Arthur Ashe Stadium

arthur ashe stadium 2008
arthur ashe stadium 2008

Arthur Ashe Stadium 2008 , located in Flushing Meadows Park, is the ain tennis stadium of the U.S. Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments.

It is located at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, "New York", near "Shea Stadium", home of the "New York Mets". The stadium was named after the famous African American tennis player, Arthur Ashe, who won the inaugural U.S. Open in which professionals could compete in 1968.

Arthur Ashe Stadium 2008, named for the legendary tennis great who won the 1968 U.S. Open, is the centerpiece of the USTA National Tennis Center. Born in Richmond, Virginia, Ashe began playing tennis at the age of ten. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. At the 1968 U.S. Open, Ashe defeated several competitors to win the men’s singles title. By 1975, he was ranked the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After this string of athletic successes, Ashe began suffering heart problems. Retiring from the game, he underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983.

During one of his hospital stays, Ashe was likely given an HIV-tainted blood transfusion and he soon contracted AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained involved in public life. His participation in many youth activities, such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program, and his role in protests against South African apartheid earned Ashe recognition as 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, long after his athletic career had ended. He died of pneumonia in New York at age 49.

As part of a successful bid to keep the United States Open in New York, Mayor David N. Dinkins agreed to the construction of an expensive new tennis stadium for the United States Tennis Association in 1992. Controversy later erupted when the mayor, an avid tennis fan, ordered the rerouting of all airborne traffic from nearby LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports so as not to disturb that year’s U.S. Open. Dinkins, receiving heated remarks from the airports, the press and many local residents, maintained his immediate stance, but curtailed his no-fly zone policy during future U.S. Open tournaments.

The Arthur Ashe Stadium 2008 is a four-level structure featuring state-of-the-art broadcast and audio systems, 90 luxury suites, five restaurants, a two-level players' lounge, and individual seating for 22,547 fans.

Besides the individual seating increment and the improved restroom facilities, the Arthur Ashe Stadium also includes a two-fold increase in the number of entranceways for fans with upper-level seats and a 30-fold increase in seating availability for people in wheelchairs.

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