The Hall of Fame Open’s Brewer Rowe (left) and Todd Martin join the USTA’s Stacey Allaster and J. Wayne Richmond to put the final touches on the agreement.USTA
The USTA and the International Tennis Hall of Fame are adding the Hall of Fame Open tournament as part of the U.S. Open Series beginning next year.
The agreement increases the number of ATP events in the U.S. Open Series to six and links the U.S. Open with its original home in Newport, R.I., where the Hall of Fame Open has been played since its inception in 1976.
The addition of the Hall of Fame Open, set for July 12-19, 2020, will kick off the 17th year of U.S. Open Series events that begin in July and lead up to the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows beginning on Aug. 31.
The Hall of Fame Open will now benefit from the same level of on-site, broadcast, digital and grassroots marketing that the USTA provides to all U.S. Open Series tournaments. Series tournaments are broadcast on ESPN2 and Tennis Channel.
“It’s been about supporting American professional tournaments that are part of the ATP Tour and the WTA,” said Stacey Allaster, chief executive, professional tennis, for the USTA. “We saw this as a collective opportunity to try and support them with marketing resources and broadcast resources. Strong North American tennis is good business for the USTA mission and a greater relationship with the Newport tournament ultimately will help us grow the game.”
The tournament is played on the grass courts of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It is the only ATP Tour event played in the Northeast and the only pro tournament played on grass in North and South America.
The tournament has been part of the ATP Tour for more than 40 years, while the Newport venue dates back to 1881, the year it hosted the first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championships. The tournament was contested in Newport annually through 1914 before moving to New York in 1915, where it has evolved into the modern day U.S. Open.
Tournament executives expect greater exposure for the event, which is held just after Wimbledon.
“It is great connectivity to the evolution of what started in Newport and it gives us also a lot of connectivity with all the U.S. tournaments during the course of the summer,” said Todd Martin, CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. “Instead of feeling relatively anti-climactic as a grass court tournament right after Wimbledon, I feel we can now position ourselves as the launch pad of the U.S. Open Series.”
