There is a buzz that never goes away at the U.S. Open stadium. It sounds like it was made by a Mexican cicworm. But the closer you get to you, you realize, rather than bursting out of the ground and breeding and screaming in the woods, it’s actually thousands of people spending hundreds of dollars to go to tennis for…chat.
This is a problem for tennis fans, because tennis is generally a beautiful acoustic experience.
The low din makes the ball sound come from the player’s strings. It mutes the line. It makes the sneakers scream and screaming sprint on the hard drive. The dull, inevitable murmur turned this sport into a frictionless, stress-free exercise.
So what happened to the crowd? Why don’t they stop playing tennis?
Caitlin Thompson said: “We are talking about people who are not interested in tennis.” racketa media company focused on tennis and culture.
“That’s by far the most messy, unsaturated, oversaturated and unbound audience I’ve ever experienced at the U.S. Open.”
On the surface, the public buzz in the United States is a disgusting chorus of people who don’t respect the people watching tennis in some of the world’s largest stadiums. But if you look a little deeper, the ups and downs are meant to attract the kind of effort that just grabs the kind of attendees who are with it, and the collapse of the larger social contract as we act in public.
Year by year, the real secret to open success is that organizers figure out how to cater to those fans No Watch tennis. It turns out that these fans have other priorities when sitting in court.
this Gourmet chicken nuggets There is a little bit of green caviar on it for $100, $40 Blue Hat Everyone wants social media’s famous $23 honey jam, delivered in a cup you can take home; photo opportunities, giveaways and interactive games Sponsor Activation Stall From big brands like Chase, Cadillac and Amirates; box seats are saved by Anna Wintour, Jeremy Allen White and Christine Baranski – all part of the event that makes America open, an event that transcends the sport and the greatest Grand Slam in the world.
They are also part of what makes it one of the worst places to watch actual tennis.
The U.S. Open has long been famous for its reputation Electrical atmosphere – It is a game that embodies the savage, chaos, and solid attitude of New York City. It has never been a particularly silent experience. The crowd reaction (gro genius, oh, AAHS, etc.) interrupts the spectacular drama to its history and attracts audiences (causing Boos, Cheers, Heckling, etc.).
That said, a single conversation in a nosebleed doesn’t ruin the entire game, but that’s not what happened. This year, open audiences have a conversation with everyone at the same time as they have lunch or in which player, which is gossip about people’s days and endless endless attacks on how everyone goes to Queens (7 trains or Long Island Rail), and how long they will be gone.
The experts I spoke to outline two reasons why rackets (no puns) at the U.S. Open feel inevitable in recent years. The first reason is structural: roof. David KaneThe producers of the Tennis Channel explained to me that while the roof on Ashe (completed/renovated in 2016) and Armstrong (completed in 2018) have saved the game from Rainouts, they also created sound issues in which they captured the sound. He also noted that the buzz of people who bought offers and drinks nearby and the buzz of those who sat in their seats added to the buzz.
“On Ashe and Armstrong, the sound is a bit like the bottom of the bowl,” Kane told me. “But it feels like I’m back this year and bigger than ever.”
The other half of the equation is that the U.S. Open has transformed from a typical sporting event to a social celebration. The tennis journalists and fans I talk to compare the crowd to the Kentucky Derby or the Mets. Coachella, in particular, keeps appearing again and again.
Key points: The U.S. Open has become the first place to see and watch tennis for the second.
“People are spending the night in New York, chatting, and ignoring the fact that there was a Grand Slam tennis game in front of them, and they ostensibly bought tickets to see it.” Tennis Reporter and the podcast host told Vox. Tickets for the tournament initially started at about $100, and the above deck quickly entered the resale market for twice the price. Courtside seats can be sold for $5,000 and more.
Rosenberg quoted Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift appeared last year, also Timothée Chalamet and Kylie JennerThe soft launch of 2023 serves as evidence of the U.S. Open’s new level of celebrity attendance and uses Glitz to showcase it to a larger fan base. Tennis is not the only sport, and the U.S. Open is not the only sporting event that uses fame and luxury to whip the fan base (see also: F1), but this is probably the most successful.
Rothenberg More More than a celebrity place for stubborn tennis fans.
In addition to the open mystery, there is also the extremely glossy honey, which is $23 lemonade made with gray goose vodka. That’s OK, the drink doesn’t like honey or honey melon, and last year the event sold about $13 million worth of sweet wine in the form of 550,000 honey DS. Somehow, it seems that more is posted on social media. This year, you can also use the $21 Ace Paloma, which also has Instagrammage Watermelon slices$39 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cocktail.
“You would think that people actually spend a lot of money on tickets and I would be surrounded by stubborn tennis fans,” Great tennis podcast. “Instead, I really feel like I’m surrounded by an influential ocean that looks like a honey bee taking selfies.”
Add the above special food Chicken nuggets with caviar and exclusive Restaurant On-site (for court and suite guests only), it is easy to have a public American experience that doesn’t necessarily prioritize tennis. It’s no surprise that some fans don’t necessarily have to prioritize tennis.
Tennis players are not the main role at the U.S. Open
But even if the shelves are not filled with the most devout observers of the sport, this talkative, selfish behavior seems to be more than just a little bit Rude. Why don’t people show themselves?
All this goes back to the post-2020 problem, I don’t know how Like an adult In the real world. one tiktoker Calling the public “Adult Disney World” is ostensibly commendable.
The U.S. Open’s luxury drink fleet may be an inevitable murmur. Although Americans drink a small amount Overall, the U.S. Open may be one of the boundary spaces of the above-mentioned adult Disney World, and they don’t feel like they don’t like polite social rules. There is a report Broadway Some people are experiencing something similar, and some people’s fusion is proportional to the amount of drinks they consume. The reporters and fans I spoke to mentioned fans, collected multiple honey diss souvenir cups and greedily piled them into towering plastic spires, prompting observers to do math about how much they spent and how much alcohol they were in their blood.
But there is another way to view all these honey wine glasses with three melon balls, Ash or Armstrong in the background. That is that this behavior and content are just a symptom of a larger cultural shift, and everyone sees themselves as their main role.
For many, the charm of the U.S. Open is not tennis. This sends a signal to everyone else that you are at the U.S. Open. They didn’t watch tennis, just like everyone was watching tennis. In this configuration, these audiences become the main attractions, such as Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Naomi Osaka, who are supporting co-starring.
Once attendees see themselves as the main character and tennis is secondary, his insistence on watching and listening to extraordinary talented people in the sport will be completely lost. There is nothing more important on the tennis court than conversation, photos, what honey has.
Last week, I heard the infamous public buzz in the Taylor Fritz game.
In the second round, a group of girlfriends dressed up as if they were going to be called to the court, and piled up behind me. They talked about the key points. They speak as the players line up for service. They talked to the decisive game during the rally. They never stopped talking, even if they were welcomed to ask them to turn them out. They talk, talk and talk, as if they had never talked to each other before.
“These are great seats!”
“The guys we’re talking to – they’re so funny!”
“It’s so funny! They should stay!”
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Oh, wow, that’s great.”
“Should I go to the bathroom now?”
The highest ranking American male player Fritz is unable to compete with the Will-she’t-She She restroom legend. Involuntarily, I bumped back and forth into their backs instead of what happened in court.
Racket founder Thompson told me: “If people seem to be interested in the actual sports they are watching, I would love it.” But her disappointment with the buzz is not in chatterboxes. She said the organizers lost the goal. The goal should not be just to attract new audiences, but also to make potential fans care about the incredible display in front of them. Thompson said growing a fan base can make the United States open, Improve facilitiestennis has performed strongly, but at the same time, regrets the tradeoff.
The American Tennis Association has done an excellent job in opening up the United States a very cool, luxurious and expensive event. However, if you actually like tennis, it’s best to watch it at home.
