Tickets for the men's semi-final between top seed Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov at the US Open plummeted on resale sites to as low as $19 on the eve of the match, cheaper than the tournament's signature Honey Deuce cocktail.
As per ticket resale site StubHub, via journalist Ben Rothenberg, the lowest prices for Friday afternoon's session were $19 and $21. That meant fans could watch up to five sets of Grand Slam tennis for less than the $23 charged for a Honey Deuce, the vodka-based drink synonymous with the tournament.
A sharp reversal from sky-high resale prices
The drop is a reversal from the build-up to the tournament, when most of the ticket headlines centred on sky-high resale prices. Grounds passes for the first week of the US Open, with a face value of $65, were being sold on the secondary market for upwards of $300.
The United States Tennis Association is powerless to stop tickets being resold for far more than their initial value, but the tournament's organisers do receive what is described as a 'legal share revenue' from seats sold through Ticketmaster, their official resale partner.
Many fans took advantage of the cut-price deals for seats in the upper levels of the more than 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium, the tournament's main show court. But the pricier lower bowl looked visibly more sparse than organisers may have hoped for.
Price data shows a broader drop
The fall was not confined to a single match. According to TicketData, the average price of the cheapest ticket across both day and night sessions on Day 13 of the tournament dropped from $319 in 2025 to $244 this year.
Night session demand for Shelton and Tiafoe
Demand remains far higher for Day 13's night session, which features two Americans, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, competing to become the first home favourite to win a Grand Slam singles title in 23 years.
Shelton and Tiafoe were scheduled second on men's semi-final day despite Zverev having played his quarter-final on Wednesday rather than Tuesday, with organisers keeping one eye on the demands of broadcasters' primetime slot.
Alcaraz and Sinner's absence looms large
The dip in prices throws into relief how important the sport's biggest men's stars, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have become to contemporary tennis.
Last season, the pair's rivalry was played out over three of the four Grand Slam finals. This year, form and fitness have kept Alcaraz and Sinner apart in the biggest matches on tour.
Last year, both players featured on Day 13, with Alcaraz beating world No.1 Sinner in their eventual final on the Sunday. On host broadcaster ABC, that clash averaged 3 million viewers, an 82 per cent rise on 2024.
Viewership slips across the majors
This year, viewing figures have been more modest across the sport's biggest events. The French Open, contested by Zverev and Flavio Cobolli, drew a 20-year viewing low, with just 1.3 million viewers tuning in across broadcasters TNT and truTV.
Wimbledon viewers were also less tempted than they were by 2025's Alcaraz-Sinner meeting a year on, with the BBC registering a peak of 5.95 million for Sinner's four-set defeat of Zverev. That was down on the previous year's 8.3 million, and on the 7.5 million who watched Alcaraz's second Wimbledon final, against Novak Djokovic, in 2024.
Injuries reshaped this year's US Open
Sinner withdrew from this year's US Open on the eve of the tournament as he continued to suffer from inflammation in his knee.
Alcaraz returned to competitive action in New York after four months nursing a wrist injury, but was knocked out in a five-set classic by Shelton. The quarter-final clash would have sent viewership soaring, organisers might have hoped, had it not finished in the early hours at 3.34am on Wednesday morning.
