The 145th edition of the US Open Tennis Championships begins on Sunday and promises a fortnight of high-profile tennis action and not a little drama at Flushing Meadows.
With a whopping $90,000,000 in prize money available and a host of stars eyeing eternal glory, tennis fans will not want to look away for a second.
US Open 2025 key details
Organised by the United States Tennis Association, the annual event takes place at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.
Traditionally, the US Open starts on the last Monday of August and runs for two weeks, straddling the Labor Day holiday, but the event will get underway a day earlier in 2025.
It is thus the fourth and final Grand Slam of the tennis season, following the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon.
First held in 1881, the US Open is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world and was actually located in Newport, Rhode Island prior to 1914.
America’s flagship tennis event is a hardcourt tournament, played on acrylic surfaces, although it was grass until 1974 and clay between 1975 and 1977.
The US Open offers competitions in men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, as well as various junior and wheelchair singles and doubles.
Arthur Ashe Stadium (capacity: 23,771), Louis Armstrong Stadium (14,000), and Grandstand (8,125) are the three principal courts, with Arthur Ashe boasting a retractable roof and holding the record as the largest tennis stadium in the world.
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Favourites to win singles titles
Jannik Sinner is the defending men’s singles champion, with the Italian having beaten home hope Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-4 7-5 in 2024.
Aryna Sabalenka is the defending women’s singles champion after the Belarusian defeated another home hope in Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 last year.
Both Sinner, the reigning Aussie Open and Wimbledon champion, and Sabalenka, who also won at the Aussie Open in January, enter this tournament as the number one seeds.
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, the French Open champion, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (second seed), will be raring to go, as will legend of the game and 24-time Grand Slam–winner Novak Djokovic (seventh seed), although the Serbian may find further majors hard to come at this stage of his career.
American hopes rest on last year’s beaten finalist Taylor Fritz (fourth seed) and big-hitting Ben Shelton (sixth seed), while German Alexander Zverev (third seed) and Brit Jack Draper (fourth seed) also present a danger.
On the women’s side, Polish Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek (second seed) and French Open champion Coco Gauff (third seed) should both provide a stern challenge for the title, with the latter sure to pull big crowds as the highest-ranked American.
Jessica Pegula (fourth seed), Madison Keys (sixth seed), and Amanda Anisimova (eighth seed) then round out a fearsome home town contingent.
Finally, Russian starlet Mirra Andreeva (fifth seed) and Italian livewire Jasmine Paolini (seventh seed) are likely to be in the hunt for the title as well.
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