The US Open is the last of the four major grand slam tennis tournaments every year, and it always packs a punch. Already this year, Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz has stunned fans with both his shots and questionable haircut, players like Daniil Medvedev have thrown temper tantrums on the court, and previous winners like Coco Gauff have lost in heartbreak and tears.
And what’s happening behind the scenes is no less exciting. This year’s US Open aims to be even more sustainably minded than before — and over 1 million fans can get in on the action just by showing up and enjoying the matches.
What’s happening
The United States Tennis Association is celebrating its 18th year hosting the US Open sustainability program, which covers everything from tennis balls to local dining options. This year, the USTA aims to recycle more than 100 tons of cardboard, 10 tons of plastic, and 50 tons of glass during the tournament, which helps divert a significant portion of waste from landfills. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The Cool Down caught up with the US Open’s sustainability lead, Bina Indelicato, and USTA communications manager Dan Pyser to learn more about how fans can enjoy the tournament and help the planet in the process.
Tennis ball solutions
Every year, around 125 million used tennis balls from courts around the country end up in landfills. The US Open aims to play a part in helping mitigate this waste by reusing match balls at various USTA tennis programs and community organizations nationwide after the tournament wraps.
“Over the years, we’ve always reused balls on site,” Indelicato told us. “They never go into the landfill from here. They definitely get reused, because we are in a year-round tennis program here … so they get reused in the program for practice balls and things like that.”
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Other US Open tennis balls will be donated to Recycleballs, a nonprofit that has so far saved over 17 million balls from landfills. Some of the recycled balls can even be used in the construction of new tennis courts. Plus, fans can buy tennis balls used during the tournament at some of the shops within the tennis center.
But tennis balls are only a sliver of the sustainability work happening at the US Open. “People love to talk about the tennis balls and the tennis ball cans … but I would say in perspective, [tennis balls are] like 0.3% of the waste stream that we generate here,” Indelicato said.
“It’s the most exciting, so I get why people always want to talk about it, but I’m always like, ‘What about the cardboard? You guys, that’s the big story.'”
“The biggest thing that we divert is cardboard and food waste, and they’re both very easily recyclable or compostable and very easily controlled,” she explained. “And so that’s kind of the tactic we take around here: Instead of trying to control a million people, we control the back of the house, where we can really have the biggest impact for waste diversion and making changes.”
Honey Deuce solutions
Last year, the US Open sold over half a million cups of its signature tournament cocktail, the Honey Deuce, a combination of vodka, lemonade, and raspberry liqueur garnished with three melon “tennis balls.” That’s roughly one Honey Deuce purchased every 1.5 seconds, which adds up to a lot of empty Grey Goose bottles.
And if you think drinking a Honey Deuce near the baseline at Arthur Ashe Stadium is exciting, talk to Indelicato about what happens to all those vodka bottles at the end of the day.
“It is really cool to see the … glass recycling,” she said. “… You’ll see a mountain of Grey Goose bottles going out for glass recycling. I see tons of that, which is crazy. It’s equivalent to like 70,000 glass bottles that are recycled during the event here.”
We’ll cheers to that.
Stadium solutions
Creating more resource-efficient stadiums is another way the USTA champions eco-friendly solutions. The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (where the US Open takes place) is home to two LEED-certified stadiums: Louis Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand Stadium.
Indelicato explained what this means in practice: “LEED certification you earn by reducing your impact while constructing the stadium. It’s very much about how the stadium is constructed, what kind of materials are put into it, and also what kind of equipment is put into it for long-term energy savings, water savings, [and] reducing the amount of waste that comes out of it.”
In fact, the USTA reports that Louis Armstrong Stadium is the world’s first naturally-ventilated tennis stadium, which results in using 30% less energy than a standard building. Instead of massive energy-guzzling AC units, the stadium uses a sophisticated louvred shutter system, as well as giant fans, to keep everyone cool and comfortable.
Pyser added that the USTA is the first outdoor, major professional sporting venue that has achieved a certification from DarkSky International for its new outdoor lighting. Instead of floodlights beaming onto courts after the sun sets, the tournament’s wedge-shaped lamps are designed to reduce light pollution and avoid disrupting nearby wildlife like birds and frogs.
Transportation solutions
Over 1 million tennis fans visited the 2024 US Open tournament, and 60% of them used mass transit. Indelicato told us that’s mainly via the subway, with a small percentage (less than 5%) using rideshares. The subway is “way easier than a car and way closer than a parking lot,” she added. It’s also a lot more affordable.
“Last year, we broke a million fans for the first time over the three weeks, and so just doing a little bit of extrapolating, that’s obviously over 500,000 people that are taking mass transit,” Pyser said. “We’re growing every year … so as we continue to grow, we need to make sure all these people can get here. … We work with the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] every year, because they add additional trains and stops and they extend the hours.”
Advice for fans this year
Indelicato’s main message when it comes to living sustainably — on and off the court — is simple: “We don’t need everybody to do it perfectly. … We need everybody to do it imperfectly.”
In other words, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Simple actions like taking the subway instead of driving to the US Open this year, or even just bringing a reusable water bottle to a match, can make a difference.
“Things like just being mindful of using only what you need,” she added. “We’re hoping that when [fans] see these things, they take home some of those messages.”
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