The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens and has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played every year in August and September. Operated by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) since 1978, the facility has 22 courts inside its 46.5 acres (0.188 km2; 0.0727 sq mi) and 11 in the adjoining park. The complex's three stadia are among the largest tennis stadia in the world, with Arthur Ashe Stadium topping the global list with a listed capacity of 23,200. All 33 courts have used the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface since the facility was built in 1978.
Located near Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, the tennis center is open to the public for play 11 months out of the year (closed during inclement weather and in August/September due to the US Open), barring tournaments the USTA holds (such as junior and wood-racket competitions).
On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Famous quotes containing the words king, national, tennis and/or center:
“The universe has no prince or king that it [Rome] would consider equal to its humblest citizen.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
“The religion of England is part of good-breeding. When you see on the continent the well-dressed Englishman come into his ambassador’s chapel and put his face for silent prayer into his smooth-brushed hat, you cannot help feeling how much national pride prays with him, and the religion of a gentleman.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“[My one tennis book] was very, very old. It had a picture of Bill Tilden. I looked at the picture and that was how I learned to hold the racket.”
—Maria Bueno (b. 1939)
“Every beloved object is the center point of a paradise.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)