The stage is set. On Sunday, 24 August, the US Open begins—tennis’ final Grand Slam® of the year, where the sport’s fiercest talents converge beneath New York’s restless skyline. Since 2018, Rolex has marked every moment as Official Timekeeper, a role befitting the only Grand Slam® that has never missed a year since its amateur beginnings in 1881. At the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, players must summon grit and grace over 15 days, enduring not just their rivals but the theatre of shifting light, roaring crowds, and a city that never sleeps.

This year carries an especially luminous milestone: fifty years since the first night match at Flushing Meadows changed the sport forever. Today, night sessions define the US Open—an intoxicating blend of cooler air, slower balls, heightened tension. American star Taylor Fritz, a Rolex Testimonee, thrives in this charged atmosphere. “There’s no other energy quite like it,” he reflects. “Especially on Arthur Ashe, where the crowd stays late for spectacle.”

For World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, the reigning US Open champion, the once-intimidating arena has become pure pleasure. “Each time I return, my performances grow stronger. It’s the contrast that makes it magical.” Their words echo the endurance of Justine Henin, who in 2003 fought through a midnight marathon before lifting her first US Open trophy. For her, as for Rolex, triumph lies not only in winning but in how it is achieved.

Nearly a century after Rolex first partnered with Wimbledon, its timepieces continue to mark the most extraordinary duels of day and night. At Flushing Meadows this August, under the glow of the floodlights, the pursuit of greatness resumes—measured in seconds, remembered for a lifetime.