{"id":360200,"date":"2026-09-29T22:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T22:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360200\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T22:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T22:56:08","slug":"record-breaking-crowds-attended-2026-us-open-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360200\/","title":{"rendered":"Record-breaking crowds attended 2026 US Open \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The organization described the recent tournament as its \u201cmost successful tennis and entertainment celebration in history,\u201d boasting record-breaking turnouts and standout performances from American players.<\/p>\n<p>Attendance at US Open Fan Week, which took place between Aug. 23-29 and preceded the tournament\u2019s main draw, exceeded 300,000 for the first time ever, with attendance across the three weeks of the US Open between Aug. 23 and Sept. 13 capping at 1.2 million.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament also offered the largest player compensation package in professional tennis history, distributing $108 million in prize money across the three-week event, a 20% increase on the previous record of $90 million set at the 2025 US Open.<\/p>\n<p>The US Open\u2019s social media channels also boasted a record 3.9 billion interactions throughout the recent tournament, an increase of 26% on 2025, while the US Open\u2019s digital platforms recorded over 12 million unique fan visits.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s coverage of the tournament, meanwhile, reported the best viewership since 2022, with the men\u2019s and women\u2019s singles championships combining to average 3 million viewers.\n<\/p>\n<p>The USTA said it aims to provide face-value tickets at accessible prices but noted that demand for the 2026 tournament drove up secondary market prices \u201cbeyond its control.\u201d However, the USTA stated that it had provided free grounds admission on eight of the 22 days of the 2026 US Open, adding that 50% of fans accessed the tournament for $100 or less.<\/p>\n<p>It also pointed to a joint initiative with the Mayor\u2019s Office that set aside 1,000 main draw tickets for New York City residents, which were priced at $100 each.\n<\/p>\n<p>USTA CEO Craig Tiley said the true measure of the US Open\u2019s success is its efforts to expand the sport across the United States.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShattering records at the US Open isn\u2019t just about the numbers; it\u2019s about expanding the reach of the game we all love to build the next generation of players and fans,\u201d Tiley said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re determined to make the US Open the favorite destination for every professional player, continue to deliver exceptional return on investment for our partners, and give every fan an experience they\u2019ll talk about for years. If a fan leaves Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, or logs off their screen feeling inspired to grab a racquet and play, that is the ultimate victory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The USTA also pointed to the success of American players at the recent tournament, with Ben Shelton reaching a Grand Slam final for the first time in his career. Shelton ultimately lost in four sets against top seed Alexander Zverev, extending America\u2019s 23-year wait for a men\u2019s Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Taylor Townsend won the women\u2019s doubles title alongside Katerina Siniakova to complete the career Grand Slam in doubles tennis, while Christian Harrison captured the men\u2019s doubles title alongside Neal Skupski to build on his doubles success at the Australian Open earlier in the year.<\/p>\n<p>America also enjoyed success in juniors, with Marcel Latak winning the boys\u2019 singles title and twin sisters Annika and Kristina Penickova winning the girls\u2019 doubles title.\n<\/p>\n<p>A total of six American singles players \u2013 including three men and three women also reached the quarter-finals, marking the most Americans to appear in the US Open quarter-finals since 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The organization described the recent tournament as its \u201cmost successful tennis and entertainment celebration in history,\u201d boasting record-breaking&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[129291,83733,310,9,24,63,122,124,123,15547,24331,24332],"class_list":["post-360200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-ben-shelton","tag-billie-jean-king-national-tennis-center","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-tennis","tag-us-open","tag-usta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}