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By Ashley Marshall / Monday, February 05, 2018
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There’s nothing quite like the excitement and energy of nighttime tennis under the lights at the US Open. Later this summer, there’s now going to be twice as much evening electricity than ever before.

In 2018, both Arthur Ashe Stadium and the new Louis Armstrong Stadium will each hold dedicated day and night sessions. This marks the first time that a second stadium will feature a scheduled night session at the US Open.

The USTA announced Tuesday that the 2018 US Open will introduce a new daily match schedule for the tournament, made possible by the completion of the final piece of the five-year strategic transformation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center – the new 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium.

In Armstrong, the day session will begin at 11 a.m., for the first nine days of the tournament and will include three matches. The night session in Armstrong will begin at 7 p.m. and will showcase two matches each evening for the first six days of the event.

Approximately 7,000 of the seats in Armstrong will be open to all US Open ticketholders for both the day and night sessions, while the remaining seats will be reserved for those with a dedicated Louis Armstrong Stadium ticket for the respective session.

In Arthur Ashe Stadium, the day session will now begin at 12 p.m. and include two matches. The night session will continue to feature two matches and will also start at 7 p.m.

The move to two matches during the day session in Ashe helps to establish a greater certainty of start time for the night session, with a lesser chance of a delayed start – a benefit to players, broadcasters and fans attending the US Open and watching from home.

The possibility for congestion on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the changeover between the day and night sessions should also be alleviated, due to more time for fans entering and exiting the stadium.

“We are incredibly excited to shine a light on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium at the 2018 US Open, featuring a night session in a second stadium for the first time in the tournament’s history,” said Katrina Adams, Chairman of the Board and President, USTA. “Night tennis and the US Open are synonymous; truly some of our most memorable matches have been under the bright lights at night.”

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For the first time since 2015, all active former US Open singles champions will be competing in New York. With Tuesday’s announcement that 2016 champ Stan Wawrinka and 2004 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova have been granted main-draw wild cards, all 14 active winners – seven men and seven women – are now officially in the 2018 field.

Those seven men have combined to win each of the last 14 US Open titles, with Roger Federer’s five (2004-08) and defending champion Rafael Nadal’s three (2010, 2013, 2017) leading the way. The forever-linked legends will be joined by two-time winner Novak Djokovic (2011, 2015), Juan Martin del Potro (2009), Andy Murray (2012), Marin Cilic (2014) and Wawrinka.

Outside of that list, the last man to win a US Open title was Andy Roddick, in 2003. The former world No. 1’s lone Grand Slam title is also the last major singles trophy won by an American man.

The full house of men’s champions represents a welcome turnaround from 2017, when five of the ATP’s Top 11 men were absent from the New York showpiece, including 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori and Canadian Milos Raonic.

Of the women’s champions, Serena Williams was the first to claim a title. The six-time US Open winner, who missed the 2017 tournament as she gave birth to her first daughter, lifted the 1999 trophy as a 17-year-old for the first of her 23 major singles titles.

Venus Williams is the only other active woman to win multiple New York crowns (2000, 2001), while Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova (2006), Sam Stosur (2011), Angelique Kerber (2016) and defending champ Sloane Stephens complete the star-studded lineup.

Across the last 19 years, these seven women have accounted for 13 US Open titles.

The last non-active WTA player to triumph in New York is Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who won in 2015 and retired at the conclusion of that season.

After Serena, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka and Stosur all sat out last year’s US Open, fans and tournament organizers alike are excited about the prospect of a full draw.

“This really is what Grand Slam tennis is all about: the absolute best, and many of them, competing for the championship,” said Tournament Director David Brewer. "We’re thrilled that we’re going to have the depth of field, from top to bottom, that it looks like we’re going to have. It’s really the ultimate that we could have hoped for.”

These spectacularly talented champions will battle it out once again on the famed hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center beginning on Monday, Aug. 27. With wild cards Wawrinka and Kuznetsova unseeded, next week's draw could serve up a meeting of former champions as early as the opening round.

Career Golden Masters winner looks ahead to US Open
Less than 48 hours after becoming the first man in history to complete the Career Golden Masters, Novak Djokovic was awake bright and early Tuesday for an appearance on NBC's breakfast show, Today, in New York City.

"It feels great [to complete the Career Golden Masters]... It is amazing to be in New York and obviously for the first time, at my sixth attempt, to win Cincinnati," said Djokovic. "It's probably the biggest challenge you can have in tennis, to win all the Masters."

The 31-year-old, fresh off his recent win over Roger Federer at the Western & Southern Open, is already in New York City as he begins preparations for the final Grand Slam of the season. The two-time champion joined Hoda Cobb, Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and fans for a quick visit as excitement begins to build ahead of Monday's start of the US Open. Djokovic, who most recently lifted the trophy in 2015 (also 2011), owns a 62-10 record at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

After missing the 2017 tournament due to injury, Djokovic will be making his first appearance at the event since his runner-up finish to Stan Wawrinka two years ago. The 70-time tour-level titlist will be seeded sixth, with defending champion Rafael Nadal and five-time winner Roger Federer occupying the No.1 and No. 2 spots, respectively.

"I've been through a difficult journey with an injury that kept me away from the Tour for the second part of last season," said Djokovic. "For sixth months I was away, I [did not] play the US Open. It was the first Grand Slam I had missed... I'm really glad I am back on track. I recovered well and I am playing at my best at the moment. It is the best possible way to prepare for the US Open."

Note: Fans in the U.S. can watch this week's US Open qualifying action on Tennis Channel.