Tennis Atlantic

ll of the talk these days is about affordability. It’s an issue in our everyday lives, so of course it’s an issue on the campaign trail. That talk has come to the US Open, as the resale market and ticket purchasing bots have caused after-market prices of a $75 grounds pass to reach $360. There’s not a lot that a fan can do to control those prices, and you can eat outside the grounds and bring in an empty plastic water bottle to cut down costs. But before you buy that $42 T-shirt, you visit ‘Swag Row’ instead for some mementos on the house. There is one price: your precious email address.

Swag Row, as I call it, runs all the way from Grandstand to Court 17 in front of the outermost courts. The lines can be astronomically long for some of these freebies and time is money when you’re at the Open. Some the items are worth a wait. Some are not. I’ll tell you my best bets for 2026.

If you’re here for Fan Week, then you have a Fan Access pass, which you’ll need to get the free comic book at a Fan Access tent. There are also a couple of tents around the grounds where you can check if you won a daily prize, like a water bottle or a mini fan.

The following information applies to Fan Week and main draw play.

International Hotels Group offers you multiple promo items, including a ball-shaped bracelet, hairpins and a Instagram opportunity in their Ball Buffet, a lavish fantasy smorgasbord of tennis balls designed as food items. No calories, no guilt. My favorite kind of buffet.

Dove, for the price of an email address, offers an attractive tennis-themed scarf and you will walk away with some deodorant as well. You may also partake in a silly video with a moving camera if that is your thing.

Sometimes the best souvenirs are photos because we can share them and they don’t take up a lot of space and weight on the trip home. Also, they’re not crap.

Harvey AI has a Photo Booth with a 4-shot option. It’s always fun to get silly in the booth and the lines aren’t terrible.

Disney lets you choose a US Open photo with your choice of their characters, from C3PO to Minnie Mouse. It’s attractive. Most attractive is that they don’t need your email because they probably already have it. Simply show them the ESPN app on your phone.

Every year, I feel compelled to stop and visit the replica Tiffany & Company US Open trophy in its luminescent glow of silver behind that light blue backdrop. They will print you a photo out and put it on a handy little presentation envelope. Don’t miss it.

It is useful when we get free stuff that is…useful. Emirates gives out seat cushions which become immediately valuable on the aluminum bleacher seats which you can also fry an egg on most August and early September days. The problem is that the line is long and the game has a low success rate to win a seat cushion.

I am going to argue that the quintessential memento is something you don’t even have to bring home, or in the case of photos, keep them from folding or getting dirty. That something is behind the ingenious concept from Moet & Chandon. Located far from Swag Row, on the outer edge of Food Village, there is never a line to pick up an unlimited amount of free postcards. There are two designs: One simply states “With Love From the US Open” and the other is a cartoon from the New Yorker with Ivan Lendl and a mention of the Moet product. They’re both worth holding onto if you collect postcards or tennis swag. But behold the brilliance of this swag: They will mail it for you for free to any US address. They provide pretty gold pens that write horribly, so bring a pen to the US Open and send these to friends and family. They’ll be touched, you’lll be a good niece and did I mention NO line and NO stamp required?
A tip of the pen to Moet & Chandon.

And while we’re away from Swag Row, I need to mention that the Cadillac display next to the Moet & Chandon “post office” has a long line for a good reason: they gift you a $15 food card for learning a little about their brand. That’s for Food Village vittles, though, and isn’t Swag in the purest form.

Lavazza and Fage are simply not worth the wait. The lines are obscene for both the little cup of coffee and diminutive yogurt cup. This s about $1 retail at any tiendita outside of the grounds. Do yourself a favor and skip them.