US Open: A rich tradition of breaking convention

The Arthur Ashe Stadium

There is a wonderful sense of anticipation that is beginning to fill the air even as eager fans wait with bated breath for the start of the 133rd US Open. The curtain is about to be drawn on the final tennis Major of the season. A fortnight of noisy celebrations are set to invade the uneasy calm around Corona Park in New York.

Flushing Meadows, once a marshy swamp, is getting bedecked like an eager bridesmaid happy to host the melange of stars converging upon her in search of some silver and a few nickels. But despite being a perennial hostess of the fourth leg of tennis’s rich Grand Slam traditions, the US Open is as removed from tradition as a major event could ever be. In fact, it is a tournament that stands out for being the Grand Slam that constantly innovates to endear itself to the players, fans and media by employing a rich affinity for change.

The imposing Arthur Ashe stadium shall embrace a worthy winner on the second Sunday of September. The champion will walk away with a big fat cheque and an enhanced reputation. The bounty of dollars ($2.6mn) for just seven matches under the sun and lights might seem a shade too ostentatious during these traumatic times. But then the eclectic collection of stars contending for honours will be driven by an intense desire to get their name engraved on the US Open trophy, far more than they might get beamy about the money.

The sense of liberal excess that surrounds the event at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Centre offers a marked contrast and a significant departure from the studied conservatism of the Championships in Wimbledon. The hushed stillness around SW19 is replaced by a gay abandon that accompanies the boisterous show in New York. The whites are shoved away, relegated to a shade here and there. The predominantly white and green colours of London melt into an avalanche of an abundant splash of colours that dominate the clothing at this most chaotic of all Grand Slam events.

The jarring noise from the heart of Arthur Ashe stadium even as the gladiators battle for glory makes for a uniquely distinct experience, especially considering the pristine tranquillity and the insanely methodical madness of Wimbledon just a few weeks prior to the US Open. As if the boorish beer-fuelled behaviour inside the stadium weren’t adequate distraction, there is the pervasive din of floating aircraft making their way in and out of the busy La Guardia airport that often holds up play. But for all its maniacal frenzy, it is a tournament that is fondly embraced by those impacted by it year after year.

Interestingly, the US Open is the only major event to have been played on all three surfaces. Jimmy Connors, the man who has gained infamy recently for being dismissed by Maria Sharapova after just a single match as coach, is the only player to have won the tournament on each of the three surfaces. Connors won the last event on grass in 1974, on clay in 1976 and thrice on the hard courts (1978, 1982 and 1983). His victory in ’76 came at the expense of the legendary Bjorn Borg, when Connors won 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(9), 6–4.

The tournament has also stood out as an event with a pronounced penchant for innovation. The US Open has shown a gutsy appetite for taking the lead – it was the first major to embrace equality in 1973, paying both John Newcombe and Margaret Court an even sum of $25,000. That was also the year in which Billie Jean King launched the WTA to provide major impetus to the women of her times. The US Open was also the first Major to introduce tiebreaks when they did so in 1970.

It is the only Grand Slam to determine the fifth set on a breaker; each of the other Grand Slam event follows the traditional “advantage set.” An advantage set is played until a player or team wins six games and that player or team has a two-game lead over their opponent – as described in the Wikipedia pages. In 2006, the tournament also introduced Hawk-eye technology to allow players the luxury of challenging line calls by asking for an electronic review. Incidentally, the US Open is the only tennis Major to have been conducted uninterrupted since its inception in 1881.