LI's Rosemary Marrugo serves as U.S. Open ambassador

Tuesday, Day 3 of the U.S. Open: Jannik Sinner on Ashe, Amanda Anisimova on Armstrong and Freeport’s Rosemary Marrugo, tournament ambassador, patrolling the Champion’s Entry and Fountain Plaza.

Ambassadors are among the first tournament personnel a fan will see after entering the National Tennis Center grounds. There are 40 of them, a sort of SEAL team amongst the Open’s 7,000 seasonal employees who can be recognized by their wide-brimmed straw hats and Ralph Lauren outfits (they are issued several, which they wear in rotation). They know where things are and who is playing when but it all starts with the greeting, which, in Marrugo’s case, was emphatic.

“Hi, guys! Welcome,” was one of her openers. “Ladies, how are you?” was another, along with the all-purpose “Welcome to the Open, we hope you have a great time!”

In one 12-hour shift, she may say these words many hundreds of times. She estimated she might also take 100 photos for fans posed in front of the stadia, the statues of Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson, the fountain or other backdrops. In the span of a few minutes on Tuesday afternoon, she helped a player trainer access tournament Wi-Fi, directed two fans to the United States Tennis Association booth and two more to the nearest bathroom. They were Maryse Prezeau and Marcia Keizs, the former president of York College, in Queens, longtime Open fans who said they were grateful. Having an expert guide was “sort of nice,” Keizs said.

Marrugo is 38 and works as a mental health counselor for most of the year. Her first year as an ambassador was 2008, when her college tennis coach at LIU Post, Renie Sokolowski, suggested she’d be good at the job. “I didn’t know what the role meant but it fits my personality,” she said. “Our main role is to be friendly, generous, caring.”

The Open began employing greeters in the mid-1990s; by the time Marrugo came on, they were known as ambassadors, a title she feels is more fitting. “We do more than welcoming our fans,” she said. “We are the face of the Open.”

Marrugo’s boss, David Konecky of Commack, Senior Director, USTA Talent Acquisition, said the “ambassador” title was appropriate for a job that sometimes requires a diplomat’s skills: the hectic hours between the end of the day and the start of the night session, for instance, when thousands of fans are leaving the grounds and more are waiting to get into Ashe for the marquee matches.

“This is one of our busiest times,” Konecky said and the ambassadors’ work is key. “They’re trying to get everyone into Arthur Ashe, directing people into the right lanes, moving people across the plaza, so the line moves as efficiently as possible. It’s the same thing with Louis Armstrong.” Sometimes, he said, dealing with guests who might have been unhappy waiting on line is part of the job. “They have to de-escalate.”

With hours to go before Tuesday’s evening rush, the Fountain Plaza was plenty crowded. Marrugo homed in on a man who looked lost. He was looking for gelato. She gave him directions, then pivoted into a chat with Evelyn Wilkens, from Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

“I haven’t been here in a long time,” Wilkens said. “This is amazing — there have definitely been changes.”

“I’m glad you came,” said Marrugo, and beamed.