U.S. Open 2024 weather forecast: How to beat the heat on the outer courts

On Wednesday, fans and players at the U.S. Open will swelter in muggy heat expected to hit 93 degrees.

The heat index — a measure of how temperature actually feels when humidity is taken into account — is predicted to hit 95-100. Those conditions are dire enough that the National Weather Service has put New York City under a heat advisory for most of the day.

A tournament spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about weather preparations, but last year under similar conditions tournament organizers implemented a heat rule, partially closing the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof on some days to offer extra shade.

The tournament website advises fans to start drinking water early and keep drinking throughout the day, taking breaks in cool indoor areas like shops or outdoors in places like the tree-shaded seating area south of Arthur Ashe Stadium. People with heat-related illness should go to one of the first-aid stations located throughout the grounds of the National Tennis Center.

A survey of courtside temperatures conducted Tuesday by a Newsday reporter with a weather thermometer suggested another practical measure for fans: strategic seat selection.

For morning and early afternoon matches, south and west-facing seats in full sun at many outlying and arena courts faced temperatures well above 100 degrees. When there was shade to be had, temperatures were often 10 degrees or more cooler. Court 17’s north-facing seats were shaded from morning sun by the broadcast booth, with an unimpeded baseline view. As the day progressed, treelines west of Court 14 and Court 4 cast shade on some seats at those courts, as did the awning over much of the Grandstand.

On Tuesday morning, Dr. Will Southern, of Pleasantville, New York, took his seat early high behind the south baseline at Court 17 and said he’d picked it for the shade, eschewing the apparently more desirable courtside seats. “You have to remember the arc of the sun — it’s not only going sideways, but going up,” he said. “You come here in the middle of the day, everyone else will be baking.”

Soon the seats around him filled. On the north end of the arena, the baking had commenced. In an area with seating for perhaps 100 spectators, there were nine, including Marcus Latham. “I’m from England, mate,” he said. “We don’t get much sun, so I’ll make the most of it.”

By around 2 p.m., as Caroline Wozniacki bulldozed a hapless first-round opponent on that court, Dr. Southern’s advice was borne out. The thermometer registered 108 degrees on the fully exposed north side of the arena. On the south, near where he had been sitting, it quickly dipped to 91.

By around 2:30 p.m. on Court 4, where Matthew Forbes, an elite American junior, fell to the Russian veteran Roman Safiullin, the thermometer registered 118 in the full sun, dropping to 94 in the shade of the treeline. In an earlier match on this court, the players had worn ice packs on their necks during changeovers. Fans now lined up along a fence slightly higher than court level and crammed into the northwest corner of the baseline bleacher seats to get out of the sun. “There’s definitely a heat strategy,” said Ray Lira, 38, who works in retail and lives in Washington, D.C.

Lira said he’d started his day watching Chilean Alejandro Tabilo and David Goffin, the Belgian veteran, on unshaded Court 11, but had moved to the lower-profile match for reasons of comfort. The heat was “insane,” he said.

Of all the seats on all the outlying courts, perhaps none are so brutal to the midday spectator as the north baseline seats courts 8-16, which face full into the sun with no shade for much of the day. (There are no seats on the south baseline, because of the tennis center layout.) The railings and uncovered seats on the north side felt grill-hot. At midday, the thermometer registered 118 degrees.

On Court 14, Darren Robinson, 53, a cybersecurity worker, and Samantha Robinson, 53, a scientist, had come from Sydney, Australia, to watch Australian Daria Saville lose a three-set, three-hour nail-biter to Ena Shibahara of Japan. “We knew about the sun, so we got umbrellas,” Darren said. They also wore sunglasses. Perhaps because the Robinsons sat in the rear row, the ushers let them keep their umbrellas up through the match. Hours in, the Robinsons appeared unwilted. “There’s a breeze,” said Samantha. “It’s hot, but we’re OK.”