2026 US Open Tennis Championships
The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships mark the final Grand Slam of the tennis calendar year, closing out the season on the hard courts of Queens, New York. Played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the tournament brings together the sport’s biggest names for two weeks of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competition, preceded by a week of free fan activities, qualifying matches, and exhibition events. As the only major played on American soil, the event carries a distinct energy shaped by night sessions under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, dense crowds, and a New York City backdrop that has defined the tournament since it moved to hard courts in 1978.
This report breaks down the 2026 US Open through verified numbers: confirmed dates and the daily schedule, stadium capacities, the size of the singles and doubles draws, ticket pricing trends, attendance benchmarks set by the record-breaking 2025 edition, broadcast reach, and the historical records still standing in the Open Era. Every figure below has been cross-checked against tournament organizers, official broadcast partners, and licensed ticketing platforms to give readers an accurate statistical picture of what to expect this year in Flushing Meadows.
Interesting Facts About the 2026 US Open
| Category | Data Point |
|---|---|
| Main draw dates | August 30 – September 13, 2026 |
| Fan Week dates | August 23 – 29, 2026 |
| Tournament founded | 1881, as the U.S. National Championships |
| Open Era began | 1968 |
| Hard court era began | 1978 |
| Arthur Ashe Stadium capacity | 23,200 seats (largest tennis venue in the world) |
| Singles draw size | 128 players each in men’s and women’s draws |
| Doubles draw size | 64 teams |
| 2025 total attendance (record) | 1,144,562 fans across three weeks |
| 2025 total player prize money (record) | $90,000,000 |
| Honey Deuce cocktails sold in 2025 | 738,459 cups |
| Defending singles champions | Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA); official US Open broadcast partners
The numbers above capture just how large the US Open has grown as both a sporting and commercial event. A 128-player singles draw on each side, spread across 15 days of main-draw competition, makes this one of the most demanding fortnights in professional sport, and the 23,200-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium underlines why it remains the biggest single venue in tennis anywhere in the world. The 1,144,562 fans who passed through the gates in 2025 set an all-time attendance record for the tournament, a figure that includes both the free Fan Week festivities and the ticketed main draw sessions.
Beyond the raw scale, these facts also point to the financial engine behind the event. A record $90,000,000 prize pool in 2025 reflected years of steady growth in player compensation, while the sale of nearly 740,000 Honey Deuce cocktails shows how food and beverage sales have become a meaningful revenue stream in their own right. Together, these figures set the stage for a closer look at each part of the tournament, starting with the confirmed schedule for 2026.
US Open 2026 Dates and Schedule Statistics
US OPEN 2026 - KEY DATES
Fan Week Begins | ████████████ Aug 23
Main Draw Round 1 | ████████████████████ Aug 30
Women's Singles Final| ███████████████████████████████████ Sep 12
Men's Singles Final | ████████████████████████████████████ Sep 13
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Fan Week & Qualifying | August 23 – 29, 2026 |
| Main Draw First Round | Sunday, August 30, 2026 |
| Main Draw Length | 15 days |
| Women’s Singles Final | Saturday, September 12, 2026 |
| Men’s Singles Final | Sunday, September 13, 2026 |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
The 2026 US Open runs for a total of three weeks when Fan Week is included, with the ticketed main draw itself spanning 15 days from the first Sunday to the final Sunday. This structure, which introduced a weekend start to the main draw in recent years, was designed to spread out early-round matches and reduce the number of same-day double sessions that used to crowd the middle weekend. The women’s final on September 12 and the men’s final on September 13 continue to bookend the tournament as the marquee sessions of the fortnight, both played under lights or in the primetime afternoon slot at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Fan Week, running from August 23 to August 29, has become a significant part of the calendar in its own right rather than a simple lead-in to the main event. It combines free grounds access with the US Open Qualifying Tournament and the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship, a shortened two-day format that has drawn strong crowds since its relaunch. For fans planning a trip, this extended schedule means the tournament effectively occupies the final ten days of August and the first two weeks of September on the New York sporting calendar.
US Open 2026 Venue and Stadium Capacity Statistics
STADIUM SEATING CAPACITY - USTA BILLIE JEAN KING NATIONAL TENNIS CENTER
Arthur Ashe Stadium | ████████████████████████████ 23,200
Louis Armstrong Stadium | █████████████████ 14,060
Grandstand | ██████████ 8,125
| Venue | Seating Capacity | Roof Type |
|---|---|---|
| Arthur Ashe Stadium | 23,200 | Retractable |
| Louis Armstrong Stadium | 14,060 | Retractable |
| Grandstand | 8,125 | Open-air |
| Outer courts | 14 courts | Open-air |
| Practice courts | 5 courts | Open-air |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center houses three ticketed stadiums plus a network of outer and practice courts, giving it the largest total footprint of any tennis venue used for a Grand Slam. Arthur Ashe Stadium, with its 23,200 seats and retractable roof, remains the single largest tennis-specific venue on the planet, a scale that lets the tournament schedule marquee night matches without weather cancellations disrupting the broadcast window. Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second-largest court at 14,060 seats, also carries a retractable roof, meaning the two biggest arenas at Flushing Meadows can both continue play through rain.
The Grandstand, seating 8,125 fans in an open-air bowl, offers a more intimate, ground-level viewing experience that many longtime attendees prefer for early-round matches featuring rising players. Combined with 14 outer courts and 5 dedicated practice courts, the site allows dozens of matches to run simultaneously across a single day session, a scale of infrastructure that has been steadily expanded since the venue’s 1978 opening to keep pace with rising attendance.
US Open 2026 Draw Size and Tournament Format Statistics
2026 US OPEN DRAW COMPOSITION
Men's Singles | ████████████████████ 128 players
Women's Singles | ████████████████████ 128 players
Doubles Teams | ██████████ 64 teams
| Event | Number of Entrants |
|---|---|
| Men’s Singles | 128 players |
| Women’s Singles | 128 players |
| Men’s & Women’s Doubles | 64 teams each |
| Mixed Doubles | 16 teams |
| Total main-draw singles matches | 127 per gender |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
Each singles draw at the US Open fields 128 players, meaning 127 matches must be played to crown a men’s and a women’s champion, the standard format shared by all four Grand Slams. This single-elimination structure across seven rounds rewards consistency over two weeks rather than a single strong week, and it is one reason why depth of fitness and scheduling management matter as much as raw talent at this stage of the season. The doubles events, by contrast, use a smaller 64-team draw, which compresses the competition into fewer rounds and often produces faster turnarounds between matches for players competing in both singles and doubles.
The reimagined mixed doubles format, now a 16-team, two-day event held during Fan Week, represents the most significant structural change to the tournament in recent years. Moving it away from the traditional 32-team, week-long format condensed the competition into a showcase weekend that draws sellout crowds to Arthur Ashe Stadium before the main singles draw even begins, a shift that has proven popular enough with fans that organizers have kept it in place since its introduction.
US Open 2026 Prize Money Statistics
US OPEN TOTAL PLAYER COMPENSATION (2022-2025)
2022 | ████████████ $60.1M
2023 | █████████████ $65.0M
2024 | ███████████████ $75.0M
2025 | ██████████████████ $90.0M
| Year | Total Prize Money | Singles Champion Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $60,100,000 | $2,600,000 |
| 2023 | $65,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| 2024 | $75,000,000 | $3,600,000 |
| 2025 | $90,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
Player compensation at the US Open has climbed sharply over the past four editions, rising from $60.1 million in 2022 to a record $90 million in 2025, a 50% increase in just three years. The 2025 singles champions each collected $5,000,000, up 39% from the prior year, while even a first-round singles loser walked away with $110,000, the highest first-round payout at any Grand Slam. This growth has been driven partly by USTA revenue from ticket sales and broadcast rights, and partly by ongoing pressure from players’ associations to close the compensation gap with other major global sporting events.
As of this writing, the USTA has not yet announced the official 2026 prize money figures; based on past years, that announcement typically arrives in early August, roughly three weeks before the main draw begins. Given the consistent year-over-year increases shown in the table above, most industry observers expect another rise in 2026, though the confirmed number will not be public until the USTA’s formal release. Readers planning to compete in qualifying or follow payout news closely should watch for that official announcement rather than relying on early speculative figures.
US Open 2026 Ticket Price Statistics
2026 US OPEN GROUNDS PASS FACE VALUE (DAY & SESSION)
Early Session | █████████ $65
Mid Session | █████████████ $100
Peak Session | ██████████████████ $135
| Ticket Type | Price Range (Face Value) |
|---|---|
| One-day grounds pass | $65 – $135 |
| Average ticket price (2025 edition) | $529 |
| Grandstand Session 1 (2026, secondary market) | $332 – $1,606 |
| Verified resale, general sessions | $235 – $450 |
| Men’s singles final resale (reported high) | up to $30,000 |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA); TicketIQ; SeatGeek
Grounds pass tickets for the 2026 US Open carry a face value between $65 and $135 depending on the day, giving fans without a session ticket access to the outer courts, practice courts, and Fan Week activities. Once resale demand is factored in, prices climb quickly: the average ticket price across the entire 2025 tournament reached $529, an 18% jump from 2024, and early 2026 secondary-market listings for a single Grandstand session have already ranged from $332 up to $1,606 for premium seats. This gap between face value and resale price reflects just how much demand has outpaced the fixed supply of seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Demand is most extreme for marquee sessions. Verified resale tickets for general sessions have been listed between $235 and $450 before fees, while listings for the men’s singles final have reportedly reached as high as $30,000 on major resale platforms during the presale window. Anyone researching rising ticket prices across the live events industry will recognize a familiar pattern here: fixed venue capacity combined with growing global interest in marquee entertainment consistently pushes secondary-market prices well above face value, and the US Open is no exception.
US Open 2026 Attendance and Fan Engagement Statistics
US OPEN ATTENDANCE GROWTH (2023-2025)
2023 | █████████████████ 957,387
2024 | ███████████████████ 1,049,000
2025 | ██████████████████████ 1,144,562
| Metric | 2025 Figure |
|---|---|
| Total three-week attendance | 1,144,562 |
| Main draw attendance (15 days) | 905,255 |
| Fan Week attendance | 239,307 |
| Year-over-year growth (total) | +9% |
| Honey Deuce cocktails sold | 738,459 |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
Attendance at the US Open has grown for consecutive years, with the 2025 edition drawing a record 1,144,562 fans across Fan Week and the main draw combined, a 9% increase over the 1.049 million recorded in 2024. The 905,255 fans who attended the ticketed main draw sessions marked the first time that figure crossed 900,000, driven partly by the extended 15-day schedule and partly by the sustained popularity of night sessions on Arthur Ashe Stadium, most of which have sold out in recent years. Fan Week alone brought in 239,307 attendees, a 10% rise from the prior year, showing that the free, pre-tournament programming has become a genuine draw rather than a minor sideshow.
Concession and merchandise spending has scaled alongside attendance. The record 738,459 Honey Deuce cocktails sold in 2025, priced at $23 each, generated close to $17 million in revenue from that single drink alone. For context on how major ticketed events convert attendance into broader economic activity, the scale of spending here sits comfortably alongside figures reported around other global sporting showcases, including the FIFA World Cup prize money and revenue figures that have become a regular benchmark for comparing the financial size of the world’s largest sporting events.
US Open 2026 Broadcast and TV Viewership Statistics
2025 US OPEN SINGLES FINAL AVERAGE TV VIEWERS
Men's Final (ABC) | ████████████████████ 3.0M
Women's Final (ESPN) | ████████████████ 2.4M
| Broadcast Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| US broadcast partners (2026) | ESPN, ESPN2, ABC |
| Streaming partners | ESPN+, Hulu+ Live TV, YouTube TV |
| 2025 men’s final average viewers | 3.0 million (ABC) |
| 2025 women’s final average viewers | 2.4 million (ESPN) |
| Men’s final YoY growth | +82% |
| Women’s final YoY growth | +50% |
Source: ESPN
The 2026 US Open will again be broadcast across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC in the United States, with every match also streamed live on ESPN+ and the ESPN app, plus availability through Hulu+ Live TV and YouTube TV. Coverage of the 2025 tournament set a strong benchmark for the network, with the men’s singles final averaging 3.0 million viewers on ABC, an 82% jump from the previous year and ESPN’s second most-watched US Open broadcast on record. The women’s final averaged 2.4 million viewers on ESPN, up 50% year-over-year, figures that made the 2025 tournament the most-viewed tennis telecast of the year across the network.
This viewership growth extended beyond the finals themselves. Early-round coverage through the round of 16 posted its best numbers since 2022, and the tournament’s new Sunday start to the main draw drove ESPN’s most-viewed opening day of coverage in the same period, with audiences up nearly 83% year-over-year. For a tournament competing against the start of the NFL season for American sports attention, these numbers reflect a broadcast product that has meaningfully expanded its reach over the past two editions.
US Open 2026 Historical Champions and Records Statistics
MOST OPEN ERA SINGLES TITLES
Men (5 titles each) | ████████████████████ Connors, Sampras, Federer
Women (6 titles each) | ████████████████████████ Evert, S. Williams
| Record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tournament founded | 1881 |
| Moved to New York City | 1915 |
| Open Era began | 1968 |
| Hard court era began | 1978 |
| Most men’s singles titles (Open Era) | 5 — Connors, Sampras, Federer |
| Most women’s singles titles (Open Era) | 6 — Evert, Serena Williams |
| Tournaments never cancelled | Only major unaffected by WWI, WWII, or the 2020 pandemic |
Source: United States Tennis Association (USTA)
The US Open traces its history back to 1881, when it was held as the U.S. National Championships on grass courts at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island, now home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The tournament permanently relocated to New York in 1915, was recognized as one of the sport’s major championships in 1924, and entered the Open Era in 1968 when professional players were first allowed to compete. Since 1978, it has been played exclusively on hard courts at what is now the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a surface shift that shaped the faster, more aggressive style of play the tournament is known for today.
Within the Open Era, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer share the men’s record with five singles titles apiece, while Chris Evert and Serena Williams each hold six women’s singles titles. For readers interested in how the sport reached this point structurally and competitively, the broader evolution of tennis from its lawn origins to a global phenomenon offers useful context for understanding how a 19th-century lawn sport grew into the modern, hard-court spectacle that fills Arthur Ashe Stadium today. One further record stands out: the US Open is the only Grand Slam that has never been cancelled, surviving both World Wars and continuing uninterrupted through the 2020 pandemic when the other majors were postponed or restructured.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
