Top-ranked men’s player Jannik Sinner is out with a knee injury, and Serena Williams, making her return to tennis this summer after a nearly four-year layoff, decided to compete in doubles but not singles at the U.S. Open. Still, whatever star power might be missing from the year’s final major, fans’ passion for tennis has not dimmed.
As the U.S. Open begins Sunday in Queens, New York, tickets prices are soaring. Last week, the get-in price for the first round was $197, according to TicketData.com, up 33% from 2025, and seats for the women’s and men’s finals were listed at an average of $534, a 19% increase. And as of Thursday, those numbers were even higher. A grounds pass for Sunday’s opening session started at $277 on SeatGeek—more than quadruple the $65 face value—and the cheapest listing for the men’s final on September 13 was $617.
Here are 17 other numbers to know about the 2026 U.S. Open.
$5.5 million
The amount to be paid to the men’s and women’s singles champions at this year’s tournament.
The figure tops the record $5 million winner’s checks that were handed out at the 2025 U.S. Open and also beats the prize at the other three Grand Slams this year: Wimbledon’s $4.9 million, the French Open’s $3.3 million and the Australian Open’s $3 million (at the current exchange rates).
Dream Team: Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams partnered up for the U.S. Open’s mixed doubles competition in Alcaraz’s return to the court from a wrist injury and Williams’ first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium since 2022.
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$1 million
The prize for the winning mixed doubles team.
The U.S. Open ratcheted up the reward for the event in 2025, from $200,000 for the champion duo the prior year, in an effort to attract more top players and more interest. And it’s working: After only two highly ranked singles players participated in mixed doubles at the 2024 tournament, the star-studded 2025 edition drew 78,000 fans over two days, and this year’s event featured teams including Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic, married couple Gaël Monfils and Elina Svitolina, and Félix Auger-Aliassime and Filipino sensation Alexandra Eala, perhaps the WTA Tour’s brightest rising star. Czech pair Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik ultimately won the big prize on Wednesday, but the real draw in the bracket was the team of Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams, who was playing at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since she bade her temporary farewell to tennis in 2022.
$108 million
The total compensation being offered to players at this year’s U.S. Open.
The figure, up 20% from 2025’s $90 million and 44% from 2024’s $75 million, includes not only the purses for the singles, doubles, mixed doubles and wheelchair tennis competitions but also payments to players toward their air travel and accommodations, as well as $2 million to establish a “player support program” to assist with mid-career life events and retirement transitions. Even players who lose in the first round of the singles main draw this year will collect $140,000, a 27% increase over last year’s $110,000.
$560 million
The operating revenues of the 2024 U.S. Open.
The United States Tennis Association reports the figure in its annual financial statement, with 2024 the most recent to be filed. Operating expenses for that year’s tournament, meanwhile, totaled $282 million. The business of Grand Slam tournaments is currently under scrutiny because top players have pushed to increase the share of revenue that is allocated to prize money, withdrawing from media obligations at the French Open in May in protest and prompting the creation this month of a Grand Slam player advisory council. The U.S. Open’s total 2024 purse of $75 million was 13.4% of that year’s reported tournament revenue, and the corresponding percentage reportedly stands at 14.4% at Wimbledon. Players hope to force the Grand Slams to match the 22% benchmark used by the six ATP and WTA combined 1000 events.
+240
The betting odds that Carlos Alcaraz will win his third Open men’s singles title and his eighth Grand Slam overall.
The line, as listed on Thursday at FanDuel, means a bettor would win $240 on a $100 wager; rival sportsbook DraftKings pegged the odds at +250. (Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket give Alcaraz a 28% and 27% chance, respectively, of claiming the title.) The 23-year-old Spaniard, who is returning from a wrist injury, became the favorite when Jannik Sinner withdrew from the U.S. Open with an injury of his own. Their rivalry extends off the court: For the second straight year, they are the two highest-paid players in tennis, with Sinner topping Alcaraz over the last 12 months—$58 million to $53.7 million, according to Forbes estimates.
Triple Threat: Aryna Sabalenka, who won the U.S. Open in 2024 and 2025, could become the first woman with three straight singles titles at the event since Serena Williams (2012 to 2014).
Al Bello/Getty Images
+320
The betting odds that Aryna Sabalenka will repeat as the women’s singles champion.
The line, identical at DraftKings and FanDuel, installed the 28-year-old Belarusian ahead of a group of contenders including Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina. (Kalshi and Polymarket list Sabalenka’s chances at 23% and 22%, respectively.) Sabalenka, the 2024 and 2025 champion, would be the first woman with three straight singles titles at the event since Serena Williams’ run from 2012 to 2014.
66
The number of hours it takes Tiffany & Co. to create the U.S. Open’s singles trophies.
Weighing nine pounds each and standing 18 inches tall, the trophies are made in Rhode Island over roughly six months. In April, Boris Becker’s trophy from 1989 sold for $357,546 (including the buyer’s premium) in a public auction.
315
The number of ball crew members at the U.S. Open.
In recent years, there have been more than a thousand applicants to join the crew, with only 80 open spots for newcomers in 2025. Ralph Lauren, which has outfitted the crew and all on-court officials since 2005, is set to continue in that role through 2032 after announcing a six-year sponsorship renewal in October.
905,255
The attendance for the main draws of singles and men’s and women’s doubles in 2025.
The figure was up 9% over 2024 and surpassed 900,000 for the first time ever. The U.S. Open’s full three-week attendance was 1,144,562, also up 9% year-over-year, including the 239,307 who came to the fan week preceding the tournament.
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42
The number of hours of Open coverage that ESPN will stream under the RedZone banner.
The network, which acquired the rights to NFL RedZone when it closed its purchase of NFL Network in January, will apply the channel’s branding and fast-paced whiparound style to U.S. Open broadcasts on ESPN Unlimited from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern during the first six days of the tournament, Front Office Sports reported.
Quick as a Shot: A draft system allows bartenders to make Honey Deuce cocktails in just 12 seconds, helping sales of the Open’s signature drink jump 32% last year from 2024.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
738,459
The number of Honey Deuce cocktails sold at the 2025 U.S. Open.
The Open’s signature drink—a spin on a raspberry lemonade with Grey Goose vodka and a garnish of honeydew melon balls—was introduced in 2007 and has continued to grow in popularity. Sales were up 32% last year from 2024, aided by a draft system that allows bartenders to make the cocktail in just 12 seconds. The price has been raised a half-dozen times since the drink made its debut, but fans heading to the 2026 tournament can snag one for $23 (including a souvenir cup) for the third straight year.
Home Makeover: Arthur Ashe Stadium and the rest of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center are in the midst of an $800 million renovation.
Al Bellow/Getty Images
$2,333
The face value of a courtside club seat at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
By the end of May, the U.S. Tennis Association, which organizes the Open, had sold most of the higher-priced tickets to subscribers and corporate customers, leaving fans to scrounge for premium seats on resale websites. Those seats will also have a new look this year as the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center undergoes an $800 million renovation. The number of seats in the courtside area of Ashe Stadium has nearly doubled, to 5,000, and there will be three temporary clubs, a number set to grow by six in 2027, according to the Athletic. Meanwhile, the loge section in the middle of the stadium has been reduced to about 2,500 seats, from 6,000.
$100
The cost of 1,000 tickets that mayor Zohran Mamdani secured for New York City residents.
The tickets, which included seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium as well as grounds passes, were quickly snapped up by locals on Wednesday and are not eligible for resale through Ticketmaster, according to the Athletic. Mamdani similarly negotiated the price of 1,000 tickets down to $50 for World Cup games this summer at MetLife Stadium in neighboring New Jersey and gave away 600 free tickets to the City Hall ceremony celebrating the New York Knicks’ NBA championship in June.
15
The approximate number of digital creators who will produce content on behalf of the U.S. Open.
In all, the U.S. Tennis Association has approved credentials for nearly 100 creators, almost doubling the 54 it credentialed in 2025’s pilot program, according to Front Office Sports. Event organizers are particularly focused on YouTube as they aim to solidify the Open’s status as a cultural moment.
23
The number of years since an American man won the tournament.
The country’s best hopes, according to oddsmakers, are ninth-ranked Ben Shelton, who won the Canadian Open this month while preparing for the tournament, and tenth-ranked Taylor Fritz, who won a different tuneup in Washington, D.C. They are joined by four other Americans in the top 25 of the ATP rankings. The last U.S.-born man to claim the U.S. Open, Andy Roddick, now runs what is arguably tennis’ most popular podcast after spending more than a decade out of the spotlight.
7
The number of male players who have won the U.S. Open singles title at least three times in tennis’ Open era.
If Carlos Alcaraz’s wrist holds up in his return from an injury that forced him to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon, the 2022 and 2025 champion could push that number to eight—at age 23. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic—16 years Alcaraz’s senior—could tie Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors for the men’s Open era record with his fifth victory at the event, which would also extend his overall record for Grand Slam singles championships to 25.
$194.7 million
Novak Djokovic’s career ATP Tour prize money.
Another U.S. Open title would make Djokovic the first tennis player with at least $200 million in prize money. Rafael Nadal, who retired in 2024 at age 38, is second on the career list with $134.9 million, and Roger Federer is third with $130.6 million. Serena Williams is next on the overall prize money list—and first among women—with $94.9 million on the WTA Tour.
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