I have a question about "Grounds Admission" tickets early in the week. Am I correct in assuming this allows you to wander and watch matches in play at the time? Open seating? Any personal experiences?

Yes, Starrsville, you are correct. Your general admission ticket allows you to roam the grounds and watch matches in any of the many outlying courts. It's great fun! Sure it's nice to watch matches as the finals get closer, but in many ways, the opening week is more fun.

We were just in the area early this week and the traffic was horrendous. Get a good map so you can get around on the secondary roads whenever possible. Anywhere on rtes 4 or 1 was clogged with cars going to the Open or to the Beaches.

Thanks, HowardR. That's how it was set up at the Atlanta Olympics and I had an absolute blast. I think I enjoyed watching the name players warm up on outer courts more than the actual matches we watched. But, it was all fun. I'm trying to decide on a day pass or an evening session. It's been YEARS since I was there during the Open - and I've kicked myself ever since for not taking the time to watch some tennis.

bon, shouldn't I just take the subway? I've been offered a family member's car - but I don't think I want to deal with traffic.

Actually, we've never encountered really bad traffic going to the daytime sessions....at least, not by New York standards!
starrville, one of the great joys is to sit in the stands at the outlying smaller courts where you are really up close to the action.
(bon100, since the Open doesn't take place for another 8 weeks, it wasn't the Open that made traffic horrendous earlier this week. No, it was all going to the beach!)

PS: Yes, if you are staying in the city, the subway is definitely the best was to get there.

The only thing the Grounds Admission doesn't get you is access to Arthur Ashe -- where they schedule the "marquee" matches -- and some reserved seats in Armstrong. Everything else is wide open. My best experiences have been in Grandstand anyway, which is open. If you're really lucky, you can snag a seat at the top of Grandstand or Armstrong where the two stadiums are adjacent, and you can watch both -- really cool to do that. I love the smaller courts too, because you are so close to the action, and you can appreciate -- with all of your senses -- how many light years away the pros are from us club players. It looks so easy when you watch on TV; when you're up close, you can appreciate the exertion and effort and skill.

I prefer to go earlier -- preferably Labor Day weekend -- because there's so many more matches going on. While I've been to the final rounds of the Australian in 2005, which was a real thrill, watching the middle rounds at Flushing has been great too, and the odds of seeing favorite players is greater because they haven't been eliminated yet.

I'm not a big fan of the NY subway system. I don't know how crowded it will be then but if you are ok with it go for it.