US Open Tennis Championship in History
The US Open which stands for the United States Open tennis championships is an annual sport event which held in August and September for over two-week period. This tennis competition is well-known as an exclusive sportainment event, which very much identical to that created for high-class society.
Roger Federer in US Open Tennis Championship
This competition – based on 2008 statistic competition – has involved more than 600 male and female professional players for the total prize money of over US$19 million, with $1.5 million for each winner of the singles tournaments
A bit speaking about history, the US Tennis Open tournament was first held in August 1881, placing at ewport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island. In that first competition, only clubs that had been part of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association were allowed to join the competition.
In 1968 five tennis competition events were merged into the US Open. This merger had combined the men’s and women’s championship into one open competition. It was counted that 96 men and 63 women getting into the championship. US Open 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.
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.
In 2006, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to implement instant replay reviews of calls, using the Hawk-Eye computer system. 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. Instant replay was initially available only on the stadium courts (Ashe and Armstrong), until became available on the Grandstand in 2009.
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, resulting in an accuracy of 99.2%.
During the 2006 US Open, 30.5% of men’s challenges and 35.85% of women’s challenges were overturned.[1] During the 2007 US Open, 95 challenges were overturned – or 30.6%.
Grounds
The Arthur Ashe stadium
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.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
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 men’s final of the inaugural US Open in 1968. (In that same year, British player Virginia Wade won the first women’s US Open final.) The next largest court is Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was the main stadium until the completion of Arthur Ashe stadium. The third largest court 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 television coverage of the tournament can extend into prime time to attract higher ratings. This has recently been used to the advantage of the USA Network on cable and especially for CBS, the American broadcast television outlet for the tournament for many years, which used its influence to move the women’s singles final to Saturday night to draw better television ratings.[citation needed]
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.
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