Fans attending this year’s U.S. Open will see how the $500 million makeover of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is taking shape, with the most startling change being the roof under construction over Arthur Ashe Stadium.
As work continues to complete the roof in time for the 2016 tournament, the U.S. Tennis Association provided some facts to give a better idea of the scope of the project.
 |
Photo by: U.S. TENNIS ASSOCIATION
|
■ The roof isn’t the only thing scheduled to make its debut in 2016.
An 8,000-seat grandstand and food village will open in the southwest corner of the grounds. The southern campus will see new tournament courts and a greatly widened boulevard connecting Court 17 to the new grandstand. Looking further out, a new Louis Armstrong Stadium is scheduled to be operational in 2018.
■ Despite its enormity, the roof will be able to open or close in approximately 5 minutes.
■ The roof’s superstructure has 6,000 tons of steel, including 1,700 structural beams and 115,000 bolts. The steel columns that support the superstructure are anchored by 176 steel and concrete-filled pilings that were driven 180 feet below the surface.
■ Did you know that the roof will be the largest of any tennis stadium in the world? Wimbledon’s entire Centre Court would fit through the roof’s 62,500-square-foot opening.
