Image via Complex Original
The 133rd U.S. Open begins today. As one of the oldest tournaments in American sports history, the U.S. Open not only serves as a finale to Grand Slam season but gives our country a chance to put on a show for tennis enthusiasts around the world. That's right, FOH with the strawberries and cream and bring in the Grey Goose carts!
Aside from all the day drinking, there actually is some world class action to catch on the courts. After all, we know you're going to find yourself checking out a possible Novak Djokovic/Rafael Nadal match-up or simply checking out Serena Williams. So, find out which player won the first "open era" tournament, how a serve once killed a line judge, and more in 20 Things You Didn't Know About the U.S. Open.
Linesman Dick Wertheim was killed by serve from Stefan Edberg while officiating a junior match.
On Sept. 10, 1983, Dick Wertheim was struck in the groin by a serve off the racket of Stefan Edberg. Sitting in a folding chair, Wertheim was knocked so hard by the serve that he fell backwards off his chair and slammed his head into the hard court. The contact caused bleeding in his brain and after five days unconscious, he died. It is believed that Wertheim is the only person killed at a tennis match by a tennis ball.
It was originally called the U.S. National Championship.
With the name change came a change in location. Originally, the tournament was in Rhode Island in 1881 before heading off to Philadelphia in 1921 and finally, New York in 1924.
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Serena Williams has gotten real volatile with officials on more than one occasion at the U.S. Open.
Serena Williams can get real crazy sometimes, especially when the U.S. Open rolls around. So, keep an eye out for something insane this year because she's due. In 2009, she reportedly told a line judge, "I'm going to shove this fucking ball down your fucking throat" and in 2011, she said to an umpire, "I truly despise you and your unattractive inside" during the U.S. Open final. *anxiously anticipates her C-walking all over the court if she wins this year's tournament*
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Since 1881, there have only been seven years when an American player has not appeared in either the men's or women's singles final.
In 2012, Serena Williams' appearance in the women's final broke the three-year streak where the Americans went AWOL in the finals for both genders. That's right, three of the seven years total were within the last decade. That's dominance at its finest. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
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Jimmy Connors is the only male to win the U.S. Open on all three playing surfaces.
It really didn't matter what surface he was playing on because when it came to the U.S. Open, Connors only knew how to win. And he did it often. He won in 1974 when the surface consisted of grass, won it all in 1976 on clay, and three more times (1978, 1982, 1983) on the hard court.
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The U.S. Open is the second-oldest major sporting event in America, behind the Kentucky Derby.
Inaugurated in 1875, the Kentucky Derby barely beat out the U.S. Open to hold the crown. However, don't feel too bad for the Open because it's the only Grand Slam tournament that has been played every year since the beginning.
U.S. Open referee Lois Goodman was arrested for allegedly murdering her husband with a coffee mug.
For 10 years, Lois Goodman served as a referee for the U.S. Open and no one probably suspected that she could be the type to kill her husband with a coffee mug. But, in August 2012, Goodman was arrested on a felony murder warrant which resulted in Lois losing her decade-old job with the Open. Eventually, the case was dropped by the prosecutors. Goodman claims through her lawyer that her 80-year-old husband died of a tragic accidental fall.
Reneé Richards was barred from playing in the 1976 U.S. Open unless she submitted to chromosomal testing.
Richard Raskind felt trapped in his own body. To the outside world, Raskind was a strong man who married a model and had a child but behind closed doors, Richard felt like a woman trapped in man's body. In 1975, Raskind underwent gender reassignment surgery and became Reneé Richards.
While Richards was finally at peace, the U.S. Open didn't really accept the change with open arms. In fact, they banned her until she submitted to chromosomal testing. Richards countered by suing the United States Tennis Association, or USTA. The fight went all the way to the New York Supreme Court where in 1977, she was awarded the right to play as a woman without submitting to any testing and became the first transgender player to compete in the tournament. For more details on her story check out ESPN's 30 for 30 film, Renee.
From 1977 to 2009, the U.S. Open men's champion was won by a current or former world No. 1 ranked player.
It was broken in 2009 when Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina (seeded 6th) defeated Roger Federer. To give you an idea of how amazing that streak was, the U.S. Open needed only two years to have another non-No. 1 ranked player win it all. Could you now imagine how hard it would be to string together 10 consecutive years?
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The U.S. Open was first held in August 1881 on the grass courts at the Newport Casino in Newport, R.I.
In that first year, admission into the tournament was strictly prohibited to members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA).
In 1973, the U.S. Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to offer equal prize money to male and female winners.
The year before the historical change, men's singles champion Ilie Nastase received $25,000 of the $160,000 total purse while women's singles champ Billie Jean King received a paltry $10,000. This didn't sit well with Billie Jean, who fought the unjust pay discrepancy, and with the help of Chris Evert, they got the same payout as the men: $25,000.
$100,000: Total prize money at the first Open Era tournament in 1968.
Not a bad total purse, however, the men's champion would receive $14,000 while the women's champion received $6,000. An injustice indeed but you will come to find out by clicking through that the difference in pay would make a historical change.
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$2.6 million: the amount given to each 2013 men's and women's singles champion.
Whether you win the tournament or not, every player competing in the U.S. Open is receiving a nice paycheck. The $5.2 million for both the men's and women's champion seems like a hefty amount but it's only a small portion of the $33.6 million total purse. And if that wasn't good enough news, the U.S. Tour's goal is to offer $50 million in prize money by 2017. Maybe you wanna go dust off that racket in the closet, huh?
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The U.S. Open was the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to utilize a tiebreak at the end of the set. It is also the only Grand Slam tournament that decides the final outcome of the 5th set with a tiebreaker.
Unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments (Wimbledon, Australian Open, and French Open), the U.S. Open has a tiebreaker in every set, except for the last set, which is only won when a two-game lead is reached. This rule only heightens the drama and creates memorable moments like this one...
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Pete Sampras threw up during a fifth-set tiebreaker with Alex Corretja in the 1996 quarterfinals.
We would tell you how incredible the final moments of that match were, but maybe it's best to see it for yourself.
The very first U.S. Open of the "open era" took place in 1968 at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills.
In case you're wondering, the "open era" signifies when professionals could take on amateurs. And in the first one...
Surprise, surprise. Arthur Ashe won the first U.S. Open tournament.
For winning the first "open era" U.S. Open and making an impact as an African American athlete in the world of tennis, the name of the stadium where the U.S. Open takes place is named after him.
Arthur Ashe Stadium holds the largest capacity in tennis at 23,157.
Holding the honor for the largest capacity in tennis history comes at a cost. The people sitting in the highest section of the stadium are a ridiculous 120 feet away from the action. Get your binoculars and Kleenex and duck when the planes come by.
It's the only major tennis tournament to be interrupted by a shooting.
During a match between John McEnroe and Eddie Dibbs in the 1977 U.S. Open, play was interrupted after 33-year-old James Reilly was struck in the leg by a stray bullet from a .38 caliber handgun. Reilly was transported to the first aid center and then taken to St. John's Hospital. After six minutes, the tennis action continued while the police searched for the mystery gunman.
