US Open

Going to the US Open has long been on the bucket list for me. It's a sport I'm terrible at, but really enjoy watching. The athleticism of the players is astounding and getting to see them play live is an experience I'll cherish. 

When we originally purchased our tickets, we didn't know which players we'd actually see. The weekend we were there, we knew would be the Round of 16 so at least we knew the likelihood of some of the top players making it that far was fairly high. To better our chances of seeing a variety of matches we bought day tickets to the Arthur Ashe stadium which guaranteed your seats in that stadium but also allowed you to drop into the other stadiums for opening seating. Our original plan was to go for a one day session, but after some further research we decided to buy a couple other sessions including a night session at Arthur Ashe (which ended up being a very good bet) and another day session at the Louis Armstrong stadium. 

The US Open is held in Queens at Flushing Meadows. This was about a 45 minute subway train ride away but also involved about a 15 minute walk from our second hotel, Le Meridien Fifth Avenue, to get on the right train so we only had to take one instead of changing. We wanted the most direct train because we figured changing trains would probably mean that the closer we got to Queens, the more packed the train would be. We were right even for the direct train; by the time we arrived at Flushing Meadows we were pretty much packed like sardines in a can, or in this case, a train. 

The tournament is very well organized and the staff very nice and helpful. We read about very strict security protocol and what you can and cannot bring into the tournament. We followed the rules to a tee (surprising!!) and found security a bit more relaxed than we read about. There is plenty to do and see on the grounds outside of the stadiums and even if you don't have tickets to the main stadium matches, you can watch them on gigantic TV screens outside. 

I think we got so lucky with the passes we bought and got to see some of the world's top ranking players without realizing beforehand that we'd see them. We saw Iga Swiatek - world's #1 woman, play in two separate matches; Americans Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton - in Ben's match we witness him serve the US Open's new record for fastest serve at 149mph and he did it TWICE! We watched a women's double match featuring Canada's Layla Fernadez and her partner Taylor Townsend win. We also saw Taylor Townsend in another match playing singles. But the absolute treat was having tickets to the evening session Sunday night. At the time we bought the tickets we had no clue who would be featured at this main event match. We only finally figured out who might possibly play two days before and we got really excited. Love him or hate him, Sunday night's main evening match featured Novak Djokovic vs Borna Gogo. Djokovic's skill, his precision, and his grit is astonishing. His play is calculated, his ball placement is almost always precise, and he has a way of digging deep to win the point even if it looks like he's going to loose it. There's a reason he is the world's #1 men's player and has won 24 grand slam titles. Watching this match was by far the highlight of the entire tournament and trip for me! What an absolute treat! 

This trip did not disappoint. We packed in a lot, more than originally planned, but we wanted to make the most of the opportunity. The city that never sleeps has again created lasting memories! 

To travel is to live... life is good!