Serena Williams retirement news sends US Open ticket sales through the roof
Tennis legend Serena Williams announced that the US Open could be her last tournament before retirement, triggering ticket sales.
Earlier this week, Serena Williams made the surprise announcement that she will retire after the US Open, which runs from 29 August to 11 September. The announcement ended up benefiting the tournament.
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After selling 3,200 tickets on Monday, the organization disclosed that ticket sales skyrocketed after the queen of tennis announced that the US Open would be her last tournament. The United States Tennis Association sold 16,500 tickets on Tuesday.
“You talk about the Serena effect, it’s like a tsunami. SSince people have learned of the news, we’ve sold, as of 3 p.m. [Tuesday], 13,000 tickets to the Open, including 4,500 or thereabouts for opening night,’” said Chris Widmaier, United States Tennis Association spokesman.
Yesterday, @serenawilliams retirement news had her trending on Twitter, with 25K+ Tweets about Serena earning over 198 MILLION impressions.
— Zoomph (@Zoomph) August 10, 2022
After the news broke, the @USOpen sold an unprecedented 13,000 tickets in a matter of hours, per @nypostsports.
The power of Serena🐐
Resale market
Widmaier revealed that some spectators are trying to sell their $35 tickets, allocated to the upper deck of Arthur Ashe Stadium, for the opening event on Monday night for $7,000 on Ticketmaster. The place has a capacity of 23,771.
There is no guarantee that the 29 August crowd at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will even get to see Williams play. The draw for the event is not yet known and the first round matches will be played on 29 and 30 August.
In addition, people are also assuming that the youngest of the Williams sisters will win her First Round match - over 1,500 tickets were sold for Wednesday, the date on which the second round game will be played.