US Open (tennis)
From Wikinfo
The US Open is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam in tennis. It is held annually in August/September and 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 junior and senior players. Since 1978, the tournament has been held the hard court tennis courts at Flushing Meadows in New York.
The US Open grew from an exclusive entertainment event for the high society to a $16 million prize money championship for over 600 male and female professional players.
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History
The event was first held in August 1881 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. The championships were staged at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island.
In 1900 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 in order to determine the best two teams (sectional winners). These would then compete in a play-off - the winner would play the defending champions in the challenge round.
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 1897, followed by women's doubles in 1889.
The open era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the US Open at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. That year 96 men and 63 women entered the event with prize money amounting to $100,000.
Winners
| Year held | Singles Men | Singles Women |
2003 1991 1971 1951 1935 1915 1895 1884 1883 1882 1881 |
Andy Roddick Pete Sampras John McEnroe John Newcombe Vic Seixas, Jr. Fred Perry William M. Johnston Hugh L. Doherty Richard D. Sears |
Justine Henin-Hardenne Steffi Graf Martina Navratilova Billie Jean King Doris Hart Helen Jacobs Molla B. Mallory Maud Barger-Wallach Juliette Atkinson Bertha L. Townsend Ellen Hansell |
External Links
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "US_Open_(tennis)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Open_(tennis), used under the GNU Free Documentation License
