In 2011, I got a gig covering the U.S. Open for a now defunct online tennis magazine. The experience was so wonderful – choice seats, daily happy hour (free Honey Deuces), player interviews (Andrea Petkovic!) – that it spoiled me for attending the tournament as a regular spectator. This year, with players complaining about disruptions from influencers, the abuse of hecklers, the smell of weed, I’m glad I went, to quote Evelyn Waugh, “when the going was good.”
