2019 US Open Tennis Previews, Predictions & Betting Tips

The US Open or United States Open Tennis Championships is a hard court tennis tournament which is the final Grand Slam of the year. The US Open is held over two weeks and starts on the last Monday of August.

Owned and organised by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the revenue from US Open ticket sales, sponsorships, and television contracts is used to develop grassroots tennis in the United States.

The US Open is the only Grand Slam that uses tiebreakers to decide every set of a match. In the other Grand Slams, if a match goes to the last set the match continues until one player wins by two games.

The US Open is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world which began as the US National Championship. The tournament started in August 1881 at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. The first U.S. Women's National Singles Championship was in 1887 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

Only clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association could enter, with Richard Sears winning the first of his seven consecutive men's singles titles. In 1915 approximately 100 players signed a petition to move the tournament, with a vote at the annual USNLTA meeting ending with 128 votes in favour of and 119 against relocation.

The US Open relocated to the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City. From 1921 through 1923 the tournament was contested at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia, returning to the West Side Tennis Club in 1924.

The International Lawn Tennis Federation officially designated the tournament as one of the world's major tournaments in 1924. The inaugural US Open occurred in 1968 with Arthur Ashe, an African-American tennis player winning the men's singles title.

1968 marked the first time when professional tennis players were allowed to, previously the U.S. National Championships had been limited to amateur players. In 1973 the US Open became the first Grand Slam to award equal prize money to men and women, with winners John Newcombe and Margaret Court each awarded US$25,000.

The US Open was played on grass courts until 1975 when the tournament switched to clay courts. 1975 also saw the introduction of floodlights which allowed matches to be played at night. In 1978 the tournament moved from the West Side Tennis Club to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The playing surface at Flushing Meadows were hard courts which has remained in place ever since. Jimmy Connors played through the 1970’s and remains the only player to win US Open singles titles on grass, clay and hard courts. 

During the 2006 US Open the USTA National Tennis Center was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The name change was done to honour Billie Jean King, a tennis pioneer who won four US Open singles titles in 1967, 1971, 1972 and 1974.

In 2006 the US Open introduced instant replay reviews of line calls with a computer system called Hawk-Eye. It was the first Grand Slam to use the Hawk-Eye system.

The 2019 US Open will be played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City. The grounds have 22 outdoor courts with four show courts - Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, the Grandstand and Court 17. 

Arthur Ashe Stadium is the main court with 23,771 seats and a US$180 million retractable roof that was installed in 2016. The 14,061 seat Louis Armstrong Stadium cost US$200 million and was opened in 2018.

All courts at the US Open are illuminated with matches and television coverage extending into primetime. 

The US Open has been played on a hard court surface called Pro DecoTurf since 1978. It is classified as medium-fast by the International Tennis Federation. 

Since 2005 all US Open courts have been painted blue inside the playing lines. The area outside the lines are painted green to make it easier for players, spectators, and television viewers to see the yellow ball.

The 2019 US Open begins on 26 August 2019 and concludes with the Men’s Final and Women’s Doubles Final on 8 September 2019. 

The most successful players in the men’s tournament are Richard Sears, Bill Larned and Bill Tilden who each won seven US Open men’s titles in the amateur era. In the professional open era since 1968 the most successful players include Jimmy Connors (1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983), Pete Sampras (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002) and Roger Federer (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 ) who have each won five US Opens. 

The next best in the open era is John McEnroe who won four US Opens (1979, 1980, 1981, 1984). Three players won the US Open on three occasions; Novak Djokovic (2011, 2015, 2018), Ivan Lendl (1985, 1986, 1987) and Rafael Nadal (2010, 2013, 2017).

The most successful players in the amateur era in the women’s tournament are Molla Bjurstedt Mallory who won eight titles and Helen Wills Moody who won seven titles from 1923-1931. In the open era Chris Evert (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982) and Serena Williams (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014) have each won six US Open titles.

Australia’s Margaret Court won five US Open’s over all split between the amateur and open eras with Steffi Graf (1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996) winning the tournament five times.

Defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic leads the early betting market in the men’s competition ahead of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. 

In the women’s 2019 US Open betting market Serena Williams is the favourite ahead of Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and 2018 US Open winner Naomi Osaka. 

The prize money for the 2019 US Open is yet to be announced but is expected to rise from the $53 million that was on offer in 2018. The 2018 purse was the richest in the history of tennis with each singles champion receiving $3.8 million, a $100,000 increase from 2017. 

Prize money at the US Open increased by 57 percent from 2013 to 2018 which highlights the significant growth in tennis.