Where was the US Open tennis championship held before it moved to Flushing Meadows?

Before 1978, the US Open tennis championship was held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1978, it moved to a new venue at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, also in Queens, where it is still held today.

History of US Open venues:

• 1881-1914: the US National Championships (men's singles) were held at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1915-1977: the tournament was held at Forest Hills (West Side Tennis Club), apart from a few years when some events were held elsewhere.

1978 onwards: USTA National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows. In 2006, it was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in honour of the tennis legend and campaigner for equal rights.

Surface changes:

• Grass: until 1974.
• Clay (Har-Tru): from 1975 to 1977, at Forest Hills.
• Hard court (DecoTurf, later Laykold): since 1978 at Flushing Meadows.
• Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won the US Open on all three surfaces (grass, clay and hard court).

Key features of the US Open:

• It is the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, held in late August and early September.
• The main court is the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world, named after Arthur Ashe, the first black man to win the US Open (1968) and Wimbledon (1975).
• The US Open was the first Grand Slam to offer equal prize money to men and women, from 1973.
• It was the first Grand Slam to use a final-set tie-break (from 1970).

Indians at the US Open:

• Vijay Amritraj reached the US Open quarter-finals in 1973 and 1974.
• Leander Paes won several US Open men's and mixed doubles titles.
• Rohan Bopanna reached the men's doubles final in 2010 and 2023.
• Sania Mirza won the US Open mixed doubles (2014) and women's doubles (2015).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Newport hosted the earliest US Championships (1881-1914), before Forest Hills.
• ✗Long Island and Boston have not been the main venues of the US Open.