IF YOU had U.S. Open tickets to a session that was rained out, don’t hold your breath waiting for a refund.
The best you can do is exchange your ducat for one to a comparable session this week – or in 2004.
Still, Open officials said despite at least two days of rain delays, they are hoping for the best: a scheduled Sunday finale.
The weather forecast calls for rain at least until tomorrow, with the skies starting to clear again Friday.
“We have the lights, the ball kids and the umpires, and we can open all [18] courts,” head umpire Brian Earley said yesterday.
“The players want to play. My guess is, they’ll be very cooperative.”
Count in “seniors” ace Martina Naratilova. Although her patience was running thin by last night.
“I’m still trying to find out about the schedule changes. My head’s exploding,” the frazzled older star said.
“In a minute, I’m going to have to go to the female locker room and relax and try to clear my head.”
Top men’s seed Andy Roddick echoed the sentiment.
“I can’t talk about” schedule changes,” he said, obviously flustered after a day of waiting around as the rain fluctuated between drizzle and downpour.
The usual bevy of celebs was nowhere to be seen at the Flushing Meadows site in Queens yesterday – not even diehards like Matthew Perry and Tony Bennett.
But that should change Friday if the weather cooperates, when scheduled big-name ticketholders like Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon are expected to pop up, along with hoards of other famous folk.
Holding court before the rains came was comic legend and tennis fanatic Alan King, spotted in his private box chatting up tough-guy actor Dennis Farina.
Afterward, the pair continued their discussion at one of King’s favorite restaurants, Stresa, in Manhasset.
Chowing down on northern Italian delights, the pair were overheard going over the ins and outs of an upcoming movie project they’re both starring in: a mafia flick based in Brooklyn, in which King portrays a high-ranking cop.
Lesser-known, soggy-spirited players tried to keep upbeat over their prospects yesterday by passing the time together in the lounge area, where everything from golf-putting greens to playstations were made available to them.
A cyberchat room also was set up, featuring about a dozen computers on one long table for players to surf the ‘Net on.
Then there was one of the biggest draws of the day: chess pro Dimitri Schneider.
At one point, Schneider, a city chess ace who described himself as “one-third of the way to becoming a grand master,” had games going against eight players.
The last time the tourney was extended to a Monday was in 1987.
It once even ran to Wednesday. That was in 1938, because of a hurricane.