Honey Deuce, US Open's signature cocktail, owes its origin to honeydew melon balls

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The Honey Deuce cocktail, which made its debut at the U.S. Open in 2006, is arguably as popular today as the tennis tournament itself. 

Case in point: An awkward moment occurred during a broadcast this week when a man returning to his seat with two of the cocktails — one of which was presumably for the woman next to him — was beaten to it by another man seated in the row behind him.

But if not for one man's purchase of honeydew melon balls before a weekend in the Hamptons some years ago, the U.S. Open's signature cocktail might not have looked as it does today.

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Fox News Digital spoke with Nick Mautone, a mixologist and hospitality industry consultant who served as brand ambassador for Grey Goose vodka, to discuss the birth of the beverage.

A New York native who lives in Seattle today, Mautone said he was tasked with creating a new cocktail for the U.S. Open when Grey Goose became the official beverage sponsor in 2006.

The Honey Deuce is the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. It is the brainchild of mixologist Nick Mautone, a New York native, shown at right. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images; Nick Mautone)

As Mautone was driving home in the Hamptons, he stopped to pick up some items to create a dessert salad that he intended to make for guests who would be visiting. 

On the grocery list were honeydew melon balls.

"Immediately the thunderbolt went off and I said, 'Holy cow, these look just like tennis balls,'" Mautone recalled to Fox News Digital. 

"Holy cow, these look just like tennis balls."

"So, from that moment on, I knew that that was the garnish,