Writer's Guide to the US Open
Sep. 10th, 2008 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laneroseSo... I might have mentioned this before, but one of my pet peeves in the Tenipuri fandom is US Open fic that's really inaccurate. Since we're getting close to the end of our canon-future themed round of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
subrosa_tennis (and since I'm procrasting on my fic for that and for BG XD), it seemed like a good time to put this together. Doubly so, because I got a very late birthday present of tickets to the women's semis, so I even got to take a bunch of pictures to go with. (This guide is unapologetically very picture heavy.) Anyways, yay~
A Writer's Guide to the US Open
The US Open is held annually in August and early September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA.
The complex has a total of thirty-three different courts, twenty-two that are part of the center proper and an additional eleven in a nearby park. Arthur Ashe stadium, the stadium where the finals are played, is currently the largest tennis-only stadium in the world.
Of the other courts, five have seating capacity for over a thousand spectators. All games are played on blue and green DecoTurf, which is a type of hardcourt known to slow the ball down slightly less on a bounce and to make those bounces slightly lower. It is considered to favor serve-and-volley players.
The tennis complex is also conveniently located about five minutes away from La Guardia Airport, right between the Worlds Fair grounds and Shea Stadium / CitiField, home of the NY Mets.
Men play five sets, women play three, doubles matches have three sets. Unlike most major tournaments, the US Open allows for tie breaks. You don't have to win by two games to win, only two points. Anyone can enter the open - pro, amateur, whatever. Simultaneous to the main tournament, the USTA also runs a seniors, juniors, and wheelchair players US Open. Actually, some of the best tennis is played in the junior matches, in my opinion. I caught the boys' doubles finals after the main event at Arthur Ashe, and it was *significantly* cooler tennis than the mens' doubles finals. (C'mon, hard fought back-and-forth points with wicked cool behind the back shots? Who wouldn't love that more than aces and return aces?) The pros and ranked players don't always win, either, as this scoreboard shows.
Immediately following a final in the main tournament, a red carpet is rolled out onto the court and the presentation is made there and then. After singles matches, the day is usually done - both the mens and womens finals are played at night. After doubles matches, the carpet's rolled right back up again so that the nets can be changed and more games can be played.
Other true facts - each player can challenge a call and be wrong three times. If you challenge and you're correct, you get to keep your right to challenge another time. This only applies to matches played in Armstrong or Ashe stadiums, though, because those are the only courts equipped for it. The players - even those in the juniors tournament - are just as likely to be international as they are to be American. This year's girls doubles champions were from Thailand and Sweden - how they teamed up, I do not know - and so were many of the other competitors in that section of the Open.
The atmosphere is pretty gentile - but then, I feel that any stadium that eschews wandering vendors hawking beer, particularly if it's major sporting event has a signature cocktail, is pretty gentile. During the games, the gathered crowd is generally quiet, which means you can hear both the planes flying overhead and the trains rattling past. (The Tennis Center sits directly beside a train yard, too. XD Though that sort of makes sense, because the area is deserted most of the winter. Anyway...) You can get to the US Open by taking the number 7 train or the Long Island Railroad.
Taking the 7 is almost better because you get to walk across the real freaking cool boardwalk (well, I like it, anyways) but the trip is longer and more crowded.
Finally, some things that look cool at the US Open - if you watch the ball people at the beginning of the game, they're all standing in a line until as one they sprint off to their positions. Looks seriously cool.
There's this fountain on the grounds that moves in this sort of ripply-way. Yeah, that's a technical term, that is. ^^;;; Still pretty! Also, statue of Arthur Ashe. Because I can.
And of course, the setting sun is a fabulous way to end anything.
So... any questions, feel free to ask. I've got some more pictures too, but most of them are from a spectator's view (obviously *lol*) so I don't think they'd be much help.
Also, anyone writes the fic where Seigaku gets lost and winds up at a baseball game or the World's Fair instead? Love (in the form of baked goods) coming your way. ^_^ Yay tennis! ^_^
subrosa_tennis (and since I'm procrasting on my fic for that and for BG XD), it seemed like a good time to put this together. Doubly so, because I got a very late birthday present of tickets to the women's semis, so I even got to take a bunch of pictures to go with. (This guide is unapologetically very picture heavy.) Anyways, yay~
The complex has a total of thirty-three different courts, twenty-two that are part of the center proper and an additional eleven in a nearby park. Arthur Ashe stadium, the stadium where the finals are played, is currently the largest tennis-only stadium in the world.
Of the other courts, five have seating capacity for over a thousand spectators. All games are played on blue and green DecoTurf, which is a type of hardcourt known to slow the ball down slightly less on a bounce and to make those bounces slightly lower. It is considered to favor serve-and-volley players.
The tennis complex is also conveniently located about five minutes away from La Guardia Airport, right between the Worlds Fair grounds and Shea Stadium / CitiField, home of the NY Mets.
Men play five sets, women play three, doubles matches have three sets. Unlike most major tournaments, the US Open allows for tie breaks. You don't have to win by two games to win, only two points. Anyone can enter the open - pro, amateur, whatever. Simultaneous to the main tournament, the USTA also runs a seniors, juniors, and wheelchair players US Open. Actually, some of the best tennis is played in the junior matches, in my opinion. I caught the boys' doubles finals after the main event at Arthur Ashe, and it was *significantly* cooler tennis than the mens' doubles finals. (C'mon, hard fought back-and-forth points with wicked cool behind the back shots? Who wouldn't love that more than aces and return aces?) The pros and ranked players don't always win, either, as this scoreboard shows.
Immediately following a final in the main tournament, a red carpet is rolled out onto the court and the presentation is made there and then. After singles matches, the day is usually done - both the mens and womens finals are played at night. After doubles matches, the carpet's rolled right back up again so that the nets can be changed and more games can be played.
Other true facts - each player can challenge a call and be wrong three times. If you challenge and you're correct, you get to keep your right to challenge another time. This only applies to matches played in Armstrong or Ashe stadiums, though, because those are the only courts equipped for it. The players - even those in the juniors tournament - are just as likely to be international as they are to be American. This year's girls doubles champions were from Thailand and Sweden - how they teamed up, I do not know - and so were many of the other competitors in that section of the Open.
The atmosphere is pretty gentile - but then, I feel that any stadium that eschews wandering vendors hawking beer, particularly if it's major sporting event has a signature cocktail, is pretty gentile. During the games, the gathered crowd is generally quiet, which means you can hear both the planes flying overhead and the trains rattling past. (The Tennis Center sits directly beside a train yard, too. XD Though that sort of makes sense, because the area is deserted most of the winter. Anyway...) You can get to the US Open by taking the number 7 train or the Long Island Railroad.
Taking the 7 is almost better because you get to walk across the real freaking cool boardwalk (well, I like it, anyways) but the trip is longer and more crowded.
Finally, some things that look cool at the US Open - if you watch the ball people at the beginning of the game, they're all standing in a line until as one they sprint off to their positions. Looks seriously cool.
There's this fountain on the grounds that moves in this sort of ripply-way. Yeah, that's a technical term, that is. ^^;;; Still pretty! Also, statue of Arthur Ashe. Because I can.
And of course, the setting sun is a fabulous way to end anything.
So... any questions, feel free to ask. I've got some more pictures too, but most of them are from a spectator's view (obviously *lol*) so I don't think they'd be much help.
Also, anyone writes the fic where Seigaku gets lost and winds up at a baseball game or the World's Fair instead? Love (in the form of baked goods) coming your way. ^_^ Yay tennis! ^_^
