Men's Tennis: 5 oldest winners of the US Open
Since 1987, the US Open has been the final Grand Slam of the calendar year. The event which is now played on hard courts, was played on grass in the early years. In fact, for a two-year period, the tournament was also held on clay.
This makes the US Open the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played on 3 different surfaces. The US Open was the first Grand Slam to, in fact, offer equal prize money to both men and women.
In the Amateur Era, Richard Sears, Bill Tilden and William Larned won the most US Open Championships with seven apiece. In the current Open Era, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors lead the pack with 5 trophies each.
Athletes belonging to 15 different countries have won the title here. The average age of the Men's Singles champion in the Professional Era is roughly about 26 years.
We take a look at 5 of the oldest athletes to win the US Open Championships:
#5 Jimmy Connors (1983)
The man with the most titles won in ATP history (109), Connors played professional tennis for 24 years. During that period, he won eight Grand Slam Singles titles.
Connors won five US Open titles overall - an Open Era record he shares with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.
His last US Open triumph came in 1983. Going into the tournament, Connors was the third seed.
Connors dropped just two sets going into the final where he met second seed Ivan Lendl. Connors prevailed in four sets to win his fifth and final US Open title at the age of 31 years, 9 days.