The US Open, the fourth and final of tennis’ annual Grand Slam tournaments, will take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., from Aug. 29-Sept. 11. Ticket sales for this year’s event went through the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium following six-time US Open champion Serena Williams’ announcement that she plans to retire from tennis — most likely after the US Open.
“You talk about the Serena effect, it’s like a tsunami,” USTA spokesperson Chris Widmaier told the New York Post. “Since people have learned of the news, we’ve sold, as of 3 p.m. [Tuesday, Aug. 9], 13,000 tickets to the Open, including 4,500 or thereabouts for opening night. That’s a spectacular day. In fact, it may be unprecedented.”
Tickets for upper-deck seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium on the opening night of the tournament, which is expected to feature Williams, usually sell for $35 each but were being resold on Ticketmaster for $7,000 each, according to the paper.
Here are 20 other numbers to keep in mind as one of the most exciting tennis events of the year approaches.
• 17: Age of Serena Williams, now 40, when she won her first-ever Grand Slam event, the 1999 US Open (Billboard.com)
• 102: Number of US Open match victories for Williams, more than any other male or female player; she did not compete in 2021 because of an injury (tennis.com)
• 1881: Year of the first US Open, when it was an exclusive men’s singles and doubles tournament held in Newport, R.I. (ATPTour.com)
• 631,135: Total attendance at the 2021 US Open (USOpen.org)
• 0: Total attendance at the 2020 US Open, because of the coronavirus pandemic (NYTimes.com)
• 737,919: Total attendance at the 2019 US Open, an all-time record (USOpen.org)
• 8.9 million: Number of unique devices that visited USOpen.org and the US Open App during the 2021 tournament (USOpen.org)
• $1 billion: Estimated economic impact of the US Open (FoxBusiness.com)
• 7,000: Estimated number of workers hired to support the event (FoxBusiness.com)
• 22.6 million: Number of people who played tennis in 2021, an increase of approximately 1 million over 2020 (USTA.com)
• 22.7: Percent increase in total tennis racquet sales (3.4 million units sold) in 2021 over 2020 (USTA.com)
• 46.2: Percent increase in total dollars spent on tennis racquets ($122.9 million) in 2021 over 2020 (USTA.com)
• $40,560,000: Total prize money awarded in the men’s and women’s singles category at the 2021 US Open (USOpen.org)
• $2,500,000: Amount awarded to each of the men’s and women’s singles champions in 2021 (USOpen.org)
• $660,000: Amount awarded to each of the men’s and women’s doubles championship teams in 2021 (USOpen.org)
• $160,000: Amount awarded to the winner of the mixed doubles team competition in 2021 (USOpen.org)
• 32: Total number of wheelchair tennis players — 16 men and 16 women — who will compete in men’s and women’s single fields in 2022 (USOpen.org)
• 16: Total number of wheelchair tennis players in the men’s and women’s singles fields in 2021 (USOpen.org)
• 16: Total number of players — eight boys and eight girls — competing in this year’s inaugural US Open Wheelchair Junior Championships (USOpen.org)
• 2005: Year the US Open added men’s and women’s wheelchair singles and doubles events (USOpen.org)
• 23: Number of US Open tournaments appearances, through 2021, for Venus Williams — the most of any player in history (USOpen.org)
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