Last week, Serena Williams announced that she would be bidding tennis farewell. She did not want to call it a retirement, but in essence, that is what it is. And in her announcement, she suggested that this year’s US Open would be her final tournament.
This created a lot of buzz in the tennis community. Not only is one of the biggest tennis stars exiting the sport, but the US Open is also a special place for Williams. After all, it is where she earned her first Grand Slam title in 1999.
Naturally, after her announcement in Vogue, fans began clamoring for tickets. Sales went up drastically, and as a result, so did the prices.
So, how much would it cost to watch the great Serena Williams play one last time?
Spoiler alert: it’s expensive.
Hopping on a flight
Serena’s announcement did not give much leeway for fans to plan a trip to the US Open. The tournament starts on August 29, only two weeks from now. So you can expect booking a flight will be more pricey than usual.
If you were to book a flight for August 28 to get you there a day before the opening matches, it would cost anywhere between $1,500 to $10,175.
In Philippine Pesos, that amounts to roughly around PHP 82,500 to PHP 567,770 for a round-trip ticket, depending on the airline you take.
Flight prices alone, you might already be debating in your head whether seeing Serena Williams is worth that much. And if it is, let’s add up how much your accommodations might cost.
Checking into your hotel
The great thing about New York is that there are many options for accommodations. You could book a hotel, rent an apartment, or book an Airbnb. But, for the sake of simplicity, let’s see how much a hotel would cost.
Although New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the world, one of its perks is its transportation system. With the subway at your disposal, the options for hotels are much wider because you could virtually stay anywhere depending on how much you’d be willing to spend.
With all the hotels around the city, your hotel could cost around $100 to $300 per night for a decent hotel, depending on its location.
The entire US Open lasts from August 29 to September 11, so if you were to hypothetically stay until the finals, that would be 14 nights.
For 14 nights, that may come out to around $1,400 to $4,200. That’s equivalent to about PHP 78,115 to PHP 234,347.
So, is seeing Serena Williams worth that much to you?
Your ticket into the US Open
Ever since Serena Williams’ announcement that she would be bidding farewell to tennis, the demand and prices of tickets have been going up. As a result, more and more people have been buying tickets even with no guarantee where Williams will be playing.
While we know for sure that the 23-time Grand Slam champion will be competing at the US Open, the draw ceremony is still set for August 25. Until then, we won’t know what session and what court Williams will be playing in for sure.
But as it stands right now, ticket prices for the first round, both men & women, range from around $48 to $200 depending on the stadium and the session. However, these prices are expected to go higher once the draw has been announced.
But, in a best-case scenario, if you do pay for a ticket for $48 right now and it does so happen to be the match, then you’d only be paying around PHP 2,700 for a ticket to see Serena Williams. Not a bad deal if you’re willing to bank on a gamble.
And, if you’re willing to gamble as early as now that Serena is going all the way to the finals, tickets to the final match start around $160, equivalent to about PHP 8,929.
But if you ask us, if you’re going to be paying for two weeks in New York City, why not watch the finals anyway, right?
Your total bill…
In total, your bill could come out to around PHP 163,315 to PHP 811,050 depending on the specific combination of flights, hotels, and tickets you get.
So you tell us: is seeing the 23-time Grand Slam champion play one last time live worth that much to you?