If there is one president who knows how to take political advantage of sport, it is Donald Trump. And this Sunday, the US Open, which has not been visited by a US president for a quarter of a century, will bear witness to this.
Logic dictates that any mass event in New York, a city with a majority of Democratic Party voters, is unfavourable for Trump. But times change, and the public’s reaction in 2025 could be different from what it was when Trump last set foot in Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2015.
This was made clear by the website Politico in a recent article highlighting that 2025 is not 2017, when even American football was turning against Trump, led by the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who knelt on one knee during the US national anthem in protest against Trump.
“Generation Z men, who not only make up a large portion of sports fans but are now also professional athletes, voted decisively for Trump in the 2024 election and are aligning themselves more with Republicans than Democrats amid a widening gender gap (…). Forty-five per cent of Generation Z men approve of Trump’s performance, compared to 24 per cent of young women.”
This shift in the younger generation and the world of sport contributed to Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election, a situation that sums up the atmosphere of the UFC: the world of ‘bros’, young men who are happy and safe from criticism in their bubble, men enjoying the ‘manosphere’. A world that also includes the NFL and NASCAR and connects with the ‘tech bros.’
After his departure from the White House in 2021, the UFC became an important refuge for Trump, who had been courting the world of fighting, testosterone and the ‘manosphere’ for several years. This was evident in each of his appearances at a fight, greeted with euphoria by a young and predominantly male audience, and it was also evident in the celebrations for winning the election.
Tennis, one assumes, is a much more international sport without ‘bro’ aesthetics or ambitions, but if Trump returns to the US Open ten years after being booed, it is for a reason.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino already experienced it: any limits are diluted in the presence of the White House tenant.
‘Can I keep it?’ Trump said with a half-smile as he squeezed the World Cup trophy. A trophy that, for everyone except the United States, is, along with the Olympic rings, the great symbol of sport.
Infantino muddled through as best he could, improvising the justification that presidents can touch the trophy, but Trump had already sent the message: the 2026 World Cup belongs to the United States. It is theirs. Mexico and Canada as co-hosts is just a detail. That idea of a ‘United’ 2026 that brought together all of North America was as far away as Harris’ ambitions to be president.
Trump’s presence at major sporting events is becoming increasingly common. This year, he became the first president to attend the Super Bowl, but he was also present at other milestones in the American annual calendar, such as the Daytona 500, the NCAA men’s wrestling championship and a UFC fight in Miami. And how can we forget his image at Chelsea’s Club World Cup celebration alongside the bewildered British team players?
Days after the US Open final between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner, Trump will be at the New York Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers, which is being held on the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And at the end of the month, he will attend the Ryder Cup, the emblem of golf, his favourite sport.
What does sport bring to Trump? It reinforces his image as a ‘strong man’ connected to the people. With the passions of the average American, yes, but also with his ideological base: one of his first decisions after taking office on 20 January was to sign an executive order entitled ‘Men out of women’s sports’. And in July, another call to ‘save college sports’.
In broad strokes, these are emblems of his fight against the ‘woke world,’ which is also being challenged by leaders of other countries such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s Javier Milei.
But international sport, also in broad strokes, coincides with the ‘woke’ vision that Trump, Meloni and Milei detest. It could be said that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) became ‘woke’ during the 12 years of German Thomas Bach’s presidency: the Olympic agenda, from sensitivity to climate change to gender equality policy, cultural integration and support for immigrants, is everything Trump dislikes.
Kirsty Coventry, from Zimbabwe and a former Olympic swimming champion, must deal with Trump if she wants the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be a success. Infantino has already signalled that his policy for the 2026 World Cup will be to keep Trump happy. What will Coventry do, given that she faces a much more complex challenge than Infantino?
Keeping Trump happy is also what the United States Tennis Association (USTA) wants. According to the website ‘Bounces’, the organisers of the season-ending Grand Slam asked television networks not to show any booing of the president: ‘We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showing any disturbance or reaction in response to the president’s attendance in any capacity.’
Such an instruction could serve to do the opposite, to fan the flames.
And what does the tennis world think of Trump, who will be seated in a box as a guest of Rolex? Athletes tend to be cautious, even cowardly at times, when it comes to talking about politics. In a sport that is highly individualistic, it can be assumed that the American leader has more supporters than one might think. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that figures such as Martina Navratilova and Nick Kyrgios see Trump in almost the opposite light.
And Novak Djokovic? Probably closer to Trump than any other possibility. And Alcaraz and Sinner? Don’t ask too much of the new generation. They play tennis.
