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Since 1987, the US Open has been the final Grand Slam of the calendar year. The event which is now played on hard courts, was played on grass in the early years. In fact, for a two-year period, the tournament was also held on clay.
This makes the US Open the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played on 3 different surfaces. The US Open was the first Grand Slam to, in fact, offer equal prize money to both men and women.
In the Amateur Era, Richard Sears, Bill Tilden and William Larned won the most US Open Championships with seven apiece. In the current Open Era, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors lead the pack with 5 trophies each.
Athletes belonging to 15 different countries have won the title here. The average age of the Men's Singles champion in the Professional Era is roughly about 26 years.
We take a look at 5 of the oldest athletes to win the US Open Championships:
#5 Jimmy Connors (1983)
The man with the most titles won in ATP history (109), Connors played professional tennis for 24 years. During that period, he won eight Grand Slam Singles titles.
Connors won five US Open titles overall - an Open Era record he shares with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.
His last US Open triumph came in 1983. Going into the tournament, Connors was the third seed.
Connors dropped just two sets going into the final where he met second seed Ivan Lendl. Connors prevailed in four sets to win his fifth and final US Open title at the age of 31 years, 9 days.
#4 Rod Laver (1969)
Whenever the talk of 'GOAT' arises, Rod Laver's name will invariably crop up. It is not without a reason though. Laver has won 11 Grand Slam titles and completed the Calendar Slam twice.
He is till date the only man to have won the Calendar Slam in the Open Era. Laver was barred from competing in Grand Slams for five years prior to 1968. Had he been allowed to compete, the trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic would still be chasing his tally.
Laver came into the 1969 US Open as the top-seed. He faced third seed and compatriot Tony Roche in the final. Laver won the match in four sets to win his second US Open crown at the age of 31 years, 31 days.
#3 Rafael Nadal (2017)
New York has a special place in Rafael Nadal's life as this was where he completed his Career Slam way back in 2010. Nadal won here again in 2013.
2017 was a year of revival of Rafa, after having suffered numerous injuries in 2015 and 2016. Remarkably, in both these years, neither Nadal or Federer won a single Grand Slam. Nadal came into the US Open 2017 with a chance to cement the year-end number one ranking.
This was one of Nadal's easier Grand Slam victories, as he faced five unseeded players in total.
The highest-seeded opponent that he faced all tournament long, was in the semifinal where he faced off against 24th-seeded Del Potro. Nadal swept aside 28th seed Kevin Anderson in the finals, to win his third US Open title at the age of 31 years, 99 days.
#2 Novak Djokovic (2018)
Novak Djokovic is at his very best in the hard courts, and it is no surprise that he has won three US Open titles till date.
His latest win came in 2018. Fresh from winning his fourth Wimbledon crown and first Major in over two years, Djokovic was looking to usurp Rafael Nadal from the top of the ATP charts.
He came into the tournament oozing with confidence after winning the Cincinnati Masters, enabling him to become the only man in ATP history to have won all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.
Djokovic was only the sixth seed. He was stretched to four sets in his opening two matches but managed to win them comfortably.
From then onwards, it was pretty much plain-sailing, as Djokovic scalped his remaining opponents in straight sets to win his third US Open title at the age of 31 years, 109 days.
#1 Ken Rosewall (1970)
One of the greatest players in the Amateur Era, Ken Rosewall won Grand Slam titles in the Open Era too despite being well over 30 at the start of the Era.
Considering the Professional Majors that were held in the days of the Amateur Era, Rosewall has won a total of 23 Majors - more than any other player in the sport's history - active or retired.
Rosewall won the US Open for the first time in 1956. His second and last US Open title came in 1970 (an all-time record with respect to the gap in number of years between the first title and the last title at the US Open).
The 1970 US Open had five Australian legends as the top five seeds. They were: Laver, Newcombe, Rosewall, Roche and Emerson. Rosewall was the third seed.
In the semifinal, he faced fellow compatriot, the second-seeded John Newcombe; and in the final, the fourth-seeded Tony Roche. Roche finished runner-up to Laver the year before, and was looking to win his first US Open trophy.
However, Rosewall proved to be the better player that day, winning his second US Open trophy by beating Roche in four sets. Rosewall was 35 years, 315 days old at the time.
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