The USTA, on Wednesday, announced the fields for the US Open that will begin from August 30 to September 12 at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, New York. The tournaments qualifiers will run from August 24 – August 27. The Indian stars Ankita Raina, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, and Prajnesh Gunneswaran will be in action in the qualifying rounds. So, let’s look at some of the interesting facts about the tournament.
Interesting facts about the US Open
- Americans Jenson Brooksby and Brandon Nakashima return to the men’s singles main draw as two of the eight wild-card recipients for 2021
2. The men’s singles and men’s doubles of the US National Championship were first played in August 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
3. Arthur Ashe won the first U.S. Open as an amateur. The main stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is named after him. Virginia Wade won the women’s singles.
4. The first US Women’s National Singles Championship was played in September 1887, at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Philadelphian Ellen Hansell (17-year-old) won the first US Women’s National Singles Championship.
5. The unique thing about the tournament is that both men and women receive an equal amount of prize money. This tradition started in 1973. This designated tennis as the first sport to award equal prize money to men and women.
6. The US Open is the only grand slam tournament out of four that has a tie-break for the fifth set also.
7. The US Open is also the first grand slam that introduced the replay section and the Hawk-eye system. This allows a re-look of the chair umpire’s decisions.
8. Federer holds the record for winning the most consecutive US Open titles in the Open Era (2004-2008).
9. Vincent Richards is the youngest Men’s Doubles champion. He won the championship in 1918 at the age of just 15.
10. Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, and Federer have the joint-most men’s singles US Open titles (5). Chris Evert and Serena Williams own the joint-most titles (6) among women.
A look at the other interesting facts
The US Open is the only major tournament that is played on three surfaces (clay, grass, and hard). Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won US Open singles titles on three surfaces. And, Chris Evert Lloyd is the only woman to win singles titles on two surfaces (clay and hard).
U.S. Open tennis courts have been painted blue since 2005 primarily because it is good for its organizers for reasons of branding and visibility. And since then, all US Open courts have been painted blue inside the lines. The color blue provides the right contrast with a standard tennis ball. That makes it easier to see not only for the players but viewers on television to spot the ball.
The highest number of spectators visited to watch the US open on a single day is 721, 059. Juan Martin del Potro and Kim Clijsters won the championship in 2009.