The second week of the US Open is not like the first. It is cooler and quieter, with the most action concentrated at Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums.

The outdoor courts, once peppered with ATP and WTA stars, where nearly 60 matches a day were played and where fans only stood for the early rounds of the tournament, have been given over to doubles and juniors, who play at a very high level but attract fewer spectators. The smaller crowd — 74,641 on the first Monday of the tournament compared with 64,834 this Monday — also means that you can get a table at the Arthur Ashe Sculpture Garden, and the line for Honey Deuce no longer causes traffic jams outside the Ashe.

In that more relaxed atmosphere Tuesday on Court 12, Nick Samuel was even able to give and receive high fives from players who had just come off the court. Samuel, a 28-year-old banker who lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, high-fived Charlie Robertson, a Briton, and Alexander Razeghi, an American, after Robertson won straight but tight sets in the junior tournament. The interaction was quick but satisfying: “Great match,” Samuel told both players. “Thanks, bro,” Razeghi said.

“It’s a great atmosphere and it’s not as crowded,” Samuel said. A total of 43 matches were played Tuesday, and the main draws for singles were just eight men and eight women at the start of the day, down from 128 at the start of the tournament. While the stadiums were packed, “you can sit wherever you want” on the outside courts. He paid $40 on the secondary market for a season ticket that he said would have cost $250 last week. He also spotted Belgian champion and three-time U.S. Open winner Kim Clijsters walking around the court and took a selfie with him. “I’m having a great time,” Samuel said, the muffled roar of a raucous four-set match between American Taylor Fritz and German Alexander Zverev occasionally escaping Ashe.

At the food village, David Williamson, a 65-year-old personal trainer from Atlanta, Georgia, said he gained perspective from attending both weeks. “You get more for your money” in the first week, he said, but in the 10 years he’s been visiting, he’s also found treasures in the second week. He saw the Bryan brothers and the Williams sisters play doubles. He saw American star Frances Tiafoe and rising Frenchman Arthur Fils play in the boys’ bracket. “I had no idea” they would achieve what they did, he said.

Another point about the second week: “I didn’t wait at all” for lunch, he said. “Last week, it took me 20 or 30 minutes.”

Sitting on Court No. 11, sipping $32 worth of champagne after American Iva Jovic, the third-ranked player, had eliminated Monika Stankiewicz of Poland in three sets, were Clinton Alford and Kenyatta Johnson, professionals from the Heights Casino, a tennis and squash club in Brooklyn Heights, and Frank Cardona, a club employee.

Alford, 48, of New Providence, N.J., said he was visiting the Open for the second week in 23 years. On the quiet outdoor court, “you have access that’s up close and personal,” he said. “You see the footwork and the speed.”

Johnson, 44, of Park Slope, Brooklyn, explained the fundamental difference between an amateur player and a professional player, or one who will soon become one: “An amateur hits the ball to putt it in, and a professional hits the ball to not miss it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it has to be where they need it, when they need it.”

Of course, he admitted, “it’s easy sitting here” in the stands. “It’s different when the ball is coming at you at 85, 105, 125 miles an hour.”