The initial impression is therefore completely different than at the French Open with its puristic, futuristic exterior design or at the Center Court in Wimbledon, which is considered the holy grail in tennis and is treated reverently like a place of pilgrimage. The Arthur Ashe Stadium with its octagonal floor plan exudes no elegance, no grandeur, no humility; rather, it is an architectural arm wrestling, a venue on steroids. The steel columns that support the roof rise 38 meters high. The whole thing looks like a UFO-like concrete bowl on crutches. It is undoubtedly the force, the mass, the rawness of this structure that takes your breath away from the outside. And inside the spectacle continues. Because the people who sit there regularly form a wonderful symbiosis with the arena.
The lawn classic at Wimbledon is also so unique because there is no tennis court on which there is such silence, before serves and during rallies. You can hear there when someone swallows. The Arthur Ashe Stadium, on the other hand, is, even if it sounds cliché, really New York. Shirt-sleeved, brusque, rough, and when the New Yorkers are still sitting in there, it's constantly noisy, vibrating and booming. Silence is frowned upon here.
Anyone who doesn't take greasy fried chicken wings and the Honey Deuce, a vodka-based drink, talk constantly, take selfies on the balustrade and shout or shout every now and then has never been to the US Open. The USTA, the American association and organizer, explicitly wants this extroversion. When sides change, spectators and VIPs are shown on the powerful screens, who then wave and dance. Everyone gets their three seconds in the spotlight. It is precisely this contrast to the venues of the other three Grand Slam tournaments that actually does not deter the professionals, but rather captivates them.
Ashe is like a light at the end of the tunnel. It actually feels like you're being illuminated on the pitch.
Four-time US Open winner Novak Djokovic
"When they cheer for you, it's the best feeling I've ever experienced in big stadiums," said Aryna Sabalenka, who won the title in New York in the last two years and is now back in the quarterfinals after a 6:4, 6:3 on Sunday against the American Taylor Townsend. The four-time US Open winner Novak Djokovic said the beautiful sentence: "Ashe is like a light at the end of the tunnel. It actually feels like you are being illuminated on the court."
The latest person to fall in love with Arthur Ashe Stadium is Alexander Zverev. "When the stadium is full, it's incredibly loud. I didn't even hear the ball when I tapped it before serving," said the German world number two, who is number one in New York for the first time: "It's different than in Paris or Wimbledon, where everyone is there for tennis. And they all concentrate on tennis. I think here it's more of a social event. Everyone has a little to drink, everyone has fun." But he still thinks it's nice to play on Center Court, which is what you could imagine. He played three times in a row in the second game of the evening, and the 29-year-old also got this stage in the round of 16 against the Italian Luciano Darderi (on Tuesday night in Germany). Zverev, who won his first Grand Slam title in Paris in June, could become the first German male winner at the Arthur Ashe Stadium after Boris Becker. The now 58-year-old defeated Ivan Lendl in the 1989 final.
The history of the US Open is long and eventful. After several location moves and court surface changes (from grass to sand), the event, first held in 1881, landed in Flushing Meadows in 1978. Since then, the game has been played on hard courts. In 1997, the Arthur Ashe Stadium was completed at a cost of $254 million, named after the winner of the 1968 US Open, when professionals were allowed to take part for the first time. Ashe was considered an icon far beyond tennis; he was - after Althea Gibson twelve years earlier for women - the first black Grand Slam champion for men and a civil rights activist. In 1983 he was infected with the HIV virus through a blood transfusion during a heart operation and died of pneumonia in 1993 at the age of 49.
To this day, one can imagine the Arthur Ashe Stadium as a creature that continually adapts to modern times and needs. When there were repeated interruptions due to rain for several years starting in 2008 because a roof was still missing, the association invested around $500 million in it. In order to relieve the load on the concrete stadium, the roof was not simply packed on top, but rather the steel structure stands on its own pillars. Since 2016, there has not been a larger retractable roof over a tennis court anywhere in the world.
The facility is currently in the process of being renovated again, and this time the USTA is investing 800 million. The centerpiece will be a performance center for professionals with various amenities. The three-year project will also see changes made to the main stadium and the circulation areas will be made more airy. More food and merchandising stands could certainly be placed on the promenade. There will also be two new levels specifically for luxury suites. At no tennis stadium is the focus on commerce within the arena as much as at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The tennis match down on the court? It should then be just one of many experiences in this place. The new tournament director Craig Tiley announced that he wanted to build a “Tennis Disneyland”.
