A partnership, 2.4 million hand-scooped honeydew balls and one very well-dressed vodka lemonade: It sounds like an unlikely recipe for an icon.Â
Yet, 20 years after it first appeared in the stands at the U.S. Open, the Honey Deuce has become nearly as recognizable as the tournament itself.
Look around the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium and you’ll see the pale pink cocktail everywhere, served over ice in a collectible cup and crowned with three unmistakable spheres of honeydew. It is refreshing, photogenic and, at $23 a cup for the 2026 tournament, certainly priced for the occasion.
The story begins in 2006, when Grey Goose, newly partnered with the U.S. Open, wanted something more memorable than simply pouring vodka at the bar. The tournament needed a signature cocktail, something distinctive enough to become part of the experience and simple enough to reproduce thousands of times.
For that, the brand turned to Nick Mautone.
The New York hospitality veteran had managed Gotham Bar and Grill and spent seven years as managing partner of Gramercy Tavern, bringing with him an understanding of the quiet choreography behind exceptional hospitality. A great cocktail, after all, is a sense of place poured into a glass.
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Tennis already understood this. Wimbledon had Pimm’s. The U.S. Open needed a ritual of its own. Mautone initially experimented with something considerably more elaborate, incorporating fresh lemon, a homemade rosemary-citrus syrup, seltzer and blackberry cordial. Beautiful for a restaurant bar, perhaps, but less so when thousands of tennis fans want a drink before the next serve.
The answer was refinement through simplicity: Grey Goose Vodka, lemonade and raspberry liqueur.
According to his story posted on Nick Mautone Straight Up, the detail that would turn it into an icon came first. While preparing fruit at home one summer, Mautone began scooping balls from a honeydew melon and noticed something familiar accumulating in front of him. They looked remarkably like tiny tennis balls. And just like that, the cocktail had its signature.
Three honeydew spheres were skewered above the drink, and the Honey Deuce was born, its name combining honeydew with “deuce,” tennis’s 40-40 tie score.
More than 740,000 Honey Deuces were sold during the 2025 tournament, according to Grey Goose, with some 800,000 expected to be served this year, according to Danny Zausner, COO of USTA National Tennis Center.
As for the melon baller, for the 2026 U.S. Open, food distributor Baldor reports that they expect to prepare at least 2.4 million of them. And despite the enormous scale of the operation, the tiny green spheres are still scooped by hand.
Perhaps that is the most fitting detail of all. In a cocktail served hundreds of thousands of times, its most recognizable flourish still comes down to a decidedly human touch.
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Bring the signature cocktail to the home, no courtside seats are not required, because the recipe is incredibly simple.
This recipe comes from Grey Goose as the official Honey Deuce cocktail. Start with a chilled highball glass filled with cubed ice, then add:
The Honey Deuce
Pour the vodka over ice, top with fresh lemonade and finish with raspberry liqueur. Garnish with three frozen honeydew melon balls on a skewer.
Grey Goose recommends freshly squeezed lemonade and premium ingredients, a small upgrade that feels appropriate when attempting to bring one of tennis’s most fashionable traditions home.
As for the garnish, yes, technically you should break out the melon baller.
Thankfully, no one is asking you to make 2.4 million of them.
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