The U.S. Open is expanding to 15 days this year, shifting to a Sunday start for the first time in the Open era that began in 1968.
Fans who subscribed for ticket information from the USTA were informed of the change for the season’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament — and its new dates of Aug. 24 to Sept. 7 — via emails sent Wednesday. The U.S. Tennis Association confirmed the additional day of main-draw action for the 2025 tournament in a news release.
The extra day puts the U.S. Open in line with the Australian Open, which switched its start from Monday to Sunday a year ago, and the French Open, which was the first tennis major to make the move when it added a 15th day in 2006.
The first round at Flushing Meadows will once again be spread over three days — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday — but otherwise, the USTA said, “No further adjustments to the singles main draw schedule after the first round are planned.” Under the old 14-day format, the tournament completed the opening round across three days until 2015, when it was cut back to two.
This move leaves Wimbledon as the last Grand Slam event that begins on a Monday and has action on just 14 days. As it is, the grass-court tournament only is that long because the All England Club added play on the middle Sunday in 2022; before that, with that traditionally an off day, there were only 13 days of play at the oldest of the tennis majors.
The U.S. Open's switch gives it a chance to increase revenue via ticket sales, of course, and to get more exposure for the sport. The just-concluded Australian Open, for example, has set attendance records in both of its 15-day editions.
The USTA said its top event had “record-breaking attendance in 2024.”
By now, players are used to Sunday starts at Slams, but when the French Open started the 15-day trend, some — including Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, who both played on that initial Sunday in 2006 — were vocal about not loving the switch.
“I asked if I could play later. The answer was, ‘You’re playing Sunday, fourth match,’” Sharapova said at the time.
“How did it make me feel? Well, it doesn’t make you feel great when you know that the French federation, all they’re thinking about is selling tickets, making money and about (French) players,” she said. “I mean, can’t be too happy about that.”
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich.
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
