The 2024 US Open concluded on Sunday with Jannik Sinner beating Taylor Fritz in the men's singles final. The day before, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula to win the women's singles title.
Although no home player retained the trophy in the two most important events, for the organizers, this year was a big victory in terms of audience. There were more than 1 million fans watching live at the courts at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The exact number was 1,048,669 people who came to watch the 144th US Open in history. This figure is determined to be the record for the highest number of spectators coming to the stadium in the history of the tournament.
According to the United States Tennis Association (USTA), last year, there were 832,640 spectators, which means this year there was an increase of 8%. Many stars and famous names came to watch live, including the presence of Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce in the men's singles final.
With Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz in the men's tournament, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff in the women's tournament all being eliminated early, there were concerns for the 2024 US Open regarding the interest in the final Grand Slam event of the year. However, the home players had an excellent "rescue" performance.
Accordingly, in addition to Fritz in the men's singles final, the host US also had Frances Tiafoe in the semi-finals (lost to Fritz), Tommy Paul, and Brandon Nakashima in the fourth round.
In the women's singles, in addition to Pegula in the final, Emma Navarro also reached the semi-finals, thus maintaining the interest of the home fans.
This year's US Open has a total prize value of up to 75 million USD, with the singles champions each receiving 3.6 million USD.
