The US Open women's final is set for Saturday in New York between the No. 1 seed, Aryna Sabalenka, and the No. 8 seed American hopeful, Amanda Anisimova. It should be a thrilling showdown between two of the best in modern tennis right now at vaunted Arthur Ashe Stadium. But fans were worried about the match given that rain was soaking everyone around the US Open before the match.
Precipitation and storms caused a rain delay at Yankee Stadium and, obviously, brought down rain on Arthur Ashe Stadium as well on Saturday afternoon. And given that many tennis fans watching the US Open throughout the past couple of weeks have seen plenty of open-air matches, there were questions about whether the women's final would be played because of the rain.
More specifically, fans had to wonder whether or not Arthur Ashe Stadium was going to be able to host the final as scheduled.
Does Arthur Ashe Stadium have a roof to combat rain at the US Open?
Good news for tennis fans, Arthur Ashe Stadium has a roof and will be enclosed for the US Open women's final. That means things should go on as scheduled in New York City, both for Sabalenka and Anisimova, as well as for Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz for Sunday's men's final.
That's obviously great news for anyone hoping to watch, whether they were heading to Arthur Ashe Stadium or watching at home. Things won't be delayed by anything weather-related, which tennis' governing boards, particularly for grand slam championships, have made sure is the case. The last thing they want to do to fans is to make them wait on the biggest match of the women's and men's tournaments because of rain.
Every grand slam has a roofed stadium for the final
The US Open and Arthur Ashe Stadium aren't an outlier in tennis for having a roof overhead to combat rain such as Saturday's. Wimbledon (Centre Court), the French Open (Philippe Chatrier Court), and the Australian Open (Rod Laver Arena) all have retractable roofs as well.
"Retractable" is a crucial component of all of these as well. The simple truth of the matter is that the championships would all love to have the sun coming into the arena for the championship matches. At the same time, that's not always feasible, like on Saturday at the US Open. So it's nice to essentially have a contingency plan always in place.