President Donald Trump’s arrival at the U.S. Open men’s singles final appeared to cause delayed entry for spectators, resulting in long lines of frustrated fans and empty seats in the sprawling Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz kicked off at 2:30 p.m. ET, which was half an hour later than its originally scheduled time due to “security measures in place” and to “ensure that fans have additional time to get to their seats,” the U.S. Open wrote on X.
Trump walked around to wave to the crowd at around 1:45 p.m. as the stadium was just about 10% full and was met with a wave of mixed cheers and boos. He then took his seat at the Rolex box located at midcourt.
He was joined by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and granddaughter Arabella Kushner.
The absence of the usually packed crowd was noticeable.
One announcer noted on air: “So many still waiting in security lines to get in, a lot of them were caught off guard ... not told to prepare for this.” Another announcer added, “That’s a bummer. These two are going at it,” referring to the two top-ranked players.
Leah Gomberg, 57, said she waited for about four hours, including in unexpected traffic and security lines, to get in.
She described seeing 30 TSA-level security scanners at the entry to Arthur Ashe stadium, which she described as unusual at the U.S. Open. Gomberg said she waited an hour and 20 minutes to just to reach the scanners.
“There’s like thousands and thousands of people and it’s already one set through. We’ve all paid a lot of money to get into our seats and we can’t,” she told NBC News before gaining entry at 3:50 p.m.
“Everybody is pissed off and there was a lot of booing in the beginning. People from all over the world are standing here because they came to the U.S. Open to see tennis,” Gomberg continued. “Now it’s half-empty in there, although all the famous people are there, and of course Mr. Trump is in there, but not the people who paid a lot of money for their tickets.”
Gomberg said the traffic started on the highway en route to the stadium.
“We actually were stuck on the highway and got out of the car and walked more than a mile, and left my husband to try to find parking,” she said. “He had to park on the other side of the Open on the streets because they just stopped people. There was no getting into parking.”
Attendee Princess Doe said she had been waiting more than an hour in line to enter the match after arriving to the stadium at 1:30 p.m.
“Kind of disappointed about how much money I spent on my ticket,” said Doe, who is visiting from Toronto and spent around $635 on her ticket. “This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I was excited to come and enjoy my time in New York here, but yeah, it’s been a little disappointing to say the least.”
She described the crowd as “frustrated but polite” as it watched the match from big screens as they waited in line.
“I knew there was going to be enhanced security checks, like we got that the day before, notifications. But not to this extent at all,” Doe said.
