This seems to happen to me every year. Usually around one month prior to the Grand Slams, I start to think - maybe, I should go! Now, this doesn’t happen for Australia (too far), but usually it does just before Roland Garros (Paris) and just before Wimbledon (London). And typically, I think and think and don’t actually ending up going. The obvious reasons are hassle and I don’t want to spend the money. My window for going to Paris/London is shrinking because the more time I’m away from my previous life (Wilson) my access to possible tickets will get harder and harder. The final Grand Slam takes place in New York and of all of them, this is the most obvious one, especially given that it’s the closest.

I made a very last minute decision to buy a grounds pass for the first day of the tournament. More on that later. I left Toronto on Saturday morning (very early) and crossed over at Buffalo around 8:30 am. There was a small lineup of about eight cars and it was moving quite quickly. I had forgotten to bring with me my GPS unit. I had recently bought one during my last long trip to Florida. One would wonder why you need one given that all of our smart phones have GPS apps built into the phones. There is a catch though - you are using data and in my situation, I’m “roaming.” But since I had forgotten it, I really didn’t have any choice.

The route chosen, or as one would say the route given to me had me going through NY state but not on the major highway (Thruway). It was a very pleasant drive through rolling landscapes and small towns. The end of the route was Scranton, PA. I had decided to break up the trip and stay in Scranton for the night and make the drive into NYC early on the Sunday morning. In retrospect, I probably should have just kept going but I had a hotel booking in Scranton and I did not have a booking in NYC for the Saturday night.

I had not eaten anything and I found a great old-school diner in Warsaw, NY. Just the kind of place you can imagine in small town USA. Stopped for bacon & eggs and gave myself a nice break. The overall drive to Scranton was under 7 hours and the remaining drive to NYC was only going to be another three more hours. I got into Scranton quite early, found the hotel and checked out the area. Scranton is a cute town surrounded by hills. Not quite high mountains but definitely higher than here in Ontario.

A recent “silly” obsession is finding a particular salad dressing that is not available in Canada. The brand is Ken’s and it is usually quite easy to locate in various grocery stores in the United States. I recently tried their Creamy French and it was just divine. I sorted out where the various grocery stores in the area were and drove around looking for it, but alas - I was not able to find this particular one. I did find some other flavours and stuck them in my bag

For dinner I went to the Longhorn Steak House. It was a short walk from my hotel. I’ve been to them a few times in Florida.

Not a lot of healthy things on this menu but it was very good and not that expensive. I was up early on Sunday and took advantage of the free breakfast at the Marriott. I’ve been a Marriott member quite a long time but I don’t really travel that much anymore, so I’m not racking up the points like I used to. The final part of the drive was only 120 miles and it would take me through PA, then into New Jersey and eventually crossing into NYC via the Lincoln Tunnel. Driving into NYC is always a challenge. Lots of traffic, cars honking and everyone seems to be in a hurry. I found my self clutching the steering wheel a bit tighter when I crossed into New Jersey and then into New York City.

The plan was to get into the city fairly early, find parking and check in to the hotel and use the rest of the day to do some shopping and look around. Unfortunately, the final part of the drive was a “%^$# show.” My hotel “The Evelyn” was located at 27th and 5th Avenue and it seemed easy to get to - but unfortunately one of the streets I had to cross was closed due to a street festival. Note - they do this a lot in the summer in NYC. I had to cross Madison Avenue to get closer to the hotel and this simply wasn’t going to happen. I wasted 30 minutes going back and forth and I simply could not get near the hotel. I finally gave up and found a parking garage on 29th street. (big mistake). The parking at the hotel by valet for listed at $50 a day while this parking that I was stuck with was $75 a day and it wasn’t open 24 hours. It was going to open at 7 am. which meant that I would not get away on Wednesday as early as I had hoped. (more on that later).

The hotel and it’s location was excellent. NYC is a very good walking city and generally it’s quite easy to get around. Following check-in, I did some quick shopping for things that I knew we wanted home. High on the list was some essentials from “Traders Joe.”

I was hoping to meet up with my friend TT for dinner on Sunday. He writes ( he is a tennis journalist) and I knew that Sunday would likely be his only day off. Not easy to plan this as he is likely the only person left in the world without a mobile phone - yep, that’s what I said. So, getting in touch with him is simply not very easy. You have to email him and wait for him to reply assuming he is somewhere with his laptop open. We managed to work it out and we made plans to meet outside Grand Central Station (42nd and Lexington). Since, I’m generally early, I decided to grab a glass of wine at place called Pershing Square across from Grand Central. Many, many years ago I had breakfast there with an old friend who used to look after the Tour Players for Wilson. It was a sunny day so I took advantage of the weather and sat outside with a glass of wine. You can see Grand Central Station in the background.

We managed to meet up and grabbed a taxi and headed down to Little Italy. It wasn’t that busy, which was surprising. The weather was perfect, so my guess is a lot of people must be away still on holidays. TT told me he was on a tight schedule so he didn’t want to be out late that night. There was five Canadian players on day 1, so he would have his work cut out for him covering them.

We grabbed seats outside Grotta Azzura, a favourite red-sauce joint that I’ve been to many times. Probably not considered to be a five star restaurant but I enjoy it and it has great atmosphere. After dinner we took a cab back to Penn Station so that TT could take the LIRR back to where he was staying. He convinced me that I should try taking the same train to the tennis the next day because it has less stops and it drops you off closer to the tennis site. I had originally thought I would have to take the #7 train to Wilkets Point. After dropping him off, I headed back to my hotel and ended up walking past Madison Square Garden. There were a lot of young girls heading onto the Garden all wearing boa’s around their neck, so I asked what was going on? Harry Styles was in town playing for 15 nights in a row - wow.

Taking the train ended up being the right way to go. It did take me some time to figure out where to go to buy a train ticket but once I did that it was quite simple. There were only two stops to get to Flushing Meadows and when I got there the crowds were already lining up to get in. There are basically two entrances to get in so I decided to walk around to the south gate assuming it would be quicker. Not sure if that was the right idea but eventually I was able to get in. I had mentioned earlier that I had bought a grounds pass for the first day. I guess I could have asked people for a ticket but that’s usually not something I’m very good at. As I walked towards the South Gate there were a few protesters outside complaining about the vaccine policy which obviously impacted some guy named Novak. Oh well…..

The US Open grounds are very large with a number of stadiums, side courts and practice courts. I like the early days because you will see a lot of matches on the side courts with good and upcoming players. (And usually the Canadians). Upon reviewing the schedule, I decided to go to the Grandstand court to catch Bianca in action. She was second on so I watched Maria Sakkari (one of the top seeds) and after the Bianca match, I toured around the grounds all day watching various matches including another CDN, Rebecca Marino. Of course you have to make sure you spend $22 USD for the famous Grey Goose Honey Deuce. I read at one point they actually ran out of the souvenir cups. I saw one guy on the train platform with over 20 cups. I can’t imagine that he actually paid for all those drinks.

I was asked recently when is the best time to go to the event and in my honest opinion it’s the first 1-3 days. The first round is played over the first two days and so your guaranteed to see a lot of good matches on the side courts. Where you go is really ticket dependant - if you don’t have a ticket for Arthur Ashe stadium you can wonder the grounds and take in all of the action close up. You can also check out the practice courts - where you can end up fairly close to the players.

The media has proclaimed this event as “The Serena Show” and it’s probably safe to say that this is a very good description of what went on. Ever since Serena Williams announced her retirement from tennis, fans have been flocking to watch her play her possible last match. This same experience took place in Toronto, when she played on the Wednesday night in front of a record crown. As matches go (Toronto), t wasn’t a great one as Serena didn’t play that well. She was up against a first rate opponent and as I watched there seemed something sad about it. Like watching a prize fighter trying to go the distant but simply can’t anymore. Anyways - fast forward to New York. Her first match was Monday evening and the place was electric with anticipation. A record crowd made the place almost impossible to move around.

Serena managed to win her first two matches including a quality win over the #2 seed Annet Kontaveit. This was an excellent match and some would say that Annet should not have been the second seed, but she played pretty well and Serena was moving much better as the match progressed. Unfortunately, her final match came up short against a fine player who has had a very good year - Ajla Tomlijanovic. Serena saved 5 points and the crowd was with her on every point.

According to ESPN, the ratings for her final match on the Friday night broke all previous viewing records with over 4 million households tuning in. And, it was an exciting end to a great career. No matter your perspective on Serena, we have to admire what she has accomplished in her long career.

I ended up leaving the grounds around 6 pm and took the LIRR rail back to Penn Station. Easy..peasy. I had nothing planned for the evening and I thought I would watch the match on TV. Ended up having a disappointing dinner at Chipotle. I did end up stopping at the smith restaurant for the end of happy hour.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add in that I managed to meet up with some past colleagues. I went into the Wilson store and had a brief chat with Dianne and Michael. Prior to leaving I had a conversation with Cy. I also met up with Mickey on-site. He was my boss for a short period of time and like myself, he was downsized in an organizational shuffle. One of the good guys.

It was difficult to get time with some of the people. They were busy and I’m not. Such is life. I had a coffee with Jason on Tuesday morning and lunch with Iain. Always a pleasure to catch up, but I could sense that these meetings will become less and less over time. Just a feeling!

I had Tuesday off so I decided to use the rest of the day to wonder around. I did a lot of walking (over 20,000 steps). My lunch was in the theatre district, so I thought I would take a chance and try to get a ticket for a Broadway show to see “Mr. Saturday Night” starring Billy Chrystal. The show was in it’s final weeks and although the reviews were not over the top, I knew it would great given who the star was - and I was right. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The play was a version of the original movie which was about an aging comic who was no longer popular and wanted another shot at fame. Lots of great jokes and the crowd lapped it all up.

After the show I walked back (about 20 blocks) to the hotel. It had just started to rain but it was very warm so no issue at all. I find NYC still a very safe city as long as you mind your own business and keep moving when you should keep moving. It was late so dinner was simple. A slice of NYC pizza.

By the time Wednesday rolled around it was time to go home. It didn’t start off so well because the parking garage which was supposed to open by 7 am wasn’t open. The attendant didn’t show up til closer to 7:30 and then it took about 15 minutes to get my car. All of this for $300 for CDN dollars…sigh. I would have liked to leave much earlier because I did need to get home for a birthday dinner (Ms. Sarah). I hit the road and off I was. Went back a similar way as I came down. I did stop in upper New York State to find some more Ken’s Salad Dressing :). Across the Lincoln tunnel, into New Jersey and north into PA. I crossed the bridge into Canada at Queenston and hit the worst traffic I encountered on the trip - of course. The drive from Hamilton into Toronto was crazy stupid. Made it home in time and all worked out well. A fantastic few days and hope to do it next year. Wait and see……

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