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By HOWARD FENDRICH
NEW YORK – Loud shouts and warm applause returned at the US Open tennis tournament on August 30, bursts of sound that offered some form of reaction to almost every action. Also back: long lines to go through the doors and buy something to eat or drink.
One year after spectators were totally banned from Flushing Meadows due to the coronavirus pandemic, imparting a dystopian feel to a normally lively event, 100% capacity is again allowed – proof of vaccination required; no mask required – at this and other sporting events.
College football resumed on Saturday, with tens of thousands in attendance for clashes such as Illinois vs. Nebraska or Hawaii vs. UCLA. The NFL lets its teams sell every ticket for the regular season; its first Sunday is September 12.
It’s hard to say that there has been a recent increase in COVID-19 cases thanks to the highly contagious delta variant. Ready or not, our fun and our games are progressing, with full stages and, in some cases, few protocols.
“Playing without fans here last year was brutal,” 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium after beating Madison Keys in three sets in a rematch of their all-American final four years ago.
As for Monday’s varying degrees of noise, including what she called “calling at random times”?
“We missed it all,” Stephens said.
Yes, we have all done it.
Having an audience there makes it all mean more – for those who participate and for those who watch, who are more than part of the landscape.
They are a character in the series.
“After all, that’s what we’re here for. We try to give them the best performance possible, ”said Lloyd Harris, a South African who is due to play on Tuesday. “For me, the more I play in front of people, the bigger the audience, the better I play tennis.”
The people in the seats add to the soundtrack, as Stephens noted, but also to the pageantry, the whirlwind of emotions for everyone involved, providing a human element at a time when it is disappearing in many ways. regards. Just one example: this US Open is the first without a single line judge on any court, just chair umpires assisted by an electronic line call system.
Elsewhere, however, people were everywhere.
They ordered the Honey Deuce, billed as the signature US Open cocktail, served for $ 20 in a souvenir glass.
They stood along the aisle between Court 13 – where Serbian Dusan Lajovic beat French Benoit Paire – and Court 14 – where Canadian Leylah Fernandez knocked out Croatian Ana Konjuh.
A particularly noisy group at Court 5 offered their support to Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman, two-time US Open quarter-finalist.
“The event has changed 100 percent. It’s a whole different feeling, ”said Schwartzman, adding that he“ also feels a little weird ”to be at the first Grand Slam tournament in over 18 months at full capacity.
Occasionally, a sound explosion could be heard in one of the 16 courts hosting the action.
There is something significant about the shared experience that is simply missing when we are atomized, fragmented, forced to be separated from each other, as we have been in recent times. Sports, along with other forms of entertainment, provide a certain escape from everyday life.
Maybe that’s why Americans go to Broadway shows, to theaters, to music concerts. All despite the number of deaths from COVID-19 rising to more than 1,200 per day across the country, the highest level since mid-March. New cases per day are on average over 155,000, going back to where things were in January.
That’s why there was a hint of concern on the part of Juan Manuel Gómez, a fan from Guadalajara, Mexico, who watched Roland Garros finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas train on Monday.
“We know there was a risk, but we think it was worth taking,” said Gómez, whose wife, Lety, shot a video of Tsitsipas with her phone.
Of visiting Times Square while on vacation with their two sons, ages 9 and 13, she said, “We feel safe here,” knowing that onlookers had to show proof of vaccination to enter.
According to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outside, even among crowds – unless they can avoid close contact with unvaccinated people. . (The vaccination requirement does not apply to players, about half of whom have been shot.)
Pat James, a 65-year-old retiree from Mendham, New Jersey, who was with her friend and neighbor, Barbara Ruggeri, was elated when the American Tennis Association was pushed by the New York mayor’s office to add the requirement last week.
“I actually didn’t have as much apprehension about COVID as other issues, like terrorism,” said James, after posing for a photo with the Unisphere at the New York World’s Fair. from 1964 which is located not far from one of the main entrances to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “I had a bit of apprehension last night. But we are both vaccinated. When we entered a crowd, we put on our masks. I just wish people would get vaccinated, then this would end. “
Even though no one knows when “it” will really end, the hustle and bustle of our lives seems to be on the way back.
Definitely for two weeks at Flushing Meadows, anyway. We are far from 2020.
“You can’t compare the atmosphere. It’s much better. You feel the energy. You feel alive on the pitch, ”said Simona Halep, two-time Grand Slam champion who autographed hats and tennis balls thrown at her by frontline fans after a victory over Camila Giorgi in the stands. “So, yes, I hope we will stay like this forever now.”
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