President Donald Trump waves Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

Despite overtures from the tournament organizers to refrain from documenting any crowd reaction to President Donald Trump’s attendance at Sunday’s US Open men’s final, it seemed unavoidable for the ESPN on ABC broadcast.

Trump once again found himself the center of attention in the sports world on Sunday, appearing at Arthur Ashe Stadium as a guest of Rolex for the US Open men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. His attendance caused headaches for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in multiple ways.

First and foremost, the USTA reportedly urged ESPN prior to the men’s final to censor any reactions or protests centered around Trump’s attendance. A negative response would be expected in New York City, where Trump lost the most recent presidential election by 38 points. The USTA, understandably, wants to limit anything that would distract from its star-studded matchup.

Unfortunately, Trump’s presence would prove a distraction well before the match even began. Enhanced security measures for attendees forced the USTA to push the final back more than 30 minutes as fans struggled to enter Arthur Ashe Stadium, even well after the delayed match began.

The delay made Trump an unavoidable storyline for ESPN. And to the network’s credit, it did not listen to the USTA and covered the President how it would cover any other important political figure. As the broadcast aired the national anthem, a crowd reaction can clearly be heard as Trump was shown.

Then, as the match got underway, the Trump storyline went away. The broadcast focused on the tennis, but interspersed play with its normal shots of celebrity attendees as well. ESPN did not return to Trump until the fourth set, when play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler and analyst John McEnroe briefly acknowledged his attendance coming out of commercial. Seemingly, ESPN’s strategy was to get the Trump moment out of the way early, then show him once more later in the match for folks that might not have been aware he was there. ESPN then showed him one more time after Alcaraz secured his win.

And that was probably the wise decision. Despite his attendance causing some issues regarding the start time, thus warranting some coverage before the match, once the match began there didn’t seem to be any newsworthy moments involving Trump. For ESPN, that likely provided a sigh of relief.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

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