New stadium roof will open/close in record time
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The US Open’s retractable roof for massive Arthur Ashe Stadium will take five minutes to open or close and could be ready for 2016, officials said on Monday during the opening day of the season’s last grand slam.
The decision to quiet the clamor for a roof followed five successive years of staging a Monday finish to the championships due to inclement weather and was announced earlier this month.
Officials held a news conference as the August 26-September 9 US Open was getting underway to reveal more details about the $550 million overhaul of the National Tennis Center.
Being able to cover the main court at the US Open brings the championship in line with Wimbledon and the Australian Open, which both have retractable roofs over center court. The French Open has already announced plans to cover its main court.
Opened in 1997, Arthur Ashe Stadium has a 22,500 capacity, making it by far the largest tennis arena in the world, and covering it posed unique problems.
The complexities included the existing VENUS WILLIAMS serves to Kirsten Flipkens yesterday during their first-round match at the US Open in New York, which Williams won easily, 6-1, 6-2. structure, the soil condition and also weather concerns.
Officials also wanted to retain the open, park-like ambience of the Tennis Center, requiring a design that would allow for a wide opening above the stadium for nice weather.
The re-design also calls for a rebuilt, 15,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium with its own rectractable roof and a new 8,000-seat Grandstand Court that will be moved across the complex.
In other early Day 1 news from Flushing Meadows, James Blake announced on Monday he was retiring from tennis after the US Open.
The 33-year-old American told a news conference he could have played on but decided it was time for him to quit.
“This is my last tournament,” he said. “I have had 14 pretty darn good years on tour, loved every minute of it, and I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better career.
“I’m really, really excited I have gotten to do this on my terms. I had knee surgery a couple years ago, and if that had been the end it would have been a little more disappointing to me to end it without going out the way I am now where still just two weeks ago I beat a guy top 20 in the world.”
Blake, currently ranked 100th in world, plays Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the first round.
One of the most respected players on the circuit, Blake was inspired to take up tennis after hearing Arthur Ashe address a group of young players at a tennis clinic in Harlem.
He turned professional in 1999 after attending Harvard University but endured plenty of hardship along the way.
He was diagnosed with curvature of the spine when he was a child and broke his neck in a freak accident in Rome in 2004, the same year his father died.
During his career, Blake won 10 ATP singles titles and reached a highest-ranking of fourth in 2006.
He reached the quarterfinals at three grand slams and was a key member of the US team that won the Davis Cup in 2007.
In Israeli action, Dudi Sela took on Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round late Monday night, while Julia Glushko plays 20th-seed Nadia Petrova today. On TV: US Open tennis first-round action (live on Eurosport from 6:45 p.m.)