U.S. Open rolling out extended Fan Week

The idea is to grow tennis by providing free access to a variety of events throughout New York leading up to the tournament.getty images for usta

Major sporting events have long expanded into the days and weeks before the actual competition, whether it’s the Olympic torch relay before the Games begin or the deluge of Super Bowl festivities in the days prior to kickoff.

Now the U.S. Open Tennis Championships is rapidly growing into the week before the two-week tournament. For the second straight year, the Open will host a Fan Week, but this year’s will be far more extensive. Starting Aug. 21, the Open will stage six days of free events in Manhattan and on site in Queens at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Including the 700,000 plus fans expected to attend the actual two-week event that begins Aug. 27, the U.S. Tennis Association anticipates 1 million fans in total will engage with an Open-related activity during the 20 days.

The USTA is dubbing the first six days Fan Week and describes it as critical to promoting the group’s mission of growing tennis by allowing free access to events.

“From a commercial growth strategy, it is also important because it will allow us to expand our event from a two-week platform to a three-week platform, grow our fan base, allow our partners to engage with many more fans and bring a bit of the U.S. Open experience into Manhattan,” said Lew Sherr, the USTA’s chief revenue officer.

Last year, the Open staged a two-day tennis festival in Manhattan at the South Street Seaport; this year it will be at the World Financial Center and will feature dozens of current and former players making appearances, including reigning singles champions Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens. Open sponsors such as Heineken, which will have a happy hour and photo booth, and Diet Coke, which will sample new flavor, plan to activate. For now, Sherr does not plan to sell a title sponsorship.

Out at the tennis center, the four-day qualifying tournament and Arthur Ashe Kids Day will go on as normal. But new events have been added. In a first for tennis, the Open will feature at least two practices each of the six days at its No. 3 stadium. Video boards will be active and an on-court host will engage fans and players before and after the practice with interviews.

Legends exhibitions, normally scheduled for the second week of the Open, are now moved to Fan Week. The legends event will culminate on the day before the tournament with a doubles match featuring former U.S. Open champions Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Normally a sleepy day on site, now the day before the tournament will feature the legends, as well as a still-evolving doubles event in which fans can engage by asking questions of the doubles specialists entered in the main draw.