The issue wasn’t having enough fans to attend the US Open in a pandemic. It was getting them inside that became “a s--- show.”
Fans complained of waiting up to 2 1/2 hours to get through security into the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with the line at the East Gate packing attendees all the way to the subway station by Citi Field.
“The optimal word is ‘s--- show,’” said one fan named James, who attended the opening day of the tournament with his wife, Susan, and was dismayed by the 75-minute wait after purchasing tickets for $480. “Look where my seats were. These are big time seats. I would never do this again.”
There were concerns that the last-minute requirement of vaccination proof would slow the process, but the USTA blamed it on fans arriving too late and with too many bags. Patrons at the East Gate said the vaccination portion was seamless, if not entirely trustworthy or thorough, as most were able to flash either a card or photo of a card without it being cross-checked with an ID.
“I think [Mayor de Blasio] should fine them,” Ed Greenberg said. “It was two hours and there was a mass of people. There was nobody directing which lines people should be on. We went on the proper line and it just became a crush of people.”
Another fan, Nicole, said she flew from Switzerland unvaccinated with her American passport on Thursday. A day later, the U.S. Open — as ordered by de Blasio amid a COVID spike — required proof that fans age 12 and older received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Nicole said she received her first shot Saturday in New York and got through security after an hour in line.
“The experience from the subway was pretty gruesome,” she said. “I hope they have a good debriefing tonight and it will change for tomorrow.”
In a statement, the USTA said the bag searches at security became “the main choke point for entry.” The organization said it is “exploring ways to improve this process.”
But not everybody was crushed by the wait.
Calvin Kemp from Boston bought his ticket at the box office and bypassed the mass who pre-purchased their tickets. His wait was only 10 minutes, but Kemp was stuck sitting on a bench while his wife (who purchased her ticket beforehand) stood in line.
“I thought I was going to have to walk back to the line but I didn’t,” he said.
Kemp’s painless experience was rare.
Elizabeth flew from North Carolina and said she waited for 2 ½ hours, feeling spooked on the boardwalk between the subway and East Gate.
“When the boardwalk started shaking, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, my kids are going to read about me tomorrow in the news,’” she said. “Total disorganization. If it were an organized line, things would’ve been a little bit better. But people were cutting in, people were going all around. Nobody knew what was going on.”
The USTA said the New York Police Department controls the number of people of the boardwalk, preventing it from exceeding capacity by “holding patrons on the Citi Field side.” The long morning wait bled into a juicy opening match on Ashe between 2017 finalists Madison Keys and Sloan Stephens, which went to a third-set tiebreaker before Stephens triumphed.
“Say you had playoff tickets to a Ranger game or something like that, it’s like having to show up in the second period,” said Rich Hoffman, who waited about two hours. “It makes no sense.”
Despite the stressful experience, fans were split on whether it soured their taste for attending future U.S. Opens. Hoffman and his buddy, Rob, encapsulated that divide.
They were using the Open to reunite with friends, and Rob was understanding of the circumstances while noting other sporting events carry long waits. Hoffman was more traumatized.
“If we get together next year, I might say, ‘I’ll meet you for dinner afterwards,’” he said.
