Chaotic Weather At U.S. Open Causes Confusion Among Ticketholders

Schedule changes due to rain "created a chaotic scene Friday at the National Tennis Center, where frustrated fans with seats for the wrong U.S. Open session rushed past young ticket checkers and into" Arthur Ashe Stadium, according to Filip Bondy of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. By mid-afternoon, Open officials "recognized the confusion and began to allow fans with tickets to two different sessions inside Ashe." The situation was "very nearly impossible for officials, who already were providing extra security for an appearance Friday by Michelle Obama plus the upcoming anniversary of 9/11." The USTA was "at first honoring only session 20 tickets Friday for Ashe from the night session on Wednesday," but the session 23 tickets "clearly were printed to be valid for the matches held Friday." Fans with session 23 tickets "were welcomed to the ground by guards at the outside gates, then told they were not permitted inside Ashe." But many of the fans were eventually "waved inside by overwhelmed workers or sneaked in on their own" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/10).

FRANTIC EXCHANGES: USTA Managing Dir of National Tennis Center Facility Operations Danny Zausner said that 1,500 ticket exchanges "were available for those who arrived" Saturday with Friday tickets. The exchanges "were for comparable tickets, available as the gates opened" at 10:00am. But enough Friday fans showed up that "they quickly ran out at noon." Finally at 1:30pm "a couple of USTA employees began funneling an angry mob toward two separate ticket booths and they got to exchange their tickets for upper promenade -- nosebleed seats." The only exceptions "were subscription ticket-holders who bought every session." Zausner said he believes that about "1,000 upper-promenade exchanges were made after the original 1,500." In N.Y., Marc Berman wrote the "inconveniences to the ticketholders never had to happen." The weather "cooperated enough on Thursday to put the U.S. Open back on track." Berman: "The weather didn't cause the change. The players did. The USTA kowtowed to the cranky whiners to ensure one men's finalist would not have to play four straight days and the women's finalists would not have to play three straight days. ... Players win. Fans lose" (N.Y. POST, 9/11).

ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER: In N.Y., George Vecsey wrote this year's U.S Open "keeps getting weirder and weirder." The women's semifinal between Samantha Stosur and Angelique Kerber was "held in the grandstand, with a capacity of 6,000, at 6pm" on Saturday because "Louis Armstrong Stadium, capacity 10,200, is not available because of water damage from recent rains." As a result, fans attending the evening session were unable to see both women's semifinals. WTA Chair & CEO Stacey Allaster said, "We believe that both women's semifinal matches merited being scheduled on Arthur Ashe Stadium at times that would allow our athletes to be best prepared for a great women's final" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/10). Vecsey wrote Stosur and Kerber "deserved to play their semifinal match in a large stadium rather than the grandstand court in the outback" of the U.S. Open (N.Y. TIMES, 9/11). In N.Y., Karen Crouse noted moving Stosur and Kerber from Ashe Stadium because of TV considerations "seemed to backfire when a rain delay earlier in the day, followed by nine sets of men's tennis, pushed the prime-time start of the match" between Williams and Caroline Wozniacki back to 10:11pm. Stosur said, "Yeah, I think obviously now that hasn't turned out the way they wanted it, either, so it's one thing after the other" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/11).

BUILDING FAULT: In N.Y., Mike Lupica noted the people in charge of the USTA now "aren't the ones who signed off on the design of Arthur Ashe Stadium." Lupica: "But now they are the ones who have to do something about it. Even if it means getting rid of that hideous stadium, and its 90 corporate suites." The USTA "could have built any kind of stadium they wanted and they built this thing, one that could never sustain the roof the Open needs to keep going through rain -- and truly honor its contract with CBS -- it gets year after year" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/11).