US Open Series
The US Open Series is the six-week summer tennis season linking 10 ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments together. The Series leads to the US Open. It is often referred to as the U.S. or North American hard court season.
It was organized in 2004 as a way to focus more attention on American tennis tournaments by getting more of them on domestic television.[1] Until 2004, most summer North American tournaments were not on television, the exceptions being the highly televised ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati.
The eight non-Masters tournaments now enjoy about 50 hours of television combined—about two hours on each day of their final weekends, chiefly on ESPN2, which is where ESPN shows its tennis programming. CBS and Tennis Channel also cover portions of The Series.
Players earn points according to their results in the events; more points are awarded at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5 events.[2] The three male and three female players with the highest point totals each earn a bonus at the US Open. The amount depends on their US Open Series placement and US Open result. If both are won then the bonus is $1 million as of 2010. Lleyton Hewitt and Lindsay Davenport were the top point-getters in 2004, Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters won in 2005, and Andy Roddick and Ana Ivanović won in 2006. Defending US Open champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova won in 2007.
In 2005, although Roddick was upset in the first round against Gilles Müller at the Open, Clijsters became the first person to win $2.2 million (the largest payday ever in women's sports) by beating Frenchwoman Mary Pierce in straight sets: 6–3, 6–1.[3] In 2010 she won $2.2 million again, this time $1.7 million for the US Open title and $500,000 in bonus for second place in the US Open Series.[4]
In 2007, Federer won the US Open series and went on to win the US Open, winning $1.4 million plus the US Open Series bonus of $1 million, bringing his prize winning total to $2.4 million.[5] This tops Clijsters' $2.2 million as the biggest US Open payday ever.
2011
Tournament Schedule
| Legend |
| ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5 |
| ATP World Tour 500 & 250 and WTA Premier |
| Week | Men's Events | Women's Events |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlanta Atlanta Tennis Championships |
- |
| 2 | Los Angeles Farmers Classic presented by Mercedes-Benz |
Stanford Bank of the West Classic |
| 3 | Washington Legg Mason Tennis Classic presented by Geico |
San Diego Mercury Insurance Open presented by Tri-City Medical |
| 4 | Montreal Rogers Masters presented by National Bank |
Toronto Rogers Cup |
| 5 | Cincinnati Western & Southern Open | |
| 6 | Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Open |
New Haven New Haven Open at Yale presented by First Niagara for |
Points Distribution
| Round | ATP Masters 1000/WTA Premier 5 | ATP World Tour 500 & 250/WTA Premier |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | 100 | 70 |
| Finalist | 70 | 45 |
| Semifinalist | 45 | 25 |
| Quarterfinalist | 25 | 15 |
| Round of 16 | 15 | 0 |
Past US Open Series Tournament Winners
Men
| Los Angeles | Indianapolis/Atlanta | Washington | Montreal/Toronto | Cincinnati | New Haven | Winston-Salem | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 |  Haas (1/2) |
 Roddick (1/4) |
 Hewitt |
 Federer (1/6) |
Agassi (1/2) |
Not held | Not held |
| 05 | Agassi (2/2) |
Ginepri (1/2) |
Roddick (2/4) |
 Nadal (1/2) |
Federer (2/6) |
Blake (1/3)
| |
| 06 | Haas (2/2) |
Blake (2/3) |
 Clément |
Federer (3/6) |
Roddick (3/4) |
 Davydenko
| |
| 07 |  Štěpánek |
Tursunov |
Roddick (4/4) |
 Djokovic (1/2) |
Federer (4/6) |
Blake (3/3)
| |
| 08 |  Del Potro (1/3) |
Simon |
Del Potro (2/3) |
Nadal (2/2) |
 Murray (1/3) |
 Čilić
| |
| 09 | Querrey (1/2) |
Ginepri (2/2) |
Del Potro (3/3) |
Murray (2/3) |
Federer (5/6) |
Verdasco
| |
| 10 | Querrey (2/2) |
Fish (1/2) |
Nalbandian |
Murray (3/3) |
Federer (6/6) |
 Stakhovsky
| |
| 11 |  Gulbis |
Fish (2/2) |
Štěpánek |
Djokovic (2/2) |
 |
Not held |
|
Women
| Stanford | San Diego | Los Angeles | Cincinnati | Montreal/Toronto | New Haven | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | Davenport (1/4) |
Davenport (2/4) |
Davenport (3/4) |
Not US Open Series | Mauresmo |
Bovina
|
| 05 |  Clijsters (1/5) |
Pierce |
Clijsters (2/5) |
Clijsters (3/5) |
Davenport (4/4)
| |
| 06 | Clijsters (4/5) |
Sharapova (1/2) |
Dementieva (1/2) |
 Ivanović (1/2) |
Henin (1/2)
| |
| 07 | Chakvetadze |
Sharapova (2/2) |
Ivanović (2/2) |
Henin (2/2) |
Kuznetsova (1/2)
| |
| 08 |  Wozniak |
Not held | Safina (1/2) |
Safina (2/2) |
 Wozniacki (1/4)
| |
| 09 | Bartoli |
 Pennetta |
Janković |
Dementieva (2/2) |
Wozniacki (2/4)
| |
| 10 |  Azarenka |
Kuznetsova (2/2) |
Not held | Clijsters (5/5) |
Wozniacki (3/4) |
Wozniacki (4/4)
|
| 11 | S. Williams (1/2) |
 Radwańska |
|
S. Williams (2/2) |
|
Past standings and their performance on The US Open
Note: Only players with points in two US Open Series events are eligible for the final (Top 3) standings.
| US Open results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | did not participate in the tournament | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament |
| QF | advanced to but not past the quarterfinals | SF | advanced to but not past the semifinals |
| F | advanced to the finals, tournament runner-up | W | won the tournament |
- 1 - Hewitt and Davenport finished first in 2004 final standings based on more match wins in US Open Series events.
- 2 - Nadal finished third in 2005 (over Roger Federer) based on more match wins in US Open Series events.
- 3 - Schnyder was placed third in 2007 because Justine Henin (who had more points - 100 for winning Toronto) only played one tournament and was therefore not eligible for the top three positions.
- 4 - Nadal won the 2008 series ahead of Murray because Nadal defeated Murray in Toronto, Canada.
- 5 - Pennetta finished second in the 2009 final standings based on more match wins in US Open Series events.
- 6 - Murray won the 2010 series ahead of Federer because Murray defeated Federer in Toronto.
- 7 - Kuznetsova finished third in 2010 (over Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova) based on more games won in US Open Series events (all three won 9 matches and 19 sets).
Records
- Most points won
- Men: Mardy Fish, 210 points in 2011 (in progress).
- Women: Kim Clijsters, 225 points in 2005.
- Most US Open Series overall victories
- Andy Roddick, 2 (2005 & 2006).
- Most US Open Series Top 3 endings
- Andy Roddick, 4 (2004-2, 2005-1, 2006-1 & 2007-3).
- Most US Open Series tournament victories
- Men: Roger Federer, 6
- Women: Kim Clijsters, 5
- Most successful nation in the US Open Series
- USA, 21 tournament victories (Men: 15 & Women: 6).
- Men: USA, 15 tournament victories.
- Women: Russia, 10 tournament victories.
References
- ^ Clarke, Liz (April 20, 2004). "USTA Moves to Promote Tennis; U.S. Open Series Aims To Please Players, Fans". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- ^ "Bonus Challenge". US Open Series. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- ^ Kreda, Allan (September 10, 2005). "Clijsters Wins U.S. Open; Federer, Agassi Make Final". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- ^ "Clijsters Wins Second Consecutive U.S. Open Title". Long Island Tennis Magazine. September 13, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
- ^ "Federer tames Djokovic to clinch US Open crown". ABC News. September 10, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2011.