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U.S. Open (tennis)
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The US Open tennis tournament is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, first contested in 1881. The tournament is chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tennis tournament each year. It is held annually in August and September over a two-week period (the weeks before and after Labor Day weekend). The main tournament consists of five different event championships: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players.
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Encyclopedia
The US Open tennis tournament is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, first contested in 1881. The tournament is chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tennis tournament each year. It is held annually in August and September over a two-week period (the weeks before and after Labor Day weekend). The main tournament consists of five different event championships: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has been played on acrylic hard court at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City.
The US Open differs from the other three Grand Slam tournaments in that there are final-set tiebreaks. In the other three majors, the fifth set for the men and the third set for the women continue until someone wins by two games.
History
The US Open has grown from an exclusive entertainment event for high society to a championship for more than 600 male and female professional players who, as of 2008, compete for total prize money of over US$19 million, with $1.5 million for each winner of the singles tournaments.
The US Open for men originally was a separate tournament from the US Open for women. The U.S. National Singles Championship (men only) was first held in August 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island. Only clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association were permitted to enter. From 1884 through 1911, the tournament used a challenge system whereby the defending champion automatically qualified for the next year's final. In 1915, the tournament moved to the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, New York. From 1921 through 1923, it was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and returned to Forest Hills in 1924.
Six years after the men's nationals were first held, the first official U.S. Women's National Singles Championship was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1887, followed by the U.S. Women's National Doubles Championship in 1889. The first U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship was held alongside the women's singles and doubles. The first U.S. National Men's Doubles Championship was held in 1900. Tournaments were held in the east and the west of the country to determine the best two teams, which competed in a play-off to see who would play the defending champions in the challenge round.
The open era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the US Open, held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York. The 1968 combined tournament was open to professionals for the first time. That year, 96 men and 63 women entered the event, and prize money totaled $100,000.
In 1970, the US Open became the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to use a tiebreak at the end of a set.
The US Open was originally played on grass until Forest Hills switched to Har-Tru clay courts in 1975. In 1978, the event moved from Forest Hills to its current home at Flushing Meadows, and the surface changed again, to the current DecoTurf. (Jimmy Connors is the only man to have won the US Open on more than one surface. He won it on all three surfaces. Female player Chris Evert won it on two surfaces.)
Player challenges of line calls
In 2006, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to implement instant replay reviews of calls, using the Hawk-Eye computer system. Available only on the stadium courts (Ashe and Armstrong), each player was allowed two challenges per set plus one additional challenge during a tiebreak but was not penalized with the loss of a challenge if it was upheld. The USTA announced that starting in 2008, each player will be given three challenges per set with an extra challenge if the set goes to a tiebreak.
Once a challenge is made, the official review (a 3-D computer simulation based on multiple high-speed video cameras) is shown to the players, umpires, and audience on the stadium video boards and to the television audience at the same time. The system is said to be accurate to within five millimeters.
During the 2006 US Open, 30.5% of men's challenges and 35.85% of women's challenges were overturned. During the 2007 US Open, 95 out of 320 challenges were overturned - or 30.6%.
Grounds
The DecoTurf surface at the US Open is a fast surface, having slightly less friction and producing a lower bounce compared to other hard courts (most notably the Rebound Ace surface formerly used at the Australian Open). For this reason, many serve-and-volley players have found success at the US Open.
The main court is located at the 24,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after Arthur Ashe, the African American tennis player who won the inaugural men's final of the US Open in 1968. (In that same year, British player Virginia Wade won the first woman's US Open final, five months after she turned professional.) Court Number 2 is Louis Armstrong Stadium, which stood as the main stadium until the completion of Ashe stadium. Court Number 3 is the Grandstand Stadium, which is attached to the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Sidecourts 4, 7 and 11 each have a seating capacity of over 1,000.
All the courts used by the US Open are lit, meaning that TV coverage of the tournament can extend into prime time to attract more ratings. This has recently been used to the advantage of the USA Network on cable and especially for CBS, the American broadcast TV outlet for the Open for many years, which used its influence to move the women's singles final to Saturday night to draw better television ratings.
In 2005, all US Open and US Open Series tennis courts were given blue inner courts and green outer courts to make it easier to see the ball.
The USTA National Tennis Center was renamed in honor of four-time tournament champion and tennis pioneer Billie Jean King during the 2006 US Open.
Prize Money
The total prize money for the 2008 US Open (in US dollars) is divided as follows:
Singles (Men & Women - 128 Draws)
| Winners | $1,500,000 | | Runners-Up | $750,000 | | Semifinalists | $320,000 | | Quarterfinalists | $160,000 | | Round of 16 | $80,000 | | Third Round | $46,000 | | Second Round | $30,000 | | First Round | $18,500 | | Total | $7,050,000 |
Doubles (Per Team, Men & Women - 64 Draws)
| Winners | $420,000 | | Runners-Up | $210,000 | | Semifinalists | $105,000 | | Quarterfinalists | $50,000 | | Round of 16 | $25,000 | | Second Round | $15,000 | | First Round | $10,000 | | Total | $1,800,000 ($3,600,000) |
Mixed Doubles (Per Team - 32 Draws)
| Winners | $180,000 | | Runners-Up | $90,000 | | Semifinalists | $30,000 | | Quarterfinalists | $15,000 | | Second Round | $10,000 | | First Round | $5,000 | | Total | $500,000 |
Men's and Women's Qualifying (128 Draws)
| Third Round Losers (16) | $8,000 | | Second Round Losers (32) | $5,625 | | First Round Losers (64) | $3,000 | | Total | $500,000 ($1,000,000) |
Totals
| Total Championship Events | $19,200,000 | | Total for Champions Invitational | $385,000 | | Player per diem | $1,072,000 | | Total Player Compensation | $20,657,000 |
Records
| Record | Era | Player(s) | Count | Winning Years |
|---|
| Men since 1881 | Winner of most
Men's Singles titles | Before 1968: | Richard Sears
Bill Larned
Bill Tilden | 7 | 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887
1901, 1902, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911
1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929 | | After 1967: | Jimmy Connors
Pete Sampras
Roger Federer | 5 | 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983
1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 | Winner of most consecutive
Men's Singles titles | Before 1968: | Richard Sears | 7 | 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887 | | After 1967: | Roger Federer | 5 | 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 | Winner of most
Men's Doubles titles | Before 1968: | Richard Sears
James Dwight | 6 | 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887
1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887 | | After 1967: | | Stan Smith
John McEnroe 4 | 1968, 1974, 1978, 1980
1968, 1974, 1978, 1980
1979, 1981, 1983, 1989 | Winner of most consecutive
Men's Doubles titles | Before 1968: | Richard Sears
James Dwight | 6 | 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887
1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887 | | After 1967: | Todd Woodbridge
Mark Woodforde | 2 | 1995, 1996
1995, 1996 | Winner of most
Mixed Doubles titles - Men | Before 1968: | Bill Tilden
Bill Talbert | 4 | 1913, 1914, 1922, 1923
1943, 1944, 1945, 1946 | | After 1967: | Todd Woodbridge
Bob Bryan | 3 | 1990, 1993, 2001
2003, 2004, 2006 | Winner of most Championships
(total: singles, men's doubles,
mixed doubles) - Men | Before 1968: | Bill Tilden | 16 | 1913–1929 (7 singles, 5 men's doubles, 4 mixed doubles) | | After 1967: | John McEnroe | 8 | 1979–1989 (4 singles, 4 men's doubles) | | Women since 1887 | Winner of most
Women's Singles titles | Before 1968: | | 8 | 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1926 | | After 1967: | Chris Evert | 6 | 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982 | Winner of most consecutive
Women's Singles titles | Before 1968: | | Helen Jacobs 4 | 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918
1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 | | After 1967: | Chris Evert | 4 | 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 | Winner of most
Women's Doubles titles | Before 1968: | Margaret Osborne duPont | 13 | 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1955, 1956, 1957 | | After 1967: | Martina Navrátilová | 9 | 1977, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 | Winner of most consecutive
Women's Doubles titles | Before 1968: | Margaret Osborne duPont | 9 | 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 | | After 1967: | Virginia Ruano Pascual
Paola Suárez | 3 | 2002, 2003, 2004
2002, 2003, 2004 | Winner of most
Mixed Doubles titles - Women | All-time: | Margaret Osborne duPont
Margaret Court | 8 | 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1958, 1959, 1960
1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1972 | | Before 1968: | Margaret Osborne duPont | 8 | 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1958, 1959, 1960 | | After 1967: | | Billie Jean King
/ Martina Navrátilová 3 | 1969, 1970, 1972
1971, 1973, 1976
1985, 1987, 2006 | Winner of most Championships
(total: singles, women's doubles,
mixed doubles) - women | All-time: | Margaret Osborne duPont
Margaret Court | 25
18 | 1941–1960 (3 singles, 13 women's doubles, 9 mixed doubles)
1961-1975 (5 singles, 5 women's doubles, 8 mixed doubles) | | Before 1968: | Margaret Osborne duPont | 25 | 1941–1960 (3 singles, 13 women's doubles, 9 mixed doubles) | | After 1967: | Martina Navrátilová | 16 | 1977–2006 (4 singles, 9 women's doubles, 3 mixed doubles) | | Miscellaneous | | Youngest winner(single) | Men: | Pete Sampras | 19 years and 1 month | | Women: | Tracy Austin | 16 years and 8 months | |
Current champions
All-foreign singles finals
Since the U.S. Championships began in 1881, there have been only five years when an American reached neither the men's nor women's singles final: 1959, 1973, 1988, 2004, and 2007.
Men's singles
Women's singles
Champions
Media coverage
See also
External links
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