Ariana DeBose appears as the US Open marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Friday, turning Arthur Ashe Stadium light blue from dusk until dawn and flying American flags at half-mast. The tribute tied a routine day of tennis to a remembrance built around the 2,977 people who died on that day in 2001.
James Blake said the attacks hit athletes as hard as anyone else. He was in Augusta, Georgia, after losing in the second round and had gone there for a sweat test because he had struggled with cramp during the tournament.
Arthur Ashe Stadium in light blue
The stadium lighting and half-mast flags gave the commemoration a visible structure rather than a speech-only tribute. That choice fit the scale of the occasion: the 25th anniversary of an attack that reshaped daily life for Americans and for players who travel constantly from city to city.
The US Open had also ended two days earlier in 2001, with Lleyton Hewitt winning the men's singles title. Blake later became a two-time US Open quarter-finalist, but in September 2001 he was a player still early in that climb, dealing with a tournament exit before the wider shock arrived.
James Blake in Augusta, Georgia
Blake said, "It was something that I just couldn't believe could happen in the States" and added, "I don't know if we were all naive, or living under the guise of safety and feeling that everything was going to be OK, but it kind of shattered that for a while." He also described "a lot of panic, at every level - whether it be from the highest of highs in the political world to the people on the ground, to everyone around Ground Zero."
He was still not in New York when the attack unfolded; his father was there, where he worked. Blake later took a hire car from Augusta back to Tampa after planes were grounded, and his next tournament was in Hong Kong two weeks later.
Grounded travel, not just memory
That travel disruption is what gives the tribute its sharper edge. The ceremony at the US Open looks orderly now, with light, flags and a stadium full of spectators, but Blake's account shows how fast the sport's normal routine broke down once flights stopped and players had to improvise their way home.
He said boarding the plane for the next trip was "definitely scary," and that travel restrictions "wakes you up a little bit to the reality and how quickly things can change." The commemoration leaves one practical question untouched: who chose these visual symbols, and why light blue and half-mast flags were the right language for a tennis stadium on this date.
