NEW YORK — Some welcome news—or non-news, perhaps—to report here on Bounces.
Unless his itinerary changes drastically, Bounces can report that President Donald Trump will not be attending this weekend’s U.S. Open finals. This will be a relief to nearly everyone involved in any role at the tournament after the headaches his appearance caused during last year’s men’s final.
That was a mess of a day a year ago, both publicly and behind the scenes, with a lingering clean-up effort across various other arenas.
Because of the public interest involved in reporting on Trump, I’m leaving this story unpaywalled, but please consider subscribing to support the work I do here at Bounces!
Trump’s presence last year, as you may recall, forced the start of the U.S. Open men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to be delayed by half an hour, from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Even with that grace period—and a bit more—ticket holders struggled to make it through the enhanced security checkpoints set up outside the stadium by the Secret Service, which were more thorough and rigorous than typical airport security.
Many fans missed significant chunks of the action due to the hassles caused by Trump’s presence; the stadium was still noticeably empty through the first set of the final. Outgoing U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster later said that there were nearly 7,000 fans who could not make it to their seats by the start of the match.
Though there were some calls for refunds, I don’t believe any were ever issued.
Longtime Bounces subscribers may remember two of the stories I did around Trump’s visit last year, both of which remain among the most-read in the nearly two-year history of Bounces.
The first, which caused the biggest stir, was revealing an internal memo from the U.S. Open requesting that broadcasters “refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the President’s attendance in any capacity.”
Trump ultimately drew mixed reactions from the crowd on the two occasions he was shown on the Ashe video screens (the acoustics in Ashe meant the audio was always muddled in videos, but it was a combination of mostly boos and some cheers, to my ears).
There was a concern during the final, however, that Trump wanted to make his presence even more known, by presenting the trophy to the champion during the trophy ceremony, or perhaps even addressing the crowd in that ceremony. U.S. Tennis Association officials did not know for certain until a few minutes before the match ended, Bounces understands, that Trump had decided against venturing onto the court for the ceremony.
Speaking of the trophy, that turned into one of the sillier subplots of that afternoon. As you may have seen, tournament officials had put the men’s singles trophy up next to Trump during the final—a complete break from normal protocols. But when it came time for that trophy to be on court, there was an apparent concern that Trump would grow antsy without a shiny object next to him.
A solution was found: the men’s doubles trophy, completely irrelevant to Sunday’s proceedings, was brought up to the Rolex suite to sit next to Trump for the remainder of his stay.
Trump stayed in the Rolex suite for the entire match, but that was also not without controversy. My initial report about Trump’s U.S. Open visit was to report that he was attending as a guest of the Swiss watchmaker.
The most obvious reason that Rolex would be courting Trump, as I reported in that initial Bounces dispatch, was to lobby him to lower the high tariffs on Switzerland, which were 39 percent at the time.
Though we’ve grown numb to it in Trump’s time, this would appear to be favor-seeking that would’ve rarely happened so overtly in previous eras. A few weeks after the U.S. Open final, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter of inquiry to Rolex chief executive Jean-Frederic Dufour.
“Given the President’s record of doling out special treatment to CEOs who are able to woo him with flattery, payoffs, or both, the timing of his attendance at the match in the Rolex box is concerning,” Warren wrote. “I have questions about whether you are attempting to curry favor with the President in an effort to secure special-interest exemptions for Rolex products.”
You can read Warren’s full letter to Rolex here:
Dufour responded quickly to Warren, and insisted there had been no substantive policy talks in the Rolex suite, but did describe Trump mentioning the obvious elephant in the room thusly:
“President Trump, never one to miss a rhetorical opportunity, did ask in jest whether he would have been invited had it not been for the tariffs—a moment that brought a round of laughter all around and, as you can imagine, a swift return of attention to the unfolding excitement on court.”
In a later financial disclosure, the 10 tickets to the Rolex suite were valued at $25,000.
The Swiss lobby kept at it after the tennis tour had moved on. In November, Swiss billionaires gifted Trump a gold Rolex desk clock and an engraved gold bar worth $130,000; soon, Trump slashed tariffs on Switzerland from 39 percent to 15 percent. Swiss lawmakers asked prosecutors in their country to investigate whether the gifts violated anti-bribery laws.
Aside from the headaches for the U.S. Open attendees, there was also a significant cost to taxpayers for Trump’s visit for his transportation and security. Though I have not found a U.S. Open-specific figure for how much that excursion might’ve cost, for context, according to Front Office Sports the Secret Service “expensed nearly $800,000 for the first four major sporting events Trump attended in his second term” (which did not include the U.S. Open).
Trump’s frequent attendance at major sporting events, always disruptive to the event to varying degrees, has been a hallmark of his second term. Through about 20 months in office, Trump has attended about 20 major sporting events, including Super Bowl LIX, four UFC fights, the NBA Finals, and the 2026 World Cup final, where he did present the trophy.
One of Trump’s most common sports travel ventures has been to visit his own golf clubs when they are hosting tournaments. That’s actually, perhaps, the reason why he’s not in New York this time: he’s instead attending the Amgen Irish Open, a men’s golf tournament on the European Tour which is being held at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland. That trip could include a meeting with Ireland’s president, Catherine Connolly, who has been a staunch critic of Trump’s.
Whatever reception he gets in Ireland—a country where Trump is widely unpopular—is yet to be seen. But at least, I guess, this time he won’t delay a tennis match.
Thanks for reading Bounces! -Ben
Instead of bothering tennis fans he is instead pissing off Irish golf fans and telling Northern Ireland and Ireland to reunite.. I’m sure that won’t cause any animus or spicy Guardians opinion articles lol. What an absolute asshole and idiot.
Thank you for your insight in helping me write an academic essay about Trump and the US Open.