By Pat Costello
2016 is Louis Armstrong Stadium’s last season. (Courtesy of Wikimedia)
In the shadows of the 23,000 seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, which serves as the main court of the US Open, sits one of the most important stadiums in tennis history.
In 1964, the Singer Bowl was built as part of the New York World’s Fair. During this time the US Open was still played in Forest Hills at the West Side Tennis Club. As the story goes, the new USTA President, W.E. Hester, saw the Singer Bowl from the window of his airplane and decided it would be the perfect location for a tennis stadium. In 1978, Louis Armstrong Stadium opened its doors to the US Open, becoming the main venue for the biggest matches in the sport.
In 1980, Armstrong held arguably its most famous match ever: a four hour epic between John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Connors jumped out to a 2-1 lead in sets, and was up 2-0 in the fourth set. He looked well on his way to defeating his opponent with ease, but McEnroe rallied and won the fourth set. Connors would eventually drop the fifth set in a tiebreaker, giving McEnroe the victory. What most people forget is the match was the semifinal, not the final. McEnroe would go on to win his second consecutive US Open title over Bjorn Borg.
11 years later, Armstrong was graced with another performance that will never be forgotten, another thrilling semifinal. Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati were two young guns in the tennis world – Seles was 17 and Capriati was 15 – but did not disappoint in their match. The girls put on one of the most epic matches in history, battling each other on every point with neither wanting to back down. Seles would eventually take the match in three sets, but they both walked off the court as winners that day. Seles would go on to win in the final, the first of back-to-back US Open wins. Capriati went on to have a very successful career of her own, though she was never able to win a US Open title.
These matches are just a few of the legendary bouts held on Armstrong. In 1997 the aforementioned Arthur Ashe Stadium was built and took over as centre court at the US Open. Armstrong remained a major part of the grounds, holding secondary matches during the tournament and still gathering a massive crowd. Before it was renovated in 1997, it was rumored to have held up to 18,000 people, but was then cut down to 10,200, a capacity it would maintain throughout the rest of it’s lifespan.
Armstrong is getting demolished after this year’s US Open and will be replaced by a brand new 15,000 seat stadium. The “New Armstrong” is the cherry on top of a $550 million dollar plan the USTA is completing. The new stadium will surely be spectacular, but it will never replace the history and pageantry of the current rendition. It will be sorely missed by player and fans alike. Goodbye Louis Armstrong Stadium and thank you for being a great piece of the US Open.
All the articles say that Armstrong was reduced in size in 1997. Not true. It was still full sized in 97 and reduced and reconfigured for the 98 US open. I have pictures of the dedication of Ashe stadium with a full size Armstrong stadium right next to it. They should have never downsized it in my opinion. I kinda liked the old zig zag ramps on the outside.