Editor’s Note: The world of sports brings out raw human emotion unlike anything else. The last minute goals, the walk-off homeruns, the one-handed endzone catch. There is an intensity and a competition of it all that is infectious and by its very nature demands conflict. On TV, on online messaging boards, and social media, sports commentators and fans alike will endlessly argue about who are the greatest players or teams. But for all the bluster, it comes down to a simple question: what is that person’s legacy? In this week’s The Rabbit Hole, reporter Gabrielle Russon brings us from the tennis court to the federal court to try to answer the question. -Seamus
The adult children of a legendary tennis leader are serving the United States Tennis Association in a legal battle over their seats for the U.S. Open.
William “Bill” Hester III and his sister, Katie, sued the USTA for breach of contract this year in a federal lawsuit that has been transferred from Mississippi to the Southern District of New York.
“We look at this as a David versus Goliath thing, but we've got a pretty big slingshot,” Bill said.
The story begins in the late 1970s when their father, William “Slew” Hester, pushed to move the United States Open from a small, private club to a new, bigger tennis facility constructed at Flushing Meadows in partnership with the city of New York.
It was a controversial move, and Slew faced plenty of critics at the time in addition to a tight 10-month construction timeline to complete the facility before the Grand Slam tournament began. He quipped it would be his biggest accomplishment or mark his end.
But Slew’s son also described his dad as an internal optimist and a natural risk taker, completely devoted to his beloved game of tennis.
“If he set his mind to do something, he was going to do it,” Bill said. “Not achieving the goal was not even a discussion.”
And Slew succeeded. A record-breaking crowd of 275,000 people attended the first 1978 U.S. Open in the new tennis facility that would change the game forever and become a big moneymaker for the UTSA.
Slew, the president of USTA and the U.S. Open, got credit for singlehandedly doing the political maneuvering for the construction of the National Tennis Center that was later dubbed “the House That Slew Built.”
A bronze plaque with Slew’s face puffing on one of his famous cigars with the words “His vision and boundless energy created this center” was posted on the main entrance to welcome the visitors to the U.S. Open.
“That's how important he was,” his son said.
As a thank you in 1980, the USTA Board gifted Slew lifetime box seats at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, the later home of the U.S. Open’s most high-profile matches.
Slew accepted the box and asked for the lifetime rights to be passed down to his three children.
It was an amazing view.
“The box was located at the back of the court, down the middle service line — the best seats in the house,” the Hesters’ lawsuit said. “Slew and his family attended every U.S. Open. It is not just a sporting event for the Hesters; it is a family ritual.”
Bill remembered sitting in the box and watching John McEnroe and Björn Borg and other famous matches in U.S. Open history,
Four years after Slew’s 1993 death, the tournament’s main matches moved into the Arthur Ashe Stadium. That’s when the Hesters’ legal fight began.
“Instead of offering the Hesters seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium that were comparable to their box seats in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the USTA stuck them in a corner with sightlines blocked by the umpire’s chair,” the federal lawsuit said. “At the same time, the USTA told them to open their pocketbooks to attend.”
The Hesters sued and reached a 1998 settlement that gave them lifetime subscription rights for a premier box at Arthur Ashe for an “applicable annual charge,” which cost $45,000 the first year, according to court records.
“In the thirty years since, the USTA has at every turn worked to undermine the settlement agreement and freeze the Hesters out,” the lawsuit said.
The annual charge to use the box steadily increased over the years, and the Hesters said they paid about $215,000 last year for the fee.
"We appreciate and respect the contributions Slew Hester made to the U.S. Open,” the USTA said when reached for comment for this story. “While the USTA does not comment on pending litigation, it is important to note that the USTA has honored its commitment to the Hester family by offering them the opportunity to purchase seats in a location comparable to their previous seats under the same terms and conditions offered to other purchasers.”
Last year, the Hesters said they learned their box would be completely removed as part of an Arthur Ashe Stadium renovation. They were offered eight tickets in Row E, Section 112.
“Incredibly, after unilaterally eliminating the box seating it promised the Hesters, the USTA put a $460,000 price tag on the new, non-box seats for the 2026 U.S. Open,” the lawsuit said, adding the cost will increase to $584,000 by 2030.
Bill, a 79-year-old retired labor lawyer from New Orleans, has never missed a U.S. Open (except for the pandemic), and he plans to be there again this summer, although he isn’t thrilled with his seats. He said he worries about other people walking in front of him. His sister from Jackson, Miss., was also a lawyer and specialized in the casino gaming industry.
Their father “was gifted a box for his life and our life as a reward for having done what he did for the U.S. Open, and they've taken that away,” Bill said. “And we're not going to give up.”
Meanwhile, the Hesters complained that the organization is also wiping away their dad’s legacy.
Slew’s plaque, originally on display at the main entrance of the National Tennis Center, was moved to the side of the Louis Armstrong Stadium, the Hesters said in the lawsuit. The plaque finally ended up at a dead-end exit ramp, but when they looked for it during the 2025 U.S. Open, the plaque had disappeared, they said.
“Quite frankly, he's out of sight, out of mind,” said Bill, who wants the plaque returned to what he considers its rightful spot in the U.S. Open’s main entrance.
The USTA told Court Watch that “the plaque recognizing Mr. Hester's contributions was taken down, along with numerous other plaques and signage, to protect them from damage during the extensive construction and redevelopment work currently underway on the grounds. The removal related to those construction efforts and was not intended to diminish our appreciation for the legacy of former USTA President Slew Hester, but to preserve its integrity for the future."
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