U.S. National Championships (tennis) - History

History

The tournament was first held in August 1881 on the grass courts 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 (USNLTA) were permitted to enter. The first edition was won by Richard Sears who went on to win seven consecutive singles titles. From 1884 through 1911, the tournament used a challenge system whereby the defending champion automatically qualified for the next year's final in which he would play the winner of the all-comers tournament. In 1915 the national championship was relocated from Newport, Rhode Island to the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, New York. Already in 1911 an effort was made by a group of tennis players, headed by Karl H. Behr from New York, to relocate the tournament to New York but by a vote of 95 to 60 it was decided to remain in Newport. In early 1915 the issue resurfaced when a group of about 100 tennis players signed a petition in favor of the move, arguing that most tennis clubs, players and fans were located in the New York area and that it would therefore be beneficial for the development of the sport to host the national championship there. This view was opposed by another group of players which included eight former national singles champions. The contentious issue was brought to a vote at the annual USNLTA meeting on Feb 5, 1915 and with 128 votes in favor and 119 against it was decided to relocate. From 1921 through 1923, the tournament was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and it returned to Forest Hills in 1924.

Though regarded unofficially by many as a major championship beforehand, the tournament was officially designated as one of the major tournaments by the ILTF commencing in 1924.

In the first few years of the United States National Championship only men competed and the tournament was known as the US National Singles Championships for Men. 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, won by 17-year-old Philadelphian Ellen Hansell, accompanied by the U.S. Women's National Doubles Championship (not held for the next two years) and U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship (not held in 1899). The women's tournament used a challenge system from 1888 through 1918, except in 1917. Between 1890 and 1906 sectional tournaments were held in the east and the west of the country to determine the best two doubles 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. 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.

In 1970, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to use a tiebreak to decide a set that reached a 6–6 score in games and is the only major to use a tiebreak in the deciding set; the other three grand slams play out the deciding set until a two-game margin is achieved. From 1970 to 1974 the US Open used a best-of-nine point, sudden death tiebreaker before moving to the ITF best-of-twelve point system.

In 1973 the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to award equal prize money to men and women with that year's singles champions John Newcombe and Margaret Court both receiving $25,000. Another US Open innovation came in 1975 when floodlights enabled night play for the first time. In 1978 the tournament moved from the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Queens to the larger USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, in the process switching the surface from clay, used in the last three years at Forest Hills, to hard courts. Jimmy Connors is the only individual to have won US Open singles titles on all three surfaces (grass, clay, hardcourt), while Chris Evert is the only woman to win on two surfaces (clay, hardcourt).

The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that has been played every year since its inception.

It was announced in December 2012 that the Men's Singles final will be played on a Monday night in 2013 and 2014, a decision which has proved unpopular with the Association of Tennis Professionals. The past five Men's Singles finals had been delayed by one day due to untimely weather conditions. From 2015, the men's final will move back to its traditional Sunday night time-slot.