2026 US Open Breaks Attendance Records as Tennis Takes Over New York
Sep 30, 2026
The US Open has always been big. In 2026, it got even bigger.
More than 1.2 million fans attended this year’s US Open in New York, setting another event attendance record as the USTA continued to expand the tournament well beyond the matches inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Fan Week alone drew more than 300,000 visitors, another record, with fans getting free access to practices, qualifying, mixed doubles and entertainment across the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The numbers offer a striking snapshot of where tennis sits in American sports culture right now. Over the course of the event, more than 30 percent of attendees entered the grounds for free, while more than half accessed the US Open for $100 or less.
Photo credit: Jennifer Pottheiser/USTA
The tournament also pushed deeper into Manhattan. The US Open Experience at Hudson Yards welcomed 250,000 visitors during its seven-day run, with tennis courts, player-themed experiences, gaming, live viewing and activations from US Open partners.
On court, Alexander Zverev and Elena Rybakina captured their first US Open singles titles. American Ben Shelton reached his first Grand Slam singles final, while Taylor Townsend completed a career Grand Slam in women’s doubles.
American players had one of their strongest collective showings in years. Ten reached the singles round of 16 and six advanced to the quarterfinals, both the highest totals since 2002.
The audience watching from outside the gates was enormous, too. The USTA reported 374 million global broadcast viewer hours, while more than 12 million unique fans visited US Open digital platforms. The tournament’s owned social channels generated more than 3.9 billion interactions, a 26-percent increase from 2025.
Source: USTA; Photo credit (thumbnail): Manuela Davies /USTA
Players shared in the tournament’s growth. Total compensation reached a record $108 million, up 20 percent from 2025, with the men’s and women’s singles champions receiving $5.5 million each.
The US Open also continued investing in grassroots tennis. The USTA Foundation’s Opening Night Gala raised more than $2.7 million to support tennis, education and mentorship programs serving young people through the National Junior Tennis and Learning network.
For anyone who spent time around the grounds this summer, the scale was impossible to miss. The US Open has become three weeks of tennis, entertainment, food, fashion, celebrity, technology and New York energy wrapped around one of the sport’s four biggest championships.
The 2026 numbers suggest the appetite for all of it is still growing.
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By Florida Tennis Staff. Source: USTA. Photo credit (top): Ben Solomon/USTA.
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