One of the reasons why the US Open remains the biggest tournament in tennis is its prime location in America’s most famous locale, New York City.
The Big Apple’s glitz and glam attracts visitors from around the world, and it is not surprising that many players have considered the US Open one of their favorite Grand Slams.
“I just love it here. I love the crowd. You know what, I love this court. The center court for me is amazing. I have so many wonderful moments on center court. Just wonderful everything. For me, when I think back, I just think about everything. I love the United States, I love being home, and there’s no place like home.”
- Serena Williams
“It’s a great city, it’s a big city. Everything is very big here. Every Grand Slam is different. This one is definitely different from the other tournaments. It has its own special atmosphere. It’s nice to be in New York. I like it.”
- Anna Kournikova
“It’s more a show here, I think. It’s more of a big, big show. Here in the States, you know, people only look at the US Open, and that’s the main event for them. I mean, for us it’s one of the big ones. Of course, you want to do well. But, yeah, to me the special thing here is the show.”
- Amelie Mauresmo
“Wimbledon is a little bit way out. . . Paris is like more the French style, and London more conservative as the English are. This is just Americans, crazy, wild, but I love it.”
– Martina Hingis
“There’s just so many things to do, and it’s a vibe. With every year I’ve gotten to appreciate it more and more. It has like a buzz. When you’re walking down the street, usually I don’t like to walk, I’d much rather drive, but here I can walk all day. It would actually be cool to put on a suit, walk around the city and go to work or jump in a Yellow cab. There’s so many interesting things about it.
Every little town you go to, it seems like you have a hip part of town, you have an older part of town, you have the new town coming up. And the food, I mean, I’ve had a meal at a different restaurant every single night, and I haven’t had a bad meal, and I’m a big food fan. Every year I come back to like 10 new restaurants to go to. So that’s always fun. And the shows.
It doesn’t seem like people could actually live here. I don’t picture New York having a grocery store or something. It just seems like this huge amusement park from ride to ride.”
– Maria Sharapova
“I love every Grand Slam. Here, maybe it’s a little bit more exciting being at this one, just because there’s so many more people; a lot of hype when it comes down to the US Open and, of course, New York, staying in the city. It’s not like any other place.”
– Jennifer Capriati
