USTA_Billie_Jean_King_National_Tennis_Center_(48613535076)

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, United States. It has been the home of the US Open

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

tournament, played every year in August and September, since 1978 and is operated by the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

(USTA).History of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows
/ref> The facility has 22

courts A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accorda ...

inside its and 12 in the adjoining park. The complex's three stadiums are among the largest tennis stadiums in the world;

Arthur Ashe Stadium Arthur Ashe Stadium is a tennis stadium at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it is the main stadium of the US Open tennis tournament and has a capacity of 23,771, ...

tops the global list with a listed capacity of 23,200. When the facility was built in 1978, all 33 courts used the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface, as did Court 17, added in 2011. However, in 2020, the court surfaces were replaced with

Laykold Laykold is Sports Groups’ global court brand. Laykold surfaces are widely used for premier tennis facilities worldwide, including the Miami Open (since 1985), the New York Open, Fed Cup, and from 2020 the US Open and Western Southern Open. Lay ...

. Near

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...

(home of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

) as well as

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

, the tennis center is open to the public for play except during the US Open, junior and wood-racquet competitions.About The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
. National Tennis Center official webpage. USTA official website. Retrieved February 15, 2011. Formerly called the USTA National Tennis Center, the facility was rededicated for Billie Jean King on August 28, 2006.

History

The idea of the tennis center came about in January 1977, when William Hester, the then-incoming president of the USTA, saw the underused

Singer Bowl The Singer Bowl was the former name for a stadium in the northeastern United States, located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. It was an early example of naming rights in large venues. History The sta ...

on a flight into nearby

. He asked the City of New York to let him use the stadium and adjoining land for a tennis facility to host the U.S. Open. The stadium was heavily renovated and divided into two venues:

Louis Armstrong Stadium Louis Armstrong Stadium is a 14,000-seat tennis stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, one of the venues of the US Open. It opened for the 2018 US Open as a replacement for the 1978 stadium of the same n ...

and the adjoining grandstand. The National Tennis Center opened in August 1978. After rumors of a possible move to San Diego, a major upgrade and expansion began in March 1995. More land was committed to the USTA National Tennis Center, and in August 1997 the newly built

replaced Louis Armstrong Stadium as the main court. The four-year expansion was completed in 1999. Arthur Ashe Stadium holds more than 22,000 spectators while Louis Armstrong Stadium was downsized to hold just 10,000 spectators (the original size was 18,000). In 2006, at the location of the old indoor tennis building near the East Gate, work began on a 245,000-square-foot, multi-purpose tennis pavilion. The new facility was completed in 2008 and includes 12 courts, classrooms, fitness facilities, and a

pro shop A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building. In the case of golf pro s ...

. It also includes a hospitality center, museum, and food commissary. Other renovations included the players’ lounge,

locker rooms A changing-room, locker-room, (usually in a sports, theater, or staff context) or changeroom (regional use) is a room or area designated for changing one's clothes. Changing-rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to ch ...

, and medical, training and office space. In 2011, the facility opened a new show court, Court 17, located in the southeast corner of the grounds, seating 2,500 to 3,000, making it small in comparison to the facility's other show courts. Next in size after those courts — Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the Grandstand (the latter with a capacity of 8,125) — the court has large television screens and Hawk-Eye electronic line-calling capability which allows for player challenges. In constructing the new court, foundations from the 1939 and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

were discovered, and the water table was found to be several feet higher than expected. Because the playing surface of Court 17 is below ground level, the new court has received the nickname of "The Pit". Beginning in 2013, the center underwent a $550 million renovation that included the erection of a retractable roof on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was completed for the 2017 US Open. A new show court with 8,125 seats was opened in 2016 in the southwest corner of the complex, making it the third-largest court in the center (replacing the old Grandstand court). A new, 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium (also with a retractable roof) was constructed on the site of the original stadium, and was completed in time for the 2018 US Open.

Main courts

Other uses

In July 2008, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and

hosted its first non-tennis event, when the New York Liberty of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) played in the "

Liberty Outdoor Classic The Liberty Outdoor Classic was the first regular-season professional basketball game played outdoors. It was played between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association on July 19, 2008, as part of the 200 ...

: 2008". The game itself was the first professional basketball regular season game played outdoors in the USA, by either men or women. The contest featured the Indiana Fever defeating the New York Liberty. USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is the site of the annual New York State High School tennis championships, held in May. This tournament is sponsored by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA). In March 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the city proposed building a temporary 350-bed

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

in the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to treat overflow patients from area hospitals. It opened on April 10 and was later described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as a "cautionary tale" of mismanaged government responses, having cost at least $52 million while only treating 79 patients until it closed on May 13.

References

US Open tennis TV Channel List

History

Main courts

Other uses

See also

References

External links