US Open Live
The fourth and final tennis Grand Slam will take place starting August 31st at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York. The tournament is played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where it has been hosted since 1978, and has been contested since 1881, known then as the U.S. National Championship. The tournament takes place over two weeks the end of August and through the beginning of September, featuring five different events. First, the men's and women's singles, the men's and women's doubles and the mixed doubles events. There are also tournaments for senior, junior and wheelchair tennis players. The U S Open, unlike the other Grand Slam events feature final-set tiebreaks.
The history of the U.S. Open dates back more than 100 years and has become a championship that gives the best the professional tennis has to offer in both men's and women's events, and the players compete for prizes of over nineteen million dollars, with one and a half million going to each of the winners of the singles events. It started as just a men's championship, called the United States National Championship, and there were only singles events at the time. The first competition was held in August of 1881 at the Newport Casino in Newport, RI, United States. The players that first year came from clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association.
From the years 1884 through 1911 a challenge system was in place where the defending champ would automatically be qualified for the next year's final event. Another major event occurred in 1915, the tournament moved to a new venue, the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, New York, then another move came in 1921 lasting for only three years, the new venue the Germantown Cricket Club in Philidelphia. It came back to the Forest Hills location in 1924.
Just six year's after the men's nationals were initially held, the first women's event, the official U.S. Women's National Singles Championship debuted at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1887. Next came the U.S Women's National Doubles Championship in 1889, with the inclusion of the first U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship. The first men's doubles wasn't held until 1900 however.
In 1968 the tournament became much closer to what we see today, with all five events being organized into one U.S. Open, and held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. This tournament was open to professionals, and had 96 men and 63 women competing. The prize money was a paltry sum compared to today's standards, a mere $100,000. The tournament then became the first Grand Slam in 1970.
The way the prize money breaks down for the tournament is as follows. The over $21,600,000 is divided up between the events and qualifiers, with $1,600,000 going to the winner of the men's and women's singles events. Runner ups get half of that, and anyone who makes it to the semis will receive $350,000. Quarterfinalists will get $175,000. The singles draws encompass a total of 128 draws, while the doubles only 64. The winner's of the men's and women's doubles receive a grand prize of $420,000 for the win, and $210,000 for runner up status. Anyone who makes it as a semifinalists receives just over $100,000 while the quarters will get you fifty grand. As for the mixed doubles events, it includes 32 draws and the winners receive $180,000 while the runners-up receive just half of that. A total of $500,000 is set aside for mixed doubles.
Since 1990, the USA has dominated the majority of the winner and runner up spots for the Men's singles in the U.S. Open and as far as specific players It was Pete Sampras dominating, with five wins. After that Stephen Edberg, Patrick Rafter and Andre Agassi each with two wins. In 2000 Marat Safin from Russia took the title, and Lleyton Hewitt from Australia the next year, both beating Sampras. In 2002 was Pete Sampras' last win for the U.S. Open, and the tournament moves onto Roger Federer's era. Andy Roddick was able to take it in 2003, but after that and up until last year was Federer, with runner ups including Agassi, Hewitt, Dokovic, Roddick and Murray.
The women's singles for the past twenty or so years tell a very different story, with no clear dominating player. Steffi Graff had three wins, in 1993, 1995 and 1996 and the Williams sisters took the titles at the beginning of the century. Gabriela Sabatini took the title in 1990 and Monica Seles in both 1991 and 1992. Justine Henin took the title in 2003 as well as in 2007, while compatriot Kim Clijsters won in 2005. Maria Sharapova took the title in 2006. Svetlana Kuznetsova won in 2004 and last year's champ was Serena Williams, beating Jelena Jankovic.
Last year, Serena Williams began as the number four seed, but ended up beating Jankovik for her ninth Grand Slam of her career. Williams beat her first four opponants with ease, and ended up in a quarterfinal match against sister Venus, who was seeded 7th. Moving on from the match with her big sister, Serena ended up with Dinara Safina who had thirty seven of the past forty one games, and was the number six seed. This brought her to the final with Jankovik with the final being 6-4, 7-5, two easy sets.
For the men's singles it ended up with eight names in the quarterfinals, Nadal, Fish, Murray, del Potro, Roddick, Djokovic, Muller and Federer. The winners of the quarter moved on which put Federer facing Djokovic and Nadal and Murray in a match. When it was over, it was just Andy Murray and Roger Federer on the court, where Murray was defeated 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
If you want to watch the 2009 U.S. Open, then get your membership at the banners on this page. Don't miss it this exciting very last Grand Slam event. You can watch it in high quality right here with your membership, with exclusive access to the live tennis video feeds and tennis streams in our members area. The 2009 U.S. Open, August 31st through September 13th.
Tags: tennis Grand Slam, U S Open, Grand Slam, live tennis, tennis streams Posted: 31st August 2009 US Open » US Open Live |
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