NEW YORK — The U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium will get an overhaul as a part of an $800 million mission introduced Monday that the U.S. Tennis Affiliation is touting because the “largest single funding” within the historical past of its Grand Slam match.
The USTA mentioned it’s funding the enhancements on the Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart in Flushing Meadows, with no assist from the town authorities.
In keeping with a class-action antitrust lawsuit filed in federal court docket in New York in March by a gamers’ group co-founded by Novak Djokovic, the 4 main tennis tournaments – the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open – “generated over $1.5 billion collectively in 2024, whereas solely paying between (10% to twenty%) of income to gamers.”
Individually, in April, Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff had been amongst 20 main tennis gamers who signed a letter despatched to the heads of the Grand Slam tournaments looking for extra prize cash and a larger say in what they known as “selections that immediately impression us.”
The USTA mentioned there is not going to be interruption to scheduled play or fan entry for the following two editions of the U.S. Open. Play in the primary draw this yr begins on Aug. 24 – shifting to a Sunday begin for the primary time within the Open period, which started in 1968, and including a fifteenth day of competitors.
The USTA’s work, which is predicted to be achieved in time for the 2027 U.S. Open, contains developing a $250 million participant efficiency middle.
The brand new participant space will probably be subsequent to the follow courts and embrace extra courts, locker rooms, lounges and an open-air warmup space so gamers be acclimated to the situations earlier than they go to the court docket for his or her matches.
USTA executives didn’t say if ticket costs would improve on account of the mission.
Ashe’s courtside-level seating capability will improve from 3,000 to five,000, whereas some seats in different sections will probably be eliminated, leaving the world’s complete just like what it’s now – round 23,000 to 24,000, the largest in Grand Slam tennis. The stadium, which first opened in 1997 and has had a retractable roof since 2016, additionally will get a brand new “grand entrance,” two new luxurious suite ranges, extra membership and restaurant areas, bigger and up to date concourses and restrooms, and extra escalators and elevators.
