Sean O'Bryan
US Open Fan Week — Free Grounds Access Before the Open
Seven days of free grounds access before the main draw begins — qualifying matches, practice courts, no ticket required.
For most fans, the US Open starts on whatever day their ticket says. What that overlooks is the week before it, when the grounds at Flushing Meadows open for free and nobody has an assigned seat.
Fan Week runs Sunday, August 23 through Saturday, August 29, 2026, immediately before the ticketed main draw begins on August 30. Getting in needs nothing more than a free Fan Access Pass, issued through the US Open app to anyone 18 or older. There's no ticket to buy and no seat to book, just a registration.
The US Open Qualifying Tournament plays out across these days: real matches between players fighting for one of the last places in the main draw, not an exhibition. Grandstand, one of the three principal stadium courts, opens up for close viewing of players preparing for the tournament, the same players who'll be behind a paid ticket a week later. There's no fixed seating for most of it — you watch from wherever you can find room at the fence.
The calendar has its own headline dates inside the week. Arthur Ashe Kids' Day opens Fan Week on August 23, with a stadium show inside Arthur Ashe itself. A Roger Federer exhibition is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25 at 7pm — worth confirming closer to the date, since names on these programs can shift before the night itself. Thursday, August 27 at 6pm brings Stars of the Open, presented by Chase.
Fountain Plaza, the open square at the center of the grounds, runs its own program on top of all this: the third annual US Open Block Party, DJs running from hip-hop to Afrobeats through the afternoon into the night, and the second annual Silent Disco. Tiffany & Co., Wilson, Cadillac, American Express, and a Polo Ralph Lauren pop-up all run activations across the grounds, and the food and drink stands are the same ones that serve the main draw, Honey Deuce included, if you want to start the ritual a week early.
Registering before August 23 carries its own incentive: it enters you into a draw for tickets to the Men's Final, the single hardest match of the tournament to get into by any other route. Getting to the grounds is the same as any other day at Flushing Meadows — the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station runs about seven dollars and drops you at Mets-Willets Point, right at the gates, skipping the transfer most 7-train riders end up making.
Why it's special
Every pack we build follows the same instinct: find where the real trip-planning decision actually lives, which is rarely where the marketing points. Fan Week is exactly that kind of blind spot. Fans spend months deciding which session to book for the main draw and never notice that the week before it is not only free, it's arguably the more intimate version of the same tournament — practice courts without a rope line, Grandstand without an assigned seat, a park-wide block party with nothing to do with a ticket at all. It deserves equal billing with the main draw, not a footnote underneath it. For a first-time visitor or anyone on a budget, it's the difference between watching from a stand in September and standing close enough in August to actually remember the players' faces.
Insider tips
- 1
Grandstand is where Fan Week's closest practice viewing happens — there's no assigned seating, so arrive before the courts fill up as players prepare for the main draw.
- 2
The Roger Federer exhibition (Tue 25 Aug, 7pm) and Stars of the Open presented by Chase (Thu 27 Aug, 6pm) are the two nights worth building a day around — confirm the lineup on usopen.org closer to the date, since names on these cards can shift.
Practical info
- Hours
- Grounds open daily during Fan Week (Aug 23–29); exact daily gate times are posted on usopen.org closer to each date. For comparison, main-draw gates open 9:30am through Sept 9, 11am Sept 10–13.
- Cost
- Free with a registered Fan Access Pass (18+); food, drink, and merchandise on the grounds are at standard concourse prices.
- Access
- Register free via the US Open app or fanpass.usopen.org. Registering before Sunday, August 23 also enters you into a draw for Men's Final tickets. No purchase, no assigned seat — the pass covers all seven days, Aug 23–29.
- Getting there
- The Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station is about $7 and drops you at Mets-Willets Point, right at the gates — the fastest way in if you'd rather skip the 7 train transfer.
- Address
- USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368
What to avoid
Don't assume the Fan Access Pass carries into the ticketed tournament — it only covers Fan Week itself, Aug 23–29. Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong sessions from Aug 30 onward need a separately purchased ticket. Don't treat August 23 as a soft deadline — it's the actual cutoff for the Men's Final ticket draw, even though grounds entry itself stays open for the rest of the week regardless of when you register.
