The US Open has already delivered more than tennis, with the conversation at Flushing Meadows ranging from ticket prices to the growing presence of influencers around the event. Surge pricing for the biggest matches has drawn criticism, while umpires have also had to tell some “celebrities” to quiet down.

The wider schedule debate has also intensified. Carlos Alcaraz has become the latest leading player to question the demands of the calendar, saying he is likely to be more selective about the tournaments he enters after a wrist injury kept him out for four and a half months this year.

Against that backdrop, Mark Petchey has urged fans and pundits to step back and look at the bigger picture. Writing on social media, the former coach of Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu said: “It’s always interesting stepping back and hearing the narrative that evolves from a tennis event. It’s nearly always the same.

Too many matches in a year. Too many late finishes. Too gruelling,” he added. “Too expensive. Too many influencers. Best-of-five vs best-of-3. Ad nauseam.”

But Petchey argued that the sport’s health is being overlooked.

“And yet in amongst the dysfunctional beauty of tennis as we know it is, it is exploding in popularity,” he said. “Yes, tennis has never had it better. The players, the tournament’s, the ratings.

“Everything on a steep upward trend. Something is clearly very right with the sport too. No business is perfect, no sport is run to everyone’s desire.

“There will never be utopia in tennis but it is the greatest annual full calendar global show in the world. Time to celebrate harder, the hardest sport in the world.”

Several figures from the sport responded in support. Brad Gilbert reacted with agreeable emojis, while Roger Rasheed added his view in the comments.

Rasheed, who worked with Lleyton Hewitt, Gael Monfils, and Grigor Dimitrov, said: “The too many matches is the one for me, only a very small minority could claim that and if you are playing lots, well you’re obviously having a bloody good year – wasn’t that the initial goal?”

The biggest events have been strong throughout 2026, with many sell outs across the year, especially at the Grand Slams. Still, with Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz both missing extended periods, that level of momentum may not be guaranteed forever.

Naomi Osaka moved into the third round of the US Open, but only after being pushed hard by Katerina Siniakova in a match shaped by serve problems.

The Japanese star twice held a set and a break lead, yet she could not close out the contest against the Czech player. Osaka was then broken three consecutive times and dropped the set 7-5 as her first serve repeatedly failed to land.

There was a reset after the second set, when Osaka took a toilet break, and the change was immediate. Her serve sharpened again in the decider and she powered through a 6-1 final set to secure her place in the next round.

Osaka’s uneven serving did more than threaten her own progress. It also prompted Tim Henman to revisit a broader question about tennis rules and whether changes could ease the burden on players who struggle on serve.

Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, alongside Gigi Salmon and Naomi Broady, Henman said: “You wonder, it’s another rule that we probably discuss, whether you get rid of the let serve when the serve clips the top of the net.

“And whether you should only have one opportunity of throwing the ball up. If you throw the ball up, you’ve got to hit it. Well, you just wonder whether it might actually take away some of the pain.

“You’ve only got one chance, so here it goes. I wouldn’t say that your not allowed a second serve, but if you throw the ball up, you’ve got to hit it. If you miss the first serve, then you’ve got the second serve.”

The discussion is not new. Brad Gilbert has previously called the current rule “ridiculous”, while Patrick Mouratoglou has argued that tighter serve rules would create a better flow to matches.

Speaking to Tennis.com in 2025, Mouratoglou said: “The high number of aces and serve winners is detrimental to tennis. We want more rallies and less of these quick points—boom, serve, winner, ace, missed return. An occasional ace is fine, but not too many.”

Even with prominent voices calling for change, there is still no sign of the sport’s authorities moving on service rules, including long-running debates over let calls and the second serve.

Alex Eala’s 2026 campaign has become the defining stretch of her young career as she keeps moving up the WTA rankings and collecting results that place her firmly among the tour’s leading names.

After introducing herself more widely in 2025, especially with a run to the Miami Open semi finals, Eala has taken another step this season by consistently competing with established players. In 2026, she has recorded wins over Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, and Jessica Pegula, a sequence that helped carry her to the first WTA title of her career at the Washington Open.

The 21-year-old has also emerged as one of the WTA Tour’s most followed players around the world, a status that has remained visible during her time at the US Open. Much of that support comes from Filipino fans, and she will soon have another opportunity to play in front of a home audience before the season ends.

Eala is scheduled for an exhibition match in the Philippines in December, where she will meet Janice Tjen, the Southeast Asian player from Indonesia. Interest in the match is already substantial, with the event projected to draw one of the largest tennis crowds the country has seen.

Jessica Schiffer, of Hard Court, said: “Over 15k people have signed up for pre-sale access in the first few hours. The stadium fits 52,000 people and I’m told they’re expecting to break attendance records.”

Eala and Tjen are close friends on the WTA Tour and have also teamed up in doubles during the season. Their strongest run together came at the Abu Dhabi Open in February, when they reached the semi finals after beating Leylah Fernandez and Kristina Mladenovic, then Cristina Bucsa and Zhang Shuai, before falling to Olivia Nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova.

The Philippines match will not be Eala’s first appearance in front of local fans this year. She also played at the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open, where she reached the quarter finals of the WTA 125 event after beating Alina Charaeva and Himeno Sakatsume, then lost to eventual champion Camila Osorio.

That earlier event was well attended, but the December exhibition appears set to eclipse it by a considerable margin.