My Thoughts on Commerce and Energy at the US Open

As I promised Sunday, I've put together some random thoughts from the US Open, which is one of two junior slams I cover annually, along with Wimbledon. As I wrote back in July in my first such post, I can't help but compare the two, which is understandable, but lacks nuance, given their diverse histories and approaches. Their differences are part of what gives each tournament its identity; it's not my intention to grade or rate them, but rather use each as a reference point for the other.

The Schedule

I'll start with the schedule, including the qualifying. I talk with many college coaches every year about the qualifying schedule in New York, which is inconvenient and expensive for them. It is held over two days, Thursday and Friday, in a less than desirable neighborhood in the Bronx. This means a full day of no junior play on Saturday, requiring another $300-plus hotel room night before play begins again on Sunday. Although the Cary Leeds Center is an impressive venue, it in no way provides the ambience of the practice courts in Corona Park, the previous qualifying site, which is right outside the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The Saturday off allows the USO qualifiers to play on Sunday, the first day of the event, whereas Wimbledon, which has main draw play over nine days, not the seven of the US Open, gives qualifiers the day off Saturday after the conclusion of qualifying on Friday.

I'm not sure what the tournament gains from the current US Open junior schedule, and I have yet to hear one plausible reason for discontinuing the Sunday junior singles finals. There is now nothing but the men's final on Sunday--no wheelchair, no juniors, no doubles--which does nothing to set the stage or build anticipation for the last match of the slam year.

The Atmosphere

Court 12 fans at boys final

While juniors mostly allude to the garden-party elegance and tradition of Wimbledon, their go-to word for New York is energy. Juniors, who are provided hotels rooms in Manhattan, often comment on the urban vibe. Although there are occasional reservations raised about the incessant pop music and occasional smell of marijuana that wafts through the outer courts, juniors are happy to experience New York's enthusiastic, even raucous crowds, who find their way to junior matches. Forty or 50 Bulgarians aren't going to make much of an impression in Arthur Ashe stadium, but on Court 12, they heighten the stakes, and provide an atmosphere that juniors seldom experience.

Simultaneous Finals

This year the weather was excellent throughout the second week, at least until the weekend, when the humidity and rain approached, but had the streak of good weather continued, the finals still would have been played all at once on Saturday, had Jeline Vandromme not been in both singles and doubles.

In no other junior slam is this the standard, although the doubles finals are occasionally played at the same time as the singles, and bad weather can alter the schedule. I'm not criticizing this year's decision for simultaneous finals, which were moved up by an hour due to approaching rain, but even with good weather, the US Open devalues the Junior Championships by having the boys and girls singles finals competing with each other for fans. This is unnecessary, and I hope the new US Open tournament director will recognize and correct this.

Men's Doubles

Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted

For a couple of days I was as much on the men's doubles beat as the junior one, with Kalamazoo 18s champions Cooper Woestendick and Maxwell Exsted reaching the second round and giving eventual finalists Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury a real challenge in a three-set second round loss on Court 17. I also kept close tabs on Ohio State's 2024 NCAA spring doubles champions JJ Tracy and Robert Cash, who reached the semifinals.

I wrote a Tennis Recruiting Network article on Tracy's commitment to Ohio State back in 2019 , and saw Cash fall in the 2022 NCAA doubles final before covering their title in Stillwater in May of 2024. My interview with Cash and Tracy from the US Open will be available on the Tennis Recruiting Network before the end of the month.

Kim Clijsters, Jeline Vandromme, Coach Philippe Galadé

Coaches

I'm pleased the USTA has introduced a new coaching award that extends to all US Open champions, including juniors. Honored at the ceremony held on-court after each final, the winner's coach received recognition that is often missing in junior competition. This year all the recipients were development coaches, as you would expect in juniors. The most famous supporter of a champion, three-time US Open winner Kim Clijsters, attended all fellow Belgian Jeline Vandromme's matches last week, but is not serving as her coach. Clijsters' role is not day-to-day, but as a mentor providing advice and encouragement, particularly at the slams.

Media Center

I praised the new Media Center at Wimbledon in my post in July, which provides the juniors the same access to rooms and space as the "seniors", as they are known in Great Britain. That is not the case at the US Open, with juniors not allowed inside the Bud Collins Media Center, where the interview rooms and spaces are located. To be honest, I don't mind that the juniors, who were previously allowed in those areas prior to the pandemic, are now brought to the media garden outside the media center entrance near court 6. The informality of that setting often makes for more natural conversations, even if the wind, or an impending storm, do occasionally present challenges.

But after coming to accept this apparently permanent relocation over the past three years, I would welcome this upgrade to the media garden: a designated area for interviews only. I'd rather not have to regularly assemble a suitable spot with enough chairs for players, journalists, agents, coaches and family that might be attending, while conducting interviews next to journalists taking a break, eating lunch or talking on their phones.

Matisse Farzam

Hitting Partners

Jon Wertheim mentioned the hitting partner position that exists at the US Open in his weekly mailbag today, (I'm not sure who the Columbia player he references might be, as there aren't any freshmen on the Lions 2025-2026 roster), which has always been a coveted opportunity for junior and college players. My article on Michigan State's Ozan Baris serving as a hitting partner for Taylor Fritz last year is here.

Although I'm not sure if Clemson incoming freshman Matisse Farzam was formally a part of the program Wertheim mentions, he was certainly in demand as a left-hander, hitting with Jannik Sinner prior to his third round match with Denis Shapovalov and with Novak Djokovic prior to his third round match with Cam Norrie.

Honey Deuces Wild

Honey Deuces and Fage Yogurt

As a resident of a small city with a low cost of living, the prices at the US Open always give me sticker shock. Spending $39 on a watermelon-based cocktail, or $10 for a scoop of ice cream, or $200 for a sweatshirt simply does not compute for me, but it's the $23 Honey Deuce cocktail that has reached a new level of conspicuous consumption in New York. Jon Wertheim, in his essential US Open 50 Parting Shots column, alludes to this popularity, calculating that "roughly three in four fans on the grounds buy one." Wimbledon may have its Pims and its (cheap) strawberries and cream, but as far as commerce goes, there is nothing approaching the Honey Deuce phenomenon. By the weekend, before the women's final, they had run out of the commemorative plastic tumblers that are a key part of the cocktail's charm, but even so, plenty of fans were willing to drink out of pedestrian plastic cups just to have the experience.

It's beginning to feel like Honey Deuces are to the US Open what beer is to Oktoberfest; where the tennis fits into that, I'm not sure.

The Fage Booth outside Grandstand

That said, a big shoutout to Fage Yogurt, who provided standard size $1.69 yogurt cups at their booth outside Grandstand at no charge. One of the Fage staff helping distribute the yogurt said he heard they gave out around 7000 cups a day. Their logistics were excellent, as they appeared never to run out of yogurt, and the lines, which were much shorter than those for a Honey Deuce, moved quickly. That's positive PR.