U.S. Open is back with fans, but it's not business as usual

The U.S. Open -- the new normal version -- returns to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center starting on Monday.

The eerie echoes of the 2020 tournament played without spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic will be replaced by the energy of the New York crowd, at least those who will be allowed to attend.

The Open is back, even it’s not exactly the same. The pandemic continues with the Delta variant looming, though state and city medical authorities have allowed spectators to return to outdoor sporting events.

But on Friday, the mayor’s office informed the Open that it has to require spectators entering Arthur Ashe Stadium to provide proof of at least one vaccine shot. Open officials extended the mandate to the entire grounds, including Armstrong Stadium, the Grandstand and grounds passes.

Acceptable proof will be a CDC vaccination card, a NYC vaccination record or other official immunization record from within or outside the U.S., including from a health care provider. Other proof can be the New York State Excelsior Pass and NYC COVID Safe App: Android | iOS. Photo or photocopies are acceptable. Masks will be required indoors unless actively eating. The stadiums are all considered outdoors, even if the Ashe and Armstrong Stadium roofs are closed. And suite holders can determine their own policies regarding masks, but they all must be vaccinated.

On the tournament side, some of the biggest names in the game won’t be back. Serena and Venus Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, a veritable Mount Rushmore of tennis, have withdrawn because of lingering injuries. So has defending men’s champion Dominic Thiem. Their absence will seem strange regardless of virus concerns.

The spectator component, so much a part of the Open in New York, won’t be exactly the same. The 2019 tournament drew a record of 737,872 fans, the 2020 tournament 0.

"We are having spectators, but we are losing a high percentage of our international audience, usually representing a good 15 percent of our overall makeup of our fans," said Danny Zausner, chief operating officer of the tennis center. "We aren’t going to see the record-breaking crowds of 2019, but I think we are going to see excellent attendance."

The USTA went to agonizing lengths to stage the 2020 tournament. Mike Dowse, CEO of the USTA, said this week that his organization was able to meet what he said were the three requirements for staging the 2020 tournament: Public safety, best interest of tennis to hold it during the pandemic, and would it make financial sense.

But all was not entirely well.

"It is really important to know, we did run a $180 million budget deficit in 2020 as a result of having no fans at the U.S. Open," Dowse said. "We did make a lot of hard decisions last year. We had significant salary reductions of our national staff, we downsized the national organization by over 23%. We tapped into our reserves. By pulling all those levers, we actually paid prize money last year at 95% of 2019. This week we're surpassing 2019 slightly as we move into 2021."

Last year the players and their small support groups had to remain in a USTA-mandated bubble. This year they are free to stay and go where they like, but players and entourages will be tested upon arrival and that will continue. It seems a small price to pay to be playing in a real, if still unusual, U.S. Open again.

Said Daniil Medvedev, the Open’s No. 2 seed: "Really happy that there is going to be full crowd capacity in New York. That's just huge. That's cool."