“When you do something best in life, you don’t really want to give that up and for me it’s tennis.” –Roger Federer

I’m lucky to live four subway stations away from New York City’s Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, where the US Open is played every year from August 26 to September 8. I can reach the site by taking the 7 train on the city’s subway system to Mets–Willets Point station or walking 20 minutes from the Elmhurst neighborhood. However, I always up standing when taking the train as most of the passengers are heading towards the same stop.
A lot of US Open spectators are staying in midtown Manhattan while in the city and the 7 train is their main route to Flushing Meadows. In addition, US Open staff are also among those stuffed into the train cars.

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The US Open is an annual grand slam tennis tournament held in the United States. 2019 marks the 139th tournament, which consists of a men’s and women’s singles events, doubles, mixed doubles, along with under-18 events.
The tournament is also offering a record prize, surpassing the $57 million mark this year. Each singles champion takes home $3.85 million, while each doubles winner earns $740,000.
There have also been increasing prize money for participants in the early rounds with totals increasing by 47 percent over the last four years. Players who lose in the second round earn $100,000, which was the grand prize in the 1968 US Open.

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Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo./WDJ