The US Open is played during a two-week period in late August and early September and has been chronologically the last of the fourGrand Slam tournaments of the tennisyear since 1987.[3] ThePhiladelphia Cricket Club (1887–1920) andForest Hills (1921–1977) hosted the event before it settled in1978 at its current site.[2] TheUnited States Tennis Association is the national body that organizes this event.
The champion receives a full-size replica of the event's trophy engraved with her name.[7] In 2022, the winner received prize money of US$2,600,000.
The format of the women's singles event has undergone several changes since the first edition. From1888 through1918, the event started with aknockout phase, the All-Comers singles, whose winner faced the defending champion in achallenge round.[8] The All-Comers winner was awarded the title by default six times (1893,1899,1900,1905,1906 and1907) in the absence of the previous year's champion. The challenge round system was abolished with the1919 edition.[9] Since 1887, all matches have been played as thebest-of-three sets, except in the eleven-year period from 1891 until 1901, when the challenge round was scored the best-of-five-sets.[9] From 1894 until 1901 the women were required to play best-of-five sets in both the all-comers final and the challenge round.[10]
Since1887, the winner of the next game at five-games–all took the set in every match except the All-Comers final and the challenge round, which was won by the player who had won at least six games and at least two games more than his opponent. Thisadvantage format was introduced for the final sets of early rounds, for women starting in 1887, and used for all sets in final rounds from 1887 through1969.[11] Thetie-break system was introduced in1970 for all sets, in its best-of-nine pointssudden death version until1974, and in its best-of-12 pointslingering death version since1975.[11][4][12] The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to have a third set tie-break, which has occurred twice in women's singles finals in1981 and in1985.[3]
The court surface changed twice, fromgrass (1887–1974), toHar-Tru clay (1975–1977), to hard courts since 1978.[13] No women's tennis player won the event on all three surfaces, and no women's tennis player won it on both grass and clay.Chris Evert was the only one to win the event on clay and on hard court, thereby making her the only woman to win on two different surfaces at the event.
Billie Jean King is a four-time champion overall and a three-time champion in the open era, and won three in four-year timespanAmericanChris Evert won anOpen Era record four consecutive titles at the US Open between 1975 and 1978, and a record six overall (shared with Serena Williams) with victories in 1980 and 1982.Steffi Graf is a five-time champion.Serena Williams is a six-time champion, winning these over a fifteen-year period. She shares the Open Era titles record with Chris Evert.
In the U.S. National Championships, under the challenge round format,Elisabeth Moore (1896, 1901, 1903, 1905) holds the record for most singles titles with four andHazel Hotchkiss Wightman (1909–1911) holds the record for most consecutive women's singles titles at three. With four consecutive singles titles each,Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (1915–1918) andHelen Jacobs (1932–1935) hold the record for most consecutive women's singles titles won after the challenge round format was abolished. Bjurstedt Mallory's eight singles titles (1915–1918, 1920–1922, 1926) is the all-time record.[3]
During the US Open, since the inclusion of the professional tennis players, Chris Evert (1975–1978) holds the record for most consecutive women's singles titles at four and the record for most overall titles at six (1975–1978, 1980, 1982) withSerena Williams (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012–2014).[3]
^abEach year is linked to an article about that particular event's draw.
^The1917 U.S. National Championships, taking place during World War I, were held as aNational Patriotic Tournament awarding no prize to the winner.[15]
^abMartina Navratilova was born inCzechoslovakia, but competed as an American after the US Open in 1975, having sought asylum in the United States, which made her relinquish her Czechoslovakian citizenship.
^abCollins, Bud (2010).The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. pp. 453,465–468.ISBN978-0942257700.
^Ohnsorg, Roger W. (2011).Robert Lindley Murray: The Reluctant U.S. Tennis Champion; includes "The First Forty Years of American Tennis". Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing. p. 45.ISBN978-1-4269-4514-4.
^abAxthelm, Pete; Talbert, William F. (1967).Tennis observed: The USLTA men's singles champions, 1881-1966. Barre Publishers.
United States
Australia
Germany[h]
Belgium
Great Britain[k]
Brazil
Norway
Yugoslavia
FR Yugoslavia[i]
Russia
Japan
Argentina
Italy
Canada
Chile
Czechoslovakia[f]
Poland
Spain
Switzerland
