US Open 2026: Live From Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Day One

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1:22This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily. reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily Podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio. Well, Steve Blank has seen some tennis. He's been covering the sport since 1974, so it's more than 50 years, we should know. For some context, Molly, this was the era of Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Chris Everett, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova. And back into the era that I grew up with, with Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Venus and Serena, of course.

2:09Now, hold it a second. You're giving away your youth. That's a giveaway. I'm just saying, I've got a big poster of Andre Agassi back in my childhood bedroom. This is who I grew up with. The 2000s version or the 90s version of him? It's a crossover. Okay, so it's like long hair versus short hair, right? There's a little of both in there. Okay, all right. He's also the author of multiple books, The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time, Pete Sampras, Greatness Revisited, and The Immortals of American Tennis. We are joined by the author and tennis journalist, Steve Flink. Welcome, welcome. Welcome.

2:38Thank you for having me. How many U.S. Opens do you think you've been to? Well, I mean, I started coming when it was still the U.S. Championships in 65, but I've been to every Open except for 1970, 1970, where I was studying in England that year, and I was unable to make the 1970 Open. Is the Open, in your view, and we're going to dive right into it, okay, is it still enough about tennis? Well, that question, you know, we would be here until about midnight on September 13th. So I can't really adequately, I think it's a great question, seriously. And from my standpoint, not enough, but I understand why it's occurred, because it's become an American sporting extravaganza.

3:24And to a lot of people, it's the idea of being out here and seen here and being a part of an entertainment capital. But I wish it were more strictly about tennis. I think a lot of people, I think that has changed a lot in the last 10 to 20 years. Talk to us about how you remember it in more, whether it was the U.S. championships or how it is now, the glory days, however you would define that, and what your happiest memories here are like. Well, the happiest memories were those initial years as a fan, because I became a full-time reporter. You mentioned 74. I was starting to watch it in 65. So those years in the 60s leading up to open tennis and in the early stages of open tennis, It was much easier to wander around the grounds and get close on any outside court you wanted.

4:17And there was more of an innocence to it. And I think particularly of that first open year, too, in 68, when Arthur Ashe won the tournament. And there was just, I have so many vivid memories of that period as I was growing up and as the game was growing. Were you in Cincinnati this year? No, I mean, I watched it. I was not on site. Molly and I both went to Cincinnati. Did. separately to see Canis this year. I went for the first time. You were there for the first time? For the first time, yeah. We haven't gotten too much of a chance to talk about it, but I'll just share my... I was just struck by the intimacy of it and the feeling of actually getting so close to some of these players.

4:55And I'm wondering, as we see, and we'll talk more about the American players, but as we see more and more American players and the interest grow among young people, if that tournament becomes increasingly popular for people to go to. Cincinnati? Yeah. it's hard to say look you're talking about a very prestigious event a masters 1000 i mean obviously those tournaments are are in prestige just a step below the grand slam so and it's a popular event for the players it's in a tricky time frame though because sometimes players are pulling out because they've got yes dinner wasn't there alcaraz wasn't there and and they're thinking about the open in some cases they're debilitated because of what happened in canada the schedule is that's a whole other thing we could go into that's right so that that but i know that i think your view is shared by many of those who have been to the event how much they enjoy it have you tell us about some other tournaments that you've been to besides the u.s open i'm just like sure other grand slams and like what you know makes new york and how is that different from the rest of the tennis arena it's it's easier to compare just to the other slams in australia is a so-called the the happy slam they call it it lived up to that billing actually the one i've seen the fewest times among the majors because i've uh i was only there twice in 16 and 17 but i it totally lived up to that billing and uh they just know how to maybe it's just the australian mentality but that that that is a great place to start the grand slam year then a french open which is kind of raucous the crowds can go a little over the top as you would expect in it all that french flavor but the fact that it stands out also as a clay court event the only clay court major as it's always been and then wimbledon to me that's the preeminent event nothing is ever going to change that no matter what the u.s open tries to do to equal wimbledon it won't happen because wimbledon has tradition on its side it's the best run they've kept it on the grass they've modernized it with the roofs but it remains elegant and and just so tasteful do you think the u.s is trying to become wimbledon Well, no, in fairness to the tournament, well, I think they want to, any Grand Slam tournament wants to think that they can somehow become the best.

7:07What I'm saying is it's impossible to overtake Wimbledon. I think back to Nadal when he won for the first time, and he made it clear. I mean, he loved Roland Garros. It became his signature tournament. He won it 14 times. But when he won his first Wimbledon in 08, you could tell that one meant more to him. I still think that first Wimbledon meant more to him than any other tournament he's won. I mean, Ash Barty from Australia, she always just wanted to win Wimbledon. Exactly. So very similar. And the players that are, I remember Chris Everett saying once, any player who tells you that Wimbledon is not the most important and not the one they want to win the most is not telling the truth.

7:40We're speaking with Steve Flank, the author, the tennis journalist, the author of several books, including The Immortals of American Tennis, Molly Smith, and I are live on site at the U.S. Open here. And let me just, if I may just briefly interject on that, the book that you just mentioned, I just want to say, it's only been out about a month, and it's an interesting time because we're all watching to see can ben shelton win this title how far can tiafo go the american presence has felt this year among the men in a way that hasn't been for a long time and i think shelton that there is a real possibility i'm not saying that he is the favorite by any means but he's got a shot and so this book is i'm trying to look back on these on these immortals who are the greatest american players of all time but the ones with the most enduring value that will have the most lasting importance so that's what that book was about well so so i want to talk about that because Molly mentioned some of the names who, you know, I had posters too of these guys, right?

8:31Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Michael Chang. Right. Those were the guys I grew up with. Then it doesn't necessarily, maybe now we have Shelton, Tiafoe, Fritz. I don't know. You tell me. Well, we also have Lerner Tien, who I think is going to improve rapidly. Do we have like an era like we had in the 90s with American men's tennis? Well, I don't think this group can quite, when you think what they all did, Sampras won 14 majors, Agassi won eight, Courier won four, and Chang won one. To equal or surpass that, I don't see it. But I think this group will be better than, say, the last, that Andy Roddick generation with James Blake and Marty Fish and others.

9:18They were very, very good. And Roddick was great. He won this tournament. He was the last American man to win a major 23 years ago here. But I do think this group is going to, I can't wait to see what they might get accomplished over the next decade, particularly Shelton. Because Shelton has that mentality of a champion, and he's going to get so much better. Fritz is a great player, finalist here two years ago, but how much better can he get in his late 20s? I don't know. Has he absolutely peaked? Maybe not, but I'm just more optimistic about Ben Shelton. How about the women? I mean, the men have for a long time tried to be catching up to the women's side.

9:58I mean, Coco won here three years ago. Jess was in the finals, what was that, two years ago that she was. Yes, Jess two years ago, and also Semmy's last year losing. So she's lost to Sabalenka both times. So consistent. So consistent. Yeah, so how about the women? Are they more advanced? Well, yes, because they've kind of picked up in a sense where Serena and Venus left off, and we didn't have this long hiatus, this dearth or whatever you want to call it. And so, yes, I mean, they've had the presence. And Coco, of course, has won not only here but Roland Garros. So she's got two majors, and she's a serious threat this year, to be sure.

10:36For sure. I think the more interesting story would be Pagula, who you just mentioned, because Jess has never won a major. And so this might be the window for her to secure one, while Coco, I believe, will win a bunch more. and we definitely we also have amnisa mova who was a winner today madison key is a winner today emma navarro i believe is still alive right so a lot of depth on the women's side oh yeah no no issues there i mean they've been great but i i think it's just really exhilarating to see this crop of men emerging and the other one who's who had a disappointing loss yesterday was brandon nakashima losing to mickelson his countryman but he's he had a fantastic summer and he's moved to another level and completely tiafoe is more committed than he's ever been before so it's it's it's a group unlike any we've had in american men's tennis for a long time hey very briefly how long do you see jokovic continuing you know i i think he's it's impossible to predict because he he's a non-conformist and novak makes up his own mind and nobody tells him what to do i do think this was discouraging what happened to him here because that's not the type of player he normally He loses to, and in that fashion, to be up a break in the fourth set, 2-1 in the fourth, and win one more game the rest of the way, that's not him.

11:51That's because he was sick, and that's because his back and shoulders were so bad. He's going to reevaluate, but I still don't think he's quite ready to let go. I don't think he'll play up until the Olympics, but that's his goal, the 28 Olympics. It's just so far off. It's asking so much of himself. Steve, we could go on forever. We are so grateful you joined us. Steve Flank, he's author, tennis journalist. He's the author of multiple books, including most recently The Immortals of American Tennis. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Businessweek Daily coming up after this.

12:25Bloomberg Businessweek Daily is brought to you by HPE, bringing you the self-driving network, a network that's self-optimizing, self-healing, and self-protecting, and only continues to get smarter. Learn more at hpe.com slash networking. This is the Bloomberg Tech Minute brought to you by ChatGPT. Now with ChatGPT work. I'm Carol Masser. Social media posts on sleep outnumber those on exercise by three to one and those on diet by five to one, according to consumer researcher Ryla Global Consulting. And so it may come as no surprise that there are seemingly no limits to what we will do to get a good night's People are spending on everything from pricey sleep trackers, AI-powered scent therapy machines, to$3 ,000 body temperature-regulating Manosphere-endorsed mattress covers and couples outfitting totally separate bedrooms.

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14:37How's this for a number 740 ,000? I feel like I'm taking the over on it, Tim. All right. I said what I said. This is the number of honeydews that were sold at last year's U.S. Open. So that's more than 2 million of these little hand-scooped balls of honeydew melon and a whole lot of Grey Goose vodka. The man in charge of the partnership, Aleko Azketa, global vice president of marketing, Grey Goose at Bacardi. He joins us here on site at the U.S. Open. Welcome, welcome. How are you? Thank you, Tim. Thank you, Molly. Isn't it amazing to be out here? It is amazing. We're so happy to have you. Yeah, we love being out here.

15:09This event, in terms of exposure, marketing dollars, ROI, where does it fall on the spectrum of stuff that you do each year to get the word out about Grey Deuce? For us, this is massive. I would say this is our Super Bowl, so it's something we plan for year-round. It's such an exciting time for us. I get asked all the time, how does the honey tubes get so successful? And one of the things, you know, I like to say, it's basically an overnight success, 19 years in the making. So we're really excited that we're going on year 20 of our partnership with the USDA. Wow, 20 years. 20 years. Was there a honey juice before the U.S.

15:42Open? No, there wasn't. So this was a cocktail that we created specifically for this event. A gentleman named Nick Matone, who used to be the bar director at Danny Meyer's Gramercy Tavern. Oh, sure. Remember that restaurant? Yeah. And Nick, we told him we wanted something where Grey Goose would add to the cocktails with its smoothness, something delicious, visually appealing, and that would pair really well with Stadium Fair. And Nick delivered for us, and then he came up with those iconic melon balls that look like tennis balls. There must have been some back and forth to get here. Was this like take one, nailed it out of the park, 10 out of 10, we got the Honey Deuce on the first try?

16:20So I was fortunate to be actually with Grey Goose, part of that brand team original. So it's a tough job, but I was one of the tasters that day. And honestly, I feel like he just nailed it because even though the pink color, it almost has that nostalgia element of like a pink lemonade in summer. But I really think kind of like what really made it was once he was actually at a farmer's market in East Hampton and he saw someone scooping melon balls. And he's like, I got it. Those look like tennis balls. So if we could put those on a skewer, I think that could be really iconic. I've been coming to the U.S.

16:57Open on and off for about 15 years, not every year until the last five years or so. I think I used to pay like$12 for a honey deuce back in the day. It's$23 now. The price hasn't gone up in a few years. Do you guys control the price at all? So we don't control the pricing. That's part of the concessionaire. But we're excited this year that the price stayed the same. And also we try to do little things as well so that even if people don't come to the U.S. Open, they can experience, have a Grego's Honey Deuce experience. So we do have an activation going on right now at Grand Central Station where we're actually giving out complimentary Honey Deuces and we're broadcasting all the matches live.

17:33That was yesterday and today, right? Correct, yes. Right. All right, if you guys are just coming with us, we're here with Aleko Azteca. He's with Grego's at Bacardi Global. So I wanted to ask you as well then, we talked about the drink. tell me about the cup because that really is i mean it's you know it's part of the equation here when people come to my apartment like they know they're going to get a cup of some kind i will just ask them what year they would like so tell me how this cup came about yeah the cup has taken on a life of its own uh and it's wonderful because you know basically we add the the winners every year so no cup is the same and it's created a whole um you know network of people collecting it.

18:12You can see them on eBay as well. And what I love about this cocktail is that with the signature cup, besides the wonderful experience of having a Honeydews, you're also taking home a little bit of history as well, the US Open. I have a confession to make, and maybe I will be judged as a bad father after this, but this is actually the cup that we use in the bathtub when we're shampooing our kids' hair because it's plastic. And you don't want a glass cup, obviously. This is the cup that I feed to my plants. But my son practices reading on it because he can read all the names. I'm not joking. I want to talk a little bit about the ROI on this.

18:49Because I mean, look, at the end of the day, you're in charge of marketing. So you need to make sure that the dollars you're spending are coming back to Bacardi and are coming back to Grey Goose. What's the through line there? How do you measure it? Yeah. Well, first and foremost, our through line is if we weren't part of the event, when people miss us. So I think a lot of times nowadays with partnerships and sponsorships, it's a little bit about insert brand here. I think for us, the big ROI is that right now we're at the center of the US Open. Obviously people come for the tennis. I'm a huge tennis fan.

19:19We're seeing some world-class tennis here. But the Grey Goose Honey Deuce, what it does is it really enhances that experience. It creates like a moment of connection. And for us, it also lets us activate a lot around it. So we had a really fun campaign this year with Josh Hart. And obviously New York has had a fantastic year. After 53 years, the Knicks winning the title. And this allows us then to tell our story through the lens of Grey Goose. Yeah, I think if you're watching on YouTube right now, you can see some of that footage. I'm wondering, though, if at the end of the day it gets people to buy more Grey Goose, whether it's at a bar, whether it's at a liquor store.

19:56Yeah, I mean, we are the number one super premium vodka in the world as well. And when we do all of our studies, like after the event, we're always one of the top brands associated with the U.S. Open. And we always see a spike during this period. And what's great is that even if you're not here at the U.S. Open during this time period, you can actually go to bars such as Dante, Sip and Guzzle, hotel, IHG hotels, and actually have Ogrego's Honeydeuce as well. So what if I'm at home? Because when you're at the Open here, now the Honeydeuce is poured on draft. Yep. used to be assembled with the different components.

20:34If I wanted to do this at home, what do I need to buy? How do I do it? Yeah, I mean, that's the beauty of the drink. Obviously, it's a drink that we have to scale because a lot of people are having an experience in Grey Goose Honeyduces. But a super easy cocktail to make, it's Grey Goose vodka at the center, fresh lemonade, raspberry liqueur, and then probably the most complicated thing is you have to buy the Honeydew melon ball with your scooper. You know, I no longer drink alcohol. The honey deuce that I have right here is the alcohol-free version of a honey deuce. I'm just curious about increasingly we're seeing more and more young people not necessarily drinking the same way that we did maybe 20 years ago.

21:13How are you thinking about that from a marketing perspective? Yeah, I mean, for us, it's all about a balanced lifestyle. So, you know, even if we see, like, the people that we work with around the U.S. Open, you know, we've been working with Francis Diablo for a long time. As I mentioned, Josh Hart this year. Even in our campaign, we have Zoe Zaldana. So it's people that really represent a balanced lifestyle at the end of the day. And, you know, I think especially, you know, there's a lot of talk about Gen Z, you know, they're drinking less, which is true, but I think they're just more deliberate, you know.

21:39So it's all about creating these moments of connection and where Grey Goose is a brand for us, you know, can actually play a meaningful role in those moments. Aleko Azkata, Global Vice President of Marketing, Grey Goose at Bacardi. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. This was so much fun. Hey, cheers. Thanks for coming on the show. We do appreciate it. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Or watch us live on YouTube. We've got a really special next guest to talk to you guys about something very topical at this year's U.S.

22:18Open. And a lot of that has to do with the frustration around influencers. You know, Tim, we talk about this just about every day. Well, I think, yeah. Unfortunately, you have just poisoned my Instagram feed because you've been sending me all these videos of influencers at the U.S. Open. But they're influencers, not necessarily the type of influencer that Christian is. Right. The criticism of influencers is that they're coming to the U.S. Open to be seen and not to watch the tennis. To be seen and to post. Right. And to be clear, I'm sending you the clips of people who we will not have as kids.

22:50Yes, that is true. because I had to make sure that we did some proper searching here. But I've been following Christian for a long time on social media. He is the creator of the popular social media channel, Christian's Court, all tennis, all year round. And he's been here basically from sunup to sundown every single day at this year's U.S. Open. Christian Basnay, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Nice to be here. Thank you, Molly and Tom. We're so happy to have you. So, Christian, like I said, you are not one of those influencers. You're more one of us, right? I would say you're an independent tennis journalist.

23:23I like that. I like that. Let's go with that. Yes. So tell us about the kind of independent tennis journalism that you are creating here. Yeah. So here specifically for the U.S. Open, I'm credentialed under my own platform, Christian's Court, and it's through their creator credential media accreditation. But mainly it's just multimedia journalism. I do a lot of my stuff on YouTube. That's where I first started off. So I literally just uploaded a day, what was it, four recap video just now. And then I also do some social media stuff as far as Instagram, like updates, mini recaps as far as that's concerned.

23:58So it widely ranges, but a lot of it is social media based. I'm just doing some quick math in my head here. You've been doing this since 2012. You graduated from college in 2024. Yes. Let's say you were 10 years old roughly when you uploaded your first tennis YouTube video. Yes. Okay, so you've been doing this for basically your whole life. You have built an amazing relationship and an incredible rapport with some really notable American players, Ben Shelton among them. I think a lot of people know you as sort of the guy who has some funny back and forth. I've certainly seen those right now. Talk a little bit about following him, following his career, what you see in terms of his outlook for this year and for beyond.

24:38Yeah, so Ben has kind of had a rapid rise in a sense. He kind of burst onto the scene. I remember when I came here in 2022 and he was just rising and he played on one of those outside courts. So it's crazy to think just four years later that he's headlining Arthur Ashe Stadium back to back days. But I think he's emerged into the face of American tennis, at least one of the faces of American tennis. And for me personally, I think he's a really strong title contender to go all the way at this. He was open. I actually predicted him to win the title. but you know there's been a lot of talks about oh who will break the american draw and he's of course been in that conversation but i find it interesting how yesterday he was kind of asked about that in his press conference and he mentioned he's like i feel like every time like people talk about it's only in the press like i'm not really thinking about it too much so i think he does have a good head under his shoulders i think he has a great game a great personality he has the whole package so we'll see if he can bring it all together here for the tournament to see if We can, I guess, break that drought.

25:40The drought you're referring to is 2003. Yes, Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open. It was the only slam that he won, but he was the last American man to win the U.S. Open. To win any slam, that is. To win any slam. Yes, exactly. So you have this relationship with the players inside the press room when you're asking questions, and that's a pretty formal environment. It's televised. Tell us, though, about—I mean, you're doing this all year round at all these tournaments. What other kind of access do you get? What are the things that we're not seeing? Well, I'm still fairly new. This is like my first year doing it.

26:13But I think more recently I had an opportunity to attend one of Naomi Osaka's. She called it a cookout and she invited it was like an exclusive invite type of thing. And it was just really cool to just be able to have casual conversations with her. And, you know, we danced a little bit. It was like a little like 10 seconds or whatever. But it was still cool to have that moment with her. and just to not always be, you know, tentative. It was kind of an awkward conversation because I was speaking when I was talking to her. I kind of had my reporter voice on, and I literally told her, I'm like, I'm so sorry.

26:46I feel like I'm talking like it's an interview. So I still have to work on that aspect of it, but it's cool getting to know the players outside of the environment. And aside from that, this tournament, or, yeah, around the U.S. Open, there are, like, different player parties and things of that nature. So I was able to talk to players like Adafa Hodar, Mira Andreva, and you don't really get that kind of access, for example, at a lot of tournaments because a lot of it is not one-on-one nor video. So it was really cool to have those experiences. As you're talking and you're talking about being this independent tennis journalist, this influencer, this creator, I'm thinking about the parallels in your career versus somebody who is trying to become somebody who is a professional tennis player.