Only a few months after the establishment of the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA), in 21 May 1881, its members decided to organize an international tennis championship, along the lines of Wimbledon. Thus on 31 August 1881, the U.S. Open was born on the grasslands of the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island.

The tournament was initially only open to clubs that were members of the USNLTA. The first edition, open only to men, consisted of just 33 players, including Dwight Davis, who later invented the Davis Cup. It included both singles and doubles competitions, and used the Challenge Round system, where the winner automatically qualifies for the final the following year. The Challenge Round was abolished in 1911 for men and 1915 for women.

The first victory at the United States National Championships belonged to the American Richard Sears. He went on to win the singles tournament seven times in a row (1881 to 1887) and the doubles six times (1882 and 1887). These records remain unbeaten to this day. The pairing of CM Clark and FW Taylor claimed the first doubles victory.

It was not until 1887 that women were able to play in the US National Championships, and the doubles competition appeared even later - in 1889, the same time as the first mixed doubles tournaments. Due to a lack of infrastructure, the Women's U.S. Championships was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The American Elen Hanssell won the first edition. The following years were entirely dominated by Americans, including Molla Bjurstedt, who holds the record for the most single championships with 8 (1915 to 1918, 1920 to 1992 and 1926)

During the Challenge Round era, the opponent of the defending champion was decided after a play-off between the best teams from the East and the West of the country. The teams from both sides of the country competed in tournaments to win a place in the play-off.

In 1968 all the various national events merged to become the US Open that was held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forrest Hills, New York. This combined tournament was open to professionals for the first time, and the Open Era was born. The 1968 competition consisted of 96 men and 63 women.

Relocation to Forest Hills

In order to increase the popularity of the competition, the USNTLA, decided, in 1915 to move the U.S. Open to Forest Hills, a quiet, chic suburb of New York. The playing surface of grass courts remained the same,  but the tournament is given its own U-shaped stadium and, above all, the new, bigger location allowed, starting in 1920, both the male and female competition to be held in the same place. From 1921 to 1923 the tournament was played at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia, but was then returned to the more successful Forest Hills in 1924.

Until 1925, the U.S. Open was entirely dominated by Americans, as very few European players made the Atlantic crossing (especially as Europe was recovering from the first of two devastating world wars). On the women's side, Helen Wills won 7 singles titles (1923-1925, 1927-1929, 1931). For the men, the show belonged to Bill Tilden, winner of 6 consecutive finals (1920-1925), and all against the same, unlucky, opponent - Bill Johnston.

1926 was a historic year for the US Open. That was the year that the first foreigner claimed the title - the Frenchman, René Lacoste, beat his compatriot, Jean Borotra. A feat which is repeated until 1928.

In the 1930's and 40's European players claimed more victories on American soil: the Frenchman Henri Cochet reached the final in 1932 and the German Gottfried von Cramm did likewise in 1937. But the last word still belonged to the United States. During these two decades, the majority of the victories went to the United States, with players including Ellsworth Vines (1931, 1932) Donald Budge (1937-1938), Frank Parker (1944-1945), Jack Kramer (1946 and 1947) and Pancho Gonzales (1948, 1949) claiming the title. The only exception was the Englishman Fred Perry, who triumphed in 1933, 1934 and 1936.

For ladies, the trend was the same. With the Americans Helen Jacobs (1932-1935), Alice Marble (1936, 1938, 1940) Pauline Betz (1942-1944, 1946), Margaret Osbornne (1948-1950) and Maureen Connolly (1951-1953) claiming the majority of the titles.

It was not until the 72nd edition of the tournament, in 1959, that a female foreigner triumphed at the US Open, when Brazil's Maria Bueno beat the American Christine Truman in the final.

Bueno repeats this feat in 1963, 1964 and 1966. But domination belonged to the Australian Margaret Smith-Court, who won the singles trophy in 1962, 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1973. The United States still remained a strong force, with their best player, Billie Jean King winning in 1967, 1971, 1972 and 1974.

In the 1950's, the Australians ruled the tennis world and the U.S. Open is no exception. From 1951 to 1973, the tournament is awash with the colours of the Australian flag. Frank Sedgman (1951, 1952), Ken Rossewall (1956, 1970, and finalist in 1955), Neale Fraser (1959, 1960), Roy Emerson (1961, 1964, and finalist in 1962), John Newcombe (1967, 1973, and finalist in 1966) and Rod Laver (1962, 1969 and finalist in 1960 and 1961) were among the champions.

Only the Spaniard Manolo Santana in 1965 and the American Arthur Ashe in 1968 - claiming the first ever Grand Slam of the Open era and in turn becoming first ever black player to win a major tournament, are able to block the Australian stampede.

An interesting fact is that because Ashe had yet to sign his professional contract, his prize money amounted to the federations normal daily allowance of 28$, whereas his opponent Okker, having recently signed his contract took home the considerable sum of 14 000$

In 1970, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to adopt the "Tie-Break" at the end of each set. It is the only one of the Grand Slams to have a final set tie-break, in the other three, the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the final sets (5 for the men, 3 for the women) continue until someone wins by two games.

By the early 1970s, the U.S. Open had on record "only" 95 000 entrants. A relatively small figure compared to other Grand Slam tournaments. So it was decided, in 1975, to modify the playing surface. The grass courts were abandoned in favour "Har-tru" clay courts. This only lasted until 1977, but permitted two clay court specialists: the Spaniard, Manuel Orantes and the Argentine Guillermo Vilas to win the tournament. The 1978 competition marked the next big changed in the history of the US Open

The difficult transition from Forest Hills to Flushing Meadows

By the 1977 competition, the site of Forest Hills was in dire need of renovation. However, the committee members of the West Side Tennis Club, owners of the Forest Hills site, refused to pay. Causing the future of the tournament to be thrown into jeopardy. The U.S. Tennis Federation decided to not to renew the lease, and its president, Slew Hester, was given the enormous challenge of building new facilities within a year.

From the ruins of an outdoor theatre located in Flushing Meadows, New York, the federation managed to create the National Tennis Centre in just 10 months, despite a bitterly cold winter and multiple worker strikes. The site covered an area of 16.8 acres and consisted of the main Louis Armstrong Stadium, with a capacity of 20 000, and 20 other tennis courts. These new courts mark the final change in the playing surface of the tournament, as they are made of the new ‘DecoTurf’.

This new hard-court surface is manufactured by Decosystems, and consists of layers of acrylic, rubber, silica and other materials placed on top of an asphalt and concrete base (see description here). Due to the surface, serve-and-volley players have experienced more success at the US Open than at other hard court tournaments as DecoTurf is a fast surface that has slightly less friction, so producing a lower bounce.

Only two players ever won the tournament of more than one surface – Jimmy Connors has won the US Open on all three surfaces, and Chris Evert on two (the clay and hard courts).

However impressive the new site of the U.S. Open was there was (and still is) one huge problem - it is situated on the flight route to Kennedy Airport, meaning that there are frequent noise disturbances. But in 1978 all this was insignificant, as due to the determination of Stew Hester, the US Open had been saved from destruction and a successful tournament was able to take place.

The notoriety and popularity of the US Open increased with the relocation of the tournament, all despite the noisy location, a disorderly layout and a reportedly difficult public. These drawbacks only add to giving the US Open a certain "charm". The public came in droves, nearly 400 000 spectators saw the 1985 edition (in spite of a tornado flooding and destroying the facilities on August 30th).

In addition, new players added to the unique spectacle. Until 1987, Americans John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors and the Chech Ivan Lendl shared the trophy, and the competitiveness between them increased the excitement.

Among other memorable events were the 1979 match between John McEnroe and Ilie Nastase when the players stopped play during a game and managed to get the referee fired and in 1984, McEnroe, Lendl, Connors and Pat Cash provided a spectacular 10 hours of semi-finals.

As for ladies, the excitement was provided by Martina Navratilova (USA) and Chris Evert (USA). Between 1975 and 1987, Evert played in 9 finals of which she won 6 and Navratilova played in 6, winning 4.

In the 1990's, an ever increasing public witnessed victories for the American Pete Sampras (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996) and the Swede Stefan Edberg (1991 and 1992). As for ladies, the American Monica Seles and the German Steffi Graf dominated.

Faced with the growing popularity of the U.S. Open and in order to make the tournament more enjoyable for the spectators, the U.S. Tennis Federation decided to build a new main stadium with a larger capacity (23 500). On 29 August 1997, the new central court was inaugurated. It was named the Arthur Ashe Stadium after the winner of the first Grand Slam in the Open Era and the first ever black player to triumph. With a capacity of 24,000 it is the largest tennis stadium in the world.

Since its installation in Flushing Meadow, the U.S. Open has become an unmisable event, not only in the tennis world, but also for the people of New York and around the world. Over the years, the U.S. Open has managed to build a certain reputation. Because of its noisy environment, winning the tournament requires nerves of steel, absolute concentration and an all round game. Moreover, since 1978, the U.S. Open has only been won by the world number 1, except in two cases in the women's competition - Hana Mandlikova (No. 3) and Gabriela Sabatini (No° 3).

In recent years, the tournament has been dominated by the Swiss player Roger Federer, winning a record 5 consecutive titles (2004-08), and the Williams sisters, who have won 5 titles between them since 1999.