The 2014 US Open Tennis Championship

With the balls already bouncing at the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship we take a look at this fabulous sport from its inception to the modern day game.

The US Open is underway and with Novak Djokovic at 11/8, Roger Federer at 5/2 and Andy Murray 6/1 the Men’s singles alone is shaping up to be a cracking competition, and over in the Women’s singles they have Serena Williams on 6/4, Maria Sharapova on 6/1 and Simona Halep at 8/1 so it’s no forgone conclusion for them either gender in one of the four major or Grand Slam tournaments in international tennis. Will form, luck or experience triumph in this spectacular of ball and net? You’ll have to wait and see.

The famous hard court acrylic “DecoTurf” surface provides buckets of bounce and a whole packet of pace making it one of the fastest tournaments on the circuit and it is for this reason that in 2005 the inner courts received their blue hue to make the ball easier to see on television, and with wall to wall coverage of this glittering event that was an important factor, although the outer courts still remain the more traditional green.

The main court is the 22,547 seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after the first winner of the US Open in 1968, when the prize fund was just $88,000. Of course, perhaps understandably, the financial incentive to win has increased somewhat over time since then and from 2013 to 2014 the prize pool was increased by a seemingly mild 11.7% to total some $32,251,760, the winners alone getting a cool $3,000,000, and that’s before their bonus has been factored in.

Bonus prize money is to be awarded to the top three players in the 2014 US Open series will gain extra cash that depends upon their final position. So with $1m for a win, a top ranked player who wins the tournament can stroll off with as much as $4m for just a couple of week’s work. With so much money at stake on the court it is perhaps not all too surprising that people who love to bet on sports in the USA have always wagered on this fabulous tournament, right from the outset.

A Tour Of Tennis Through Time

2014 US Open Tennis Championship Gets Underway

• One of the four Grand Slam events

• Good odds available at online gambling sites in the US

• Prize from $100 in 1880 to $32m in 2014

Of course before the game got to the states it had a long and slightly illustrious history with some very famous monarchs of Europe being both fans and players of the games that historians will argue are (or aren’t) the precursors to the modern game. The participation of royalty helped build the popularity of these games, and indeed build some of the first indoor tennis courts including the one to which the Third Estate retired when they found their meeting room locked in 1789.

The declaration made therein by these irritated lower order included the novel-for-the-time concept that sovereignty of the people did not reside in the king but in the people themselves and their representatives, a statement signed by all bar one of the 578 members of the Third Estate who were gambling news of it would led to reform but found it led directly to the French revolution and all its knock-on effects around the world.

However incidental Tennis might have been to the great historical events of the day its own history has stretched from a game played with palms to one played with racquets, from a party game marketed by a smooth talking man in a uniform to a world wide sport with millions of players and fans around the globe. It hasn’t always been the most unified of pursuits, the professional vs amateur divide following the earlier more contentious location debate.

But for all its tribulations the sport has thrown up some great sporting figures and has broken itself free of its aristocratic roots, shrugged off the upper glass gloss and indeed now removed even the middle class pretensions becoming a game enjoyed by people of all social strata. Part of this widespread appeal is the hugely simple nature of tennis and the massive razzamatazz that surrounds the major tournaments, the so called Gram Slam events of which the US Open is one.

The US Open Tennis Championship

The US first got tennis by dint of a socialite who had developed a passion for the game having watched army officers playing it whilst she was in Bermuda, which I suppose is as good a pastime as any for a socialite in Bermuda. She laid out the first court in the US and soon there were clubs, competitions and tournaments culminating in the first US national lawn tennis championship in 1881 played at the Newport Casino on Rhode Island.

Since these rather inaustere beginnings the growth of the game has been phenomenal, that first tournament had a trophy for the winner worth a scant $100, which shows that over the subsequent years there has been a development not just of the game as a hobby, but as a profession. Certainly there were arguments within the tennis community of America about where their top tournaments should be held, with the eventual vote coming down closely in favor of New York.

The US Open was first won by Arthur Ashe in 1968, because despite there being a multitude of tournaments and championships prior to that, this was the first in which amateurs and professionals alike competed on equal terms. This “open era” swept away the control of the promoters and money men people felt had far too much influence on the game and who played where and when. Now they don’t need to, who is going to turn down the chance to compete in a competition worth $32m?

The US Open this year is sure to be a thrill ride for tennis fans of all ages as some of the best known stars in the world come together to battle it out a Grand Slam victory, and of course you too can be part of the action as millions around the world use the now ubiquitous mobile betting facilities every net equipped device grants us to have a little flutter and back their favorite to lift that trophy and be champion of the US Open 2014.