You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
And if you’re a lowly tennis journalist who wants to survive in this racket, you don’t rock the boat and go up against the mighty USTA.
But guess what? I didn’t get the memo.
It wasn’t the first time.
So I hopped high upon my soapbox, let ’er rip and got a whole bunch of things off my chest.
The US Open is overcooked. Ticket prices are a slap in the face. Why all the gambling? Why is the future of the Open being modeled after Disneyland? And why isn’t the media getting any respect?
Have we somehow lost the heart and soul of our beloved US Open? What’s going on with this place?
I expected the shit to hit the fan:
Q. Come on, guy. Open your eyes. Isn’t the action fabulous at the Open?
A. Well, there’s no denying that.
Q. Aren’t all those tens of thousands of people voting with their feet? The place is packed to the rafters, even on a Tuesday afternoon.
A. There’s no denying that either.
Q. Come on, brother. With your media credential dangling around your neck, you’ve gotten great seats for almost half a century. Why not show a little gratitude?
A. Fair enough.
Worst of all, I half expected tennis’ Big Brother to send me a nice little note:
“Dear Mr. Simons: We regret to inform you that your media credential for the 2026 US Open has been suspended. Have a good day.”
Well, that dreaded note hasn’t come. Believe me, I appreciate that. So for now I can breathe easy.
Still, my InsideTennis.com story yesterday, “Has the U.S. Open Lost Its Soul?” hit a nerve. Rarely have I gotten such a torrent of feedback – from Wales to Ohio, from Texas to Malibu.
And much to my surprise, instead of telling me to shut up and enjoy the tennis, the response was overwhelmingly supportive.
“Thank God somebody finally said it.”
One reader gushed, “I LOVE this piece – well done. Ballsy!”
Mary (who else?) Carillo quipped, “Preach, my friend, preach.”
Others focused on a core argument I made: “Criticism isn’t disloyalty. Asking difficult questions about something you love is precisely what loyalty requires.”
Then a tennis icon with double-digit Slams gushed, “Incredible article… I’m gonna have to read it three or four more times to let everything soak in. There’s so many facts and history that I haven’t put together yet, but great job. 👏👍”
“Wow,” I thought, “this is getting out of hand.”
Then things got almost absurd. Bill Rochi wrote, “Best thing I’ve read on the Open to date. Tremendous insight and passion.”
“No way,” I told myself. “Not so fast. Hit the brakes. Did you see Matt Futterman’s deep-dive study on the Open’s inflated ticket costs – incredible? Ben Rothenberg’s exposé on gambling was a tour de force. Simon Cambers lifted the curtain on how the tennis media have been crushed at the Open. And Chris Clarey still has game.”
Some fans said they’d never go back to the Open. Too loud. Too much hype. Too many bad decisions.
I was stunned by all the rage.
Steve Devereux wrote, “The US Open has become a complete joke as far as real tennis fans are concerned. It’s been totally corrupted and recently taken over by ‘influencers.’ I’m disgusted and saddened and won’t go back.
“Keep up ‘calling out’ the USTA on behalf of all of us!”
Some gave specific suggestions. Single-elimination junior tournaments are a downer for kids who lose early. We need team play. In the ’80s, there used to be 85 ATP and WTA tourneys in America; now there are 11. Europe has about six times as many as the US. Only a paltry 150 pros can make a living. Tax the Slams ten to fifteen million dollars and make things right.
Then came a blunt question: “How does this new ‘Disneyland’ commercialization get the US a new male Grand Slam champion?”
Many were upset about the USTA’s buy-in with gambling. One reader called it “casinofication.”
Another, FollowTheTour, didn’t hold back: “How does profiting off growing betting addiction align with the stated charter of the USTA?”
They argued that Kalshi, the gambling company the US Open is partnering with, is “expanding the universe of betting markets into elections, natural disasters, climate, Supreme Court and scandals…”
Then came the larger point: the USTA’s stated mission is “To Grow Tennis to Inspire Healthier People and Communities Everywhere. My perspective,” the reader wrote, “is that the USTA is not a not-for-profit…It’s there for all to blatantly see.”
Whew.
Most others were more philosophical.
Jim Block said, “The USTA lost its soul a while ago.”
And when I read Cristina Criswald’s question – “What is the purpose of the US Open anymore?” – I sighed, downed some liquids and went back to tracking US Open matches.
How wonderful – what an intense, captivating celebration of athleticism. Such drama!
And then I thought: Two things can be true at once.
The world’s biggest tennis tournament has problems. And the tournament has serious game – it’s fabulous.
The US Open is complicated.
DON’T CALL IT THE RODDICK CURSE: There are great vibes for Americans this year. For the first time in decades, the Big 3 and a ginger-haired Italian named Jannik are nowhere in sight. Two American women have a chance to finish the tourney as No. 1. And hard-hitting, low-profile Taylor Fritz is zoning. He lost only two games Thursday. Plus, a whole bunch of his American buddies – Big Ben, Big Foe, little Learner, TP, Michelsen and Zheng – are all balling.
American seeds are 28-1. Only Brandon Nakashima has lost. So far, Americans are 11-1 in the third round. Could this finally be the year we break the Roddick curse? Andy won the 2003 Open, then American men’s tennis somehow disappeared into the dust for more than two decades.
THE BEST TENNIS HUSTLER SINCE BOBBY RIGGS: Naomi Osaka said, “I think people forget my main job is to be a mom. This [tennis] is kind of like my side hustle, a little bit. I just happen to be really good at it.”
THE MAGICIAN: Now that Gaël Monfils has played his final Grand Slam, the words of his wife, Elina Svitolina, resonate:
“He always, always, always stayed true. To his own path. To his own style. To his own identity. To his joy for the game…In just one shot, one moment, he could make people feel something…[He] was the best magician.”
WE DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING: The granddaddy of modern men’s tennis, Jack Kramer, once said golf was a better game than tennis. Ouch! That hurt.
Andre Agassi spent almost an entire book telling us he hated tennis. Who knew?
And now Gael Monfils, tennis’s great free spirit – the extrovert who lights up locker rooms and arenas and entertains like no other – confided that at home he has a quiet, buttoned-up side and likes things in order.
And, by the way, La Monf has signed on with a Swiss financial firm and is going to become a suit – a financial analyst.
Oh, well. Dylan went electric. We imagine Peter Pan eventually sat down at a desk on the 32nd floor.
WHO’S NO. 1? For the first time since 2003, all the top 10 women’s seeds reached the third round of the US Open. After two rounds, the top eight seeds hadn’t lost a single set. And when this thing is over, four different women could emerge as No. 1: current leader Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula or Coco Gauff. Rybakina can get there by reaching the semis, while Pegula and Gauff need to win the title.
And, in a random but telling aside, Mary Joe Fernandez named her four favorite backhands in the women’s game: Gauff’s, Mirra Andreeva’s, Amanda Anisimova’s and Sabalenka’s.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: What do Stan Wawrinka, Mary Carillo and Dick Gould have in common? They’re all getting their due – just a little later than some might have expected.
Never mind that Wawrinka was a US Open champion, three-time major winner, Olympic gold medalist and former No. 3. At first, the Open didn’t give him a wild card. Then they did.
Amid considerable pomp and circumstance, Roger Federer received his Hall of Fame ring in Ashe Stadium Monday night. But fellow 2026 inductee Mary Carillo was nowhere to be seen. Now we’re told she’ll receive her ring at the Hall of Fame’s Legends Gala next Thursday.
And then there’s Dick Gould. To many, the legendary Stanford coach is the most worthy tennis figure not yet in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. On Saturday, the US Open will give Gould a richly deserved spotlight, with a video honoring the extraordinary coach whose Stanford teams won 17 NCAA championships.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON: When the ever-spectacular Gael Monfils lost Thursday night, we feared tennis might soon be without two of its most flamboyant showmen: La Monf and Nick Kyrgios.
But the International Tennis Integrity Agency has now announced that Kyrgios’s cocaine suspension will be for just one month. The ITIA accepted that his cocaine use occurred out of competition, and after Kyrgios entered an approved treatment program, his suspension ended September 3. The popular Aussie is free to play again.
Now comes the intriguing question: Will the suspension prove to be just another detour in Kyrgios’s star-crossed career – or motivation for one of tennis’s most gifted entertainers to excel again?
THE PRIDE OF COLUMBIA: We know a few things about Columbia University. It’s a nerd hub. Every decade or two, there’s a feisty political upheaval. And it’s only seven miles from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Now Columbia has another distinction. Its tennis pride, Michael Zheng – ranked No. 759 just last year – has surged. He qualified for the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, and now is into the third round of the US Open, where he’ll face France’s Arthur Gea.
Not bad for a nerd hub, where we imagine the geniuses on the steps of Lowe Memorial Library saying, “Is that Zheng tennis player going to end up being the best athlete we’ve produced since Lou Gehrig?”
GO FIGURE: Alexander Zverev became the first top-seeded man in Open Era history to start a Slam with back-to-back five-set matches. He’s already spent 9 hours, 26 minutes on court. Madison Keys saved five match points to beat Hungary’s Anna Bondar and reach the third round. Remarkably, it’s the fifth time since the start of 2025 that Keys has faced match point and gone on to win.
PROFANITY PALS: After his dicey win at 2 AM Friday, Alexander Zverev confessed, “The performance was quite shit, to be honest.” Meanwhile, Coco Gauff, long trained to steer clear of profanity, shocked the universe Thursday when she dropped a couple of innocent-sounding F-bombs during her ESPN interview.
LITTLE AND LARGE: Little Manila in Queens is turning out for a big phenom. After beating Swiatek at Wimbledon, Osaka and Pegula in Washington, and drawing adoring throngs everywhere, it’s beginning to feel less like a breakthrough season than the arrival of a genuine international star – Alexandra Eala.
GLORIA AND BILLIE JEAN: Years ago, the feminist movement and women’s tennis didn’t always see eye to eye. Billie Jean King once told Gloria Steinem, “You’re not using us enough. We’re visible. We sweat. We’re real. Use us for the movement.” Eventually their worlds came together, and both women changed the world. Steinem, one of the great stalwarts of the women’s movement, died Wednesday at 92.
