The violent grunts of the world’s best tennis players have joined the Big Apple’s city symphony with the year’s final Grand Slam. The US Open is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Well, kind of. The fanfare is strictly for the tournament as we know it. While it was first played in 1881, it wasn’t open to professionals until 1968.
From Newport to Forest Hills to Philadelphia, back to Forest Hills and then finally to the ash dump of Flushing Meadows, it has been a long and fascinating journey. The first tournament was held in August 1881 at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island and was initially open only to members of the US National Lawn Tennis Association. This was more of an upper crust, society event and the bests of tennis were pariahs in a sport in which they should have been pillars.
With the beginning of the ‘Open Era’ in 1968, the name changed from the US Championships to the US Open. Arthur Ashe won as an amateur, and the main stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the largest tennis-specific stadium in the world, was later named after him. Virginia Wade won the women’s singles title.
Before moving to the hard courts at the Flushing Meadows, US Open used to be a clay and before that a grass court tournament, making it the only major tournament to have been played on three surfaces. Tennis icon, Jimmy Connors, who celebrates his 66th birthday today, is the only player to have won the US Open on grass (1974), on clay (1976) and on hard courts (1978). For the most men’s singles titles in the Open Era at the US Open, he shares the record with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. King Roger won his five in consecutive years, 2003-2008
By virtue of his long and prolific career, the birthday boy Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men’s singles records: 109 titles (Roger Federer is next with 98), 1,535 matches played, and 1,256 match wins.
The US Open made history with gender equality. Men and women receive the same amount of prize money, a tradition that started in 1973 after Billie Jean King threatened a boycott if the pay wasn’t equal. The tournament gave in, designating tennis as the first major sport to pay equal prize money for men and women. Prize money continued to climb astronomically. In 2018, it has reached a record $53 million, with the men’s and women’s champions receiving a whopping $3.8 million each. “To have a chance to play for $3.5 million, I would have played at 12 noon in the Sahara desert,” tweeted Connors on the extreme heat that affected the Queens last Tuesday.
The US Open trophy is designed by Tiffany & Co. A Pineapple, adorns the top of the Wimbledon’s Men Singles’ Trophy.
Welcome to ‘Nutty’s Infotainment. YAYS!’
Your time starts now.
Arthur Ashe was still a lieutenant in the US Army when he won the first US Open. Ironically, instead of collecting the $14,000 winner cheque, how much did he receive?
$280, a $20/day per day for the 14 days of competition.
Who is the only person in the US Open history to take part in the Men’s Circuit as well as in the Women’s Circuit?
Dr Renee Richards, who had previously played as Richard Raskind.
Jimmy Connors was engaged to a fellow tennis pro from 1974 to 1975, and they each triumphed in the singles events at the 1974 Wimbledon Championships. This feat was labelled “The Lovebird Double” by the media. Name her.
Chris Evert
What is the current year in North Korea?
107. The North Korea or Juche calendar was adopted in 1997 and begins with the year Kim Jong-il was born, which was 1912.
Hugh Hefner paid $75,000 for the burial vault next to that of a very famous personality at the Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Name this famous personality.
Marilyn Monroe
Prior to the Amiri decree in June 2007, Qatar National Day was annually celebrated on 3rd September. What is the historical significance of this date?
Qatar gained independence from British rule on 3rd September 1971 and declared itself a sovereign state.
What is Kakistocracy?
A system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified or most unscrupulous citizens.
On 21st December 1913, The New York World as the first newspaper to print a creation of a journalist named Arthur Wynne. What was it?
Crossword Puzzle
Why does cat urine glows under a black light?
It contains large amount of phosphorus, which glows yellowish green in the presence of oxygen, with or without black light. Light imparts additional energy that make the chemiluminescence easier to see.
Identify this revolutionary leader. A capital city is named after him.
(Answer next week. Answer to last week’s photoquiz: Paavo Nurmi)
TENNIS ICON: Jimmy Connors, who celebrates his 66th birthday today, is the only player to have won the US Open on grass (1974), on clay (1976) and on hard courts (1978).
1. The brainchild of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron, this was first set-up in Enfield, London in 1967. English actor Reg Varney was the first person to use it. The world’s most northerly is at Longyearbyen, Norway and the most southerly located is at the McMurdo station at the South Pole. What is this?
ATM
(Mohammed Ismail, RasGas, Doha)
2. “If watching is all you’re gonna do, then you’re gonna watch your life go by without ya”. Who said this and in which movie?
Laverne in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
(Helen P, The Charter School, Kochi)
Do you have some interesting bytes to share? And, does yourvibe attract you to the ‘Tribe NI.yays!’ Every week two of your best questions will be featured here. Please do write to us at [email protected]
What’s the Good Word?
What’s the Good Word?
1. Congius: (a) surprising (b) insane (c) influential (d) a gallon
2. Famulus: (a) assistant (b) negative emotions (c) death (d) enlightenment
3. Lodestar: (a) inspiration (b) legal (c) hit man (d) business school
4. Hogwash: (a) hindrance (b) nonsense (c) underlying pain (d) suffering
5. Sequacious: (a) controlled (b) trained (c) intellectually servile (d) accomplishing
6. Pejorative: (a) illusory (b) selective (c) persuasive (d) disparaging
7. Exculpate: (a) dig (b) declare not guilty (c) identify (d) transmute
8. Oleaginous: (a) distastefully complimentary (b) vulnerable (c) personal problem (d) enabling
9. Charlatan: (a) perception (b) mountebank (c) dominating (d) imprisoned
10. Probity: (a) integrity (b) presence (c) ugliness (d) deterioration
Answers: 1 (d); 2 (a); 3 (a); 4 (b); 5 (c); 6 (d); 7 (b); 8 (a); 9 (b); 10 (a)
TENNIS ICON: Jimmy Connors, who celebrates his 66th birthday today, is the only player to have won the US Open on grass (1974), on clay (1976) and on hard courts (1978).
