The US Open runs a single-elimination draw across two weeks, preceded by a free Fan Week — the character of the grounds shifts sharply as the tournament narrows, a genuinely different atmosphere depending on which day you're there.
The shape of the tournament
Fan Week (23-29 Aug)
Free grounds access, qualifying matches, and the lightest practice-court crowds of the whole event — genuinely the best window for close-up access to top players before the main draw's intensity sets in.
First-week weekdays
Quietly the best days to be there. A Grounds Admission pass covers everything that matters, and you can move between four or five matches in an afternoon without a reserved seat pinning you to one court.
Second week
The draw thins to 16, then 8. Outer-court matches thin out too — fewer matches, bigger gaps in the schedule. What you get instead is real seats at Ashe or Armstrong and the tournament's best remaining tennis.
Semifinals
The formality tightens noticeably. If a genuinely competitive match is the whole point of the trip, this is the window — top players, real stakes, a different crowd energy than the first week's looseness.
Finals weekend
The occasion itself, trophy presentations included. The most formal, least spontaneous version of the US Open. Worth doing once, but not the same loose, wander-the-grounds energy as Fan Week or week one.
Get the full event guide
All 12 planning guides
How each stretch of the tournament actually feels is free above. What it can't do is plan your specific trip — the pack adds the real hour-by-hour, day-by-day itinerary: which day to spend at the grounds, which to give up for a day trip, and how to sequence a night session.
US$10Rises to US$15 after 1 August