By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The U.S. Tennis Association officially opened the new refurbished and “roofed” Louis Armstrong Stadium Wednesday and christened the court with an exhibition match between Queens natives John and Patrick McEnroe against Yonkers, N.Y.-born James Blake and Hoboken, N.J.-born Michael Chang.
With their match, the McEnroes, Blake and Chang are added to a list of trivia questions as to who played the first match at the new roofed Louis Armstrong Stadium. For the record, Blake and Chang won the match 4-6, 6-4, (12-10). At 11 am on Monday, there will be two names who will play the “official” first US Open match on this spectacular new court.
With the debut of the new 14,000-seat stadium – and these fun bits of trivia – it brings up the question of other famous stadium debuts and swan songs from the U.S. Open. That’s review them.
“Old Louis Armstrong” Stadium
FIRST MATCH: The old version of the Louis Armstrong Stadium was debuted on August 29, 1978, as documented in my book “On This Day In Tennis History” where I wrote: The gates open at the new USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. for the grand opening of the newly-constructed public facility that is the new home of the U.S. Open. “Tonight the US Open belongs to us, the people, the tennis fans,” says actor and comedian Alan King, the master of ceremonies for the opening session of the tournament. “Ten months ago when we broke ground I thought they were crazy. But here we are. This is where the legends begin.” Bjorn Borg and Bob Hewitt play the first match at the new facility with Borg winning the best-of-three set first round match 6-0, 6-2. “Probably when I get to be 75 years old and look back, I’ll say I was the first one to play in the new stadium,” says Borg after defeating Hewitt in front of only 6,186 fans during the opening night session of the tournament.
Incidentally, the next day in the first “day” match on Louis Armstrong Stadium featured, ironically, Arthur Ashe, whose name would grace the future main stadium at the U.S. Open. Ashe, the No. 16 seed, had to save three match points before defeating Ross Case of Australia 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 in a best-of-three-set first round match. Ashe, one of the most eloquent spokespeople the sport of tennis has ever produced, was not as well-expressed in his post-match press conference when he called the new stadium and USTA National Tennis Center grounds “the greatest thing since sliced bread.”
LAST MATCH: The last singles match on the old Louis Armstrong Stadium came in a fourth round match between Kei Nishikori and Ivo Karlovic, won by Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on September 5, 2016. The last match of any kind came the next day in a men’s doubles quarterfinal between Bob and Mike Bryan and Marc and Feliciano Lopez won by “Team Lopez” by a 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 margin.
“Old Grandstand”
FIRST MATCH: The storied old “Grandstand” court that was situated next to the old Louis Armstrong Stadium debuted on August 30, 1978. It seems now rather appropriately that the first player to win a match on this court was none other than another Queens, N.Y. native Vitas Gerulaitis, who famously played many entertaining matches on the court during the tournament’s early years at Flushing Meadows. Gerulaitis defeated Pascal Portes of France 7-5, 7-5 in the best-of-three-set first round. Even John McEnroe on Wednesday referenced the popular and intimate court “where my great friend Vitas Gerulaitis had so many great moments.”
LAST MATCH: The Grandstand court was scheduled to be decommissioned after the 2015 U.S. Open, but due to some construction delays, the court was back into action in 2016. The last singles match on the court was Grigor Dimitrov defeating Jeremy Chardy 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round on Thursday, September 1, 2016. The last official match on the court was Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig beating Donald Young and Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-4 in the 2016 mixed doubles first round on Friday, September 2, 2016. A ceremonial send-off match was played on Thursday, September 8, 2016 during the US Open’s Fan Day when the McEnroe brothers put the court into retirement by beating Jimmy Arias and Henri Leconte in a Senior Invitational Doubles match.
“New Grandstand”
FIRST MATCH: The first match on this instantly popular court was on August 29, 2016 when Caroline Wozniacki defeated Taylor Townsend 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the first round.
“Arthur Ashe Stadium”
FIRST MATCH: On August 25, 1997, as documented in my “On This Day In Tennis History” book, the United States Tennis Association dedicated Arthur Ashe Stadium with a dramatic night-time on-court ceremony featuring Ashe’s widow Jeanne Moutassamy Ashe, Whitney Houston and 38 former champions, but the first match of the day starting at 11 am was Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand becoming the excellent U.S. Open trivia question answer when she won the first-ever match on Arthur Ashe Stadium defeating Chanda Rubin of the United States 6-4, 6-0.