Here are other key dates in the history of the tournament
1968:
Arthur Ashe and Virginia Wade win the first-ever US championships to
permit both amateurs and professional players. Prior to that year, only
amateurs could compete.
1978: The US Open
moves from the clubby West Side tennis club at Forest Hills to the
public Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, also in Queens, but with a much more
egalitarian vibe. The tournament opts for a hard court with a true
bounce, avoiding grass and clay, the surface of choice at the other
tennis Grand Slams.
1984: "Super Saturday"
goes down as one of the greatest days in tennis history, with Ivan Lendl
beating Pat Cash and John McEnroe outlasting Jimmy Connors in men's
semifinal matches. Sandwiched in between, Martina Navratilova edges
Chris Evert for the women's championships. All three matches go the
distance.
1988: Steffi Graf defeats Gabriela Sabatini to become only the fifth player to win a calendar year Grand Slam.
1997:
The USTA unveils Arthur Ashe stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the
world, replacing the original center court, which was named for one of
Queens' most famous residents, Louis Armstrong.
An
unseeded 17-year-old Venus Williams reaches the final of the women's
championship, losing to Martina Hingis and announcing the arrival of one
of the most dominant sibling acts in sports history. Her sister, Serena
Williams, would win her maiden Grand Slam championship in New York two
years later, the first of Serena's 22 championships so far.
2004:
Roger Federer defeats Lleyton Hewitt in the final, an early marker of a
men's tennis era with several all-time greats. Between them, the "Big
Four," which consists of Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy
Murray, have won all but two of the mens' crowns since 2004.
2005: The US Open replaces its green courts with blue to make the yellow-green balls easier to pick up for players and fans.
2008:
The National Tennis Center takes the name of Billie Jean King, honoring
a tennis legend and a pioneer in women's equality through sport.
2016:
The US Open unveils a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, the crown jewel of
a $600 million expansion intended to position the tournament for the
coming decades
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