[HunterM]

Just to echo what a few of you have already said...

I've been lucky enough to be on Center Court at both Wimbledon and Roland Garros. In both stadiums I had seats that were in almost the last row, as far away from the court as you can get, and in both cases the seats were great. Of course it's not like being down in front, but it was still possible to be extremely engaged. You could see the ball, the players, the lines, etc. Fun stuff.

A few years ago I went to the US Open. I got on Ticketmaster the second that tickets went on sale. I was there during the middle weekend (Friday through Sunday). The only tickets I was able to get were in the 300's in Ashe. I'd heard that the view there wasn't very good, but man, that's an understatement. There was no point in trying to watch tennis. It was as if the players were playing ping pong a mile away. I'm a pretty die hard tennis fan and I found it very very hard to stay engaged. In fact, I ended up leaving after a match and a half.

By the way, I got tickets for center court for both Wimbledon and RG through the processes set up by the tournament and not through scalpers. I was really pissed when I couldn't get tickets in at least the 200's on Ashe for the US Open through the process set up by the tournament. It left a really sour taste in my mouth.

To compound the problem, at Wimbledon and Roland Garros they usually only schedule three matches per day on Center Court, which means that if you have seats for the 2nd or 3rd largest court, you'll still see at least one marquee player (and usually more). However, because of the night matches at the US Open, 5 matches a day are usually scheduled on Ashe, so you have a much smaller chance of seeing marquee players on any other court.

To me, it's just another example of money being the be all and end all of all decisions made and in the end, it's going to be a huge problem. Shorten the season? No, too much revenue lost. OK, then instead you'll have the marquee players (who play the most because they win the most and are hence the most beloved by fans and the biggest money makers) getting injured a lot, meaning that tournaments end up losing revenue anyway when those players pull out of tournaments and fans don't show up.

Another example is when good seats are given to corporate sponsors. This rant is nothing new, but it's really galling when a true tennis fan has to sit far away but corporate big wigs, who "watch" the match while texting, eating in a restaurant somewhere away from the tennis court, and talking incessantly to whomever they brought to the match with them and who leave the match before it even finishes, get to sit right close to the action. It's basically a big slap in the face to fans. I for one will probably never go back to the US Open. Wimbledon resells tickets when fans leave. Gosh, if they can do it, why can't the US Open do it?

Anyway, back to seating in Ashe. Did they realize when they built it how bad the view would be from the 300's? If they didn't, they should have planned it better, and if they did, then it just shows that they really don't care about the tennis fans' experience. Either way, to be very juvenile, the USTA sucks.

Sorry to be so negative, but to not be able to enjoy the Slam that's in my native country really ticks me off

Kevin