Arthur Ashe Stadium

Arthur Ashe Stadium, located within Flushing Meadows Park in Flushing, Queens, New York at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, is the main tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and also where the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day takes place. The stadium is named after the famous African American tennis player, Arthur Ashe, who won the inaugural US Open in which professionals could compete in 1968.

Opening in 1997, Arthur Ashe Stadium replaced Louis Armstrong Stadium as the primary venue for the tournament. The Stadium, which cost $254 million to construct, features 22,547 individual seats, 90 luxury suites, five restaurants and a two-level players' lounge -- making it, by far, the largest outdoor tennis-only venue in the world. The Stadium, like the other 32 courts in the facility, has a DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface. Due to its location near Shea Stadium, the current home of the New York Mets, and their future home, Citi Field, all these stadiums share the Willets Point–Shea Stadium/Citi Field stop on the New York City Subway's 7 Train.

On July 19, 2008, Arthur Ashe Stadium hosted the first ever regular season professional basketball (men or women) game to be played outdoors when the WNBA Indiana Fever beat the host New York Liberty, 71-55. The game served as a fundraising event for breast cancer research.

The stadium's lack of a retractable roof for inclement weather has occasionally been a subject of criticism. Although no provision for the addition of a roof was included in the facility's original design, there have been discussions about the possibility of adding one in the future. [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/03/sports/tennis/03rain.html?ex=1377921600&en=dc71683ffcf426d5&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND]

ee also

* List of tennis stadiums by capacity

References

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Notes