24 The Queens Courier • ANNIVERSARY • juLY 2, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com 30th ANNIVERSARY Rendering courtesy of USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s history of growth in Queens BY LIAM LA GUERRE For more than 35 years, tennis fans from around the globe have gathered once a year at Flushing Meadows Corona Park to watch the world’s greatest players at the country’s top venue for the sport: The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Within its history at the iconic park, known for hosting two World Fair events in 1939 and 1964, the national tennis center has expanded on multiple occasions as the tournament continues to experience growth in popularity and esteem. Today it’s undergoing an enormous $500 million facelift to expand and revolutionize the center as the “finest tennis venue in the world and the preeminent sports facility in New York City,” according to Gordon Smith, COO of the United States Tennis Association (USTA). However, what’s known as the US Open today came from humble beginnings. What many may not know is the tournament has been in Queens for about a century. It was first played at the Forest Hills West Side Tennis Club in 1915, but was known as a strictly amateur contest called the U.S. National Championships until 1968 when it became open to amateurs and professionals alike and its name changed to the “US Open.” The USTA National Tennis Center came to be after the United States Tennis Association moved the US Open to the park in 1978, because it needed more space for the growing tournament. Its new home in Flushing Meadows consisted then of the 18,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium as its centerpiece and the Grandstand Stadium as well. The Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was built as the Singer Bowl for the 1964 World’s Fair, gave former USTA President W.E. Hester the inspiration to move the tournament to Flushing Meadows after he spotted the stadium on a flight approaching LaGuardia Airport. By 1993 more than 530,000 spectators came to watch the tennis matches and plans for the first major expansion of the center had already been on the minds of USTA officials years before. The first major expansion, which spanned from 1995 to 1999, resulted in the new 23,500-seat, $285 million Arthur Ashe Stadium as the centerpiece of the venue, which opened in 1997. Louis Armstrong Stadium was also renovated at that time as well, but reduced to about 10,000 seats. The name of the center was renamed in 2006 after the former world no. 1 female champion and trailblazer of the sport, Billie Jean King. To be clear, the USTA does not actually own the center, but actually operates the public venue for the city and pays rent. The USTA is permitted to use the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for its events, including the US Open, for no more than 60 days a year, ensuring the facility’s use by the public for 10 months. The center expanded yet again in 2008, when a 245,000 square-foot indoor-facility was built on the campus. It features 12 indoor courts, viewing areas for all courts, training center classrooms, fitness facilities, a pro shop and a café. In 2011, the USTA opened its fourth largest court, known still today as Court 17. It seats up to 2,800 fans and precluded the current expansion of the campus, which will include a retractable roof on top of Arthur Ashe. It’s a much needed expansion as more than 713,000 fans came to experience the tournament in 2014. The final steel beam for the Arthur Ashe Stadium retractable roof at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was installed on June 10 in a topping ceremony, culminating more than a decade of studies and planning to cover the U.S. Open’s main court. For now the only the roof’s steel skeleton exists and construction on it will halt for the 2015 US Open. The covering for the roof is expected to be installed after this year’s U.S. Open, and the structure will be functional for the 2016 U.S. Open. The USTA completed the first phase of its expansion plan last year, which included new courts 4, 5 and 6, and two-story viewing bleachers that created a three-court stadium viewing experience for fans. The elevated seating area holds more than 1,300 fans, and Court 5 became the U.S. Open’s seventh television court. The USTA also recently started construction on its new Grandstand Stadium at the south portion of the campus, which will have 8,000 seats, and replace the current 6,000-seat court of the same name that is connected to the Louis Armstrong Stadium. That new Grandstand Stadium will debut in time for the 2016 U.S. Open along with expanded walkways in the south area of the tennis center. The smaller courts on the south portion of the campus will also be rebuilt next year. Following the 2016 U.S. Open, the USTA will tear down and starting building a new 14,000- seat Louis Armstrong Stadium. That stadium is currently planned to have a roof as well and is expected to be ready for the 2018 U.S. Open. Photo by Upabreak/Wikimedia Commons
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