The U.S. Open’s Labor Day Weekend Was Even Better For Fans Based On Another USTA Schedule Change

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Moving the new “re-imagined” U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament to the week before the start of the singles tournament – and starting the singles event a day early on a Sunday – were not the only schedule changes the U.S. Tennis Association implemented during the 2025 tournament.

Their other schedule change made for an improvement to the fan experience during the very popular Labor Day weekend, where many fans, taking advantage of the three-day weekend, travel to New York to enjoy the tennis. U.S. Open organizers also tweeked the start of the men’s and women’s doubles tournaments, which normally started on the third day of the tournament after the first round of play, to delaying the start of these events until a Thursday start for the women’s doubles and a Friday start for the men doubles. The result was an increase in attractive doubles matches on the outer courts over the Labor Day weekend, causing for greater value and more high quality tennis for fans to watch, particularly those who buy the popular U.S. Open grounds pass ticket option.

As I discussed in a video from 2022 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fGp1JzwEsM and wrote about here https://worldtennismagazine.com/how-the-usta-can-add-value-to-u-s-open-labor-day-weekend-grounds-passes-and-make-doubles-fields-more-exciting/21267, the old schedule caused for a lack of matches on the grounds for fans with grounds passes to see and caused for massive lines and overcrowding at the matches that were being played. With no matches to watch, fans would also crowd the food court and vending areas because there was nowhere to go to watch quality pro tennis.

For starters, let’s compare the Labor Day weekend Saturday schedule from 2024 to 2025. In 2024, the Sunday schedule featured the four men’s and four women’s fourth round matches from one half of each respective draw – which is all that is left at this stage in the tournament  – and they were all played on Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium – and four men’s and four women’s third round doubles matches and four mixed doubles matches. There were a total of 67 matches including the start of the U.S. Open junior championships. In 2025, there were still the traditional four men’s and women’s fourth round matches played on Ashe and Armstrong stadiums, and eight men’s and eight women’s doubles second round matches – double the number from 2024. However, there were no mixed doubles matches, obviously. In all, including the junior matches, there were 74 total matches, up from 67 from the year before.

And for the Labor Day Monday comparison, there were also more matches on the schedule in 2025 (72 matches) then in 2024 (68 matches). Again, there are only the other half of the fourth round singles matches left to play, so those four men’s singles matches and four women’s singles matches were played on Ashe and Armstrong stadiums in 2024. There were also four third round men’s doubles and four third round women’s doubles matches on the grounds and four mixed doubles matches. In 2025, Labor Day Monday, of course, had the same number of men’s and women’s singles matches, but there were eight men’s doubles and eight women’s doubles matches on the grounds – double the number from 2024. Of course, in 2025, there were no mixed doubles matches.

You may think that having “only” eight more men’s/women’s doubles matches, but four fewer mixed doubles matches on these two days is not a big deal, but it is a big deal because this provides extra quality content for the bigger outer courts that can absorb the increased number of fans on site.  The Grandstand court and Court 17 was full of great doubles content with decent name doubles players (and singles players who are also playing in the doubles) and the crowds on those courts were entertained and not lamenting that there are no matches to watch and that the food court was too crowded because there wasn’t much to watch. Keep in mind that if you have a grounds pass, you are entitled to watch matches in Louis Armstrong Stadium from the top half of the bowl, which is fantastic but there are times when it is completely filled to the rim and fans can’t get in and get a seat. Having these extra matches also provides a hedge against when there are quick or blowout matches on Ashe and Armstrong – like what exactly happened on Monday, September 1 with Felix Auger-Aliassame and Noami Osaka winning quick matches on Ashe and Alex de Minaur, Iga Swiatek and Lorenzo Musetti winning quickies on Armstrong. The fans want to see more tennis – and more competitive matches – and this gives them some other options and help quench their thirst and feel like they got their money’s worth.

Now, you may ask, what about the Saturday session over Labor Day weekend? This is a better value ticket because on this day because it is the last of two days of third round matches in singles. There will be eight third round women’s singles matches and eight third round men’s singles matches on the schedule. Therefore, in addition to the four singles matches on Ashe during the day and night sessions and the four singles matches on Armstrong during the day and night sessions, you have eight more matches that are played on Grandstand, Court 17, Court 5 and Court 7. And, with the new delayed start of the doubles competition (which we hope continues), it will also feature first-round doubles matches on the schedule.

Obviously, all that I have written is weather permitting.