Grand Slam Glam: Stars Came Out for Opening Night of the US Open

Ahead of the evening match, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) also hosted its annual Opening Night Gala at the Chase Center located on the grounds. Gayle King emceed the dinner, which bestowed former champion Sloane Stephens with the Serving Up Dreams Award—a prestigious honor recognizing individuals dedicated to enriching under-resourced communities via tennis and education. Stephens, the fifth American woman in the Open Era to win the US Open, has tirelessly empowered young people and families through her namesake Foundation, which she founded in 2013 alongside her mother, Sybil Smith.

“I’ve never won an award like this, especially the night before playing in a Grand Slam,” a Simkhai-clad Stephens told Vogue. “I’m experiencing a lot of different emotions. To be recognized for the work that we are doing is incredibly special.” While accepting the honor, she tearfully remarked: “For a long time, I thought God put me on Earth to be a great tennis player, but now I understand that tennis was just my vehicle to be of service. Today, my mom and my brother Shawn get to serve together. Getting to do this work with my family is one of the greatest honors of my life.”

Last year alone, the Sloane Stephens Foundation served 7,500 children in Compton, California, and surrounding neighborhoods. “Sloane is someone who’s doing it right,” said Y. David Scharf, Officer and Board Member of the USTA Foundation. “She is an inspiration and so deserving of being our honoree. She is the essence and the embodiment of our mission. We look at more than a quarter of a million young people that come through our program and they can be Sloan Stephens. Anything is possible.”

The Opening Gala was attended by Orlando Bloom, Lindsey Vonn, Vera Wang, Kate Walsh, and Katie Couric, among many others. The evening’s festivities unfolded with a live auction, with King personally pledging $15,000 and Owning Manhattan’s Ryan Serhant bidding $50,000 for a F1 experience in Las Vegas, both contributing to a grand fundraising total of $2.7 million and counting. (Also still up for auction on Charitybuzz until September 23 is a tour of the Vogue offices in Manhattan and a meeting with Conde Nast’s chief content officer, Anna Wintour. The winner will additionally take home a pair of Wintour’s Chanel sunglasses, straight from her personal closet, and a signed copy of the May 2026 issue of Vogue featuring Wintour and Meryl Streep.)

Once the final paddle was raised, the crowd strolled over to the President’s Suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium for dessert, Honey Deuces, and a front row seat to the nail-biting Djokovic-Navone match.