The United States Open tennis championship is the fourth and final Grand Slam of tennis tournament every year. Who would have thought back in the 1880s that an amateur event of US National Championships would become the richest and most profitable tournament of the year!
Held in August and September every year for 2 weeks, the championship was started in 1881 and is now played at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis.
There are final set tie breaks in the US Open tournament, however, in other Grand Slams tournaments; the deciding set is continued until it is won by 2 games. The event features men’s and women’s doubles, men’s and women’s singles, and mixed doubles. You also get to see junior, senior, and wheelchair players.
Originally played on grass, the US open shifted to Har-Tru clay courts in 1975 for three years. The US Open surface again changed to the current Deco Turf and the game is still played on the same surface. The fast surface offers much less friction and low bounce, thus benefitting serve-and-volley players.
Jimmy Connors won the US Open singles title on all surfaces. Hawk-Eye computer system was implemented for the first time in 2006 which facilitated immediate replay reviews of calls. While the outer courts are green, the inner courts are given blue color for more visibility of the ball on a TV screen.
The main court is the Arthur Ashe Stadium with 24,000 seats. Other courts are Louis Armstrong Stadium with a seating capacity of 10,000 seats and Grandstand Stadium with more than 1000 seats.
There are 600 male and female professional players who fight for prize money of over US$19 million. While Juan Martin Del Potro defeated Roger Federer in the Men’s Singles in 2009, Kim Clijsters defeated Caroline Wozniacki in Women’s singles.
