The US Open marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Friday with Arthur Ashe Stadium glowing light blue from dusk until dawn and American flags flying at half-mast. The tribute came as New York remembered the 2,977 people killed when hijackers crashed passenger jets into the Twin Towers in Manhattan in 2001.
That anniversary matters now because the tournament is tied to a moment that changed the city and the sport’s sense of security at the same time. For Ariana Debose, the date is a reminder that public grief can return in a single, carefully chosen gesture: the same stadium that stages championship tennis was turned into a place of remembrance, not celebration, for one night.
James Blake, who was in Augusta, Georgia, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, after losing in the second round of that year’s US Open, said the attacks shattered the feeling of safety many Americans and many professional tennis players had carried with them. He said he could not believe such a thing could happen in the US, and described panic spreading from the political world to people on the ground around Ground Zero.
Blake was in Augusta for a sweat test after struggling with cramp during the tournament, a reminder that even an athlete inside the sport’s tight routine can be moved around by forces far beyond the court. His father was still in New York, where he worked, and Blake said there was an uneasy wait until he knew he was safe and well.
Then came the part that made the bubble feel thin. Planes were grounded, Blake took a hire car back to Tampa, and his next tournament in Hong Kong was still two weeks away. He said it was definitely scary to board the plane, because tennis can make travel feel normal until it is suddenly not, and restricted movement showed him how fast ordinary plans can change.
That is why the US Open’s tribute landed with such force on Friday: it was not only marking a quarter-century, but also recalling the moment when a sport built on movement learned how quickly movement itself could be taken away.
