The US Open was a roaring success, with Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka eventually crowned champions.
Both were first-time winners of the event, and heading into it were hot favourites to taste silverware.
However, the Italian’s road to the title became far easier when both Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were dumped out early on, with many citing the fatigue of the Olympics as the main reason behind their underperformance.
Andy Roddick, combing over the event, would reference this elite duo, but about their conduct before the tournament had even begun interestingly enough.
Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the former world number one reaffirmed his conquest to provide the most insightful look into tennis by grabbing a really interesting guest for this week’s iteration.
He was delighted to be joined by the US Open tournament director Stacey Allaster, who gave a unique look into the event earlier this month which proved a huge success.
However, arguably just as successful as the actual tournament itself was the preceding fan week, particularly the star-studded exhibition matches they managed to throw together,
One in particular saw a team of Alcaraz and Andre Agassi clash with Djokovic and John McEnroe, to the delight of supporters.
Allaster revealed the process behind organising that: ‘You know what Andre and Jonny Mac, they were excited by being out there and playing with Novak and Carlos. Let me tell you, those were the two easiest asks of a player I have ever made in my career. When we asked Novak and Carlos, instantaneously yes. They get it.’
It’s fair to say that the US Open was a big hit this year, with the fan week in particular breaking all-time records with its huge popularity.
To properly outline the scale of the progress made, the official US Open website wrote: ‘216,029 fans entered the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a 37% increase over 2023.’
It saw big names like Agassi, Djokovic, McEnroe and Alcaraz take part for fun, as well as some more current stars compete in the Mixed Madness for a $250k prize fund, won by Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Saturday’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day set an all-time attendance record of 47,875, and this event alone, before the actual tournament had even begun, has likely added thousands of new fans to the sport.