The US Open Series is generally considered a success, but calling it a mild success is probably more accurate than calling it a resounding one. It has helped bring publicity to the sport, and reminds the casual fan there are tournaments in between Wimbledon and the US Open. However, certain tournaments that used to be a part of it have folded, and others have struggled to gain traction. Other events, such as the Citi Open in Washington DC, have fared better. In some ways, the future of the US Open Series is out of the ATP and WTA Tour’s hands, although there are some steps they can take to help it thrive.
For the men, it’s time to accept that the top European players aren’t coming to play low level tournaments in the scorching hot American summer just to get a little extra money. While the Series does offer nice bonuses, they simply aren’t enough to draw in the “Big Four”, who regularly rake in 20-60 million dollars a year. Given that the elite men aren’t going to play any time soon (until the Cincinnati and Canadian Masters tournaments roll around), is there anything that can be done to boost the popularity of the Series?
Fortunately, on the women’s side there are more top American players, so it isn’t hard to draw the top players to the Series. There is also a strong group of young American women about to break through. Thus, the WTA Tour shouldn’t struggle to attract top players at these tournaments going forward. Since American sports fans like feeling like they are watching the best in the world, this is extremely beneficial from a marketing standpoint.
While hard core tennis fans would go to a futures or a challenger tournament if it was in their city (just for the chance to see high quality live tennis), this doesn’t define most people who would consider buying tickets to one of the tournaments. Most people who are general sports fans with some interest in tennis are only going to pay good money to go if they recognize enough names, and feel like they’re watching the stars (or at least players who are well on their way).
The best chance to boost the popularity of the US Open Series, at least on the men’s side, is for some young American players to start breaking through. Naturally, the more success American players have throughout the year, the more excited fans are going to be about the prospect of watching them play when they come to their city. If Jack Sock, and in upcoming years Francis Tiafoe, Jared Donaldson and Stefan Kozlov become top players, fans won’t want to pass up the chance of watching them play.
If this doesn’t happen, the tournaments will be forced to try some other tricks. It might be easier to get some of Europe’s top players to join the Series earlier if some tournaments were played in cooler climates. It’s not hard to see why grinding it out in 100 degree heat in the South for relatively little prize money and ranking points isn’t appealing to top pros who would rather extend their post Wimbledon beach vacation another week. Putting a tournament in the extremely populated and somewhat cooler Chicago area could be a big help.
Combined events also generally seem to work out well, as putting the men and women together seems to boost the prestige of an event. Tournaments could also focus more on bringing some of the game’s upcoming stars to the Series. If you can’t advertise that grand slam champions are coming to your event, why not try claiming the next generation of champions is in the field. These tournaments provide a good opportunity for some younger international stars to make themselves known to an American audience, which certainly won’t hurt their future endorsement potential. Throwing some appearance fees at the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev or Dominic Thiem may be a little unorthodox (as such fees are usually reserved for the bigger and more experienced stars), but it could help bring some future stars to the earlier tournaments in the Series.
Hopefully (at least for American tennis fans) there will be some American players who are competing at the games highest level throughout the year. While this would be the easiest solution for the US Open Series, it certainly isn’t the only one. So long as it isn’t afraid to keep evolving, and realizes what it is, the US Open Series should be able to maintain or even expand its place in the game.
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