Column: When the US Open crowd stops being fun

The US Open has always been tennis’s loudest, brashest Grand Slam. It’s the anti-Wimbledon: no strawberries-and-cream, no hushed reverence for the serve, no polite applause. Instead, it’s a carnival—music, beer, late-night matches, and a crowd that prides itself on being part of the show.

That atmosphere can be exhilarating. In a sport sometimes dismissed as overly buttoned-up, the New York crowd adds a jolt of unpredictability. Players talk about feeding off the energy, even when the support isn’t in their favor. The tournament’s own marketing leans into it: the Open is not just a tennis match, it’s a spectacle. But there’s a fine line between excitement and outright boorishness—and last night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the crowd crossed it.

Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion (seems like decades ago), was knocked out of the tournament in a five-set roller coaster against a very deserving Benjamin Bonzi. But the real story wasn’t Bonzi’s perseverance or Medvedev’s erratic play. It was the chaos that erupted after a photographer wandered onto the court during match point in the third set.

The intrusion caused a bizarre Medvedev-ian chain reaction. The umpire granted Bonzi a fresh first serve. Medvedev erupted, berating the decision and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. For six minutes, the match devolved into something closer to a pro wrestling event than a Grand Slam. Fans booed, jeered, and heckled Bonzi so relentlessly that he could barely concentrate on serving. He eventually lost that game, though he went on to close the match nearly two hours later.

This was not “New York energy.” It was mob behavior. And it undercut the sport. For years, US Open crowds have been celebrated for being rowdy—remember Jimmy Connors egging them on in 1991? Or Serena Williams’s late-night matches that felt more like concerts? Those moments are rightly remembered as electric. But there’s a crucial distinction: the crowd was lifting players up, not tearing them down.

A crowd that once had decorum

What we saw last night wasn’t uplifting. It was ugly. The jeers were aimed squarely at Bonzi, who had done nothing wrong other than play steady, composed tennis against a frustrated former champion. He was booed for following the umpire’s ruling. He was booed for simply trying to serve. That’s not passion—that’s sabotage.

If tennis wants to maintain integrity as a sport, it has to draw a line. Enthusiasm is welcome; harassment is not. The US Open risks turning its greatest strength—its atmosphere—into its greatest weakness if it allows crowds to think they’re part of the outcome rather than the backdrop.

And then there’s Medvedev. The Russian has long been a fascinating, mercurial figure in tennis: brilliant at his best, combustible at his worst. But this year has been grim. He has managed just one Grand Slam match win all season. He has had repeated meltdowns on court, berating umpires, smashing rackets, and sparring with fans. Increasingly, the question isn’t just about his tennis. It’s about his well-being.

When the photographer incident happened, Medvedev’s reaction wasn’t just the usual theatrics of a frustrated player. It looked like a man teetering. He raged at the umpire, glared at the stands, and seemed to lose control of his emotions entirely. The crowd’s gleeful booing and chaos only magnified that spiral.