USTA Unveils Fully Installed Roof Matrix At Arthur Ashe Stadium

The last bar of steel, weighing 500 pounds and 40 feet long, was installed this afternoon to complete the roof matrix on Arthur Ashe Stadium at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open. The USTA invited media to film and snap pictures of the bar’s ascent and then descent into place. In all, the roof matrix consumed 5,000 tons of steel. The retractable roof portion will not be installed into the matrix until after this year’s Open, but will be ready for the '16 edition. Still, the new roof structure instantly gave the cavernous tennis stadium a different feel, making it – while not intimate – less wide open.

USTA officials said it will take 150 tractor-trailer trucks to remove the three giant cranes currently on the grounds of the BJKNTC. The roof is one part of a $500M redevelopment, which will not be fully complete until '19. It includes new number two and three stadiums, plus the creation of a second fan thoroughfare designed to ease congestion.