You know the US Open season has begun when the New York air is buzzing with excitement and chatter about major face-offs between tennis champions. But what exactly sets it apart from other championships like Wimbledon, the Australian Open, or Roland Garros?
Apart from being held in one of the world's largest tennis venues, there is a myriad of factors that make the US Open exciting. From equal prize money to a signature cocktail sold by the hundreds of thousands, this tournament has stacked up rituals that no other Slam can match. Understanding those rituals is the fastest way to see why players and fans treat the final major of the season as a category of its own.
You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.
Venus Williams
What Makes US Open Traditions So Distinct? 🎾
There are loads of reasons why hordes of people gravitate toward the US Open every year. This tournament has a character all its own, faster pace, bigger energy and a setting that feels less like a quiet match and more like a summer event you don't want to miss. Players often say there's something about stepping onto the court in New York that hits differently. It’s loud, it’s alive and it pushes people to play their best... or crack under pressure. Whether you're in the stands or watching from home, you can feel that edge!
If you want the full story of what makes this event special, the complete guide to US Open tennis is a great companion read.
Equal Prize Money Since 1973
The single most consequential tradition the US Open gave the sport was pay equity. In 1973, thanks largely to the campaigning of Billie Jean King, it became the first Grand Slam to award identical prize checks to its men's and women's singles champions. That decision reshaped tennis long before the other majors followed, and it remains a defining mark of the tournament's character. Fifty years later, that principle still holds, with both champions collecting the same headline figure.
Tennis was the first sport to offer equal prize money to men and women. It was also one of the first sports to become inclusive of women and wheelchair users.
The Only Slam Played on Three Surfaces
Here is where the common assumption really breaks down. The US Open opened in 1881 on grass, switched to clay in 1975, then moved to hard courts after relocating to the National Tennis Center.
No other Grand Slam has been played on all three surfaces. Today the courts use a cushioned acrylic system called Laykold, adopted in 2020 after more than four decades on DecoTurf, a change engineered to keep bounce consistent across New York's late-summer temperatures.
The Traditions That Define the Fan Experience 🌆
Ask any regular what keeps them coming back, and the answer is rarely a single match. The US Open long ago blurred the line between sporting event and full-blown festival, and its most recognisable customs live as much in the stands and concourses as on the court itself.
The Grand Opening Ceremony
The US Open's grand ceremony is one of the best among the other Grand Slams. Star-studded performances make it one of the most fun premier nights that have recently been part of the opening ceremony. In fact, in 2021, the show's stars, Tony Award candidates Aaron Tveit and Natalie Mendoza, led the cast of the Tony-nominated Broadway blockbuster "Moulin Rouge! The Musical," which was performed to a packed house.
Are you curious to see the men's winners list?
Night Matches Under the Lights
The night session is the tournament's signature ritual. When the US Open first switched on the floodlights in 1975, it created a stage no other major could copy, and today the after-dark matches inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis arena in the world, draw the loudest, latest, and most theatrical crowds in the sport. Matches routinely stretch past midnight, and the combination of stadium lighting, packed tiers, and New York energy turns ordinary rounds into events people talk about for years.
The Loud and Passionate New York Crowd
While crowds at Wimbledon or the French Open tend to be more subdued, New York fans bring unmatched energy. They cheer, chant, and rally behind their favourite players with intensity. This rowdy support can fuel comebacks and create unforgettable moments, giving the tournament a uniquely American edge. It’s not unusual for the crowd to treat the match like a concert, complete with chants, gasps, and spontaneous standing ovations. Players often feed off this energy, and for many, it’s the crowd that defines their US Open experience.
The Honey Deuce Phenomenon
Few sporting traditions are as delicious as the Honey Deuce. Introduced in 2007, this vodka-and-lemonade cocktail garnished with three honeydew melon balls that mimic tennis balls has become a fan pilgrimage in its own right. In 2025, the drink sold for $23 a glass, and the USTA moved a staggering 738,459 of them across the fortnight, generating roughly $17 million in revenue and setting a fresh sales record. That is a level of merchandising no other Grand Slam has managed to build around a single serve.
Honey Deuce cocktails sold at the 2025 US Open, a record haul worth about USD $17 million (Sportico).
How Technology Reshaped US Open Traditions 📡
Some of the tournament's traditions are less about ceremony and more about a willingness to modernise faster than its peers. The US Open has repeatedly been the testing ground for innovations that later spread across the tour.
Electric Line Calling
The days of line judges crouching at the baseline are gone in New York. The US Open first embraced Hawk-Eye replay challenges in 2006, then made Hawk-Eye Live electronic line calling permanent in 2022, one of the earliest majors to commit fully to the system. By 2025, only the French Open still relied on human line judges, leaving the US Open firmly on the modern side of the sport's biggest officiating shift.
The Final-Set Tiebreak
The US Open was the first Grand Slam to introduce a tiebreaker to settle a set locked at six games all, back in 1970. That appetite for decisive endings still shapes the event. Rather than forcing players into open-ended final sets, the tournament uses the same tiebreak format in every set, which keeps matches crisp. It is a small rule with a big effect on how the Open feels compared with the marathon deciders of the past.
- Same tiebreak in every set: Keeps singles matches consistent and fast-paced,
- Electronic calls on every court: removed line-judge disputes and speeds up play,
- Retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium: protects the schedule from New York's late-summer storms.
Tennis is undoubtedly a fine sport to watch and play, regardless of whether you are a huge US Open tennis fan or not.
Bring the US Open Spirit to Your Own Game 🚀
Even if you are not a tennis fan, you don't need much time to fall in love with the game. Other than building your sports skills, tennis is a game that is mentally stimulating whether you're watching it or playing it. The most influential thing the US Open Tennis has done for the sport of tennis is to make it a globally recognised game. The players and champions of this sport are known worldwide, just like any other famous sport in the world.
References
- USTA. "2025 US Open Prize Money Sets Record for Largest Purse in Tennis History." US Open, 6 Aug. 2025, https://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/articles/2025-08-06/2025_us_open_prize_money_sets_record_for_largest_purse_in_tennis_history.html.
- "2025 U.S. Open's Honey Deuce Drink Sales Spike 32% Year-Over-Year." Sportico, 16 Sept. 2025, https://www.sportico.com/leagues/tennis/2025/us-open-honey-deuce-sales-1234871315/.
- "The U.S. Open Replaces Human Line Judges With Optical Technology." NPR, 10 Sept. 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/09/10/1121801484/us-open-tennis-human-line-judges-replaced.
- "August 27, 1975: The Day One Special US Open Edition Began." Tennis Majors, 27 Aug. 2023, https://www.tennismajors.com/us-open-news/august-27-1975-the-day-one-special-us-open-edition-began-283395.html.
- "US Open to Change the Brand of Its Court Surfaces for First Time Since 1970s." Sky Sports, 26 Aug. 2020, https://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/11962815/us-open-to-change-the-brand-of-its-court-surfaces-for-first-time-since-1970s.
- "US Open." Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/sports/US-Open-tennis.
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