UNITED STATES OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

, byname U.s. Open, international tennis tournament, one of four major annual events in tennis. The championships, established in 1881 as a national men's singles and doubles contest, were organized by the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA; now the U.S. Tennis Association) and held in Newport, R.I. Women's singles competition was first played in 1887 (officially added in 1889), women's doubles in 1890, and mixed doubles in 1892. Venues for the men's and women's championships were different until 1942; from 1978 all of the U.S. Open championships were played on the hard courts of the USTA's National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The U.S. tournamentlike the other Big Four, or Grand Slam, tennis championshipswas opened to professional players as well as to amateurs in 1968.