The 2024 US Open was a LETDOWN

The 2024 US Open has ended, and many fans, myself included, were left feeling underwhelmed by this year’s final major. Was it the drop in tennis quality? The 'aura-less' men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz? The sky-high ticket prices? Or maybe the nonstop Taylor Swift posts? I'll dive into all of this and more.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:33 - The highlights of the Open
3:15 - How Carlos Alcaraz ruined the men’s draw
7:00 - Storylines cut short: Osaka, Collins, Shelton
9:04 - Big matchups, big disappointment
18:16 - Why was the tennis so mid?
20:28 - The fan/celebrity problem

[ChristiansCourt]

How did you enjoy this year's US Open compared to year's past? Did any of y'all attend the tournament in person?

[breaellis]

The highlights for me was the Zhang vs Vekic, Tiafoe vs Shelton, and Popyrin vs Novak. I also was happy for Sab for winning

[YarnGeek]

Ticket prices are getting out of control. My uncle would go to the US Open every year. But even ground pass was too much for him. He ended up going during fan week but it’s sad for fans to be priced out now.

[MichaelTTT-inhr]

I think it is a tad childish to call the tournament "letdown" because your favorite players lost earlier than you would like. It is a fan perspective, while you're trying to be a tennis observer. Still your channel is one of the good ones. I don't always agree with your takes, but you are honest and you obviously love the game. Keep up the good work. Try to be more neutral though.

[apathylovescompany]

The US Open had so much potential however the Olympics on clay this year drained so many of the players, especially Carlos and Nole. I enjoyed the women’s matches much more. The best Men’s final was definitely at the Olympics between Carlos and Nole. This should’ve taken place at the US Open. Oh well the tennis schedule is insane and we end up with a mid US open this year. Appreciate your point of views! 🫡

[yolandasmith]

I absolutely noticed that there was a difference in the crowds cheering. I didn't know why. The umpires didn't even have to quiet them down much when an American was playing an opposite country. Back in the day, the players did not have to beg the audience to cheer them on like they have to do nowadays. It is sad. You never saw Big Foe, Serena, Venus, Nadal, Feder, etc, doing it. On Instagram, they used to feature tennis players, not basketball players or movie stars, etc. It was interesting how they were following Steph Curry and wife around. I think he is a true fan. But I didn't think about the reason the cheering was mediocre this year. I am still miffed about Ben and Francis not scheduled to play at night!

[Tennislover-xe]

Wow
just amazing man❤
it is a complete video covering everything from the smallest
keep it up and best of luck 🔥

[Comma_jamaal]

Very underwhelming. The Tiafoe v Sinner would have been electrifying. I think Pegula vs Sab was really great tho. But I prefer to watch women’s tennis anyways

[amymalina]

I have to agree. The two matches where Alcaraz and Djokovic lost were very shocking and exciting but for me, that was the height of the tournament.The women’s final was an exciting match though.

When top players get eliminated it sometimes seems to upset the apple cart of the rest of the tournament. The men’s final felt unbalanced with players that were not quite on the same level.

[ObservingtheMatrix]

I also feel like tennis media really doesn’t do a good job of doing more than broadcasting. I even really like Andy Rodrick’s show but they could get me more interested if they just actually do more post match commentary

[Jeannine_]

Thanks for your commentary about the state of tennis and the US Open, it was definitely “mid” this year. I went during fan week which is cool but changes were made that I didn’t like and it is becoming too expensive for most working and middle class fans to enjoy.

Ticket prices are too high across board, so you just have the ultra rich or wealthy some who don’t even like tennis but r just there for clout purposes

[beatricepiccoli]

Are you sure you are not biased? Because US Open surpassed 1 million attendees for the first time in 2024, with 1, 048, 669 fans coming the venue throughout the Open's full three weeks - 8% increase over 2023.
Attendance for the 2 weeks of the Main Draw reached a new high mark of 832, 640.

[gb]

The play was so slow, the towel boxes were so far away from service line, players toweled off after every point, numerous ball bounces pre serve, faulty serve tosses, multiple let’s, leaving court between sets, trainer breaks, incessant chatter to coaching boxes, together it just makes watching worse

[erickent]

I don't think all the matches were bad, but I totally was down for the rant about ticket prices and the focus on celebrity, Wimbledon deserved that same speech too. The best matches in these slams tend to be in the first two rounds, and often on small courts, from players we barely know. And people say hey there were millions of people there, but there are still almost nobody watching some of these players, matches on grandstand that look like they have 30 people in the stand.

[antotot]

So what’s the solution for all this upsets? Take control of the ball from the outside with a crazy technology to let win the favourite of a match? At the end of the day Tennis is like this, two individuals hitting a ball with a racket. Everything can happen and, instead of seeing this as a bad thing, this should be the beauty of this amazing sport. The fact that every single point matters. I’m sorry but the perfect Tournament does not exist.
I agree with you with some of the things you mentioned, like the high ticket prices and the social media management that was soo focused on celebrities instead of players. But at the end we have to unknowledge that this was the most successfull US open in history (talking about US open views and fans).

[martyna]

That's a very strange comment, because Sinner answered numerous questions about the scandal, and it was constantly being reported by many people. It's just that Sinner is no drama. But Gosh, do you realise that a lot of people appreciate that? Your need for this type of drama from every player is definitely not the need of the majority of tennis fans.

[alfonsodiez]

Not the Korda mention opening up the draw as if he was a contender in the first place 💀

[RobertoCanu]

I really don't get it, we witnessed the ATP number 1 and the WTA number 2 winning this slam for the first time.

Fritz and Pegula reached their first final in their home slam.

Overall it turned out great, awarding the Americans who wanted the final so badly and confirming the hard court champions after the Australian open.

[TunedIntoTennis]

Personally i don’t think anything is “wrong” with people leaving matches when it becomes uncompetitive like the final set of Fritz and Tiafoe. That happens often in every sport really lol. And there are pros and cons with notable celebrities or influencers coming to a sporting event, yes it might make tickets more expensive but it also broadens the exposure of the event which i think tennis in America is truthfully after. What they’ve done tho and i have to give them credit, it make the matches much more accessible digitally. Extended, condensed and full matches uploaded so soon are great for the die hards who want to nerd out over the matches. So all in all i think they’re moving in a good direction. Ground pass tickets should definitely not be 200 bucks tho.

[eaglej]

Great video and analysis, Christian. One of the worst developments was Rybakina withdrawing, and I really fear for her health. On the plus side, i do love the flow of the fast hard courts - it's fun to watch. Unfortunately, you're on point about American fans and the atmosphere, and as such it's probably the worst of the 4 majors. The only difference is, American players used to win tournaments, but that doesn't explain the apathy during Fritz-Foe, which was just head-scratching. The women's side did have some pretty good matches, and the wild comeback in Set 5 by Evans, which i didn't see. Great work. Cheers.