By Mark Morales, CNN

New York City (CNN) — Tennis fans, many with the US Open’s signature Honey Deuces in hand, are making their way to New York City to watch the sport’s biggest stars. The focus will be on Venus Williams’ return and which newcomer could have a breakout tournament.

Law enforcement wants it to stay that way.

Almost a month after the deadliest mass shooting in New York City in the past 25 years, law enforcement is flooding the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with police officers, security and advanced technology — all to make sure the focus stays on the tennis.

Every high-profile attack, whether in New York or anywhere in the world, causes the security plan to get a new wrinkle. More cement blocks and road restrictions are in place after vehicle-ramming incidents, like the Bourbon Street attack in New Orleans that left 14 dead on New Year’s Day.

While NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner says there are no credible threats to New York, an attack like the Midtown mass shooting is still on the forefront of everyone’s mind.

“That incident reenforces all the security preparations that we put in place every year for this event,” Weiner tells CNN. “(It’s) the reason that we lay down cement blocks, the reason we check vehicles, the reason we screen people, not just as they’re entering the threshold of this plaza but way before.”

Weiner says she and her team put a lot of thought into their security plan, which was developed over the past few months.

Specialized NYPD units along with scores of both uniformed and plain-clothed officers are out in droves, all handling the record crowd which is projected to reach over one million spectators by the time the high-profile tournament is over. There are heavy weapons teams posted all over the venue, along with magnetometers to check spectators. Canine units and anti-drone attack technology have even been deployed. Specialized units, including bomb squad, aviation, mounted and emergency service units, also patrol the grounds.

One of the emphases at the US Open, Weiner said, is using the intelligence to intercept threats before they materialize. Another is on hardening the perimeter compared to past years — including thorough checkpoints for spectators, she said.

The gunman who stormed into 345 Park Avenue on July 28 was armed with an AR-15-style rifle. Surveillance cameras captured him leaving his car near the building and entering with an M4 assault-style rifle in hand before he killed four people, including a real-estate executive and a police officer who was working as a security guard.

“Obviously that horrific incident, a large firearm, which was obvious to the naked eye - we’re talking about making sure that smaller objects, smaller weapons which are not obvious to the naked eye, are also detected just as readily,” Weiner said.

The NYPD will run multiple interagency meetings each day of the two-week tournament to review their security plans and make any necessary adjustments for both the day sessions and the night sessions.

High-ranking officials will also be at a command center, located inside the tennis center, where members of the NYPD’s Intelligence team are shoulder-to-shoulder with the FBI, New York City Emergency Management, the FDNY and other law enforcement and first responding partners, according to Deputy Chief of Counterterrorism James Kehoe.

It’s a strategy that works during all major events and helps law enforcement work together quickly, should they have to stop a threat, Kehoe said.

The major challenge is executing the sophisticated security plan for the US Open which takes place just a few feet away from Flushing Meadow Corona Park - one of the largest public parks in New York City.

“If you go on the other side of the globe, you’ve got people playing soccer, volleyball, barbecuing, the tents, picnics, so we try to look at ‘where does the hardening perimeter start,’” Kehoe said.

“We want to make sure we have a safe distance from the actual event so if something should happen (it) would not be able to get through and attack the US Open.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.