The Day I Cheated The US Open

September 5^th, 2009 was a hot, sunny day at the US Open. My dad, grandpa and I were sitting in Louis Armstrong stadium waiting for the next match to start. I was angry that my dad couldn’t get tickets to Arthur Ashe because all of the best players play there. On this day, Federer had just finished his match and Sharapova and Roddick had later matches in that grand stadium. I was a little bored so I exited the stadium and went to go buy a Roger Federer hat at one of the stands. When I turned around to go back inside the stadium, I was staring at a line literally a quarter of a mile in length. The line to get in was so long because the next match in Louis Armstrong included the team of Serena and Venus Williams, two of the best women's players in the world. There was no way I was getting back in. I put my head in my hands and thought “what am I going to do now?” I called my dad and told him that since I had no shot at getting back to Louis Armstrong; I was going to take my chances and try to sneak into Arthur Ashe.

I slowly walked up to the stadium and stopped to observe my surroundings. The only way in was to get past several ticket collectors in a somewhat-narrow gate. I had to time my entrance at the precise moment that every ticket collector was occupied with another eager fan. After waiting several minutes, I saw my chance. All 4 ticket collectors were looking down ripping off ticket stubs and I briskly walked through the gate and joined a group of people walking together. The hardest part was behind me. Now all I needed to do was to get inside and in an actual seat. I had no idea where I was going so I just followed this group up several escalators and into the main hallway for upper-deck seating. I walked past several entrances to the seating until I found one absent of a ticket usher. I walked through the entrance and finally saw my first glimpse of the stadium. It took my breath away. Never had I seen such a humongous crowd for a tennis match. 24,000 people were in Ashe that day. I finally let out a smile and thought: “Wow. I’m actually in Arthur Ashe Stadium.” I looked up behind me and saw a section that had a few vacant seats. I just walked up, sat down in the closest one and let my eyes focus on the actual match (after getting over the fact that I was actually looking at Maria Sharapova and Melanie Oudin in person). I took out my phone and called my dad and bragged: “Guess what match I’m watching?” My dad was pretty impressed.

I got to see the last two sets of what turned out to be the best women’s match in last year’s US Open. Oudin upset former #1 Sharapova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the 4^th round. I took a video of the final point of the match on my iPhone. It literally was one of the most intense moments of my life.

Below is the video I took!

Next up was #5 Andy Roddick against fellow American John Isner. I was especially excited to see Andy Roddick’s 140 mph serve in person. I decided my seat wasn’t good enough so I took a chance and went down several escalators into the lower seating section. I walked past an usher with a sense of confidence and just marched my way down to the best seats in the second section. I sat in the end seat in a small row of 3 seats. Several minutes later, an usher led a young couple down to my row and gestured to sit in the two seats next to me. I think I got all the luck that day.

Below is a photo of my view from my new seat.

I ended up staying in that seat for 5 hours by myself as Isner upset Roddick 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5) in what was declared the best men’s match at the US Open that year.

To conclude, I just happened to sneak into Arthur Ashe the day the two best matches were played at the 2009 US Open and witness myself the true glory of the upsets pulled off. 

Bryan-1  US Open-0

Lesson learned. If you don’t have a ticket, sneak in!