Fiend at Court Unplugged
Throughout the history of the US Open tennis championships, the tournament was traditionally conducted on grass courts. That all changed in 1975 when the court surface was switched over to clay. Three years later, the event changed once again to a hard court surface. The original transition from grass to clay was prompted by player complaints about uneven and soft grass courts previously used for the tournament. The subsequent change to hard court was most likely driven by economics.
In 1978, the US Open was moved to a new location for the first time since 1915. The tournament had simply become too large for the West Side Tennis Club. The tournament players were disenchanted with the cramped locker rooms and lack of hospitality from the club members. Additionally, tickets to marquis matches were scarce and parking around the facility was extremely limited. Concessions were outrageously expensive.
When the USTA’s contract with the West Side Tennis Club ended, several other cities including Charlotte and Louisville tried to convince the USTA to relocate the tournament to their area. Ultimately, the USTA elected to keep the tournament in New York, selecting Corona Park at Flushing Meadows as the new site.
In the run-up to the first US Open at Flushing Meadows, the press hinted that the USTA hoped that matches on the new hard court surface would be more lively. Exciting matches is a good way to spin the story, but that does not fully explain the selection of hard courts over the traditional grass.
The Flushing Meadows facility was constructed to be a public tennis center. The costs of maintaining grass courts in a non-club setting was most likely viewed as cost prohibitive. Even clay courts are also significantly more expensive to maintain than hard courts. Money was most likely the primary consideration.
Members of the World Team Tennis “New York Apples” were the among first players to preview the new surface as construction was drawing to a close. They judged it to me a medium-fast surface that delivered a high-bouncing ball. One of the players, JoAnne Russell, declared that she thought the courts would most benefit Bjorn Borg. Borg made the finals, but was dispatched by Jimmy Connors in straight sets.
Julie Anthony, who grew up on the hard courts of southern California, was delighted with the change and echoed the sentiment that it would provide more exciting matches for the fans. Ironically, Chris Evert, who was still regarded as a clay court specialist, won the first women’s singles championship on the new surface. It was her fourth straight US Open title.
An abandoned stadium at the site may have been what attracted the USTA to Flushing Meadows in the first place. Legend has it that then USTA president, Slew Hester, first spotted it when flying into La Guardia in early 1977. That structure was originally constructed by the Singer Sewing Machine Company for the 1964 World’s Fair. In the early 1970s the building was renamed after a local resident who had recently passed away.
Since the USTA only had 18 months to prepare the Flushing Meadows site for the 1978 US Open, reuse of the existing stadium was essential. The seating was hastily split between two courts. The larger retained the original stadium name. The smaller structure was simply referred to as the Grandstand.
The original Flushing Meadows stadium court was demolished in 2017 to make way for a new stadium with a retractable roof. The only thing retained for the new stadium was the name: Louis Armstrong. That is why the stadium court of the US Open is named in honor of a person who was unconnected with tennis in any way.
- Hester Pushes Plans for New U.S. Open Site, Charles Friedman, The New York Times, July 21, 1977.
- U.S. Open Court Spurs Talk of Livelier Matches, Charles Friedman, The New York Times, July 22, 1978.
- How Louis Armstrong Stadium Got Its Name, Keith Williams, The New York Times, September 3, 2018.
