Arthur Ashe Stadium: US Open Seating Chart, Best Seats & Roof Explained

Arthur Ashe Stadium is the main show court at the US Open and the largest tennis stadium in the world. If you're heading to Flushing Meadows for the 2026 tournament (August 24–September 13), the two things first-timers get wrong are what their seat actually looks like and what a ticket actually gets them into. This guide covers both, plus the roof, the ongoing $800 million renovation, and how to get in and out of the grounds efficiently.

2026 is a transition year at Ashe: construction fencing, temporary concourses, and a reconfigured courtside bowl are part of the experience this year, with the full reimagined stadium not debuting until 2027. None of that changes how tennis is played inside, but it does change what you'll see when you arrive.

Quick Facts

Seating Chart Explained

Ashe is built as a steep bowl with four seating tiers stacked on top of each other: Courtside, Loge, Suite Level, and Promenade. As part of the $800 million renovation, the layout and section numbering are shifting compared to prior years, so don't be surprised if your ticket's section number looks different from what you remember or from an old seating chart you find online. Always cross-check the current-year chart on usopen.org before you buy.

Courtside is the lowest tier, wrapped tightly around the court. This is where you feel the speed of the ball and can actually see players' faces. As part of the ongoing renovation, the courtside bowl is being extended upward — the plan expands courtside seating from roughly 3,000 to 5,000 seats over the multi-year project, so more fans get this lower-bowl experience once the work is finished.

Loge sits directly above courtside. It's the next-best sightline tier — still close enough to follow rallies clearly, with a noticeably better price point than courtside.

Suite Level is the private hospitality tier: luxury boxes and club seating, sold mostly through corporate and hospitality packages rather than standard single-session tickets. The renovation adds two entirely new dedicated suite levels, which is one of the biggest physical changes to the stadium's profile.

Promenade is the top ring, and you should go in with realistic expectations. It's a long way up — Ashe's bowl is famously steep, and the promenade has a reputation among tennis fans as one of the more vertiginous upper decks in sports. Players look small and afternoon sun exposure can be intense (see shade notes below). That said, the roof structure gives promenade seats some overhead cover, ticket prices are the most accessible in the building, and you're still watching Grand Slam tennis on the biggest court in the sport. Fair trade for the price — just don't expect a courtside view.

Best Seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium

Best value: Lower loge sections, roughly in line with or just past the service boxes. You get a clear read on ball trajectory and court positioning without paying courtside prices.

Best sightline: Any section on the sides at mid-bowl height (loge, center court line) rather than the ends. Baseline seats look straight down the court and make it harder to judge angles; sideline seats show the whole rally.

Shade during day sessions: Ashe is oriented roughly northwest to southeast, so the south and west sides of the bowl pick up shade earliest and hold it longest through the afternoon. The north and east sides catch direct sun for most of a midday match. If you have a day session ticket and heat is a concern, favor south- and west-side sections, especially anything under the overhanging roof structure at the back of promenade.

Night session picks: Once the sun is down, sightline matters more than shade. Mid-bowl loge seats on either sideline give the best combination of atmosphere and view for the primetime matches Ashe is built for.

Splurge: Front rows of courtside, center-court side. It's the closest legal seat to the baseline rallies in tennis, and with the courtside expansion underway, more of these seats than ever are becoming available — at a price to match.

The Roof, Explained

Ashe opened in 1997 without a roof, which meant rain delays could blow up the entire tournament schedule — a recurring problem through the 2000s and early 2010s. The USTA responded with a retractable roof, completed in 2016 as part of a roughly $550 million stadium renovation (the roof itself accounted for about $150 million of that).

The roof consists of two massive PTFE (fabric membrane) panels that slide open and shut on rails, covering about 236,000 square feet of the bowl when closed. It doesn't snap shut instantly — closings have been clocked at around five to six minutes in real time, and officials describe the system as able to fully close in under ten minutes, fast enough to get play under cover ahead of an approaching storm in most cases.

Closing the roof doesn't stop play — matches continue under it, one of the biggest quality-of-life upgrades the stadium got. The interior isn't cooled like a fully air-conditioned arena; instead, a ventilation and climate system manages air movement and humidity when the roof is shut, so it's climate-controlled rather than cold. Louis Armstrong Stadium, the tournament's second-largest court, got its own retractable roof in 2018, so both of the grounds' biggest venues can keep playing through rain. Grandstand and the outer field courts have no roof, so rain still suspends play there until conditions clear.

Ashe Ticket vs Grounds Pass

This is the single most common point of confusion for first-time US Open visitors, so read it twice before you buy anything.

In plain terms: a grounds pass gets you into the grounds and lets you grab open seating in Armstrong or Grandstand's general-admission sections plus every outer court, but it does not get you into Ashe. If you want to sit in Ashe, you need a separate reserved ticket. As the tournament advances into its second week, grounds passes typically stop being sold because play consolidates into the ticketed stadiums — by the semifinals and final, nearly everything worth watching requires a reserved seat.

Day Session vs Night Session

The US Open sells tickets by session rather than by the day. A day session ticket traditionally starts around 11:00 AM ET and runs through several back-to-back matches into the afternoon. A night session (evening session) traditionally starts around 7:00 PM ET and is where the tournament schedules many of its highest-profile, prime-time matchups. Each session ticket includes grounds access for that day plus the scheduled stadium matches, and the official order of play is released the evening before. Because you can't know exactly which players will be on Ashe for a given session until that schedule drops, buying tickets far in advance is inherently a bit of a gamble on matchups — safer in the later rounds once the draw has thinned out.

Bag Policy & Security

The US Open enforces a single-bag policy per person, with reported size limits around 12 x 12 x 16 inches, and backpacks are generally not permitted — small single-compartment drawstring bags within the size limit are the exception. Clear bags are recommended for faster screening. Commonly prohibited items include:

• Weapons of any kind, and fireworks
• Drones
• Tripods, monopods, and selfie sticks
• Laser pointers and noise-making devices
• Professional cameras with large telephoto lenses
• Glass containers, outside food and drink (exceptions typically made for medical needs and small children), and alcohol
• Balloons, glitter, and items like skateboards

Bag and prohibited-item policies are reviewed and can change year to year, so confirm the current list on usopen.org's official visitor information before you pack for the 2026 tournament.

Getting to Flushing Meadows

The grounds sit in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, and the USTA actively steers fans toward transit rather than driving.

• Subway: Take the 7 train to Mets-Willets Point station, a short walk from the grounds. The 7 connects to Grand Central Terminal and Metro-North service from Westchester and Connecticut.
• LIRR: The Port Washington Branch stops at Mets-Willets Point directly. Board at Penn Station, Grand Central Madison, Woodside, or any other Port Washington Branch stop.
• Rideshare and drop-off: All pickup/drop-off happens at the NY Hall of Science parking lot, with a walking path to the Champions Entry. A complimentary shuttle is available for guests who need mobility assistance.
• Driving: The grounds are accessible from the Grand Central Parkway, Whitestone Expressway, and Long Island Expressway, though parking is limited and transit is strongly recommended for evening sessions.

Food & Drink

The US Open has built a genuine food destination on the grounds, with concourse food halls, sit-down restaurant options, and rotating collaborations with well-known New York City chefs each year. The signature drink of the tournament is the Honey Deuce — a vodka, lemonade, and raspberry liqueur cocktail garnished with melon balls shaped like tennis balls — sold by the tens of thousands of cups every summer and something close to a tournament mascot in drink form. Expect the usual arena mix of quick-service stands and higher-end sit-down spots, with pricing and specific vendors updated each year, so check usopen.org closer to your visit for the current lineup.

FAQ

How many people does Arthur Ashe Stadium hold? The official published capacity is 23,771 seats, making it the largest tennis-specific stadium in the world. Expect some year-to-year variation while the current renovation reshapes the courtside and suite levels through 2027.

Does Arthur Ashe Stadium have a roof? Yes. A retractable roof was completed in 2016 and can close over the bowl in a matter of minutes when weather threatens, allowing matches to continue indoors.

Is Arthur Ashe air conditioned? Not in the traditional sense. When the roof is closed, a ventilation and climate system manages airflow and humidity inside the bowl, but it's designed as climate control rather than full air conditioning.

What's the difference between a grounds pass and an Ashe ticket? A grounds pass gets you into the tournament grounds, general-admission sections of Louis Armstrong Stadium and Grandstand, and every outer court — but not a seat in Arthur Ashe Stadium. An Ashe ticket is a reserved seat for a specific session inside the main stadium and also includes grounds access.

When was Arthur Ashe Stadium built? It opened on August 25, 1997, as the centerpiece of the newly built USTA National Tennis Center (now the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center).

Is Arthur Ashe Stadium being renovated for 2026? Yes. It's in the middle of an $800 million, multi-phase USTA transformation that includes an expanded courtside bowl, two new luxury suite levels, a larger promenade concourse, and a new Grand Entrance, with full completion targeted for the 2027 US Open.

How do I get to Arthur Ashe Stadium without a car? The most direct options are the 7 subway line or the LIRR Port Washington Branch, both of which stop at Mets-Willets Point, a short walk from the grounds entrance.

For a sense of how Ashe compares to other tennis venues worldwide, see The 10 Largest Tennis Stadiums in the World. And if you're curious how the broader National Tennis Center complex has been rebranded over the years, 10 Stadiums That Changed Names the Most covers that ground too.