U.S. Open Series
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. |
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Players earn points according to their results in the events; points awarded at ATP Master Series and WTA Tier I events are doubled. The male and female player with the highest point totals each earn double the prize money at the U.S. Open, players with the second highest point totals increase their prize money by 50%, and players with the third highest point totals receive a 25% increase. Lleyton Hewitt and Lindsay Davenport were the top point-getters in 2004, and Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters won in 2005.
Although Roddick was upset in the first round against Gilles Müller at the Open, Clijsters became the first person to win $2.2 million (the largest payday ever in women's sports) by beating Frenchwoman Mary Pierce in straight sets: 6-3, 6-1.
2007 Tournament Schedule
| Week |
Men's Events - Total Purse - Draw Size |
Women's Events - Total Purse - Draw Size |
#1
July 16-22 |
Los Angeles - $525,000 - 32 Draw
Countrywide Classic |
- |
#2
July 23-29 |
Indianapolis - $525,000 - 32 Draw
Indianapolis Tennis Championships |
Stanford - $600,000 - 28 Draw
Bank of the West Classic |
#3
July 29-August 5 |
Washington, D.C. - $600,000 - 48 Draw
Legg Mason Tennis Classic Presented by Geico |
San Diego - $1,340,000 - 56 Draw
Acura Classic, a WTA Tier I Event |
#4
August 6-12 |
Montreal - $2,450,000 - 56 Draw
Rogers Masters Presented by National Bank, an ATP Masters Event |
Los Angeles - $600,000 - 56 Draw
JPMorgan Chase Open |
#5
August 13-19 |
Cincinnati - $2,450,000 - 56 Draw
Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, an ATP Masters Event |
Toronto - $1,340,000 - 56 Draw
Rogers Cup Presented by National Bank, a WTA Tier I Event |
#6
August 19-25 |
New Haven - $675,000 - 48 Draw
Pilot Pen Tennis Presented by Schick |
New Haven - $600,000 - 28 Draw
Pilot Pen Tennis Presented by Schick |
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