Tennis: Irene takes centre court on eve of Open

Swiss superstar Roger Federer labelled the threat from Hurricane Irene as "scary" as the world's leading tennis players braced for the approaching storms in New York.

The category 1 hurricane has killed at least three people in North Carolina and is expected to lash the Big Apple in the next 24 hours.

With the US Open due to start tonight, the cream of tennis were hunkering down inside their hotels waiting out the storms.

"It's somewhat scary, you know, because we don't know how hard it's going to hit us," father-of-two Federer said. "I've got family.

"We're in New York City, it's not just a regular city. It's quite something with all the buildings.

"So it's unusual, but we'll follow the news closely and we'll try to stay as safe as we can so we get through it."

An eerie feeling swept New York yesterday as the city closed its doors for what was expected to be its worst hurricane in decades. Low-lying areas around New York were being evacuated and the public transport system shut down with the expected high tides predicted to cause further headaches for authorities.

American world No 8 Mardy Fish, who grew up in the hurricane-prone state of Florida, admitted there was a strange edge to the famous city.

"My wife is a little freaked out about it being from California," he said.

"Stacey went to shop quite a bit last night, got a bunch of magazines and flashlights. She's preparing for Armageddon, I think."

Australia's players were planning on spending the time stuck indoors watching movies, reading books and hitting the gym.

"It is a bit tricky, there are certainly a few things coming about the next few days, the [Flushing Meadows] site is going to shut down," Bernard Tomic said. "I just hope I survive and don't die," Australian Davis Cup player Marinko Matosevic said with a half smile.

- AAP