By Tennis Now Staff | @Tennis_Now | Monday, September 11, 2024
The US Open celebrated 50 years of equal prize money.
Players and fans pumped up the party to record-setting levels.
More: Djokovic Captures 24th Grand Slam Title
The USTA today released some 2023 US Open stats that show record-setting attendance and digital growth to the tournament's official website.
Among the stats, officials issued today:
On the Court
Nineteen-year-old American Coco Gauff captured the hearts of America by winning her first major singles title, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in front of a record women’s singles crowd of 28,143.
Gauff is only the third American teenager to win the US Open women’s singles championship, joining Serena Williams (1999) and Tracy Austin (1979, ‘81), and her gutsy, come-from-behind performances – three victories coming after losing the first set – had only been matched in the Open Era by Serena Williams in 1999.
Novak Djokovic won his record-extending 24th Grand Slam men’s singles title, defeating Daniil Medvedev. It’s the fourth US Open men’s singles title for the 36-year-old Serbian, who is now the oldest men’s singles champion in US Open history. No other player has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era (since 1968).
Americans continued to set the pace for the world at large on the court. Forty-three Americans competed in the men’s and women’s singles main draws at the US Open, capping a year in which the U.S. led all nations in singles main draw participants at every Grand Slam. Four Americans reached the second week of the main draw in both men’s and women’s singles, the first year for those numbers together since 2002.
Three U.S. men – 25-year olds Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe and 20-year-old Ben Shelton – also reached the quarterfinals, the most at the US Open since 2005, while Shelton became the youngest American US Open men’s semifinalist since Andy Roddick in 2002.
Dutch wheelchair player Diede de Groot won her sixth US Open singles title, tying Esther Vergeer’s record, and her 12th consecutive wheelchair major, completing three consecutive calendar-year Grand Slams. The US Open Wheelchair Championships contested the first Wheelchair Grand Slam event where all three adult divisions – men’s, women’s and quad – had 16 competitors in the singles field and eight teams in the doubles field.
Record-Breaking Attendance
The US Open reached new heights for attendance in 2023, breaking its two- and three-week attendance records and becoming the first Grand Slam to welcome more than 950,000 spectators over a three-week period.
The US Open welcomed 957,387 fans over the 20 days encompassing the Main Draw and Fan Week, a near 8-percent increase over 2022. The US Open's 2023 main draw attendance was a US Open record 799,402. All 25 sessions in Arthur Ashe Stadium sold out for the second year in a row.
The first six days of the main draw were the six highest-attended days in US Open history, while both the Men's (28,804) and Women's Championship (28,143) sessions were the highest-attended Championship sessions in US Open history. The record Fan Week attendance of 157,985 outpaced 2022 by 41 percent.
Digital and Social Growth
The US Open's digital platforms, powered by IBM, had a record-setting year with traffic of over 15 million unique devices during the event's three weeks, a 17-percent increase over 2022. Total interactions and views across the US Open's official social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat reached over 1.5 billion engagements over Fan Week and the Main Draw, an all-time high and 50-percent growth over 2022. More than 3 million unique devices viewed news articles on USOpen.org and the US Open app through the three weeks of the event, a 40-percent increase over 2022. The US Open's Champions of the Court experience on Roblox had over 1.2 million total visits in its first 18 days. Worldwide Viewership
Over 15,000 hours of US Open coverage from all 951 competition matches were produced for broadcast on 50-plus channels in more than 175 countries and territories. Domestic broadcast highlights from ESPN and its networks' 2023 coverage included nearly 140 hours on TV, via ESPN and ESPN2, and live coverage on ABC on the middle Sunday of the main draw for the first time ever. More than 1,000 hours of coverage from all matches and courts streamed live on the ESPNApp, across ESPN+ and ESPN3.
Growing the Game
The USTA committed $3 million—equaling the singles champions' prize money—to the refurbishment of up to 200 courts across the country in Coco Gauff's name as part of the newly created US Open Legacy Initiative. In future cases of an American US Open Men’s or Women’s Singles Champion, the USTA will make a similar commitment to advancing the USTA mission of promoting and developing the growth of tennis across the country.
Celebrating 50 Years of Equal Prize Money
The celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Equal Prize Money was a prominent theme throughout the event.
Billie Jean King helped open the tournament, as part of a powerful Opening Night ceremony that featured former First Lady Michelle Obama, and also closed it, handing off the Women’s Singles championship trophy to the youngest American US Open women’s singles champion in 24 years.
The celebration of equality also culminated with Champions of Equality, a Be Open event presented by Cadillac, that saw King and Venus Williams earn special recognition during a dynamic conversation with General Motors’ Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Telva McGruder and renowned broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour. Sixteen pioneering women from the USTA Sections were also honored at the event for their leadership in promoting equality at the grassroots levels.
Photo credit: USTA/US Open