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Monday, August 31, 2015

5 differentiating factors that make tennis at the Flushing Meadows one of its kind(US Open Tennis)

 
1)The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to offer a tiebreaker (or play-off) in every set, which differs from the other three majors. At the Australian Open, the French Open, or Wimbledon, it is only employed in the final set at a 6-6 tie (third set for women's singles, fifth set for men's singles) and the match continues until one player wins by two games. The previous sets played before the decider always have tiebreakers, like the US Open.

2)US Open is the only Grand Slam to offer the same trophy to women's and men's singles champions and was the first major tournament to promote equal pay.
 
Unlike other majors, both the women's and men's singles champions receive the US Open trophy.
 In 1973, both the singles champions – John Newcombe and Margaret Court – received USD 25,000 each, thus making US Open the first Major to offer equal prize money irrespective of the players' gender.

3)Talking about equality, year's final Grand Slam includes matches played in stadiums dedicated to two black trendsetters. The Arthur Ashe Stadium is dedicated to Arthur Ashe, the first black player to represent the United States in the Davis Cup and the inaugural champion of the US Open in 1968. It replaced the Louis Armstrong Stadium as the main stadium of the US Open in 1997. The Louis Armstrong Stadium was named after the famous jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. Stachmo probably made himself a means for desegregation. Both the stadiums are part of USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

4)In 1975, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to be played at night, following the trend set by other popular outdoor sports like football (both the American and soccer), cricket and rugby. And under the artificial lights, the US Open trophy was for the first time lifted by two new players – Spaniard Manuel Orantes after winning men's singles event, and American Chris Evert after winning women's singles event. Orantes never won another major, but Evert went to become a legend – winning another five US Open titles in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982.

5)It's the only Grand Slam tournament to have been conducted on three different playing surfaces. It started as a grass-court tournament in a garden (1881–1974), then moved on to clay surface (1975–1977), before finally switching to a hard court (1978 to Present).
American legend Jimmy Connors is the only player to win the tournament on those three different surfaces. He won the US Open five times in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1983.

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