The US Open tennis tournament will be packed when it takes place in New York later this summer. On Thursday, it was announced that the tournament, which is scheduled to be played at Flushing Meadows in New York from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12, will allow 100 percent fan capacity.
This comes one year after spectators were not allowed at the Grand Slam tournament as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement also comes just 48 hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that most of the state's social distancing guidelines will be relaxed because 70 percent of residents have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Yankees and Mets, both of New York's MLB franchises, also followed Cuomo's announcement by revealing they will return to full capacity later in June.
The US Open will mark the first Grand Slam tournament to have fans in full capacity since the 2020 Australian Open. That tournament took place in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut down the sports world.
Before the upcoming US Open, Wimbledon will take place on June 28.
The All England Club and British government recently announced that the Grand Slam tournament will have 50 percent fan capacity to start, but that may be pushed up to 100 percent capacity when the men's and women's finals roll around.
