U.S. Open is one of the four grand slam tennis tournaments of the year. The tournament is the contemporary version of the U.S. National Championship, one of the world’s oldest tennis championships. The event commences every year on the last Monday of August and showcases the best of what tennis has to offer. The tournament goes on up to two weeks into September. The middle weekend always coincides with Labor Day holiday. It is the last Grand Slam tournament event of the year.

There are a total of 5 championships held in U.S. Open – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles. In addition to this, tournaments are held for junior, senior and wheelchair players. The tournament is hosted on the hard courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center) located in New York City. It is the only Grand Slam tournament to use tiebreakers in all the sets of a match.  

The championship is owned and operated by United States Tennis Association (USTA). Being a not-for-profit organization, USTA utilizes all the proceeds received from ticket sales, television rights and sponsorship deals in the promotion and development of tennis in the U.S.

U.S. Open initially started as the United States National Championships, in the year 1881 at the grass courts of Newport Casino in Rhode Island. Since its inception, the tournament has been played on three more venues and courts of two different surfaces, before finally settling in its present home, the USTA National Tennis Center in 1978.

The early years of the tournament were dominated by the Americans as only 6 players outside the U.S. managed to triumph the event in the initial era.  Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin were among the most dominant athletes of the sport. But arguably, Chris Evert was the most dominant of all. Between 1974 and 1982, the American great got her hands on the trophy a whopping seven times. A record closely followed by another American Serena Williams with six wins in the U.S. Open.

U.S. Open 2017

The tournament is all set to start on August 28 with the finals scheduled on September 10. The qualifiers matches will be held from August 22 to August 26. Swiss star Stan Wawrinka and German ace Angelique Kerber will go in as the defending champions in the men’s and women’s category respectively.

While relishing the outstanding display of talent and techniques of tennis, there is a lot of other stuff you can indulge in such as –

Take a stroll through Central Park – A trip to New York is never complete without a visit to this wonderful site. It has been dubbed as the most scenic site in the city.

Discover the rich artifacts at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum – The museum showcases exhibits linked with the happenings of 9/11.

Explore the iconic Statue of Liberty – A designated national monument, the statue of liberty was gifted by the French to the U.S. as a symbol of freedom and hope.

Getting there

Major Airport - John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport are the major airports of New York City.