Serena Williams reacts throughout a post-match ceremony after shedding to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland on Day 5 of the Nationwide Financial institution Open, a part of the Hologic WTA Tour, at Sobeys Stadium on August 10, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario.
Robert Prange | Getty Photographs
As Serena Williams prepares for her final U.S. Open earlier than retirement, tickets to see the tennis legend play are in excessive demand.
The U.S. Tennis Affiliation offered over 16,500 tickets alone on Aug. 9, when the tennis champion introduced her upcoming retirement, in keeping with the group — extra tickets offered than the earlier seven days mixed. The match kicks off Monday, Aug. 29.
“We at the moment are principally offered out for Monday (Opening night time), Tuesday and Wednesday nights,” a USTA spokesperson advised CNBC.
The USTA wouldn’t disclose monetary projections for the famed Queens tennis match, and Williams’ announcement got here so near the beginning of the match that it is unlikely her retirement would have introduced in extra sponsorships, that are normally set effectively prematurely.
Secondary ticket reseller website Stubhub mentioned day by day common gross sales in {dollars} have greater than doubled and the variety of tickets offered per day has greater than tripled. The favored ticket website mentioned it has seen a 40% bounce in gross sales since Williams’ announcement.
“U.S. Open demand continues to select up as we strategy one week out from the beginning of first-round motion. We encourage followers to get tickets now in the event that they need to go, since legends like Rafael Nadal or Serena Williams advancing in play can have an enormous impact on demand,” mentioned Adam Budelli, a spokesperson for StubHub.
On ticketing web site TicketIQ, US Open costs are up 34% since Williams’ retirement announcement. Costs for this yr’s Ladies’s Closing have additionally surged in latest days, with the typical value leaping as excessive as $1,289.
“The $1,289 checklist value can be the costliest Ladies’s Closing we have ever tracked, 37% larger than the earlier most costly, the 2019 Closing, which was additionally the final time Serena made the U.S. Open Closing,” TicketIQ mentioned.
“Regardless of odds makers placing Serena as simply the 13th more than likely girl to win the 2022 US Open, ticket sellers are pricing the finals as if she’ll be there,” TicketIQ CEO Jesse Lawrence advised CNBC.
Williams has received the U.S. Open six instances in her profession, the newest win coming in 2014. She’s coming off a troublesome loss to Britain’s Emma Raducanu within the opening spherical of the Western & Southern Open, a Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation occasion in Mason, Ohio.
“I do not know if I will likely be able to win New York. However I will strive,” Williams wrote concerning the match within the Vogue journal piece asserting her retirement.
The tennis icon turns 41 subsequent month and says she’s able to concentrate on rising her household after a long time of specializing in tennis. She is married to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and has a 5-year-old daughter, Olympia.
Throughout her prolific profession, Williams has received 23 grand slam titles, the second most of all time, behind Margaret Cour, and over $94 million in profession winnings, twice as a lot as every other feminine athlete. She’s additionally been instrumental in bringing African Individuals and women into the game.
Forbes estimates the tennis star’s internet value at round $260 million.
“I began taking part in tennis with the objective of successful the U.S. Open. I did not assume previous that. After which I simply stored successful,” she wrote in Vogue.
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