{"id":204708,"date":"2025-09-06T10:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T10:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204708\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T10:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T10:11:11","slug":"why-donald-trump-is-returning-to-the-u-s-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204708\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Donald Trump is Returning to the U.S. Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK <\/strong>\u2014 With both men winning on Friday, the third consecutive major final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz is now booked for the U.S. Open. <\/p>\n

The tournament is already trembling not just with anticipation for Sunday\u2019s match itself, but because of the vibrations caused by the approaching elephant-in-the-room for the occasion: U.S. President Donald Trump, who will be making his first appearance to the tournament in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Donald Trump attending the 2014 U.S. Open men\u2019s singles final with his wife, Melania (Photo by Hoo-Me \/ SMG)<\/p>\n

Trump, 79, had been a fixture at the tournament for decades like many other New York socialites. But after years of consistent visits to Arthur Ashe Stadium, he has not gone to the U.S. Open since attending a 2015 quarterfinal match between Venus and Serena Williams. That was his first appearance since he\u2019d entered the 2016 presidential race on an anti-immigrant platform, and he was resoundingly booed by the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n

I first heard whispers about Trump\u2019s planned return visit to the 2025 U.S. Open on Wednesday of this week; journalist Marisa Kabas confirmed<\/a> those whispers on Thursday. <\/p>\n

What I can add here at Bounces is new, breaking reporting about who is bringing Trump back to the U.S. Open after all these years. <\/p>\n

After corroborating with several sources, <\/strong>Bounces<\/strong> can report that Trump will be attending the U.S. Open men\u2019s final not at the behest of the tournament itself, but as an invited guest of Rolex, the luxury Swiss watchmaker which has a large suite inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rolex has been an increasingly ubiquitous sponsor of major tennis tournaments, and has also sponsored a number of top tennis stars\u2014including Sinner, Alcaraz, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek\u2014who appear in Rolex commercials which air frequently during U.S. Open television coverage. <\/p>\n

Rolex\u2019s motive in bringing Trump to the U.S. Open? I have not yet heard back from Rolex\u2014and will update this story if and when I do hear back from them\u2014but I do have an initial theory of the case: I would not be surprised if Rolex has made this unusual gesture because they have a vested interest in getting Trump\u2019s ear to lobby the famously persuadable president about lowering the exceptionally high 39 percent tariff on Switzerland<\/a>, where Rolex is based.<\/p>\n

While Rolex\u2019s intentions are not yet fully known, Rolex\u2019s invitation to Trump is certain to cause considerable headaches for attendees of Sunday\u2019s final. On Friday evening, the U.S. Open emailed credentialed media about \u201cenhanced security measures\u201d to expect on Sunday; many of these additional screenings will presumably affect all 22,000+ attendees on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both men\u2019s finalists were asked about Trump\u2019s attendance after their semifinal wins. Neither commented on Trump or his particular politics, but rather talked about the status symbol of having a U.S. President at a tennis match. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a privilege for the tournaments having the president from every country just to support the tournament, to support tennis, and to support the match,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cFor me, playing in front of him… so, to be honest, I will try not to be focused [on Trump], and I will try not to think about it. I don’t want myself to be nervous because of it. But I think, you know, [his] attending the tennis match, it’s great for tennis to have the president into the final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinner was only asked about Trump\u2019s attendance by Italian media, and responded something similar about a president\u2019s attendance reflecting well on the importance of tennis. (I will add a fuller translation of the quote when it becomes available.)<\/p>\n

Trump, a New York socialite for decades before his turn toward presidential politics, would have almost certainly continued attending the Open regularly were it not for how vocally he was booed during that 2015 quarterfinal. While other celebrities at the match\u2014including Oprah Winfrey, Kendrick Lamar, Alan Cumming and Aziz Ansari\u2014received raucous applause, Trump was booed at deafening levels. I still remember sitting in the lower bowl and seeing a man who was jogging up the aisle during a changeover stop in his tracks so he could stand and join the booing as Trump was shown on screen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the fans in New York made clear Trump that was no longer welcome among them, he had been a favorite for flashbulbs at the event: Getty Images has photos of Trump at the U.S. Open in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014; the number of photos of him had declined in those last few years as his media profile diminished before his presidential run.<\/p>\n

He was hardly an unwelcome guest in tennis circles in those days; tennis governing bodies were often eager to glom onto Trump\u2019s penchant for attention for their own promotion, particularly the WTA.<\/p>\n

In 1989, Trump was invited to the WTA\u2019s year-end awards banquet, where he presented Steffi Graf with her Player of the Year trophy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a passage about Trump and Monica Seles from some of my earlier reporting on Trump\u2019s history in tennis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

When Monica Seles dropped out of Wimbledon in 1991 without explanation after having won the Australian Open and French Open to start the year, rumors swirled that the 17-year-old was hiding out at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. \u201cHe just thinks Monica\u2019s a nice girl, and he admires her tennis skills,\u201d a source was quoted as telling The New York Post, which afforded rapt coverage to anything to do with Trump and women. When Seles returned to the tour and won the US Open two months later, she singled out Trump for gratitude in helping her to her third Grand Slam title of the year. \u201c[Trump] was, really, the one person that kind of always said the whole two weeks that I can do it,\u201d Seles told The Philadelphia Inquirer.<\/p>\n

The Seles-Trump union proved unpopular; nearly all news reports on Seles winning the 1991 US Open included criticism of her affinity for Trump. Said The Los Angeles Times: \u201cAbout the only thing Seles did wrong was to thank Donald Trump in her speech during the awards ceremony. She was booed loudly.\u201d <\/p>\n

Off court, Seles succeeded Trump\u2019s then fianc\u00e9e Marla Maples as a spokesmodel for No Excuses jeans, a brand that developed a strategy of spotlight-seeking by weaponizing scandalized women, from Donna Rice (amid Gary Hart infamy) to Paula Jones (amid Bill Clinton infamy). Seles, who was a considerably less tawdry figure, nonetheless starred in a bizarre commercial for the brand that ended with her teasingly saying, \u201cI\u2019m not going to Disney World,\u201d before giggling and speeding away in a limousine with the New York license plate TRUMP.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 1999, Trump signed on as the manager of a highly-hyped 14-year-old player Monique Viele, a saga I told in depth in the eBook Making Monique<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2012, even after Trump had already begun his xenophobic \u201cbirther\u201d claims about Barack Obama, the WTA enlisted Trump to record a video for its \u201cStrong is Beautiful\u201d ad campaign.<\/p>\n

Last year during his hush money trial, Trump listed Serena Williams as one of his frequent contacts<\/a>. When asked about being included on that list during an interview with The New York Times\u2019 \u201cThe Interview\u201d podcast, Serena responded with considerable umbrage\u2014not toward Trump, but toward the interviewer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, is this what this interview is about? Really?\u201d replied Serena, who was there to promote her <\/a>In the Arena<\/a> docuseries<\/a>. \u201cI talk to a lot of presidents, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Few active tennis players have expressed strong opinions about Trump, but Coco Gauff did make reference to his 2024 election when she answered a question after winning the French Open in June about what it had felt like to hear the Star-Spangled Banner during the trophy ceremony:<\/p>\n

\n

It means a lot. Obviously there’s a lot going on in our country right now with things, like\u2014everything, yeah. (Smiling.) Yeah, I’m sure you guys know.<\/p>\n

But just to be able to be a representation of that and a representation of, I guess, people that look like me in America who maybe don’t feel as supported during this time period, just being that reflection of hope and light for those people.<\/p>\n

I remember after the election and everything, it kind of felt down period a little bit and things like that. My mom told me during Riyadh [the WTA Finals last November]: \u2018Just try to win the tournament just to give something for people to smile for.\u2019 So that’s what I was thinking about today when holding that [trophy].<\/p>\n

And then seeing the flags in the crowd means a lot. You know, some people may feel some type of way about being patriotic and things like that, but I’m definitely patriotic and proud to be American. And I’m proud to represent the Americans that look like me and people who kind of support the things that I support. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for reading <\/strong>Bounces<\/strong>! To stay up to date on tennis news and to support the journalism I do around the sport, I hope you can subscribe! -Ben<\/strong><\/p>\n

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