THE PEOPLE'S COURT

You don’t have to be a star at the US Open to play in NYC. Anyone can join the tennis racket at these spots

T HE US Open is one of those quintessential New York happenings: an event that melds celebrity, sport, exclusivity, ruthless competition and glamour into one tournament. “Everyone turns into a tennis fan for those two weeks,” says Steve Tignor, a senior editor at Tennis magazine. “I can’t think of a single other sporting event that happens every year in New York City at that scale.”

But tennis has long played an important role in New York City life, beyond the US Open. And — despite its lofty reputation — it’s not as exclusive as one may think.

Tignor says the first tennis court in the country actually opened on Staten Island in 1879. Since then, tennis has become a premier pastime for the city’s boldface denizens, from Vogue editor Anna

Wintour — who plays mornings at 5:45 at the Midtown Tennis Club — and Oscar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper to ex-Mayor David Dinkins, who agreed to the construction of the Open’s current home at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Given the game’s tony associations, finding a place to actually play on the cheap can be as difficult as getting a Cronut. “There are 500 public courts in the city, but there are 7,000 to 10,000 [people] who want to play [in them],” says Tignor, who himself prefers the private, 19th-century Knickerbocker Field Club, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park South.

But there are ways. An NYC tennis season permit grants you access to all courts in public parks for $200, while some locations offer daily or hourly rates, too. Still, competition is tough. “You have to wake up very early, and since you usually only have an hour, arrive on time and ready to play,” advises Tignor. Check out these six public courts.