To reach the last row of Section 323 in Arthur Ashe Stadium — one of the highest vantage points from which to watch US Open matches — is something of a marathon.

It starts off easy with a quick flight of stairs, followed by three escalator rides. (There are stairs, but it’s best to pace yourself.) From there, fans must trudge through a crowded promenade level that gets tighter when lines for gift shops and concession stands collide.

The final ascent is a flight of nine steps, then a turn, followed by another six steps, another turn and then a heart-pumping 71 steps to Row Z.

But once at the top, fans have two expansive views: before them, a match unfolding on Arthur Ashe, and behind them, an unbroken landscape of New York City, with planes touching down or taking off from La Guardia Airport, and trains passing through Mets-Willets Point station and Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.

Courtside, fans are expected to be quieter during play, keeping chatter to a minimum. But it’s much more relaxed in the upper tiers of Arthur Ashe, and that’s part of the draw for some who find that the nosebleeds have their own kind of luxury. Fans chat about the match while enjoying the breeze and shade in between sips of beer and Honey Deuces, the tournament’s signature drink.

“One thing I like about Row Z is you can actually talk up here without disrupting the player,” said William Robinson, 27, a financial analyst originally from New Zealand who, three Heinekens in, was cheering on an Australian player during a night match last weekend.

And though the seats in the highest rows may be some of the farthest from the court, they also offer some of the most accessible ticket prices. Depending on the round of the tournament, resale tickets at the top of Arthur Ashe — in the upper rows of the 300 level — range between $100 and $500 a seat. On courtside, some seats cost more than $8,000 for the men’s semi-final on Friday night.

“I don’t like sitting up here, but it’s cheap, it’s affordable, for a casual fan,” said Nick Gill, 29, of Woodbury, New Jersey. Seated next to Robinson, Gill, who also works in finance and was enjoying his fourth Honey Deuce, had struck up a conversation with his neighbour, though the two men were rooting for opposing players.

A cheap seat in Ashe is also a useful tournament hack, many fans said, since it allows for general admission — on a first-come, first-served basis — to other matches throughout the grounds.

On Friday, during the much-hyped match between Americans Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, the top rows of the stadium — a 236,600-square-foot venue that holds nearly 24,000 fans — looked to be half-empty.

Down below, most of the courtside seats were taken, and the atmosphere was tense. But the mood up top was relaxed as fans, undaunted by the distance between them and the court, zeroed in on the action, with plenty of elbow room and leg space.

One of the perks about the nosebleeds is also the shade they offer, especially during the height-of-day matches.

Andrea and Cristina Rodriguez, sisters who live in Forest Hills, Queens, said it was their annual tradition to come to the US Open every Friday before Labor Day weekend. They always sit in the nosebleeds.

“I feel like I’m in one of the boxes,” said Andrea Rodriguez, a textile designer. “We are very alone. We have a lot of space. People are very, very nice. We can really see and watch the game. It’s just fabulous. I’m in heaven,” said Cristina Rodriguez, who works for a lighting design company.

New York Times News Service