The denim kit: U.S. Soccer’s beloved abomination that defined the 1994 World Cup

The Most Famous Woman In Men's Tennis

Morgan Riddle was being watched.

Outside the grandstand, while she idled beneath the summer sun, a passer-by stopped, turned and pointed a phone at her, then wordlessly walked away. Ms. Riddle just adjusted her black oval Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy-style sunglasses.

Once inside the tennis match, while she and more than 1,000 other spectators found their seats, people were more direct. "Are you Morgan?" "I recognize you!" "Can we get a photo?" She said yes at least a dozen times that afternoon.

"You're so tiny!" said Sue McDonald, who had come to the National Bank Open in Toronto with her 19-year-old daughter, Jaiden. She had never been able to get her children interested in the sport, Ms. McDonald told Ms. Riddle, until last summer, when one player on TV caught her daughter's eye.

"I'm sitting there watching Wimbledon, and I'm like, 'Come and see this guy,'" she said. "'Come and see this tall, dark, handsome guy.' She comes walking in, and she's like, 'Oh, who's this?'"

It was Taylor Fritz, a player from Southern California recognizable for his height (a lean 6-foot-5) and his center-parted, cartoon-prince waves, which he restrains during matches with a Nike headband. Mr. Fritz, 25, is the top American player in men's tennis, currently ranked ninth in the world.

But he wasn't the only person the McDonalds were watching during that match.

Every so often, the screen flashed to a young woman wearing a crisp white dress and gold jewelry with blond tendrils framing her face, sitting ultra-poised in the player's box with Mr. Fritz's team of coaches and supporters. They looked her up online and soon began following Ms. Riddle on social media, where she shares her life as a tennis WAG — an acronym for "wives and girlfriends," popularized in Britain in the mid-2000s to describe, disparagingly, a group of preening, partying women attached to soccer players.

Ms. Riddle, 26, doesn't mind the acronym, she said. She also doesn't mind being called an influencer, a similarly stigmatized title. She has thick skin and a cleareyed confidence in the life she's building while accompanying her boyfriend around the world for some 35 weeks each year.

What began in early 2022 with her trying on outfits for the Australian Open on TikTok (a video that has since been viewed 1.5 million times) has evolved into her being hired by Wimbledon to host "Wimbledon Threads," a video series on fashion at the tournament. This summer, she released two pieces of gold-plated jewelry — a bracelet ($125) and necklace ($175), each with a tennis-racket charm — in collaboration with a small New York jewelry company called Lottie.

In Toronto, one of several women who approached Ms. Riddle between Mr. Fritz's sets thrust out her wrist, flashing her Lottie racket bracelet.

This lifestyle is not one Ms. Riddle could have imagined for herself three years ago, when she didn't even know the rules of tennis.

"I genuinely did not have any friends who were interested in tennis, I had no friends who watched tennis, I had no friends who played or wore cute tennis clothing," said Ms. Riddle, who still does not regularly play tennis. She does, however, watch a lot of tennis now, and wear a lot of cute tennis clothing.

'She's Got a Plan'

"I'll be honest, I was very apprehensive," said Grace Barber, a senior producer at Whisper, the sports production company that created Ms. Riddle's fashion series for Wimbledon. Ms. Barber knew little about Ms. Riddle before being assigned to produce "Wimbledon Threads."

"I just assumed that because she's, like, really hot and got loads of followers and is Taylor's girlfriend, she's basically coasting," said Ms. Barber, who used the phrase "train wreck" to describe her expectations for the project. She was wrong, she said: Ms. Barber found Ms. Riddle to be hard-working, funny and self-aware while filming the series, which largely consists of interviews with attendees describing their outfits.

"She's got a really clear directive, creatively, of where she wants to go," she said. "She's got a plan."

The series has already been commissioned for next year's Wimbledon, provided that "he's still playing and she still wants to do it," Ms. Barber said. In July, after Mr. Fritz was eliminated in the tournament's second (of seven) rounds, the production sped up its timeline, conscious of avoiding online criticism over why Mr. Fritz's girlfriend was still working at Wimbledon when he was not.

And here is where things can get complicated: In the tennis world, at least, Ms. Riddle's exposure is still partly tied to her boyfriend's success.

Many fans who take selfies with Ms. Riddle know her from "Break Point," the Netflix series that follows the highs and lows of several rising tennis stars. On the show, Ms. Riddle cheers for Mr. Fritz in full preppy, doll-like glam — and, slightly less glamorously, eats takeout with him in their hotel bed — while his story line devolves from a great victory over Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells, Calif., in 2022, to a surprising defeat in the first round of the U.S. Open later that year.

Mr. Fritz has since failed to advance past the third round of any Grand Slam tournament. As such, the "Break Point" crew hasn't spent much time with the couple for the scheduled second season, Ms. Riddle said. It's her understanding they won't be featured again unless he has a big win.

Netflix aside, the difference between winning Grand Slams and not can be financially stark — even for top players like Mr. Fritz, who has already earned $12.9 million in prize money throughout his career, along with sponsorships from Nike and Rolex. According to Forbes, winning the U.S. Open in 2021 translated to $18 million in endorsements the next year for Emma Raducanu, who now models for Dior. After Carlos Alcaraz won his U.S. Open title in 2022, he signed high-profile deals with Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton.

Still, Ms. Riddle has prioritized financial independence in a way not all WAGs do. Ms. Barber, who is the wife of a professional golfer, said she had seen younger women set aside their career goals, tempted by the lifestyle of financially supported world travel.

"For the first year or so, it's like a fairy tale," said Ms. Barber, who is now in her late 30s. "But it's not your dream. You want to be supportive to the person you love, but you know how quickly time passes, and suddenly it's been 10 years and you have no career of your own and you're bored of living out of a suitcase."

Ms. Riddle has found a way not to be bored — funneling most of her creative energy into a YouTube channel she started this year for longer form vlogs — while also supporting herself. Her income from one TikTok is about five times what she made in a month at her previous 9-to-5 job, she said. (She was formerly a media director for an organization that brought video games into children's hospitals.)

"I'm really happy with what I'm doing, and I'm making good money," she said. "People are allowed to make all the judgments they want. A lot of times people have assumptions about me, but then they watch my YouTube, or they listen to me on a podcast, and they're like, 'Oh my gosh, I was wrong.'"

'Not a Bad Deal'

Ms. Riddle and Mr. Fritz met in Los Angeles in 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, on the private dating app Raya.

At first, Ms. Riddle did not try particularly hard with Mr. Fritz, she said. On their first date she suggested they watch "Midsommar," a fairly disturbing film she had already seen. She loves horror movies and figured that if he couldn't handle some gory Swedish strangeness, they weren't a good match. (In turn, he later got her to watch anime.)

Ms. Riddle had just moved to California earlier that year and was living adjacent to influencers, having befriended members of the Hype House, but she wasn't yet one herself. She had been raised in Minnesota by a public radio executive and a guided tour fisherman, then studied English at Wagner College on Staten Island in New York.

Mr. Fritz grew up near San Diego, born to two tennis players. (His mother, Kathy May, was ranked 10th in the world in 1977.) He joined the professional tour at 17 after winning the junior U.S. Open. Mr. Fritz had grown up fast: By the time he met Ms. Riddle, at 22, he had already been married, fathered a child and gotten a divorce. But because of Covid-19, he was, for the first time in his career, on an extended break from tennis.

Mr. Fritz knew his nomadic life would eventually resume, so he broke it down for her.

"I prefaced it," Mr. Fritz said, sitting in their hotel room in New York, the week before the U.S. Open. "I was like: 'Look, this is not how it's going to be. I don't have this free time. I'm going to be traveling, like, every single week.' But I also said, 'You know, it's not a bad deal — you can travel all over the world, if you're up for it.'"

She liked the deal. And he liked having her around. They moved in together after dating for just a few weeks.

"She's very on me about eating healthy, getting lots of sleep," said Mr. Fritz, who seems shy off court, but like many players, talks a lot to himself and his team while on court. "It's the little things that create a healthy routine for me, and that helps me perform better."

When they met, he was ranked 24th. Now he is ranked ninth. But Ms. Riddle knows how ugly her DMs and comments section — already a place where she is denigrated by some fans for dressing up at matches, selling tennis merch and generally having opinions about the sport — would become if those numbers were reversed.

"If his ranking had gone down, they'd say it's my fault," said Ms. Riddle, who sometimes wears an evil-eye bracelet on her wrist, given to her by Lilly Russell, the wife of one of Mr. Fritz's coaches, who travels with the team and "knows how much" she takes online.

Power Couple

"Power couple," the Tennis Channel captioned a photo of Ms. Riddle and Mr. Fritz as they walked around Wimbledon in June. Earlier that month, they both became memes after a Paris crowd loudly booed Mr. Fritz, who had just beaten a French player. He shushed them with a finger to his lips, like a kindergarten teacher; Ms. Riddle was seen smiling devilishly behind her pink camera.

She knows she is always being watched. But she is also always watching, able to sense when Mr. Fritz needs encouragement, while also keeping her cool during tense moments. Most cameras can't see when her knee is bouncing.

"The only time I really get nervous is when I see him getting nervous," Ms. Riddle said. She knows his tells, like looking at his nails or fiddling with his racket strings. He doesn't often smash rackets — a stereotype of frustrated players — but when he does, he'll break them over his knee. The first time Ms. Riddle saw it happen, "I was like, 'This guy is psycho.'"

Tournaments can be chic; sometimes there are champagne tents and Ralph Lauren-decorated suites and celebrities sitting courtside. During the U.S. Open, Mr. Fritz and Ms. Riddle stay at the posh, wellness-oriented Equinox Hotel New York — he has a partnership with the hotel — and take a Blade helicopter to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.

But sometimes they are indescribably boring. On Mr. Fritz's final day in Toronto, Ms. Riddle and I spent a full hour watching a court be dried, inch by inch, by vacuum-like machines after a rainstorm. The day before, we had gotten sunburns. Now it was windy and chilly, and Ms. Riddle texted Mr. Fritz, who was waiting out the delay in the locker room, to ask to borrow a jacket. She hoped it wasn't ugly, she said.

"Welcome to the glamorous life of being a WAG."

At one point during the delay, Ms. Riddle considered greeting Alex de Minaur as he quickly passed by but decided against it. Mr. De Minaur, the top-ranked Australian player in the world, was playing Mr. Fritz later that day — a match Mr. De Minaur would win. I thought of this moment later, when a couple of tournament regulars described tennis WAGs to me as "political wives," diplomatically representing their partners around the grounds.

But Ms. Riddle had become a kind of ambassador for the sport, too. Her behind-the-scenes explainer content is a gateway drug for some people, like Jaiden McDonald, the young woman who approached Ms. Riddle with her mother in the grandstand. Within a few months of seeing Mr. Fritz and Ms. Riddle for the first time, she went from ambivalence toward tennis to making a PowerPoint presentation of her U.S. Open predictions. She watches Ms. Riddle's YouTube videos every single week.

During the rain delay, I searched Ms. Riddle's name on X, formerly Twitter, and found fan art of her and Mr. Fritz as Barbie and Ken. It wasn't the first time she had seen the comparison. Ms. Riddle, who has a Barbie-themed iPhone case, had decided to lean into it: When Mr. Fritz appeared on a magazine cover in July, Ms. Riddle commented "hi ken!" on his Instagram.

She likes to joke that Mr. Fritz is her fan, and her fans like to joke about his matches being "Morgan Riddle meet-and-greets." This started around the time the tagline on a "Barbie" poster ("She's everything. He's just Ken.") went viral.

Ms. Riddle's publicity team, which she began working with this summer, even suggested "she is Barbie and he's just Ken" as the concept for the couple's photo shoot accompanying this article.

As in: She's everything. He's just the best men's tennis player in the United States.

The Very Best Workout Shoes For Men

Finding a good, do-it-all sneaker is a harder task than it seems. That's because most workout shoes are built for specific activities, like running, weight lifting, basketball, tennis, or hiking, among others. And though wearing your running shoes for all your workouts might not be the worst crime in the world, it should be avoided as much as possible, because the vast majority of running shoes are built specifically for forward movement, and their constructions don't provide the stability needed for lateral movement that a basketball or tennis shoe would lend. (It's the perfect recipe for a rolled ankle.)

A good workout shoe will give that extra support, not just propel you forward, and even though there are differences between the type of support you need depending on the activity you're doing most often, most of these sports share similar movements that require the same thing: a stable, comfortable base for a variety of forward and lateral movements. That's why a lot of the shoes in this list are cross-trainers; they lend stability and are made to move, push, jump, and jog in.

The experts I spoke to recommended these pairs as the best all-around workout shoes. We've noted where each of these shoes excel most: be it for jogging with a mix of HIIT, lots of heavy weight training, or hitting the trails for a sweaty, uphill hike. And when it comes to style, don't fret — a few of the pairs we featured below can double as the pair you lift in but also wear to a weekday-night bar hang with friends. (And if you're looking for something to run in, check out our guide to the best running shoes.)

A supportive build is crucial for running, moving side to side, and for any workout involving weights. We're looking for features like flat soles, secure, non-flimsy upper constructions around the forefoot, and reinforcements around the shoe's tongue, the toe box, and your ankle — all of which will help to give you a stable base to push off from, and thus help prevent foot or leg injuries. ("Rule No. 1 in fitness is don't get hurt and rule No. 2 is reread rule No. 1," says trainer and entrepreneur Percell Dugger, who says the right shoes are critical to following these rules.)

Shoes more geared toward weight lifting will have a flatter, denser midsole with less cushion, while some of the running-focused shoes on this list will have a thicker midsole with a plusher feel. Louis Coraggio, a health coach and the founder of Body Architect and TrampoLEAN, says good workout shoes should feel comfortable right away — they shouldn't feel as if you have to break them in. At the end of the day, it comes down to what's most comfortable for you, and we've tried to make it clear how much cushion you can expect in each shoe by rating it from heavy to light.

Good workout shoes will provide solid traction to keep you on your feet, whether you're doing box jumps, lunges, or jogging on pavement. We're looking for shoes with good "tires" that are suited to their activity: Some outsoles have balder rubber bottoms, built for flatter gym surfaces, while others in this list have deeper lugs that can handle surfaces like asphalt and dirt trails.

Support: Thick upper constructionCushion: MediumOutsole: Maximum grip

While some folks opt to wear running shoes for lifting and cardio, most of the fitness pros we spoke to say that it's worth investing in a pair of shoes better suited for all-purpose workouts — like Nike's Metcon. Sean Sewell, a personal trainer who runs the gear-review site Engearment, says that while running shoes have "a bit of a lift in the heel that helps for comfort when running," that can make it hard to achieve "proper alignment" in other kinds of workouts. Todd Brandon-Morris, the founder of inclusive fitness brand Out-Fit, says the Metcon should be "the standard for any versatile athlete" because they're "firm enough for heavy weight lifting" but also great for jumping and running. Sewell tells us they're also very popular in the CrossFit community: "They are lightly cushioned and have little to no heel lift, making them good for proper biomechanics when performing deadlifts, squats, swings, and snatches," he says, adding that they have "good tactile feedback too."

"For general gym-training purposes, I've been wearing Nike Metcons for years," says Dr. Clinton Lee, a Brooklyn-based certified strength and conditioning specialist. "They're lightweight, and many models have a relatively flat sole (which I prefer for lower-body training), and they look good. There are options to get previous editions from outlet stores for inexpensive prices, and Nike always has new iterations popping up in case you want something more recent."

I've been wearing the Metcons for gym workouts for the past three years, and besides some light tread wear on the soles, they've held up to all types of workouts including weightlifting, rowing, HIIT sessions, and treadmill warm-up runs. The Metcon's stable sole and accommodating fit are what make it our top recommendation for any sweat session — minus training for a marathon.

$150 at Dick's Sporting Goods

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Photo: Courtesy Altra

Support: Wide toe box and lacing reinforcementCushion: LightOutsole: Medium grip

Altra shoes are known for two main features: a generously wide toe box that allows you splay out your feet, and a zero-drop heel, which means your heel and toe are level within the shoe. Many customers love the brand for this one-two punch of comfort, especially for hiking and outdoor pursuits. But it turns out that this design is perfect for the weight room, too.

When it comes to lifting weights, Dugger and many other experts say you want a shoe with as much of a barefoot feel as possible. This allows you to fully plant your feet into the ground, which helps avoid injuries. "Research has shown that a lot of shoes with very thick soles can weaken your ankles over time," explains Dugger, who adds that "injuries like ankle sprains and knee problems all start with your feet and footwear." The Solstice XT 2's lightly cushioned sole and zero drop are just what you need for that barefoot feel. I've been testing the Solstice for a full year now (I even reviewed it previously as an editor at Outside), and its wide and flat base gives me — and my legs — confidence during heavy lifts. It also has a rubbery reinforcement cage around the forefoot and laces, which keeps my feet even more locked in.

From $130 at Backcountry

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Support: Wide, stretchy toe box with laced, sock-like tongueCushion: MediumOutsole: Medium grip

Chris Chung, a New York–based running-and-fitness-content creator, says lifting in the Nike Frees feels "almost like wearing a sock." Chung uses an older model of the Nike Free — the Flyknit 3.0 — but the knit upper of the latest version, the 5.0, offers the same flexibility and socklike feel. "I like to have more freedom in my feet when I'm lifting," says Chung, who prefers a more flexible sole that allows him to feel the ground. "It feels more natural to me."

From $100 at Dick's Sporting Goods

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Support: Tight speed lacing systemCushion: HeavyOutsole: Medium grip

When we reached out to fitness influencers and experts to find the next status gym sneaker for men, On Running's Cloud line was the clear choice when it came to both style and substance. Master personal trainer Ariel Brill told us that these "are my favorite for running," adding, "I ran a marathon in this exact pair and I felt like I was truly running on a cloud, when in reality, I was on hard pavement." While these are branded as a running sneaker, many find they also make a great all-purpose gym and training shoe. As style editor Ted Stafford told us when we asked him about status gym sneakers, "Guys who are looking for a training sneaker with the latest innovation for comfort and performance should try On Running training sneakers as soon as they can. They'll be hooked."

Support: Tight speed lacing systemCushion: HeavyOutsole: Medium grip

Ralph Lauren creative producer Yale Breslin says the Cloudstratus are his go-to shoes for a variety of workouts thanks to their plush cushioning. "The sole gives a little bit of bounce, which makes what I think is the most mundane activity a little more fun," he says. "Plus, in a plethora of black tank tops and black shorts at Equinox, these stand out."

Support: Thick tongueCushion: HeavyOutsole: Medium grip

A pair of 990s is suitable for just about everything: travel, date night, walking around, and the gym. Its cushioned midsole and discreet dad-sneaker look make it a shoe you can dress up or down and wear for both relaxed and more active pursuits. I reach for my 990s when I want to give my feet a break after a long day of being stuffed into stiff dress shoes. And because I like to wear them for so many different occasions, I try to keep them clean by using them strictly for gym sessions and not outdoor workouts, where they'd likely get grimier. The 990s will fit most feet; they come in a ton of sizes and widths. (We also selected the 990v5 as the best women's workout shoe for everyday wear.) Strategist writer and self-described gym rat Tembe Denton-Hurst likes her 990s because they offer "incredible support and are super-comfortable to walk in."

Support: High ankle supportCushion: MediumOutsole: Medium grip

Lee prefers doing squat workouts in Jordan 1s and Nike Dunks in various colorways. "Not for any performance-related purposes," he tells me. "It's just that they're fun, I love the way they look, and for the amount of time I spend in the gym, I need something different than typical sneakers or weight-lifting shoes, so I rock these for the fashion aspect."

Brooks is known primarily for its running shoes, but the brand also makes more casual models, such as this suede pair for walking. Coraggio likes the Addiction Walker for everyday workouts. "I have low arches and tight calves that have forced me to be very foot conscious since I was 12 years old," he tells me. "I am very focused on gait and foot mechanics." Since the Addiction Walker isn't meant for running or quick movements, it's highly cushioned and offers a supportive feel.

$180 at Brooks Running

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Support: High laces lend ankle supportCushion: MediumOutsole: Medium grip

Another sneaker that also appeared in our status gym-shoe roundup, the high-top Converse All Star has a cult following among weight lifters due to its completely flat sole. (It's also the only weight-lifting shoe we heard about multiple times.) Product designer Amardeep Singh is among those who like the flat-soled All Star high-tops for weight-lifting: He prefers the '70 model featured here, which has a thicker sole, telling us you've "got to keep it flat if you're lifting." Sewell seconds the Converse recommendation, adding that they're the next best thing to going barefoot (which he says "allows for the most beneficial alignment of the body if you really want to train hard with heavier weights"). There's killer value here: It's good for your wardrobe (and your wallet) that one of the best weight-lifting shoes is also an iconic, classic sneaker.

From $85 at Nordstrom

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Support: Reinforced toe, flat soleCushion: MediumOutsole: Medium grip

Strategist UK contributor Anna Fielding is a fan of these stylish, affordable trainers from Feiyue that have their roots in versatile movement. "The trainers originated in 1920s Shanghai, where they were adopted by martial arts practitioners," she wrote. "These days parkour enthusiasts use them too, as do Chinese schoolchildren doing PE lessons and Shaolin monks. They are lightweight plimsolls, with a canvas body and a cushioned sole. They have bounce. They have grip. And unlike other plimsolls, they're actually supportive." Feiyue's Fe Lo sneakers fit the bill of a solid weight-lifting shoe: they have a flat base, a cushioned sole, and a supportive canvas upper that won't bust open like a flimsy running shoe upper might. "You can easily wear them without socks, and — good for the sockless to know — I've also found they stand up to repeat washing-machine cycles," Fielding continues. "They stay looking fresh, whites white and colours sharp, longer than any pair of Converse. They don't fall to pieces, as Keds can, even if you treat them badly and kick them off without bothering to undo the laces."

I've been alternating daily between two pairs of Fe Lo 1920s for less than a year. I wear them mainly for walking around the city but also for weight lifting. The primary areas of wear are in the heel counter, which is thin and has frayed but hasn't caused any irritation against my heel.

Support: Low profile and cushioned collarCushion: MediumOutsole: Heavy grip

Tennis shoes naturally make up some of the best all-purpose workout shoes. That's because the sport requires both forward and lateral movement, and shoes that have a durable construction and thick tread to meet the demands of shuffling around the hard court. The Gel-Resolution is our pick for the best men's tennis shoe, and it got nods from five experts we spoke to for its versatile fit. Unlike other tennis shoes, the Gel-Resolution should fit anyone comfortably regardless of the width or volume of their feet. NYU's head tennis coach, Horace Choy, said the Resolution is "very popular" with his team in part because the shoe's low profile means you're "closer to the ground, which I personally think makes you feel a little faster." The Gel-Resolution is a relatively light shoe, and its secure fit allowed me to change up my game by playing faster and more aggressively. I also recommend this shoe for pickleball, which incorporates many of the same movements as tennis.

Support: Zero heel-toe drop, wide footbedCushion: HeavyOutsole: Lugs with high grip

Altra is known for its shoes with a "zero-drop" design (meaning the heel-to-toe drop is flat) and wide footbed, which allows your toes to splay out — two features intended to boost comfort. The brand's most popular model is its Lone Peak, designed primarily for hiking, but I prefer the nimbler Outroad for trail runs and walking on dirt and gravel trails. While the outsole has big lugs for gripping loose terrain, I've found that the Outroad doesn't feel out of place on shorter road runs too.

Support: Cushioned tongue and collarCushion: HeavyOutsole: Grippy tread for road running

Yes, you don't want to use running shoes for all of your workouts, but if you're looking for a basic running shoe that can also handle other activities from time to time, the Pegasus is your pick. In our guide to the best running shoes, we recommended the Air Zoom Pegasus if "you'd rather not think too much about your running shoes." It's been a staple of Nike's running lineup ever since it was introduced nearly four decades ago, and its cushioning comes from a layer of the brand's proprietary React foam in the midsole. It's a workhorse of a shoe that is meant to be used for logging miles with daily training, so it will more than satisfy the occasional road run in addition to other aerobic workouts.

$130 at Dick's Sporting Goods

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• Yale Breslin, Ralph Lauren creative producer• Ariel Brill, personal trainer• Sanibel Chai, former Strategist junior writer• Louis Cheslaw, New York Magazine associate editor• Horace Choy, NYU's head tennis coach• Chris Chung, running-and-fitness-content creatorLouis Coraggio, health coach and founder of Body Architect and TrampoLEAN• Tembe Denton-Hurst, Strategist writer• Percell Dugger, strength coach and founder of Fit for Us• Anna Fielding, Strategist UK contributor• Karen Iorio Adelson, former Strategist senior writer• Steven John, runner and Strategist contributor• Dr. Clinton Lee, certified strength and conditioning specialist• David Notis, former Strategist writer• Sean Sewell, personal trainer and owner at Engearment and Mountain Fitness School• Amardeep Singh, product designer• Ted Stafford, Men's Health fashion director

Additional reporting by David Notis.

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What 'Playing Forest Hills' Means To Tennis Fans

Good morning. Today we'll look at the place where the precursor to the U.S. Open was played for more than 40 years. Also, the clock in front of Trump Tower that the city was slow to notice.

The U.S. Open, which kicks off today in Queens, brings two weeks of (usually) great tennis to New York, bracketed around Labor Day weekend. The top-ranked players scheduled to play at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center include Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Victoria Azarenka in women's matches and Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe on the men's side.

Our reporter Corey Kilgannon, who visited the place where the U.S. Open was played for years, explains how a 100-year milestone was celebrated there.

Three miles from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the Open is now played, is an overlooked tennis landmark.

The Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, tucked neatly into a stately neighborhood just off Queens Boulevard, opened a century ago, and the national championship was held there through 1977. It is perhaps better known nowadays as a concert venue where the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix performed.

The West Side Tennis Club, which owns the stadium, says it opened in August 1923 as the first tennis stadium in the country and the second worldwide, after Wimbledon, whose Centre Court had opened a year earlier, in 1922. It made Forest Hills "the center of tennis in the Western Hemisphere," said Beatrice Hunt, a longtime club member who helps keep its archives.

Competitors called playing there "playing Forest Hills," the former pro Dick Stockton said at a celebration of the stadium's centennial at the West Side Tennis Club on Saturday.

That terminology did not translate well once the championship moved to the larger, city-built National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, he said. "Playing Flushing Meadows," he said, "doesn't have a good ring to it."

So players simply began calling the tournament "the Open," said Stockton, who played often in the stadium at Forest Hills. He said that as a child, he sneaked in through an open gate because he did not have money for tickets.

"Playing here back then, it felt like a huge venue," he said while looking over the horseshoe-shaped stadium, whose columns and archways are intact. "The stands wrapped around the court, and the sound of the ball being hit, that echo, it was unlike anywhere else. It just added to the drama of playing here."

Movie fans know it for a different kind of drama: Scenes for the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" were shot there during the 1950 Davis Cup finals. Several scenes in Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001) were filmed in and around the stadium.

But after the Open moved to Flushing Meadows and concerts were curtailed in the late 1980s, the stadium deteriorated and was in danger of being converted into residential buildings. Repairs were made in 2013 and concerts were revived, not without controversy. Longstanding complaints from some neighbors persist about concerts they say are too noisy and run too late into the night.

On Saturday evening, partygoers dressed in summer tennis wear and party outfits gathered for cocktails next to the stadium. Then club officials directed them to an old safe the size of a small coat closet that had been dragged out from some forgotten corner. The officials proceeded to unlock it for the first time in decades, in something of an old-time stunt that seemed part of the nostalgia for the stadium's grand old days.

"Is Bill Tilden inside?" shouted one onlooker, referring to the great player during the 1920s who won most of his seven national championships at Forest Hills.

The safe was rusty and musty, and its contents were comparatively disappointing: some empty money bags, some canvas, some plastic, and a sheet listing concession food revenue from a past tournament.

The guests adjourned to a dinner that honored the great female player Althea Gibson, who broke the color barrier in the 1950s. They also honored Joe Hunt and John Newcombe, who also had important moments at Forest Hills.

And Joel Drucker, a tennis historian and writer, drew parallels between musical and tennis talent at the stadium: Just as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison displayed electrifying ways of playing music, stars like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe brought new levels of excitement to fans.

Weather

Prepare for a partly sunny day, with temps reaching the upper 70s. At night, expect a chance of showers, with lows near 70.

ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING

In effect until Sept. 4 (Labor Day).

The latest New York news

At Trump Tower, the clock the city never noticed

The Trump Organization installed a four-sided clock on Fifth Avenue without applying for a permit or paying a fee. It's hard to miss: It's 16 feet tall. It gets great reviews on TripAdvisor.

The city considers it "street furniture," which the city defines as including clocks, along with benches, permanent trash receptacles, planters and just about anything else imaginable.

New York collects millions of dollars from property owners who put "street furniture" on sidewalks. A permit for a stand-alone sidewalk clock like the one outside Trump Tower typically costs about $300 a year and typically runs for 10 years.

The city never pressed the Trump Organization about the clock until early in 2015, after The New York Times inquired about it while researching an article on street furniture in general. The Transportation Department, the agency that grants permission for street furniture on sidewalks (and collects the fees) was caught unawares. The Trump Organization was defiant.

"Let them prove we owe anything," declared Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer at the time.

In May 2015, the city ordered Trump's company to remove the clock within 30 days. The following October, the company's engineers formally applied for a permit.

Negotiations followed over whether the clock needed to be relocated because it was too close to the entrance to the building. Also at issue were 20 nearby concrete planters.

The Trump engineer submitted a revised permit application in January 2016, but documents released by the Transportation Department don't indicate whether it was ever approved. And once Trump became the Republican nominee and was elected later that year, security concerns apparently took priority. The clock remained.

Then, last November, The Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the city for communications about the clock. The response, received at the end of May, revealed only a few inconclusive letters about the 2015 permit application.

On July 19, the Transportation Department again wrote to the Trump Organization, saying that the city could place a lien on the property if the clock and planters were not removed within 30 days. According to the city, the Trump Organization responded to the letter and is beginning the application process again.

"The clock has been a hallmark of Trump Tower for nearly 20 years," Kimberly Benza, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, said in an email. "We will certainly work in conjunction of the city, to the extent that they are missing any paperwork."

METROPOLITAN diary

South Beach summer

Dear Diary:

Every summer, I looked forward to swimming at South Beach on Staten Island.

My Aunt Emma packed salami sandwiches, cans of Coke wrapped in aluminum foil and a sleeve of store-bought cookies. When it came time to eat, the sandwiches inevitably had a special crunch thanks to stray grains of sand.

Aunt Emma would throw out the beach blanket, unfold a few chairs, set up the umbrella and slather me with sunscreen.

The waves and undertow in the bay were strong. Why should I worry? I had my intermediate swimming card from the Red Cross, which I had earned as a C.Y.O. Day camper.

At 12 years old, I thought I looked great in the fashionable two-piece bathing suit I had recently bought. How I wished a boy would notice me.

Did I listen to my aunt and stay near the shore and in front of the lifeguard stand?

Of course not, and a boy did notice me: The lifeguard jumped in when I was hit by a series of waves and drifted out to deeper water.

— Judith Gropp

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.

P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.

Bernard Mokam and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.Com.

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