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U.S. Open (tennis)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports events

                                                       U.S. Open (tennis)
                                                           Grand Slams
                                                         * Australian Open
                                                         * French Open
                                                         * Wimbledon
                                                         * U.S. Open

   The United States Open tennis tournament, commonly referred to as the
   U.S. Open, is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam tennis
   tournaments. It is held annually in August and September over a two
   week period (the weeks prior to and following Labor Day weekend). The
   main tournament consists of five 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 held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis
   Centre at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the Queens borough of New
   York City.

   The U.S. Open is different from the other 3 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 continues until
   someone wins by two games.

   In 2006, the U.S. Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to
   implement instant replay review of calls, using Hawk-Eye. Available
   only on the stadium courts (Ashe and Armstrong), each player is allowed
   two challenges per set plus one additional challenge during a tiebreak,
   but is not penalized with the loss of a challenge if the challenge
   turns out to be correct. Once the challenge is made, the official
   review (a 3D 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 100% accurate to within 5 millimeters. During the
   2006 US Open only 30.5% of Men's challenges were upheld and 35.85% of
   Women's challenges were upheld giving a measure of vindication to the
   oft criticized line umpires.

History

   The U.S. Open grew from an exclusive entertainment event for high
   society to a $17-million prize money championship (~$1 million for
   winner of the singles tournaments) for over 600 male and female
   professional players.

   The U.S. Open originated from two separate tournaments: the men's
   tournament and the women's tournament. The event was first held in
   August 1881 and staged at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island
   (men's singles only). The championships were known as the U.S. National
   Singles Championship for men. Only clubs that were members of the
   United States National Lawn Tennis Association were permitted to enter.

   Six years after the men's nationals were 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.

   In 1900, the U.S. National Men's Doubles Championship was held for the
   first time. Tournaments were held in the east and the west of the
   country to determine the best two teams (sectional winners). These then
   competed in a play-off — the winner played the defending champions in
   the challenge round.

   The open era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the
   newly named U.S. Open at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills,
   Queens. Notably, the 1968 combined tournament was opened to
   professionals; none of the predecessor tournaments allowed
   professionals to compete. That year, 96 men and 63 women entered the
   event with prize money amounting to $100,000.

   The U.S. 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 hard courts. ( Jimmy Connors is
   the only man to have won the US Open on more than one surface, and in
   fact he won it on all three surfaces.)

Grounds

   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 U.S. Open in 1968. (The British tennis
   player Virginia Wade won the first woman's U.S. 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.

   All the courts used by the U.S. 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 U.S. Open and U.S. Open Series tennis courts were given
   blue inner courts and green outer courts to make it easier to see the
   ball. This change has been met with mixed reactions from both players
   and fans, with many players saying that the ball is no easier to see
   with the blue courts.

   The DecoTurf surface at the U.S. 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 of the Australian
   Open). For this reason, many serve-and-volley players have found
   success at the U.S. Open.

Trivia

   Men's record holders for most wins since 1925:
     * All competitions:
     * Singles:
          + before 1968: Bill Larned; Bill Tilden; Richard Sears (U.S.),
            7.
          + since 1968: Jimmy Connors; Pete Sampras (U.S.), 5.
     * Consecutive singles titles:
          + before 1968: Richard Sears (U.S.), 7.
          + since 1968: John McEnroe (USA); Ivan Lendl (CZE/U.S.); Roger
            Federer (SUI), 3.
     * Doubles:

   Ladies' record holders for most wins since 1887:
     * All competitions:
     * Singles:
          + before 1968: Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (U.S.), 8.
          + since 1968: Chris Evert (U.S.), 6.
     * Consecutive singles titles:
          + before 1968: Molla Mallory; Helen Jacobs (U.S.), 4.
          + since 1968: Chris Evert (U.S.), 4.
     * Doubles:

   Current Defending champions:
     * Men: Roger Federer (SUI), who defeated Andy Roddick (U.S.) in the
       men's final on September 10, 2006.
     * Women: Maria Sharapova (RUS), who defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne
       in the final on September 9, 2006.

Champions

     * Men's Singles
     * Women's Singles
     * Men's Doubles
     * Women's Doubles
     * Mixed Doubles

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