Grand Slam Tennis hits the court in Queens
By Noah Zimmerman
noah@queensledger.com
FLUSHING – The US Open got underway on Sunday, August 25 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The hard-court Grand Slam event is the last of the four annual tournaments, bringing the world’s top tennis stars to New York City.
The top seed was awarded to Rolland Garros winner Alexander Zverev with Jannick Sinner withdrawing due to a knee injury. Defending US Open men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz will make his return after a wrist injury as the tournament’s #2 ranked player. Rounding out the top five are Felix Auger-Aliassime at 3, superstar Novak Djokovic at 4, and Ben Shelton at 5, the tournament’s top-ranked American player.
In the women’s tournament, the top seed is once again the dominant Aryna Sabalenka, searching for a third straight US Open title. Elena Rybakina comes in at #2, Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff at #3 and #4, respectively, and Mirra Andreeva as the 5 seed.
As always, tickets have been tough to find and prices too steep for most. Like his administration did for the recent FIFA World Cup, Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday announced that there would be 1,000 affordable tickets made available to local tennis fans. These tickets will go for $100 each and are for the tournament’s main-draw matches, which begin on Sunday, August 30.
