NEW YORK — On Sunday, the exciting atmosphere of the US Open men’s final was ruined by controversy when President Donald Trump showed up at Arthur Ashe Stadium, causing a long delay and a lot of booing from the audience. His entrance, which required more security, caused the highly anticipated match between rising tennis players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz to be delayed by 50 minutes. Fans who were waiting outside and inside the venue were furious.
During the national anthem, Trump was shown on the stadium’s huge video screen as the pre-game ceremonies got underway. He stood up and saluted as everybody cheered and clapped at first. But the cheers were shortly drowned out by a surge of booing that rang across the stadium. Trump responded to the booing with a wry smile, as if he wasn’t bothered by the public’s anger.
Trump claps for himself at the #USOpen — stadium erupts in boos. Broadcasters told not to air protests. Democracy on mute.🔕 pic.twitter.com/5Zxtqhbm3b
— Carolyn Barber, MD (@cbarbermd) September 7, 2025
After the first set, Trump’s image came back on the screen and stayed there for a long time, which made the crowd even more angry and caused a longer and more violent round of booing. The crowd’s reaction made it plain that they were angry, not just because he was late but also because he messed up the rhythm of the match.
After the final, in which Carlos Alcaraz won his second US Open title, Trump spoke to the press and made fun of how the audience reacted. He told reporters, “I loved it.” “Both players are incredibly talented. It looked like they hit the ball harder than anything else I’ve witnessed. A lot of talent. The fans were quite kind. I wasn’t sure what to anticipate. You would suppose that would be a “progressive” crowd, as people say these days. “The fans were great.”
There was a lot of condemnation of the episode, even from tennis great Martina Navratilova, who vented her anger on social media. “It’s 14:00 and the place is more than half empty. There’s only one way to get in.” “Thank you trump!!!” she wrote on X (previously Twitter), pointing to the empty seats and long queues that were caused by the security measures put in place for Trump. There were a lot of pictures and videos online of long lines of spectators waiting to get inside the stadium. Many of them missed the beginning of the final because of the delay.
Trump’s presence at the US Open has generated a stir before. He looked a lot like he did in 2015, when spectators booed him after he left a match with the famous Williams sisters, Serena and Venus.
The final itself was a great show of tennis, even though there was turmoil off the court. Carlos Alcaraz, who is 22 years old, beat his longtime nemesis Jannik Sinner in a match that lasted two hours and 42 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Alcaraz’s win not only gave him the title, but it also made him the number one player in the world, ending Sinner’s amazing 65-week stay at the top.