The History of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament: Facts, Past Winners, and More

The legacy of the U.S. Open goes way beyond Flushing Meadows.

The 2024 U.S. Open begins today, and whether you're a hard core tennis fan or just want some trivia to share between Honey Deuces, here's everything you need to know about how one of tennis's biggest competitions came to be.

Though it wasn't yet known as the U.S. Open, the competition that would transform into the Open (then the U.S. National Championship) was first established in 1881 by the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association. The first tournament was held that year at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island, with competitions held only for men's singles and men's doubles. That status quo shifted over the next decade to incorporate a women's singles competition in 1887, women’s doubles in 1889, and mixed doubles in 1892.

For nearly three-quarters of a century the individual competitions of the U.S. National Championship were held at a variety of separate locations, until 1968 when all five tournaments were finally collected into a centralized event at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens. This was the first year that the event took on its new name, and also was the first time that professionals and amateurs were allowed to compete together. Arthur Ashe and Virginia Wade became the very first U.S. Open singles champions that year.

In 1978, the tournament moved to its permanent home in Flushing Meadows at the U.S. Tennis Association National Tennis Center, which was renamed the U.S. Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006.

In 1950, at a time when the majority of America was still segregated, Althea Gibson made history by becoming the first African-American to compete for the U.S. National Championships. She would go on to become the first Black athlete to play at Wimbledon a year later and the first Black player to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open (née U.S. National Championships) in singles competition, with a career total of 11 Gland Slam titles.

At the 2019 U.S. Open, officials unveiled a statue in Gibson's honor outside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Held each year over a two week period of late August and early September, the international competition has historically been the last of the Gland Slam events of the tennis season, following the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. In 2020, that schedule changed due to the global pandemic: the French Open was postponed from its usual May outing to start on September 20, while Wimbledon was cancelled altogether. However, in subsequent years, the schedule has returned to its pre-pandemic norm.

The U.S. Open has a reputation as the largest purse in tennis; in 2024, the event's purse reached a new all-time high at $75 million. The largest prizes go to the winners of the singles competitions, who will take home a hefty $3.6 million apiece.

By comparison, Wimbledon's 2024 purse was worth £50 million (approximately $66 million), the French Open gave out €53.5 million (approximately $58.12 million), and the Australian Open offered A$86.5 million (approximately $58.6 million U.S.)

In 1973, thanks to the pioneering efforts of Billie Jean King and her work to help form the Women's Tennis Association, the U.S. Open became the first of the Grand Slam events to award the same prize values to men's and women's competitors. King, who was then the defending champion, had threatened to boycott the tournament if the prize values for the women's competitors weren't equal to the men's and the organizers ultimately gave in. Margaret Court, that year's women's singles winner, took home $25,000, the same as her male counterpart, John Newcombe. 2023 marked 50 years of equal pay at the Open.

Starting in 1987, the iconic jeweler began producing the tournament's trophies for both singles and doubles competitions. The men's and women's singles trophies each stand at approximately 18.5 inches in height, weigh around 10 pounds, and take 4 and a half months to complete. The doubles trophies take even longer—around 5 months to finish the 13 inch diameter, roughly 5.5 pound awards.

From 1881 to 1974, the official rules of the tournament required play on grass. For the following three years, from 1975 to 1977, players took to clay courts, then finally in 1978, the hard-court surface known as DecoTurf became the standard.

The same year that the tournament briefly swapped to clay courts, they also introduced a longer-lasting innovation: night games. Previously, all play had occurred during the daylight hours. The first U.S. Open night game was played on August 27, 1975 between New Zealand’s Onny Parun and former U.S. champion Stan Smith.

Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.

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