Arthur Ashe Stadium Renovated: USTA Invests $800 Million
New York – Arthur Ashe Stadium, home of the US Open, will undergo a major renovation as part of an $800 million project announced this Monday. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) describes it as “the largest single investment” in the history of its Grand Slam tournament.USTA will fund the improvements at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows without the help of the city government.
According to an antitrust class action lawsuit filed in March in a New York federal court by a group of players co-founded by Novak Djokovic, the four most important tennis tournaments (US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros and Australian Open) “generated more than $1.5 billion in 2024, while only paying between 10% and 20% of the revenue to the players”.
In April, Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, among 20 other elite tennis players, signed a letter addressed to the directors of the Grand Slam tournaments, requesting an increase in prize money and greater participation in what they called “decisions that directly impact us”.
The USTA has assured that there will be no interruptions in the playing schedule or in public access for the next two editions of the US Open. Play in the main draw this year will begin on August 24, with a start on a Sunday for the first time in the Open era, which began in 1968, and a fifteenth day of competition will be added.
USTA’s works, which are expected to be completed for the 2027 US Open, are expected to include the construction of a high-performance center for players at a cost of 250 million dollars.
The new player area will be next to the practice courts and will feature additional courts, locker rooms, and lounges.
Ashe’s court-level seating capacity will increase from 3,000 to 5,000, while some seats in other sections will be removed, keeping the stadium’s total similar to the current one, around 23,000 to 24,000, the largest in Grand Slam tennis. The stadium, which opened in 1997 and has had a retractable roof since 2016, will also have a new “main entrance”, two new levels of luxury suites, more club and restaurant areas, larger and renovated hallways and restrooms, and more escalators and elevators.
