NEW YORK—It’s hard to think of a sporting event where the difference between the players and the fans is as vast as is it on the last day of the U.S. Open qualies. For the competitors, this is a life and death moment—or at least a “make a living or don’t make a living” moment. All of them have won two matches this week, but they need to win one more to get where they want to go.
That's the main draw, of course, the Big Show, and in 2013 getting there means even more to these struggling pros; 39 percent more, to be exact. That’s how much the Open has increased the prize money for first-round losers this year. The 32 winners today will be guaranteed to walk out of Queens with $32,000 dollars. That’s enough to make life a good deal more secure on the road for the rest of the season. The clearest sign of how important it is to the players comes when they shake hands. Forget the hugs and grins we see from the stars on the ATP tour these days. Here the players are more likely to greet each other with a cold clap of the hand. It’s hard to ask more of the loser. When a match between two big-name pros ends, the player who didn’t win still walks off a millionaire. Not in the qualies.
For the fans, of course, life is a little different. In theory, they understand what this day means to these players, and when a qualie veteran like Donald Young is in action, they gather round to root him on. But for the spectators this is mostly a chance to enjoy a fine, warm, sunny weekday afternoon. For now, there’s room to walk on the grounds and sit in the stands, the lines at the food court are nonexistent, and no one has paid a dime to be here—aside from the $21 to park and the $15 for a brisket sandwich, of course, but we won’t count that now.
Retirees, students, tourists, slackers, the unemployed, moms and their kids, the tennis obsessed decked out in their playing clothes: We wander from match to match, trying to pronounce the players’ names. For the most part, the applause is light, but the chatter is conducted at the normal New York volume. Twice when cell phones rang near me today, the owners weren’t in any hurry to turn them off.
Desperation on court, diffidence off it: That was the theme at Flushing Meadows, as the U.S. Open continued to stir to life. Here are four highlights from do-or-die Friday.