USTA National Tennis Center
Encyclopedia

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

 and has been the home of the US Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

 tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...

 played every year in August and September. Operated by the United States Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...

 (USTA) since 1978, the facility has 22 courts
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...

 inside its 46.5 acre (0.18817899 km²; 0.0726563142407631 sq mi) and 11 in the adjoining park. The complex's three stadia are among the largest tennis stadia in the world, with Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium, a part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center located within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, is the main tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and also where the annual Arthur Ashe...

 topping the global list with a listed capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 of 23,200. All 33 courts have used the DecoTurf
DecoTurf
DecoTurf is a tennis hardcourt comprising layers of acrylic, rubber, silica, and other materials on top of an asphalt or concrete base. It is manufactured by Decosystems, which is a division of California Products Corporation which also manufactures Plexipave, based in Andover, Massachusetts.The...

 cushioned acrylic surface since the facility was built in 1978.

Located near Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

, the tennis center is open to the public for play 11 months out of the year (closed during inclement weather and in August/September due to the US Open), barring tournaments the USTA holds (such as junior and wood-racket competitions).

On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...

 National Tennis Center.

Creation

The idea of the tennis center came about in January, 1977, when W. E. "Slew" Hester (the then-incoming president of the USTA) saw the underused Singer Bowl
Singer Bowl
The Singer Bowl is a stadium that formerly stood in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the New York City borough of Queens. The stadium was built for events during the 1964 World's Fair, also hosting various Olympic trials and concerts over the years....

 / Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong Stadium is a tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments. It is located at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the New York City borough of Queens; it was the main stadium before Arthur Ashe...

 on a flight into New York's LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...

. He asked New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to let him use Louis Armstrong Stadium and adjoining land for a tennis facility to host the U.S. Open. The center opened in August, 1978.

Expansion

After rumors of a possible move to San Diego, a major upgrade and expansion began in March 1995. More land was committed to the USTA National Tennis Center, and in August 1997 the newly built Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium, a part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center located within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, is the main tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and also where the annual Arthur Ashe...

 replaced Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong Stadium is a tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments. It is located at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the New York City borough of Queens; it was the main stadium before Arthur Ashe...

 as the main court. The four-year expansion was completed in 1999. Arthur Ashe Stadium holds more than 22,000 spectators while Louis Armstrong Stadium was downsized to hold just 10,000 spectators (the original size was 18,000).

In 2006—at the location of the old indoor-tennis building near the East Gate—work began on a 245,000-square-foot, multi-purpose tennis pavilion. The new facility was completed in 2008 and includes 12 courts, classrooms, fitness facilities, and a pro shop
Pro shop
A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building...

. It also includes a hospitality center, museum, and food commissary. Other renovations included the players’ lounge, locker rooms, and medical, training and office space.

In 2011, the facility opened a new show court, Court 17, located in the southeast corner of the grounds. Initially seating 2,500 with temporary stands, it will hold over 3,000 when completed in 2012, making it intimate in comparison to the facility's other show courts. Next in size after those courts — Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the Grandstand (capacity: 6,106) — the court has large television screens and Hawk-Eye electronic line-calling capabilty which allows for player challenges. In constucting the new court, foundations from the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...

 and 1964 World's Fair
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...

 were discovered, and the water table was found to be several feet higher than expected. Because the playing surface of Court 17 is below ground level, the new court has received the nickname of "The Pit".

Basketball on a Tennis Court

On July 19, 2008, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium, a part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center located within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, is the main tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and also where the annual Arthur Ashe...

 hosted its first ever non-tennis event, when the New York Liberty
New York Liberty
The New York Liberty is a professional basketball team based in New York City, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was one of the eight original franchises of the league...

 of the Women's National Basketball Association
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...

 (WNBA) played in the "Liberty Outdoor Classic
Liberty Outdoor Classic
The Liberty Outdoor Classic was the first regular-season professional basketball game played outdoors. It was played between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York on July 19, 2008 with the Fever winning the game, 71-55...

: 2008". The game itself was a historic event as it was the first ever professional basketball regular season game ever played outdoors in the USA, by either men or women. The contest featured the Indiana Fever
Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever is a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began...

 defeating the New York Liberty
New York Liberty
The New York Liberty is a professional basketball team based in New York City, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was one of the eight original franchises of the league...

 71–55.

High School Tennis

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is the site of the annual New York State High School tennis championships, held in May. This tournament is sponsored by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association
New York State Public High School Athletic Association
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is the governing body of interscholastic sports for many schools in New York. It consists of 768 member high schools from the state divided into 11 numbered sections...

 (NYSPHSAA).

External links

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