The United States Tennis Association (USTA)

“USTA” redirects here. For other uses, see USTA (disambiguation).

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. The USTA was previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, and was established by a small group of tennis club members in a meeting held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. USTA was created to standardize rules and regulations and to promote the sport of tennis in the United States. The USTA runs the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center which hosts the US Open every year.

• Tennis at the 1904 Summer Olympics
• 1964 Federation Cup (tennis)
• 1976 Federation Cup (tennis)
• 1982 Federation Cup (tennis)
• Tennis at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• 1985 Masters
• 1989 Masters
• 1990 Federation Cup (tennis)
• Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics

• 2000 WTA Tour Championships
• 2002 WTA Tour Championships
• 2003 Tennis Masters Cup
• 2003 WTA Tour Championships
• 2004 Tennis Masters Cup
• 2004 WTA Tour Championships
• 2005 WTA Tour Championships
• 2007 Indian Wells Masters

The US Open grew from an exclusive entertainment event for high society to a $17 million prize money championship (about $1 million for winner of the singles tournaments) for over 600 male and female professional players.

The US Open originated from two separate tournaments: the men's tournament and the women's tournament. The event was first held in August 1881 and staged at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island (men's singles only). The championships were known as the U.S. National Singles Championship for men. Only clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association were permitted to enter. From 1884 until 1911 the US Open used a challenge system whereby the defending champion automatically qualified for the next year's final.

The US Open Series is the six-week summer tennis "season" linking 10 ATP Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments together. The Series leads to the U.S. Open. It is often refered to as the U.S. or North American hard court season.

It was organized in 2004 as a way to focus more attention on American tennis tournaments by getting more of them on domestic television. Until 2004, most summer North American tournaments were not on television, the exceptions being the highly televised ATP Masters Series events in Canada and Cincinnati.

The eight non-Masters tournaments now enjoy about 50 hours of television combined -- about two hours on each day of their final weekends, chiefly on ESPN2, which is where ESPN shows its tennis programming. NBC (The Indianapolis Tennis Championships), CBS, and The Tennis Channel also cover portions of The Series. Canada and Cincinnati continue to be televised from beginning to end, with approximately 60 hours of television time between them.

Year-round, the USTA runs all levels of tournaments, from amateur (USTA Junior National Championships and USTA Adult & Senior National Championships) through professional, including:

• U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships – one of the oldest continuing events the USTA owns, dating back to 1910; currently held at Westside Tennis Club in Houston, Texas.
• U.S. Women’s Hard Court Championships – more commonly known as Pilot Pen Tennis; one of the oldest women’s-only events in the country, dating back to 1948; currently held in New Haven, Conn.
• USTA Professional Circuits – the world’s premier developmental circuit for aspiring professional tennis players. It allows players to gain the experience and ranking points needed to participate on the major pro tours and in Grand Slam tournaments. There are three levels of tournaments:

1. Satellites -- the introductory level of professional tennis, offering $10,000 to $12,500 in prize money per event.
2. Futures – one rung above Satellites as introductory professional tennis events, offering $15,000 in prize money per event.
3. Challengers – intermediate to advanced-intermediate events that often feature players from the major pro tours and offer $25,000 to $75,000 in prize money.

Tuesday, August 21 - Friday, August 24
Qualifying Tournament

Saturday, August 25
Arthur Ashe Kids' Day presented by Hess

Sunday, August 26
Open Practice
Arthur Ashe Kids' Day presented by Hess (rain date)

Monday, August 27
1 Day 11:00 am Men’s/Women’s 1st Round
2 Eve 7:00 pm Men’s/Women’s 1st Round