Honey Deuce

More than 5.4 million spheres of honeydew melon have been skewered and consumed at the US Open since 2007 — enough to go up the Empire State building and then some. But the hundreds of thousands of tennis fans who flock annually to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, NY to attend the U.S. Open are a thirsty bunch. Tennis' final Grand Slam of the year is the main event, but it's the Honey Deuce, a light pink cocktail consisting of vodka, lemonade, and raspberry liqueur, adorned with three balls of honeydew melon, that's top of mind for many Open attendees.

The Honey Deuce has been the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open since 2006, and has become perhaps the most iconic symbol of event. It's name is a play on the drink's honeydew garnish and the tennis term deuce, when the score of a set is 40-40, meaning that one player will have to score two more consecutive points to win the set.

At the time it was created, Grey Goose, a sponsor of the U.S. Open, partnered with expert mixologist and restaurant industry veteran of Union Square Hospitality and Gotham Bar & Grill, Nick Mautone, to craft a vodka cocktail for the event. The drink was to encapsulate the balance of fun and upscale decadence that the Open aims to be known for, and the result — a raspberry- and lemon-flavored cocktail with a visually striking garnish — certainly delivered. It's sweet, citrusy, and incredibly refreshing to sip on in the late-summer sun.

"For me, it's that stick of honeydew that makes me crave the drink," says Sheryl Singer, a regular Open attendee who travels to New York annually with her friend Debroah Turner from Georgia. "During 2020, we made the drinks at home when we couldn't come up," she adds. "Luckily we each had a cabinet filled with Honey Deuce glasses from years past. I was on melon duty."

What makes the Honey Deuce unique?

Each year, the drinks are served in hard acrylic Collins glasses printed with information about the Open and the year of the tournament. For fans who make the trek annually, the glasses make for functional, collectable memorabilia. The walls of the glass, which are thicker than those found in most traditional Collins glasses, help insulate the cocktail during outdoor drinking. Tucked away near the Grandstand, the smallest of the stadiums at the U.S. Open, is also the highly coveted frozen Honey Deuce, a slushy version of the signature cocktail. If you walk through the Open with a frozen Honey Deuce, heads will likely turn and people will stop to ask for exact directions on where to find it.