The U.S. Open's "fan week" is underway as the world's top tennis players work to qualify for the tournament. The Athletic's Matthew Futterman joins "CBS News 24/7" with more details.

New York

Tennis enthusiasts are converging on New York for the US Open's fan week, a period before the main singles matches begin. During this time, fans have free access to practice sessions, qualifying rounds, and, uniquely this year, mixed doubles competitions, some of which are held with free admission at Armstrong Stadium.

The event has seen large crowds enjoying the opportunity to watch top players, including Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff, and Naomi Osaka, as they prepare for the main draw. Fan week also features autograph sessions and other activities, making it a popular lead-up to the US Open's main events.

U.S. Open 'fan week' begins

Tennis fans are flocking to New York for the US Open while the singles matches aren't until next week You can still see the tennis pros acing the practice rounds and mixed doubles games right now during free fan week I want to bring in Matthew Futterman a senior tennis writer at the Athletic who joins us live right now from New York City to Talk more about this. So Matthew just for people who might not be aware explain what fan week is and what will people be able to experience? Thanks for having me Vlad fan week is the week before the sort of main draw of the US Open starts It's when the qualifying tournament happens. It's when lots of players are practicing this year. What makes this different is the USTA? Also decided to hold the mixed doubles competition During fan week and it was a you know An absolutely sort of amazing scene yesterday because you had tens of thousands of fans who were out there watching the biggest stars some of the biggest stars compete for you know an actual Grand Slam title and A lot of those fans who were watching were there for free Which is something that really doesn't happen in professional sports these days But half the matches that took place on the ones that took place on Armstrong Stadium We're just free admission. You could just walk right in and so it was quite a popular event there was real buzz about the place and Usually it's kind of a sleepy week and that was not the case yesterday. It won't be the case tonight Wow All right. So what matches will people be able to be able to see tonight? Well tonight if you want to see the mixed doubles matches, you're gonna have to buy a ticket and it's I think mostly sold out But you have you know, you have the mixed double semifinals and finals some of some big stars are in that lineup Jack Draper is there Jessica Pagoola is there he gives Fiontech? Who's been just about the best female player in the world the last few years. She's playing She just won Wimbledon Casper rude is her partner. So that's gonna be quite a feature That's gonna dominate things but you know throughout the grounds throughout all day whether permitting there's there's the qualifying matches There's a bunch of really really good players. You're talking about players who might not be in the top 100 But they're competing to get into for the last few spots to get into the main draw which starts Which starts Sunday and at the same time you'll also have big stars who are there practicing all day signing autographs Greeting fans doing all sorts of doing all sorts of other events So give us a quick little preview Matthew what kind of big stars are going to be competing at this year's US Open? I know that Venus Williams is is is coming back and that's a big deal because she's I think now one of the oldest Since probably I'm going back to the 80s early 90s woman to compete at the US Open. Yeah, she's 45 years old It's great to see her still going. She won a mat and she won her first singles match about 18 months in July in Washington, DC She's chugging along. She she's gonna keep it. She her plan is to keep at this for a while So this is not, you know a send-off. It's not a retirement appearance or anything like that So she's gonna be there. She wants to play. She still has a lot of tennis in those hands in addition to her You know the biggest stars in the world are all gonna be there Jokovic Alcarez sinner Coco Gauff leads the American women who are just been I've just been on fire at the Grand Slams the last year Every Grand Slam final has featured an American woman and American women have won two of those during the last year so The big there should be big crowds under the lights and all day long next week at the US Open for those But is Naomi Osaka competing this year Matthew? Absolutely. Naomi Osaka is there. She has been fighting her way back from maternity leave the last year and a half She's showing real progress of late. She made the final of the Canadian Open earlier this month She is the sort of player that no one wants to see next to their name in the draw She has won four Grand Slams. She's won the US Open twice She is what you know, she describes herself as a hardcore kid. She's not a kid anymore but she still has the spirit of a kid out there sometimes and she can you know hit the daylights out of the ball and She'll be there. She's one of the biggest stars in the world Not just in sports, but you know Just a massive celebrity people are always turning out for her and the energy that she brings love it. Love it Matthew Futterman Thank you very much. My friend really great breakdown. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me

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