The US Open has become the third grand slam tennis tournament to switch to a 15-day format, with this year’s event to begin on Sunday, August 24.
This year’s US Open will feature the first weekend start to the main draw in the Open Era. The full, three-week US Open, which also includes the pre-tournament Fan Week, will take place from August 18 to September 7 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The announcement comes after the US Open surpassed the one million mark for fan attendance for the first time during last year’s tournament. Attendance during the two-week main draw reached a new high of 832,640.
This year’s men’s and women’s singles first rounds will be played from Sunday to Tuesday, with the Sunday start offering main-draw access for an additional 70,000-plus attendees. The opening Sunday will have six new ticketed sessions available, including day and night sessions for reserved seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium, and day session tickets for grandstand reserved and grounds admission.
Last year’s US Open featured both late starts and late finishes. The third-round match between Aryna Sabalenka and Ekaterina Alexandrova started at 12:08am, while a fourth-round match between Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic did not finish until 2:15am.
The switch brings the US Open in line with the French Open and Australian Open. The latter switched to a 15-day event for the first time in 2024, in an effort to eliminate late-night finishes that had concerned players and fans. The French Open has started on a Sunday since 2006.
Wimbledon is now the only grand slam to retain a 14-day format and a Monday start. Wimbledon only began playing matches on the middle Sunday of the tournament in 2022.
