Out of the four Grand Slam Tennis tournaments played on the ATP World Tour circuit, the US Open has been a trend setter over the years. It is usually the last grand slam held in the chronological order after the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. The US Open, which was first held in 1881 for the first time, will commence with its 143rd edition from August 28. Compared to other three Grand Slam tournaments, the US Open seems to be the least favourite among masses. However, it has always been the first when it comes to new trend or rule in tennis.
This year as well, the US Open has introduced video review for double bounce. US Open tournament referee, Jake Garner, recalls being a chair umpire and having a tough time figuring out in the moment whether a ball bounced twice before a player got it back over the net. Starting this year’s US Open, an official can ask for a replay.
Video review — which is different from the electronic line-calling used for ruling balls in or out at all matches — will be set up for five of the Open's 17 competition courts: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, Grandstand, Court 5 and Court 17.
This year, players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles will get three challenges per set for faults like double bounces, a ball touching a player's body, a player touching the net or a player being hindered by noise. They'll hold onto a challenge if they're correct and receive an additional one in tiebreakers.
Here are a few other rules that the US Open pioneered in the past:
Equal prize money
In 1973, thanks to the efforts of Billie Jean King, US Open became the first of the Grand Slam events to award the same prize values to men's and women's competitors. King, who was then the defending champion, had threatened to boycott the tournament if the prize values for the women's competitors weren't equal to the men's and the organizers ultimately gave in. Margaret Court, that year's women's singles winner, took home 25,000 USD, the same as her male counterpart, John Newcombe. 2023 marks 50 years of equal pay at the Open. The US Open has always been the Grand Slam that offers the biggest purse to the winners.
Night games introduced
In 1975, The same year that the tournament briefly swapped to clay courts, they also introduced a longer-lasting innovation: Night Games. Previously, all play had occurred during the daylight hours. The first US Open night game was played on August 27, 1975 between New Zealand’s Onny Parun and former US champion Stan Smith.
Electronic Line Calling
US Open was the first Grand Slam event with electronic line-calling. Hawk-eye is a technology used in tennis for determining if the ball is in or out. This line-calling system uses multiple camera angles to trace the tennis balls trajectory. Hawk-Eye uses six or more computer-linked television cameras around the court. The computer processes the video in real-time, and tracks the path of the tennis ball. These six separate views are then combined to produce an accurate 3D representation of the path of the ball. The Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami was the first tour event to officially use the technology. The 2006 US Open was the first Grand Slam event to feature the system.
25 seconds to serve
At the US Open in 2018, tennis players were faced with a serve clock, giving them 25 seconds to take their first shot. The clock is intended to speed up pace of play. However, at that time many tennis stars oppose to it. Later on, this rule was followed by Wimbledon and other Grand Slam tournaments.
In-match communication
Last year, the US Open was the first to allow coach and players communication from the stands. The only requirement was that coaches must remain in their designated seats and can only communicate with players when they are on the same side of the court. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic welcomed this rule. However, Djokovic didn't participate in last year due to Covid-19 rules.
