Late-August day sessions in Flushing regularly hit the 90s, and a lower-bowl seat on the wrong side of Arthur Ashe means hours of direct sun. Here's where the shade falls at the US Open's three biggest courts — plus a free interactive map that ray-traces the sun for your exact session date and time.
Pick your session date & start time — watch the shade sweep the stands, section by section.
Championship tennis courts — including Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong and the Grandstand — run roughly north–south, so neither baseline player serves into a low sun. For fans, that orientation means one simple rule: as the afternoon sun swings south and then west, the west side of the bowl shades up first (the stands behind those seats block the sun), while the east side faces the afternoon sun and stays bright the longest.
Day sessions start around 11am–noon, when the sun is high and most of every bowl is lit. Shade arrives from the west side as the afternoon wears on:
| Seats | Why they're shaded |
|---|---|
| Arthur Ashe — west side, mid & upper rows | First to shade as the sun moves west; the huge west stand blocks the late-day sun |
| Arthur Ashe — Promenade (upper) level | Highest tier sits partly under the roof structure; shade arrives earlier than courtside |
| Louis Armstrong — west side | Same north–south geometry in a smaller bowl; shades through the afternoon |
| Grandstand — southwest corner | The sunken bowl's southwest seats pick up shade first |
The east side of every court looks straight into the afternoon and evening sun — courtside east seats at Ashe can be in direct sun deep into the day session. Low rows anywhere are the last to shade.
Night sessions (around 7pm) start at or after sunset in late August — every seat is shade-safe, so buy purely on price and view. If heat is your concern, the night session is the easy answer; if you want the day session, buy west side and as high as your budget tolerates. Ashe and Armstrong both have retractable roofs, but they close for rain, not sun.
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Shade predictions come from a 3D ray-traced model of each seating bowl combined with the exact solar position for your date and session time. Use it to pick a side, level and row range, then confirm the precise seat on a ticket map. Independent tool; not affiliated with the USTA, ATP, WTA or the US Open.