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 22 through Saturday, August 28, 2027, immediately before the ticketed main draw begins on August 29. 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.
Recent editions have packed the week with extras beyond the tennis itself — a Kids' Day stadium show, celebrity exhibitions (2026 brought Roger Federer back to Arthur Ashe Stadium for a one-night exhibition with Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, and John McEnroe), themed fan nights, and a block party with DJs and a silent disco at Fountain Plaza, the open square at the center of the grounds. The exact 2027 lineup isn't published yet; check the official US Open app or usopen.org in the weeks before Fan Week for the confirmed schedule rather than assuming a prior year's programming repeats exactly. 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 Fan Week starts carries its own incentive in recent years: entry into a draw for Men's Final tickets, the single hardest match of the tournament to get into by any other route — confirm whether this incentive is running for 2027 via the official app. 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.
