US Open

US Open - Grand Slam tennis event

The US Open is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, played at Flushing Meadows. The other three major tennis tournaments are: Wimbledon, The French Open at Roland Garros and The Australian Open.

In August 1881, the first annual US National Singles Championship for men was organized at the Casino in Newport. Only members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association could to enter. Men’s doubles was played together with the singles from 1881. From 1900, the US National Men’s Doubles Championship was split, with tournaments held in the East and West and each winners playing off to meet the defending champions in the challenge round.

In 1887, the first official US Women’s National Singles Championship was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Two years later, women’s doubles were played on the Philadelphia grounds too. The US Mixed Doubles Championship officially took off in 1892.

The dawn of the Open Era in 1968 consolidated all five major US tennis championships into the US Open at West Side Tennis Club in Queens, New York. A total of 100,000 dollars was offered to the competing 96 men and 63 women that year. Today the US Open offers more than $14.5 million of prize money.

The US Open is the only Grand Slam to have been played on three different surfaces: grass from 1968-1974, clay from 1975-1977 and hard court from 1978 till present.

Open Era winners Men: