Tennis Atlantic

The Great Marvel Spider-Man Comic Caper, Grounds Passes Resellers And What It Means

Steve Fogleman in Flushing Meadows

August 30–Modern anarchist philosophy tells us that change is inevitable, and that most change is positive. At the U.S. Open Fan Week last week, I saw anarchy and I saw change. I’m still trying to find the positive in all of it.

I write this an hour after the gates opened for main draw today, now played on a Sunday, and the crowd is so calm compared to last week. It’s refreshing. I also write this one day before I restart cancer treatment. I’m watching pro players hit tennis balls today and watch medical pros hit me with protons tomorrow. I’m in a rare philosophical mood. Bear with me.

For those of you who have not attended the Open’s qualifying week on a long-term basis, suffice it to say that what started as a pastoral event has evolved into a grotesque cacophonous assemblage of everything and nothing.

Last week, I witnessed a daily stampeding of attendees rushing from the gates at opening time and climbing over one another to nab a limited edition copy of a U.S. Open-themed Spider-Man comic. I saw them sending their children and surrogates in line to collect multiple copies for resale. I watched them pop them into airtight plastic containers and leave the facility. It was full on Gotham City, or whatever city they use for the various Grand Theft Auto backdrops.

I do not want to point my finger at the U.S. Open, because the need to constantly improve upon a product is with us everywhere in all aspects of commerce and life. But the desire to make something better almost always stems from the desire to squeeze more revenue from the current product. Curiously, the U.S. Open has not released attendance figures for Fan Week that I have seen. For years, the USTA would boast about the fact that more people would head through the gates this year than in previous years. At some point, the organization must realize that sheer volume may not be something to be proud of in and of itself. The revenue figures are what really matters.

When I was younger, I saw the U.S. Open as the Death Star. It was giant, it was in New York, and it was a little overwhelming. There were shades of rudeness from the many out-of-town guests that you did not see in the more gentile tournaments. I never saw fans pushing and nearly trampling other fans in Washington, Newport, Charleston, or any other place I watched pro tennis in person. I thought that the smaller tournaments were the good guys and the U.S. Open was the Evil Empire. In my opinion, that theory has been flipped on its head over time. The USTA is a not-for-profit organization which provides millions of dollars to promote the sport of tennis. Some of the other tournaments try to sportswash their country’s human rights records or make millions of dollars to promote their player-clients, their owners and maybe even their kid. 

I’m afraid that the qualifying matches are overshadowed by the carnival that is Fan Week. The Running of the Resellers for a comic book, which re-sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay, is an example of lost focus. And the early rounds of the main draw aren’t much better in terms of order, until now.

How many Honey Deuces can we sell?

Why are we all so upset that grounds passes resell for hundreds of dollars?

Perhaps we are the problem.

As much as I would like to blame everything on capitalist overlords and corporate greed, I fear that we are the ones who need improvement and real change. It is as if everything we do in our daily lives needs to be monetized. Instead of jumping on the 7 train to watch some up-and-comers try to make their dreams come true by qualifying for a grand slam, we need to be incentivized to go grab a $100.00 comic book. We could argue that the system has wired us this way, but it doesn’t really matter because we’re here in this predicament and we’re the only ones who can fix ourselves–from within.

I’m still in love with U.S. Open qualifying. It is still the people’s pre-tournament. It’s free to get into. It is as far from the glitzy skyscrapers of Manhattan as it can possibly be and still be in New York City. But I fear that the introduction of mixed doubles into qualifying week was an invasion into the working class ethos of the pre-tournament event. In reality,  it was around the time that the USTA developed the moniker “Fan Week” when the tide started to turn. Real tennis fans started to take a backseat to Instagram. Celebrity sightings grew to outsized importance. 

Is it any wonder that the manifestation of our greed and our need for self-aggrandizement has hit an all-time high with the ascendancy of a narcissistic sociopath in the White House? I don’t blame the USTA for passively profiting from the Gordon Gecko “Greed is Good” mentality that has invaded our collective psyche. I blame us. Meanwhile, the USTA will continue their mission to provide hope and empower young people to engage in sport.

All is not lost. Like you, I will keep returning to U.S. Open qualifying until I die. I am here to see the competition. I am here to see dreams come true: to see a 17 year-old or a 27-year-old cry tears of joy and hug their coach and their family as they advance to the main draw of a grand slam for the first time in their careers. Careers that often started when they were four years old. 

I am not here for a comic book, and neither are you.