A Brief Look into U.S. Open History

The U.S. Open history starts its roots from when it was just an exclusive sport for the “high society”, in which the U.S. Open tennis champion would win $17 million. Annually on average, over 600 men and women would come to compete in this high cash event.

The US Open originated from two separate tournaments: the men's tournament and the women's tournament. August of 1881 brought forth the first event in the Men’s Tournament and took place at the Newport Casino. The championship was known as the U.S. National Singles Championship for men and only members would be able to compete. 6 years later, in 1887, the U.S. Women’s National Singles Championship took place at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. In 1889 the U.S. Women’s National Doubles Championship was held along with the U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship.

For more information about the Newport Casino visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Casino

For more information about the Philadelphia Cricket Club visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Cricket_Club

The Very First U.S. Open

The U.S Open began in 1968, and was composed after the merging of 5 events at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens. For the first time in U.S. Open history and for the previous tournaments, professionals were allowed to compete. The prize money was a total of $100 thousand dollars and had 159 male and female players in total. Being composed of the previous 5 events, the U.S. open was initially played on grass. In 1975, U.S. Open History brought about another change. Player went from grass, to clay, and later on to DecoTurf which is more commonly known as “hard courts” in 1978. U.S. Open Tennis Champion Jimmy Connors is the only man to have won on all three surfaces in all of U.S. Open history.

The Current and former standings in the U.S. Open Championships

The first U.S. Open tennis winner for the men’s tournament was John McEnroe  with a total of 8 wins overall (4 singles, 4 doubles). The first U.S. Open tennis winner for the women’s tournament was Martina Navratilova with a total of 16 wins (4 singles, 9 doubles, 3 mixed doubles) The very first U.S. Open Tennis Champion was Arthur Ashe American player, who faced Tom Okker, player from the Netherlands. So far the current defending 2007 U.S. Open tennis Champion, Roger Federer a Switzerland player, has won the past 3 U.S. Open Championships in a row.

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