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Agencies
NEW YORK
There is a new player this year at the U.S. Open that will no doubt catch the eye of every fan who walks through the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: the roof structure over Arthur Ashe Stadium, reports USA Today website.
But, as with any rising star in tennis, there is a caveat: This is an unfinished product. The retractable roof, which is set to make its full-fledged debut at the 2016 U.S.Open, won't be operational for this year's tournament. The hope among tournament officials is for a fan experience uncompromised — if not improved.
"I don't think anyone would view the stadium, even though the roof isn't finished, as any less of an experience than last year," Danny Zausner, the chief operating officer of the National Tennis Center, says."If anything, it will be better."
It has been the busiest tournament-to-tournament construction period in the more than 15 years that Zausner has been at the helm at Flushing Meadows. Not only with Arthur Ashe Stadium, but also with the construction of a new Grandstand court (its concrete bowl just taking shape behind a construction fence), set to open next year.
From 2008 to 2012, the men's final was pushed to Monday because of rain, prompting the U.S. Tennis Association to schedule a Monday men's final in 2013 and 2014. The schedule calls for a Sunday final this year.
The $500 million project, funded by the USTA, will find its perfect stopping point — this year's tournament — before construction begins anew Sept. 14."When you are installing 6,500 to 7,000 tons of steel, you do a lot of damage to a seating bowl," says Zausner, who said at the peak the project had 300 to 400 construction workers on-site.
But it's not just the magnificent arched steel structure that sits atop Arthur Ashe Stadium that is new there. A new sound system was installed; two video boards were added; new seats were installed in the loge (middle) section; and the concession stalls on the club level, once an eyesore, were replaced.
"It was a good time for us to conquer some miscellaneous stuff," Zausner says."We're eager to make the investment to improve on the wear and tear of the stadium."
Arthur Ashe Stadium was opened for the 1997 U.S. Open but has been criticized. The 23,000-seat stadium is vastly larger than its counterparts at the other Grand Slams, and many tennis fans deem it too big for the sport. The hope is that the roof structure, built completely separate from the stadium itself and held up by eight concrete-and-steel pillars, will add more intimacy.
It will no doubt bring shade, as well, something long missed on hot, late-summer days in New York.
Without the permanent paneling on the roof this year, the tournament has installed PTFE Teflon fabric over the steel structure to prevent crisscrossed shadows from moving over the court in the late afternoon.
The Manhattan skyline is still visible from atop the stadium, a gap left for fans to peer into the distance.
"The philosophy this year is that the fan paying in 2015 is paying as much as last year or next year when the roof is completed," Zausner says."(A compromised fan experience) would not be tolerated."
It will be the last year of live tennis at the event's beloved Grandstand, which sits adjacent to Louis Armstrong Stadium. Louis Armstrong will be torn down after this U.S. Open and built from the ground up, set to be fully operational for the 2017 U.S. Open. Next year a temporary structure will be erected for play at Louis Armstrong.
Signs posted around the grounds will educate fans on the improvements, which also includes a new 40-foot-wide walkway between Court 17 and the to-be-built Grandstand on the southern side of the campus.
"Even though this is the same Arthur Ashe Stadium that was built in 1997 ... it should feel very much like a new stadium," Zausner says.
