USTA Searching For Plan For Roof Over Ashe Stadium

Written by: Staff on 29th August 2012

USTA Searching For Plan For Roof Over Ashe Stadium

epa03371580 Court workers attempt to dry the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium after play was suspended on the first day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 27 August 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH |

A new plan, that would see a complete rebuild of the top tier of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center , could finally end the quandary of the absence of a retractable roof at the year’s concluding Grand Slam tournament.

A two hours rain-delay in the first session of the 2012 U.S. Open again prompted the seasonal debate of just why there were no plans to install a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium when the main arena of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was built 15 years ago.

For the last four years not un-forecast wet September weather on the Eastern Seaboard has caused the U.S. Open’s Mens Singles Final to be played on a third Monday and criticism of the United States Tennis Association’s lack of foresight has multiplied accordingly.

Over the past ten years the USTA and Rossetti Architects, the Southfield, Michigan firm who designed the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center along with the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the Crandon Park Tennis Center on Key Biscayne, Miami, have investigated numerous methods of putting a roof on Ashe Stadium but all have proved unworkable.

Gordon Smith, the USTA’s executive director reported: “We are coordinating with a number of external structural engineers, people who have the materials, and they are in the coordinating role with many, many other entities who would frankly love to have the feather in their cap of solving this very difficult technological problem.”

The issues involve around the fact Flushing Meadows were once a swamp and to put things in their most basic form, if Arthur Ashe Stadium became heavier on it’s foundations with the addition of a roof, there would be a distinct chance of the whole structure causing subsidence or even sinking.

New plans have been formulated to take away all the seats and concrete structure of Ashe Stadium’s upper tier, leaving just the outside shell. This would take away 40-50% of the upper tier’s weight and lighter material could be used as a replacement along with the roof’s mechanism.

Jon Vergosen, the USTA president said: “Every USTA board I have been on wants a roof and we are going to get there. We are a lot closer than we were a year ago.”

Nevertheless the USTA remain committed to a $500 million upgrade for the Billie Kean King Tennis Centre announced in June with major renovations of the Louis Armstrong and Grandstand stadiums. Vergosen said: “Our goal remains to ensure that the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center remains a world-class facility.”

Topics: American tennis news, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Sports, Tennis, US Open 2012, USTA tennis news