Donald Trump has made his grand arrival at Flushing Meadows as he prepares to watch the US Open men’s singles final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The president touched down in New York City on Sunday afternoon and made his way to Queens ahead of Sinner’s highly-anticipated showdown with great rival Alcaraz at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where tennis’ titanic duo will contest an unprecedented third Grand Slam final against one another this calendar year.
On the eve of the match – which was delayed from 2pm to 2:30pm due to increased security measures – the United States Tennis Association sent out an email to broadcasters, including ESPN and Sky Sports, stating that broadcasters must censor any protests or reactions to Trump’s attendance.
Roughly 40 minutes before the start of the final, Trump emerged from his private suite at Arthur Ashe, where he is a guest of Swiss luxury watch brand and major sponsor Rolex, to a mixture of cheers and boos from the New York crowd.
Since being re-elected the 79-year-old has made sport a huge part of his second term as president, with Sunday’s US Open final between Sinner and Alcaraz the second major event he is slated to attend in the Big Apple over the coming days.
After the tennis showpiece, he is also expected to be at Yankee Stadium on September 11 – the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack on the city. That night, the playoff-chasing New York Yankees host the Detroit Tigers.
Trump arrives to attend the men’s singles final tennis match between Alcaraz and Sinner
Donald Trump arrives at a largely empty Arthur Ashe Stadium as fans struggle to make their way through increased security for Sunday’s men’s final between Sinner and Alcaraz
Trump was met with a chorus of boos when he last attended the US Open in a majority-Democrat New York back in 2015.
The then-GOP presidential frontrunner was heavily jeered when he arrived to watch top-ranked Serena Williams defeat her older sister, Venus, in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Ahead of his appearance at Sunday’s final, a US Open insider told the Daily Mail that nerve agents and chemical weapons were among potential threats at Flushing Meadows.
‘We’ve been scoping out the area with our colleagues in the CIA and taking precautions in the event of an attack using chemical weapons or nerve agents,’ the source said.
However, those security preparations are said to be precautionary and are not understood to relate to any specific threat made against the commander-in-chief.
Trump waves ahead of the final between Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz
After beating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals Alcaraz was quizzed on the prospect of Trump watching his battle with Sinner, with the Spaniard admitting he is trying to put it to the back of his mind.
‘It is a privilege for the tournaments having the president from every country just to support the tournament, to support tennis, and to support the match,’ he initially told reporters about the US president’s plans to attend the final.
‘For me, playing in front of him… to be honest, I will try not to think about it. I don’t want myself to be nervous because of it.
‘But I think attending the tennis match, it’s great for tennis to have the president into the final.’
