Tennis: A look at the interesting facts about US Open
The 2022 edition of the US Open, the fourth Grand Slam of the year, will be underway on August 29. World's marquee tennis stars will be involved in the action for two weeks at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Daniil Medvedev (men's singles) and Emma Raducanu (women's singles) are the defending champions. Here are the interesting facts about the tournament.
The men's singles and men's doubles of the US National Championship were first played in August 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three are the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. Notably, the US Open is owned and organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), a non-profit organization.
The US Open remains the only major tournament to be played on three surfaces (clay, grass, and hard). It switched from clay to hard in 1978. Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won US Open singles titles on three surfaces. Meanwhile, Chris Evert is the only woman to win US Open singles titles on two surfaces (clay and hard).
In 1970, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to use a tie-break to decide a set with a 6-6 score. From 1970 to 1974, the tournament used a 'best-of-nine-point sudden-death tie-break' before moving to the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) best-of-12 points system. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to award equal prize money to men and women.
Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer have the joint-most men's singles titles at the US Open (5). Notably, Federer holds the record for winning the most consecutive US Open titles in the Open Era (2004-2008). Meanwhile, Chris Evert and Serena Williams own the joint-most titles (6) at the hard-court Slam among women. The former has four consecutive titles to her name (1975-78).
Russia's Daniil Medvedev won the 2021 US Open after defeating former world number one Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final. The former became just the third Russian after Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin to win a Grand Slam. Meanwhile, Britain's Emma Raducanu won the women's singles final, defeating Leylah Fernandez. Raducanu became the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.
