles title for the 36-year-old Serbian, who is now the oldest men’s singles champion in US Open history. No other player has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era (since 1968).
  • Americans continued to set the pace for the world at large on the court. Forty-three Americans competed in the men’s and women’s singles main draws at the US Open, capping a year in which the U.S. led all nations in singles main draw participants at every Grand Slam.
  • Four Americans reached the second week of the main draw in both men’s and women’s singles, the first year for those numbers together since 2002. Three U.S. men – 25-year olds Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe and 20-year-old Ben Shelton – also reached the quarterfinals, the most at the US Open since 2005, while Shelton became the youngest American US Open men’s semifinalist since Andy Roddick in 2002.
  • Dutch wheelchair player Diede de Groot won her sixth US Open singles title, tying Esther Vergeer’s record, and her 12th consecutive wheelchair major, completing three consecutive calendar-year Grand Slams. The US Open Wheelchair Championships contested the first Wheelchair Grand Slam event where all three adult divisions – men’s, women’s and quad – had 16 competitors in the singles field and eight teams in the doubles field.

Record-Breaking Attendance

  • The US Open reached new heights for attendance in 2023, breaking its two- and three-week attendance records and becoming the first Grand Slam to welcome more than 950,000 spectators over a three-week period.
  • The US Open welcomed 957,387 fans over the 20 days encompassing the Main Draw and Fan Week, a near 8-percent increase over 2022.
  • The US Open’s 2023 main draw attendance was a US Open record 799,402. All 25 sessions in Arthur Ashe Stadium sold out for the second year in a row.
  • The first six days of the main draw were the six highest-attended days in US Open history, while both the Men’s (28,804) and Women’s Championship (28,143) sessions were the highest-attended Championship sessions in US Open history.
  • The record Fan Week attendance of 157,985 outpaced 2022 by 41 percent.

Digital and Social Growth

  • The US Open’s digital platforms, powered by IBM, had a record-setting year with traffic of over 15 million unique devices during the event’s three weeks, a 17-percent increase over 2022. 
  • Total interactions and views across the US Open’s official social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat reached over 1.5 billion engagements over Fan Week and the Main Draw, an all-time high and 50-percent growth over 2022.
  • More than 3 million unique devices viewed news articles on USOpen.org and the US Open app through the three weeks of the event, a 40-percent increase over 2022.
  • The US Open’s Champions of the Court experience on Roblox had over 1.2 million total visits in its first 18 days. 

Worldwide Viewership

  • Over 15,000 hours of US Open coverage from all 951 competition matches were produced for broadcast on 50-plus channels in more than 175 countries and territories.
  • Domestic broadcast highlights from ESPN and its networks’ 2023 coverage included nearly 140 hours on TV, via ESPN and ESPN2, and live coverage on ABC on the middle Sunday of the main draw for the first time ever.
  • More than 1,000 hours of coverage from all matches and courts streamed live on the ESPNApp, across ESPN+ and ESPN3.

Growing the Game

  • The USTA committed $3 million — equaling the singles champions’ prize money — to the refurbishment of up to 200 courts across the country in Coco Gauff’s name as part of the newly created US Open Legacy Initiative. In future cases of an American US Open Men’s or Women’s Singles Champion, the USTA will make a similar commitment to advancing the USTA mission of promoting and developing the growth of tennis across the country.

Celebrating 50 Years of Equal Prize Money

  • The celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Equal Prize Money was a prominent theme throughout the event. Billie Jean King helped open the tournament, as part of a powerful Opening Night ceremony that featured former First Lady Michelle Obama, and also closed it, handing off the Women’s Singles championship trophy to the youngest American US Open women’s singles champion in 24 years.

The celebration of equality also culminated with Champions of Equality, a Be Open event presented by Cadillac, that saw King and Venus Williams earn special recognition during a dynamic conversation with General Motors’ Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Telva McGruder and renowned broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour. Sixteen pioneering women from the USTA Sections were also honored at the event for their leadership in promoting equality at the grassroots levels

Is A Happy Carlos Alcaraz Too Good To Be True?

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:BY JAMES BECK

Carlos Alcaraz has put fun back into professional tennis.

Even the stoic Novak Djokovic has been taken by the fun times. Instead of frowning when Alcaraz comes up with one of his amazing winners, Novak releases a broad smile that turns his bearded face into a fan-winning appeal.

Who would have thought that Novak would become such a fan favorite in his old age as he attracts even Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal fans, and maybe some Alcaraz lovers. That last one may be difficult to believe, considering the almost cult-like following of Alcaraz.

OPPONENTS EVEN JOIN CARLOS’ FUN

It’s the boyish smile that Carlos uses to so easily lure tennis fans into his fan base. Opponents even join the fun when Alcaraz puts on another amazing stunt on the court, or sometimes while sliding to hit a winner off what looked like a sure winner by his opponents.

Even British star Daniel Evans couldn’t ignore the exuberance of Alcaraz in their third-round match at the U.S. Open. Alcaraz comes up with another one of his amazing shots to win a point,  and Evans breaks into an ear-to-ear smile. Everyone is happy.

Yes, Carlos Alcaraz is almost too good to be true.

ALCARAZ FILLS THE GAP LEFT BY FEDERER AND NADAL

Yes, the amazing 20-year-old Spaniard gives tennis the bump it needs in the new generation of players after the Federer, Nadal and Djokovic heydays. Of course, Djokovic is still trying to add to his record-setting number of Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic is still very dangerous. It could be a spectacular final if Novak and Alcaraz could work their way into another Grand Slam final as they did at the French and Wimbledon.

Of course, even after taking much of the fire out of Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz isn’t home free yet. Not with former champion Daniil Medvedev standing in his path in Friday’s semifinals before a possible showdown with Djokovic.

WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN’S SIDE OF THINGS?

It’s anyone’s guess which semifinalist will walk off with the women’s crown on Saturday.

The only Grand Slam champion left, Australian Open champ and new world’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, is in the bottom half of the draw, and must take on red-hot Madison Keys in Thursday’s semifinals.

Wimbledon titlist Marketa Vondrousova didn’t provide much of a test for 2017 U.S. Open finalist Keys in a 6-4, 6-1 loss in the quarterfinals. As good as Keys has been lately, Sabalenka will be difficult to handle.

That leaves young Coco Gauff or French runner-up Karolina Muchova as the other possible finalist. Sabalenka appears to be too strong and aggressive, not to mention talented, for the other three semifinalists.

Where’s French champion Iga Swiatek or high-ranked Jessica Pegula? Of course, both were wiped out in the round of 16, Pegula by Keys and Swiatek by unpredictable Jelena Ostapenko.

That leaves the gate wide open for Sabalenka’s fourth straight Grand Slam semifinal.

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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.

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Carlos Alcaraz

Georgia Bulldog Ethan Quinn Talks Following 2023 U.S. Open First-Round Loss

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Following his 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 first round loss to Spain’s Bernabé Zapata Miralles at the 2023 U.S. Open, NCAA singles champion from the University of Georgia Ethan Quinn answered questions from the press in Media Room No. 6 at the Bud Collins Media Room inside Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

QUESTION:

So just talk a little bit about the match, just how the flow went and so forth. You got off to a big start and then loose game and then kind of playing catch up after that.

ETHAN QUINN:

Yeah, I mean it’s never fun losing, obviously. I felt like I was definitely in the match the entire time. I never felt like I was blown off the court. I mean credit to him, he was able to make it a really physical match. I think that’s what he does so well. I mean that’s why he is top 100 in the world. He’s able to really put you in uncomfortable positions and my coach before the match, he was like be comfortable with the uncomfortable and I think he just got the better me a little bit there. I mean from the start definitely had the energy from the crowd, which was really nice for me. Really made me feel like I was back in Athens, which I really appreciated. I mean that’s something that I’m always going to miss, probably being in the professional tours, just not having that Athens energy in the Athens crowd, but for the most part, yeah, from the start had a good start, got broken in the second game after being up, which was unfortunate and had to battle back, but definitely had my opportunities throughout the match, had break points  Third set was even… up a break, wasn’t able to convert. But like I said, him making it a physical match made it a little bit tougher for me to continue at the level I was at. I mean I started really feeling it late in the second, early in the third with my forehand doing what I was doing really well, but he was able to really make it physical and make it tough for me to continue that level.

QUESTION

But what can you draw from this experience? I mean it’s like a first you got to get your feet wet. It’s like your first Grand Slam main draw  but what can you draw from having this experience playing in the US Open, playing in front of a big crowd, playing the number 76 guy in the world. Really only a couple points here or there, really separated you

ETHAN QUINN

Yeah, I mean you can definitely take away how physical this level is. Always room to improve physically. I mean I’m only 19 years old so I definitely have a lot of room to improve there. Definitely have a great team behind me that’s given me the opportunity to really improve in that level and improve in that aspect. I think that’s probably the number one thing, just getting to that physicality there and then honestly just the discipline on court and he’s a prime example of just really making you earn your points. I feel like I definitely could have done a better job in that area, just making him try and win more points. Gave him a little bit too many unforced errors. Definitely had the right intention behind my shots, but just was giving a little bit, giving too many free points, easy buckets is what some coaches, one of my coaches like to say from Georgia. And so just really making it tougher on him would be the second thing I could definitely use and learn.

QUESTION:

As Randy was asking right there towards you and you mentioned this Brad Stine, to get a guy like him and to be your coach, how did that come to be for you and how did you have that full trust with how he’s so respected, but you still have to vibe with the coach no matter who it is. What made that be the sell point for you to be the coach for you?

ETHAN QUINN

I mean, he’s been coaching me since I was six years old. He was one of my first coaches I ever even had being both of us from Fresno, California, and he lives five minutes from me. It really was a no brainer, honestly. We were both members at the same club. Whenever he would come back home from coaching, whoever he was coaching at the time, whenever he would come back home, I mean he was still my coach and then when he was on the road, we would be texting every single day about whatever it was on court stuff and even off court information. It was really an easy choice for me to be part of that team. And then honestly, COVID was when it really made sense to me the most. He was kind of stuck at home, if you’d like to say he was stuck in Fresno. Me and him got to practice every single day and really from there my game shot up. That’s when I became number one recruit in the country. I had my best results in junior ITFs there. And honestly, I think it was a result of just being with Brad every single day, being with such a high level coach every single day.

QUESTION:

We had John Isner of course say that this was going to be his final US Open. And have you had a chance to talk with him or engage with him? Just your whole thoughts on with him and if you had any experience with

ETHAN QUINN:

Yeah, he’s been a great mentor even starting from last year at the US Open. That’s where I met him the first time here, just upstairs after one of my first qualifying match. So he’s been a great mentor for me. I got added to the UGA alumni chat even though I’m not an alumni and he’s been great.

QUESTION:

He added you?

ETHAN QUINN:

No, Manny Diaz. He’s the leader of the pack, so he added me to it and John was one of the first people to welcome me into it, both physically and in a message in the chat. So yeah, it’s great getting to have him in my corner and honestly, there’s a few other college guys like Steve Johnson who he’s been great. A few of these challenger tournaments this summer. He’s been there with me just talking, me practicing with him, just getting to hear his perspective has been great for me.

QUESTION:

That Georgia experience for you to be on a campus, going for a third time national championship football, tremendous success in track and many other sports, just the whole vibe of being down there in Athens for you, how’s it been?

ETHAN QUINN:

Absolutely incredible. Honestly, I didn’t think that getting to college would’ve been as productive as it was. Obviously my first semester being a Redshirted student, it gave me the chance to kind of dip my toes into a little bit of the distractions, really get my ability to know when and where I should be, getting that opportunity was really good for me leading into my first season. Once I was able to get into my first season, I realized that I had already had the college experience. I had already had all the experiences that I could have imagined, and so then I was able to focus on tennis and really felt like I wasn’t missing out getting to be surrounded by such professional athletes. I mean, I think the USA World track. I don’t even know someone in track. Matt

QUESTION:

Matt Boling. Yep, Matt

ETHAN QUINN: Boling. I mean just being surrounded by him and there’s plenty of other guys on the track team that are just world-class athletes and then obviously the football team just being surrounded by such world-class athletes, it really brings up your level and I really appreciate all of that.

QUESTION:

So Manny and Jamie are obviously great coaches and they put great stuff in your ear, but what kind of interaction did you have with Kirby? I know his son plays, but have you had any interaction with him or has he ever told you be the hunter or something?

ETHAN QUINN:

Actually on my first day on campus actually when I was on my visit, I got to meet Kirby. Maybe that was the selling point for Manny and Jamie, but then before the SEC Championship and I think actually no, it was before we played Harvard. Kirby came into our room and he was into our lounge and he really gave us one of those football talks. There definitely was a lot of swearing. I think he put it down a little bit for us because it wasn’t a room of 60 guys like the football guys. So toned it down a little bit for us, but still had the same message, same intensity, and then we came out and played Harvard biggest crowd we had with the incredible level of energy and honestly, I was thinking about him and everything he said the entire time.

QUESTION

I want to ask you real quick, because Ben Shelton, who’s on the other side in terms of Florida side of the world’s largest cocktail party. He had an incredible rise last year and then this year Australian Open. And just seeing that and how you definitely could replicate that even though it is something that is not just easy to do, but something that is possible to do. Just your whole thoughts on this whole year with that and how that gives you inspiration to make the impact right away on tour.

ETHAN QUINN

Yeah, definitely. It’d be great to replicate that. Obviously there’s a possibility that I don’t, and I mean obviously it was a really incredible thing that he did. So I’ve kind of realized that I needed to not have my expectations quite as high. I just need to realize that my pathway might be a little bit different, might take a little bit longer, but whatever pathway it is, I’m sure I’ll get to the same level as him and maybe I’ll be playing him and Grand Slam finals eventually.

QUESTION:

You’re a thoughtful guy, man. It’s been a pleasure talking to you, man.

ETHAN QUINN

Thank you. I appreciate it.

QUESTION:

So speaking of that, I remember you were saying last year at the U.S. Open that you wanted to follow in Ben’s footsteps. You wanted to be the next guy and maybe you said that in Vero Beach, and then sure enough you get the Kalamazoo final, like Ben did you win the NCAA title like Ben did and you got to the US Open here. Ben played the first round of the US Open. He lost. Now are you going to be probably playing in that USTA Pro Circuit challengers this fall where you’re playing like Fairfield and Charlottesville and Champaign and so forth. So talk a little bit about that and that’s really where he made his moves.

ETHAN QUINN

There’s definitely a lot of chances for our similarities in our pathway to be very linear. Again, Ben had a phenomenal fall last year, which was impressive, knowing that he was still taking classes at the time, which I’m still taking classes. I think that’s another thing that most people don’t realize is so similar about us. I mean, we both really want to get our degree and we’re very passionate about getting that second portion of our life once our tennis career is over, kind of having that set. But there’s definitely a lot of opportunity in these challengers coming up after the US Open. It’ll be nice getting to kind of prepare this week. I still have doubles, but getting to still be in this image, in this picture, in the training room with all these guys will be really nice for me. Getting another few days here with Brad, it’ll be really good preparation leading up to all the challengers this fall.

QUESTION:

Last question, how have you felt since you made the announcement, you’re protest player now, how do you feel just walking around, I mean, bigger shoulders up, I mean you’re pro tennis player. Is there anything that you feel differently than when you were?

ETHAN QUINN I mean, definitely it’s a little bit lonelier, I feel like. I mean, that’s probably the thing that you don’t really see the most. I mean, you’re traveling a lot. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of friends at these tournaments to spend time with. I mean a lot of them are on college campuses and since I was in college I have plenty of friends from other teams. So it’s been nice getting to see some of them and rekindle friendships. But then also I’ve been fortunate enough to have, I mean some of the coaches travel with me for USTA. Getting to kind of create friendships with them has been really, really nice. But I mean it’s definitely a different thing. I mean, being a professional tennis player is a lot different than just being an amateur college tennis player. I felt like when I was in college I still walked pretty tall, but now it’s a little bit different. Being on the Challenger tour, I’m kind of new to it. So I definitely could improve in that aspect, making sure I feel like I’m the guy that’s probably somewhere I can improve.

Ethan Quinn at the 2023 U.S. Open

Georgia Bulldog NCAA Champ Ethan Quinn Loses Tight Straight-Set U.S. Open Opener

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

While NCAA singles champion from the University of Georgia Ethan Quinn lost his first round match at the U.S. Open in straight sets to world No. 76 Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain, there was not a lot separating the two. Perhaps it was just a little bit more experience that paid off for Zapata Miralles, playing in his 10th career Grand Slam tournament, in his 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over Quinn, who was playing in the main draw of singles at a Grand Slam for the first time.

“I mean it’s never fun losing, obviously,” said the 19-year-old Quinn following the match. “I felt like I was definitely in the match the entire time. I never felt like I was blown off the court. I mean credit to him, he was able to make it a little really physical match.”

Quinn was broken only once in the first set, in the third game of the match, and then again only once in the second, a missed overhead and a fluke floating bird mishit lob shot from the Spanaird landing just in playing a part in deciding that game. Quinn actually rolled to win three straight games in the third set after being broken to open the set, but then lost the last five games of the match.

“I had a good start, got broken in the second game after being up, which was unfortunate and had to battle back, but definitely had my opportunities throughout the match, had break points,” said Quinn, ranked No. 475 in the ATP singles rankings. “In the third set was even up a break, wasn’t able to convert. But like I said, him making it a physical match made it a little bit tougher for me to continue at the level I was at. I mean I started really feeling it late in the second, early in the third, but he was able to really make it physical and make it tough for me to continue on that level.”

With a win, Quinn would have had the opportunity to play 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic likely in Arthur Ashe Stadium. However, he does pocket a first-round paycheck of $81,000 which will help with his expenses as he embarks on his professional career. He also received sponsorship opportunities with Prudential (watch here https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/video/ethan-quinns-road-us-open-102525203 and for the 2023 U.S. Open with FICO.

Zapata Miralles, who had former Top five player and former French Open runner-up David Ferrer in his box supporting him, was complementary of the young Quinn.

“I know from the beginning that it’s very tough match because Ethan has amazing talent,” said Zapata Miralles. “He’s very young and he plays very good, he plays too much aggressive. So I’m very happy with the victory and I am sure that Ethan, with more matches, will go up in the rankings.”

The 26-year-old Spaniard, however, said that his consistency made him prevail in the end.

“I think the important thing of the match today is that I played so solid without mistakes,” said Zapata Miralles. “I start to return better, more and more and start to feel better physically. I played very solid and waited a little bit, the mistake from Ethan and I’m very happy with my performance today.”

Quinn incredibly won the NCAA singles title for the Georgia Bulldogs last May in Orlando, Florida, coming back from quadruple match point down to win the singles title, which you can read about here: https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/22002 He joined the likes of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors as freshman to win an NCAA men’s singles title. Weeks after winning the title, Quinn announced that he would turn professional. However, he will continue to be a student at Georgia, taking classes online.

He will also play in the U.S. Open men’s doubles tournament pairing with incoming Stanford University freshman Nico Godsick, with whom he won the USTA Boy’s 18s doubles title last year and reached the second round of doubles at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Thanks To Ban Deodorant, The U.S. Open Started Equal Prize Money 50 Years Ago

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by Randy Walker

@TennisPubisher

Parton Keese with the New York Times had a clever lead sentence in his article from July 20, 1973 when equal prize money was announced for the first time at the U.S. Open tennis championships.

It also couldn’t have been a better marketing tag-line for Ban Deodorant as well.

Wrote Keese, “Stepping in to rectify a situation that Mrs. Billie Jean King once said “stinks,” Ban deodorant announced yesterday it would donate $55,000 in prize money to make the women’s purse at the 1973 United States Open tennis championships equal to the men’s”.

And with what was called a “sports grant” from Ban, a subsidiary of Bristol‐Myers, the deficit in women’s prize money against men’s prize money at the U.S. Open was made whole and the U.S. Open became the first tennis tournament – and major sporting event – to offer equal prize money to men and women. Besides its obvious social significance, it was also an amazing publicity and marketing campaign for Ban and Bristol-Myers.

Joseph G. Kelnberger, vice president of Bristol‐Myers Product Division,  was quoted by Keese saying his company agreed with Billie Jean King and her fellow female tennis pros saying: “We feel that the women’s game is equally as exciting and entertaining as the men’s, and we hope that our direct involvement with the 1973 U.S. Open clearly indicates our positive position on behalf of women in sports.”

There was a press event to announce this historic occasion at the famed but now permanently-closed “21” Club at 21 W 52nd St in New York. Rosie Casals represented women pros at the event with Chris Evert calling in from Fort Lauderdale. Billie Jean King was out of the country and not available. The previous year, King won only $10,000 for winning the 1972 U.S. Open women’s singles title while the men’s winner, Ilie Nastase, won $25,000. In 1973, Margaret Court and John Newcombe each won $25,000 for winning the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively.

Keese asked U.S. Open Tournament Chairman Bill Talbert if he thought that male players at the time would have a problem with women earning the same as men. Talbert responded, “I don’t know. If there is, I’ll just tell the men to go out and sell their product better.”

Incredibly, the U.S. Open was the only Grand Slam tournament to offer equal prize money to men and women until 2001 when the Australian Open also followed suit. The French Open offered equal pay in 2006, followed by Wimbledon in 2007.

The U.S. Tennis Association and the U.S. Open announced on March 14, 2023 on National Equal Pay Day, a nine-month promotional program that will feature “a number of significant events and a multi-media campaign that will cross linear, digital, and social media channels” that will promote the 50th anniversary of this important sports and social event. The USTA also announced that it is planning “a full slate of activities to support this historic anniversary stating “A multi-dimensional history of equal prize money, and the impact that equal prize money has had on sports will be launched online with additional promotion across the association’s social media channels. The series will include stories written by noted tennis journalists complemented with historic video footage which will roll out over the five months leading to the 2023 US Open. Finally, a “What Equality Means to Me” series of essays penned by notable women from all disciplines of life, will begin to roll out in April. The first of these essays will be authored by King. Equal prize money will be themed throughout the 2023 US Open and equality will be the focus of the US Open’s ongoing “Be Open” campaign. Now in its fourth year, the Be Open campaign emphasizes tennis’ commitment to diversity, inclusion and respect, and encourages all tennis fans to embrace these ideals.”

With Little Hype or Attention, Iga Swiatek Wins 2022 U.S. Open

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

In a U.S. Open that started with the hype and pomp of the farewell to Serena Williams, it was the overlooked world No. 1 who was the last one standing.

Iga Swiatek, the world No. 1 player and winner of two French Open titles in the last three years, cemented her hold on the top of women’s tennis with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the U.S. Open women’s final. Swiatek becomes the first Polish player to win the U.S. Championships, achieving what 1937 U.S. women’s runner-up Jadwiga Jedrzejowska was not able to do.

Swiatek was immediately thrust into the top of women’s tennis upon the retirement of dominant No. 1 Ash Barty in March. She won the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March which clinched the No. 2 ranking, but was placed at No. 1 after Barty asked to be taken off the WTA rankings after her retirement announcement. Swiatek won again at the Miami Open in the first “Poat-Barty” event and she went on to run through a 37-match win streak that included her second title at Roland Garros, where she beat Coco Gauff in the final.

She struggled a bit since winning in Paris, losing in the third round at Wimbledon as the top seed and then going only 4-3 in WTA Tour events after that leading into the U.S. Open, including only a 2-2 record on the U.S. summer hard court season.

However, despite being the top seed in New York, very little attention was paid to her, overshadowed by the hype surrounding the U.S. Open being the career finale for all-time great Serena Williams. Even after Williams lost in the third round, most of the attention then focused on American teenager Coco Gauff and then upon Jabeur, the popular trailblazing Arab woman, the first Muslim player to play in major finals.

Swiatek persisted and grinded, despite not playing the type of dominant tennis that she displayed earlier in the year in Indian Wells and Miami and on her favored clay courts in Europe.

Said Swiatek of her U.S. Open win, “It’s something that I wasn’t expecting for sure. It’s also like a confirmation for me that sky is the limit.”

Iga Swiatek