Flushing Meadows - US Open

Right from 1978, the US Open tournament is held at Flushing Meadows,
Corona Park, in the New York City borough of Queens at the USTA National
Tennis Center. It is also known as the Open, the U.S. Open or the United
States Open tennis tournament. The US Open is the fourth and the last
tournament from all of the Grand Slams that is held every year in August/September.

Prize Money...

The winner of this tournament takes home $1 million in the singles tournament. This tournament had started as an elite event for the people of the high society. Now it's become a championship involving $17-million for more than 600 men and women professional players.


Origins of US Open...

In the earlier days, there were 2 separate tournaments; one for the men and the other for the women. The first one was men's tournament that was held in 1881 at the Newport Casino and Newport, Rhode Island. At that point of time, they were known as U.S. National Singles Championship for men and were open for only the United States National Lawn Tennis Association's members. After that, in 1900 the first U.S. National Men's Doubles Championship was held.

In 1887, 6 years after the men's single tournament the first women's tournament, U.S. Women's National Singles Championship was played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. In 1889, U.S. Women's National Doubles Championship was held and at about the same time, the first U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship was held.

US Open now...

In 1968, all the tournaments were combined of men and women and it earned the name US Open. Its earlier venue was West Side Tennis Club in Queens. In this year, there were 96 men and 63 women who participated and the prize money that year was $100,000. This year was also the first year for all the professionals to enter this tournament. They were not allowed to participate in the earlier tournaments. In 1978, the venue shifted to Flushing Meadows and till date it's played there.


Interesting Facts...

-Since 1925, Richard Sears, Bill Tilden and Bill Larned hold the record for winning 7 times each in the men's singles event.
-Since 1968, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors have won 5 times each and John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl have won 3 times.
-Since 1887, Molla Bjurstedt Mallory has won the women's single title 8 times and Helen Jacobs 4 times.
-Since 1968, Chris Evert has won the US Open women's single s title 6 times.