NEW YORK — Dane Schlossberg saw police officers blocking the metal gates, heard other fans shouting obscenities and listened to crowds chanting outside Louis Armstrong Stadium.
It was hardly what anyone would expect in the genteel world of tennis. The jumbled scene surprised Schlossberg — in a totally different way.
“Actually, I thought it would be more chaotic,” he said Saturday at the U.S. Open.
Trying to play two men’s semifinals before Tropical Storm Hanna hit, tournament organizers shifted the schedule. So during the second set of the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic match at 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, they announced that Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray would soon start next door at 10,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium.
All seats on a first-come, first-served basis.
Immediately, a couple thousand fans rushed down the ramps at Ashe for the 100-yard dash to Armstrong. Public-address announcements to “please take your time” were soon replaced by security guards yelling, “Slow down!”
Dev Sirur was among the first to stake out a decent seat for Nadal-Murray.
“We wanted to beat the stampede,” he said. “We were sitting in the rafters at Ashe, and I’m a Djokovic fan. But I wanted to see Nadal, too. At first when they said what was happening, we booed. But then when I got here, we got great seats. So it’s OK.”
No telling whether Nadal and Murray agreed. With the stadium just one-quarter filled, it was easy to hear a pair of babies crying, an usher loudly ordering a fan to sit down and the music wafting over from Ashe.
The match between Federer and Djokovic already had been moved up an hour to start at 11 a.m. EDT and left officials clinging to the hope of playing the semifinals back-to-back at Ashe.
“If you split them up, you’re not going to have the opportunity,” tournament director Jim Curley said.
But when the weather pattern worsened, Curley said the Open tried to accommodate everyone — players, fans and CBS, which did the telecast — and switched Nadal-Murray across the way.
Douglas Melik didn’t mind. For a while, he was the only person sitting in the entire upper east bowl at Armstrong.
“I thought I had to be pro-active and come on over,” he said. “It turned out to be very fortuitous. But I won’t have this section to myself for long.”
He was right.
Late in the second set, it was easy to hear the cheers from Ashe after Federer had won. Because the matches were no longer in the same place, that started the real problems.
There just weren’t enough seats for everyone who wanted to get in as they were left to scramble from gate to gate, trying to find a way in.
As the crowd outside grew, things began to get testy. Several fans marched up to security guards to vent, and more uniformed police officers moved in to keep order. Dozens of supervisors scurried around with walkie-talkies.
Despite the anger and frustration, there was no pushing and shoving as officials and officers kept calm. And within 45 minutes or so, many fans who’d lined up were allowed into Armstrong.
Only one problem: Pretty soon, the rain came and the match was suspended with Murray leading 6-2, 7-6 (5), 2-3.
