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The US Open, formally the United States Open tennis championships, is a tennis tournament which is the modern incarnation of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, with the U.S. National Championship, which for mens' singles was first contested in 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tennis tournament each year.

It is held annually in August and September over a two-week period (the weeks before and after Labor Day weekend). The main tournament consists of five different event 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 played on acrylic hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City.

The US Open is unique in that there are final-set tiebreaks; in the other three Grand Slam tournaments, the deciding set (fifth for men, third for women) continues until it is won by two games.

History

The US Open has grown from an exclusive entertainment event for high society to a championship for more than 600 male and female professional players who, as of 2008, compete for total prize money of over US$19 million, with $1.5 million for each winner of the singles tournaments.

In the first few years of the United States National Championship, only men competed, and only in singles competition. The tournament was first held in August 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island and in that first year only clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association were permitted to enter. From 1884 through 1911, the tournament used a challenge system whereby the defending champion automatically qualified for the next year's final. In 1915, the tournament moved to the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, New York. From 1921 through 1923, it was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and returned to Forest Hills in 1924.

Six years after the men's nationals were first 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. The first U.S. National Men's Doubles Championship was held in 1900. Tournaments were held in the east and the west of the country to determine the best two teams, which competed in a play-off to see who would play the defending champions in the challenge round.

The open era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the US Open, held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York. The 1968 combined tournament was open to professionals for the first time. That year, 96 men and 63 women entered the event, and prize money totaled $100,000 ($625,336 in current dollar terms).

In 1970, the US Open became the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to use a tiebreak at the end of a set. The US Open is also the only Grand Slam that continues to use the tiebreak in the 5th set. All the other three grand slams play it out with service games in the 5th set.

The US Open was originally played on grass until Forest Hills switched to Har-Tru clay courts in 1975 for three years. In 1978, the event moved north from Forest Hills to its current home at nearby Flushing Meadows and the surface changed again, to the current DecoTurf.

Jimmy Connors is the only individual to have won US Open singles titles on all three surfaces, while Chris Evert is the only woman to win on two surfaces.

Grounds

The Arthur Ashe stadium

The DecoTurf surface at the US 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 formerly used at the Australian Open). For this reason, many serve-and-volley players have found success at the US Open.

The main court is located at the 24,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, opened in 1997. It is named after Arthur Ashe, the African American tennis player who won the men's final of the inaugural US Open in 1968. The next largest court is Louis Armstrong Stadium, opened in 1978, extensively renovated from the original Singer Bowl. It was the main stadium from 1978-96, and its peak capacity neared 18,000 seats, but was reduced to 10,000 after the opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium. The third largest court is the Grandstand Stadium, attached to the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Sidecourts 4, 7, and 11 each have a seating capacity of over 1,000.

All the courts used by the US Open are lit, meaning that television coverage of the tournament can extend into prime time to attract higher ratings. This has recently been used to the advantage of the USA Network on cable and especially for CBS, the American broadcast television outlet for the tournament 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 US Open (and US Open Series) tennis courts were given blue inner courts to make it easier to see the ball on television; the outer courts remained green.

The USTA National Tennis Center was renamed in honor of four-time tournament champion and tennis pioneer Billie Jean King during the 2006 US Open.

Prize money

The total prize money for the 2008 US Open (in US dollars) is divided as follows:

Singles (men & women - 128 player draws)