Night Tennis Like Nowhere Else

The first time the United States Open was played at the new U.S.T.A. National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y., in 1978, the final was played under the lights. The first-seeded Bjorn Borg had just lost to Jimmy Connors, and Borg’s coach, Lennart Bergelin, was furious.

“How can you have a championship like this,” Bergelin said. “These lights, so bright and far away, everybody running in and out, the airplanes. This is not a tournament, but a circus, a circus! To play at night, this is the worst.”

Night tennis at the Open was in its infancy in 1978, having arrived just three years before while the tournament was being played at the patrician West Side Tennis Club, also in Queens. Those lights were part of the game’s great transformation in the 1970s, which would loudly bring tennis from the dainty periphery to the sizzling center. Night tennis at the Open gave people who worked by day the chance to see the sport up close.

“It was a great atmosphere to have people watching the tennis at night,” said Stan Smith, the 1971 U.S. Open champion who played, and lost, the first Open night match. “It was exciting, a totally different atmosphere.”

Source: The New York Times

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US Open (tennis) • USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center • Queens • Björn Borg • Jimmy Connors • Lennart Bergelin • Circus • Circus • Lord Vetinari • West Side Tennis Club • Queens • The Great Transformation (book) • Tennis • Tennis • Tennis • Stan Smith • 1971 US Open (tennis) •