Planning to watch the US Open from Flushing Meadows? If you know someone who knows someone selling tickets at a reasonable price, you’re probably in luck. For newcomers to New York, though, getting a seat can be a very different story. The prospect of soaking up the final Slam of the year at Arthur Ashe Stadium is mouth-watering, but the ticket prices can quickly leave a bitter taste.

Tennis journalist Simon Cambers may have just explained why, lifting the lid on a ticketing system that appears to be getting increasingly complicated.

“A grounds pass ticket for day 1 at the @usopen is currently $363,” he wrote on X. “Some might call it market forces, but in simple terms, it’s an outrage.”

A Day 1 US Open grounds pass is priced at $65 at face value in 2026, up from $60 last year, but resale listings have recently climbed as high as roughly $363. TicketData’s latest average resale get-in price stands at $292, compared with $256 at the same stage in 2025, underscoring how the New York major has become an increasingly costly outing.

As Cambers highlighted, the gap with the other Grand Slams: opening-week grounds access costs about $44.70 at Wimbledon, $45 at Roland-Garros and $35 at the Australian Open. Even before resale markups enter the equation, the US Open’s entry price sits noticeably above its major rivals.

The average get-in price at this year’s US Open sits at $311. In comparison, it was $262 last year, which is still very much on the higher side. On the other hand, the average price to attend a day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium is $348, a 21.4% increase over the last 30 days. The average price for a night session is $231. But this isn’t any big surprise, as the tournament has always been the most expensive one of the four Slams. But still, a line needs to be drawn at some stage.

Over the past two years, the US Open has reshaped Flushing Meadows just as decisively as it has broadened its commercial calendar. Soon after the 2024 tournament, the USTA began an $800 million, self-funded transformation of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the biggest capital project in its history. Arthur Ashe Stadium sits at the heart of the plan: the USTA is expanding its concourse by 40%, clearing food carts that cause bottlenecks, adding elevators, restrooms and retail outlets, expanding premium hospitality areas, and altering the seating layout while keeping the venue close to its current 24,000-seat capacity.

The USTA has staggered the work so the tournament can remain operational throughout the project. It was planned to open new parking capacity for the 2025 US Open, with the upward extension of the courtside bowl already active for the 2026 edition to expand lower-bowl seating, before completing the full transformation ahead of the 2027 edition.

The project also included a four-storey, 150,000-square-foot Player Performance Center west of Ashe, with parking at ground level and dedicated player spaces above, including locker rooms, training and recovery facilities, dining areas, lounges and media rooms.

The renovation reflects the US Open’s sharper premium focus. Instead of simply building more seats, the USTA is dedicating more space to suites, clubs and courtside experiences, while also aiming to ease movement for general spectators. Along with the new three-week calendar and reworked mixed-doubles event, the overhaul shows how the tournament is modernising both its facilities and the experience it packages for fans.

Taking a step back from just the stadium itself, concerns over Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s fitness have added an uncomfortable layer to the ticket debate. But the US Open’s appeal does not rest entirely on one rivalry.

Alcaraz, the defending champion, beat Sinner in last year’s final, a matchup that averaged 3 million viewers on ABC and became ESPN’s most-watched men’s US Open final in a decade. Yet the women’s draw also carries substantial pull. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka’s final against American Amanda Anisimova attracted 2.4 million viewers, a 50% increase on the previous year, while Coco Gauff remains one of the tournament’s biggest homegrown attractions after her 2023 title run.

The American presence gives the tournament further insurance. Anisimova’s run to the 2025 final showed the appetite for a home contender, while Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe give New York crowds familiar men’s names to follow. Iga Swiatek, a former US Open champion, also remains a natural draw in a women’s field headed by Sabalenka, Gauff and Anisimova.

The event drew a record 1,144,562 visitors across Fan Week and the main draw in 2025, while main-draw attendance alone surpassed 900,000 for the first time, evidence that its commercial appeal extends beyond any one player or final.

On the other hand, for fans priced out of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the outer courts offer a cheaper route into the tournament. A $25 evening grounds pass, available from 6 p.m., allows spectators to remain at the site through the night, when late matches, practice sessions and the energy of Flushing Meadows can still make the visit worthwhile.

“Our vision is to be the most inspirational and captivating sports entertainment event in the world by delivering world-class experiences for our fans, partners, and players to fuel the mission of the USTA, so accessibility is at the core of the beginning of the strategy,” according to Kirsten Corio, the chief commercial officer of the USTA.

“You could see Djokovic on Arthur Ashe playing a practice match against another top-10 player for free in the first row. That’s like no other sport that I can think of.”

With so many matches spread across the opening days, a less compelling schedule can leave Arthur Ashe looking sparse, particularly when premium prices discourage fans from buying tickets or staying for a late match. The concern is not merely theoretical.

For instance, during Aryna Sabalenka’s first-round match against Rebeka Masarova at the 2025 US Open, the defending champion entered an almost empty Arthur Ashe Stadium for a 7 p.m. session, with reports indicating that around 55% of seats were still unoccupied despite the cheapest tickets being priced at about $135.

A similar scene unfolded later in the tournament, when Amanda Anisimova’s semifinal against Naomi Osaka began before visibly half-empty stands after the preceding Sabalenka-Jessica Pegula match ran long. The late start, a weeknight schedule, and costly lower-bowl seats showed how even a high-profile contest can struggle to fill Arthur Ashe when the timing and price point work against fans.

Will that be the case this year? Only time will tell. For now, the tournament will begin with the mixed doubles event, which will be held from August 24 to 26 during the Fan Week, and it looks like there may not be much respite there either.

The extravagant ticket prices of the US Open Fan Week

The US Open main draw doesn’t get underway until August 30, but Flushing Meadows will be buzzing well before then. Qualifying, Fan Week, and the revamped mixed doubles event will kick things off a week early, and the demand is already looking huge.

Take Roger Federer’s one-night exhibition on August 25. The five-time US Open champion will share the court with 2003 champion Andy Roddick, four-time champion John McEnroe, and two-time champion Andre Agassi, and the event has already sold out. With the USTA billing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime” night and face-value tickets starting at $238, it’s easy to see why fans were quick to grab their seats.

The change is especially striking when set against last year’s tournament. In 2024, mixed doubles followed the traditional Grand Slam model: a 32-team draw held during the main event, with specialist pairing Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori taking the title and earning $200,000.

The USTA then reshaped the competition for 2025, cutting the field to 16 teams, moving it into Fan Week, shortening matches, and raising the champions’ prize to $1 million in an effort to bring leading singles players into the draw. The result was a more star-driven showcase, but one that reduced the room available for established doubles teams.

Moreover, this year, the US Open seems to be leaning even harder into its corporate crowd, sometimes at the expense of its die-hard tennis fans. It’s not exactly a surprise, though. The tournament is already the biggest revenue generator among the four Grand Slams, with Arthur Ashe Stadium, at more than 23,000 seats and the largest tennis stadium in the world, playing a major part in that commercial appeal.

However, with the prize-money debate between players and the Grand Slams already heating up, this rise in revenue could add even more fuel to the ongoing argument over how much of the sport’s earnings should make their way back to the players.