NEW YORK — Rain poured through the gaps in the roof of Louis Armstrong Stadium on Wednesday night, disrupting second-round play at the US Open.
Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium are the only courts at Flushing Meadows that can be covered during bad weather, but even that was an issue as wind helped push rain through the space between the concourse and the retractable cover at Armstrong. After two hours of steady rain, the stadium was completely soaked, halting play on the show court.
ESPN analyst Darren Cahill chronicled the events in a series of tweets.
😩 pic.twitter.com/55h41mxB3u
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) September 2, 2021
Update. Getting worse pic.twitter.com/ezVe9mSfep
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) September 2, 2021
Final update pic.twitter.com/INA8C7eIit
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) September 2, 2021
The match between two-time major finalist Kevin Anderson and 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman was suspended with Schwartzman leading 7-6 (4), and it resumed at Ashe following the conclusion of Stefanos Tsitsipas‘ 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0 win over Adrian Mannarino.
Schwartzman eventually won 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round, with play finishing just after 1 a.m. Thursday.
The match between Angelique Kerber and Anhelina Kalinina, originally scheduled to follow Anderson and Schwartzman on Armstrong, was postponed until later Thursday.
Schwartzman had no interest in that sort of scenario.
“I was ready to play, and I wanted to finish [Wednesday], not finish [Thursday]. You never know what can happen,” he said.
Louis Armstrong Stadium, which holds 14,000 seats, was updated ahead of the 2018 US Open with a naturally ventilated roof.
Fans in attendance Wednesday night received flash flood and tornado warnings that read, “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.” As the rain got steadily worse, spectators huddled under umbrellas or left the tennis center.
Subway stations and tracks became so flooded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended all service, and New York City put in place a travel ban until 5 a.m. Thursday for all nonemergency vehicles.
Shortly after midnight Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she was declaring a state of emergency “to help New Yorkers affected by tonight’s storm.”
The National Weather Service recorded 3.15 inches of rain in New York’s Central Park in one hour, far surpassing the 1.94 inches that fell in one hour during Tropical Storm Henri on Aug. 22, which was believed at the time to be the most ever recorded in the park.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
