New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Tennis in New Haven: A Timeline
Feb. 1971: The New Haven Arena plays host to a oneday event featuring Rod Laver, the $210,000 Tennis Championship Classic. Tony Roche and Roy Emerson also compete in the classic.
March 1979: This time, the New Haven Coliseum hosts the three-day charity World Cup clash between the United States and Australia. The format is four singles and three doubles matches.
Nov. 1982: John McEnroe and Guillermo Vilas come to the New Haven Coliseum for the Miller Lite/New Haven Bank exhibition match. Vilas wins the singles match while Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith compete in a celebrity doubles match with McEnroe and Vilas.
Aug. 1983: The first of six years that Yale hosts the USTA Challenger series. Steve Meister beats Craig
Campbell in the first event, which returns each year as New Haven prepares for the major event.
Sept. 1989: Tournament director Jim Westhall announces he is moving his tournament from Stratton Mountain, Vermont to New Haven in 1990. “We’re going to knock the socks off the tennis world,” he says.
Aug. 1990: The Volvo International is played at a temporary stadium at Yale the first year as the Connecticut Tennis Center is under construction. Unseeded Derrick Rostagno beats Todd Woodbridge for the title, as Ivan Lendl is upset in the second round.
Aug. 1991: The 15,000-seat Connecticut Tennis Center opens with a match featuring former Yale star Glenn Layendecker, who loses to Doug Burke.
Aug. 1992: Problems at the shiny new stadium when rain causes the surface on stadium court to bubble and tear. Play is postponed for a Wednesday afternoon session at the Volvo International.
Aug. 1994: Andre Agassi voices his displeasure with music played during the changeover at his match with Jan Siemerink. After losing to Simerink, Agassi calls the music an “embarrassment.”
Aug. 1994: Martina Navratilova highlights a threeday exhibition SNET Classic, beating Jana Novotna before a record crowd of 12,964.
Aug. 1995: Agassi is back as the No. 1 player in the world and with his head shaved for the first time. After he beats Richard Krajicek for the title, Agassi shaves the head of tournament chairman
Jim Westhall.
Aug. 1996: Agassi doesn’t defend his title, opting for a tournament in Indianapolis.
Aug. 1998: The event adds a WTA event, the Pilot Pen, and a night match is delayed by an invasion of gnats. But the women’s event is a smashing success as Steffi Graf wins her first title in 15 months.
Oct. 1998: The men’s tournament is sold to promoters in Austria, leaving New Haven with the Pilot Pen women’s event run by former WTA head Anne Worcester. Still, there’s fear in the city that the women’s tournament could follow.
April 1999: The USTA and Pilot Pen announce a deal to keep the WTA event in New Haven through 2003.
Aug. 1999: Rising star Venus Williams brings charisma
and excitement to the tournament, as she beats Lindsay Davenport for her first of four consecutive titles.
Aug. 2000: Martina Navratilova is back, this time competing in the Pilot Pen doubles with Katarina Srebotnik. Her first appearance at the Connecticut Tennis Center since 1994 ends in the quarterfinals.
Aug. 2001: The Friday night semifinal match draws 11,500, as Venus Williams outduels Jennifer Capriati in a battle of American stars.
Aug. 2003: After winning four consecutive titles and 16 consecutive matches, Venus Williams does not return to the Pilot Pen. She cites an abdominal strain, and she has never returned.
July 2004: Maria Mania grips New Haven, as Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova comes to New Haven to conduct a downtown street clinic. About
1,000 turn out to see tennis’ newest star.
Aug, 2005: The men are back. The Pilot Pen and the USTA strike a deal to bring men back to New Haven for the first time since 1998. And as the men return, local favorite James Blake uses the opportunity to revive his career. Blake, of Fairfield, wins the tournament in front of a raucous crowd fueled by the “J-Block” section in the stands. Lindsay Davenport wins the women’s event after losing in the finals in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Aug. 2007: It’s another big week for the J-Block, as James Blake marches to his second Pilot title in three years. This time, he beats friend Mardy Fish in the title match.
Aug. 2008: A littleknown Danish 18-year-old captures the attention of the tennis world, winning the first of four consecutive titles in New Haven. Caroline Wozniacki, who would eventually become the No. 1 player in the world, emerges as a fan favorite in Connecticut as she dominates the tournament 2008-11.
Oct. 2010: Pilot Pen ends its sponsorship, leaving the tournament with four “cornerstone” sponsors and a new name — New Haven Open at Yale.
Dec. 2010: It’s back to a women’s only event, as the USTA and ATP announce the men’s event is moving to Winston-Salem, N.C. The men’s event will begin play at Wake Forest University in 2011.
Oct. 2013: With the tournament set to be sold and moved to — yes — WinstonSalem, N.C., the state steps in and purchases the event for $618,000. The event is rebranded as the Connecticut Open and will operate as a not-for-profit organization.
Aug. 2012: Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova finds her favorite tour stop, winning her first of
three titles in four years. Kvitova talks of embracing the calm of Connecticut in the days before the U.S. Open, so she continues to return and continues to thrive.
Aug. 2014: James Blake is back, returning to the Connecticut Tennis Center for the first men’s legends event. Blake, freshly retired, relishes the opportunity to play in his home state.
Aug. 2015: The men’s legends events brings some significant star power as John McEnroe takes the court before a lively latenight crowd. McEnroe entertains fans with running commentary and auctions off his racquet for $7,000 to the Smilow Cancer Hospital.
Aug. 2017: Just eight months after suffering hand wounds during a knife attack by a home intruder, Kvitova is back. She prioritizes New Haven as she mounts her comeback.