Tennis - US Open

The United States Open Tennis Championships is held annually in August / September. It is the 4th of the prestigious Grand Slam tournaments. The inception of the tournament can be traced back to 1881, making it one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world.

Court Surface

The US Open is now played on acrylic hard courts, however this has not always been the case. Originally the tournament was played on grass, and also flirted with a clay surface for a few years, before finally settling on hard courts. Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won the competition on all 3 surfaces.

The championships were the first of the Grand Slams to implement the now popular 'tie-break' system for deciding close sets. It is also the only tournament which uses 'tie-breaks' to decide in a 5th set - the other slams all require a two-game margin for victory.

Flushing Meadows

The US Open is played at the 'USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre', in Flushing Meadows, New York. The showpiece court is the Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after the famous African-American tennis player who won the first US Open where professionals could compete, in 1968. The stadium can hold 23,200 people, making it the largest tennis stadium in the world.

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