Trump booed at the US Open Tennis Final. A democratic tradition
The final of the US Open tennis (men) took place on Sunday. Sabalenka won the women’s final on Saturday. Held at Flushing Meadows, New York, Trump attended and mostly stayed awake, at least for the US National Anthem at the beginning.
Last time Trump attended in 2015 he was booed and the Guardian reported that broadcasters were asked not to screen any hostile reaction to the man popularly known as the Orange Felon.
While the UK broadcast on Sky (Comcast) did screen out the booing it clearly happened and can be found on Youtube
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/sep/07/donald-trump-us-open-tennis-final?CMP=share_btn_url
The final was between Alcaraz and Sinner in case you weren’t watching. The former has superior facial hair and hence was the winner.
Meanwhile booing politicians at sporting events is an important of democratic protest which will explain why Trump doesn’t like it.
The media noted, often with some approval, the booing of George Osborne and Theresa May at the Olympic Stadium as they presented 2012 Paralympic Games medals.
What was not noted was the historical context.
After all in the age of WhatApp, texts, Bluesky and e-mails shouldn’t booing be as old fashioned and redundant as the heckle at a political meeting? It would seem not, as the crowd’s disapproval made news headlines in a way that more modern methods of expressing dissatisfaction with a politician often don’t.
In fact booing has a long and complicated part in the history of protest.
Historically, certainly dating back to the time the crowd becomes an actor on the stage of history in the mid eighteenth century, booing has been a way of showing collective protest at the rich and powerful.
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