With the US Open Qualifying tournament starting today, fans can get their first look at the new Louis Armstrong Stadium.
After the 2016 Open, the old edifice was demolished, and work began on this 14,000-seat show court. Last year a temporary stadium filled the void, but this week, the centerpiece of the US Open renovation that started in 2014 is now complete.
Roger Federer has called this the “Windy Open,” so the USTA is using that to its advantage with its new court.
Designed to the natural breeze in Flushing Meadows to cool the stadium, the New Armstrong is the first of its kind for retractable stadia. Sitting in the stadium, you can feel the breeze going through the structure, which is very pleasant on hot August days.
Of course, unlike the old stadium, which was originally the Singer Bowl at the 1964 World’s Fair, the New Armstrong has two large entrances and numerous concessions stands for the viewing public.
It is also going to be a ticketed stadium in the lower bowl, however the upper deck is still general admission for anyone with a ground’s pass.
The USTA is obviously proud of its new toy and besides a dedication tomorrow, Armstrong will now feature night matches to go along with the ones going on at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Open is brilliantly removing one of the day matches on Ashe to accommodate the nocturnal Armstrong, which will also help the flow of the tournament. Generally, a five-set men’s match pushes back the start times of the night session, leaving many of the ticketed customers to wait until the day session is complete.
Sitting in the stadium today, which was being explored by many of the fans, even though none of the concessions were opened, you can feel the intimacy of the stands to the stadium, even though the footprint is much larger than its predecessor. And the breeze made it a very pleasant experience.
The dedication is tomorrow and Armstrong will be used heavily during this tournament, so you should check it out.
And to give you an idea on who will be playing at Armstrong – as well as Ashe – the USTA announced the seeding today with Simona Halep and Rafael Nadal as the No. 1 seeds.
The whole field is listed below.
2018 US Open Women’s Singles Seeds
- Simona Halep, Romania
- Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
- Sloane Stephens, United States
- Angelique Kerber, Germany
- Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
- Caroline Garcia, France
- Elina Svitolina, Ukraine
- Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic
- Julia Goerges, Germany
- Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia
- Daria Kasatkina, Russia
- Garbiñe Muguruza, Spain
- Kiki Bertens, Netherlands
- Madison Keys, United States
- Elise Mertens, Belgium
- Venus Williams, United States
- Serena Williams, United States
- Ashleigh Barty, Australia
- Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia
- Naomi Osaka, Japan
- Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania
- Maria Sharapova, Russia
- Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic
- CoCo Vandeweghe, United States
- Daria Gavrilova, Australia
- Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
- Anett Kontaveit, Estonia
- Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia
- Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain
- Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia
- Maria Sakkari, Greece
2018 US Open Men’s Singles Seeds
- Rafael Nadal, Spain
- Roger Federer, Switzerland
- Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina
- Alexander Zverev, Germany
- Kevin Anderson, South Africa
- Novak Djokovic, Serbia
- Marin Cilic, Croatia
- Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria
- Dominic Thiem, Austria
- David Goffin, Belgium
- John Isner, United States
- Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain
- Diego Schwartzman, Argentina
- Fabio Fognini, Italy
- Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greece
- Kyle Edmund, Great Britain
- Lucas Pouille, France
- Jack Sock, United States
- Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain
- Borna Coric, Croatia
- Kei Nishikori, Japan
- Marco Cecchinato, Italy
- Hyeon Chung, South Korea
- Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Milos Raonic, Canada
- Richard Gasquet, France
- Karen Khachanov, Russia
- Denis Shapovalov, Canada
- Adrian Mannarino, France
- Nick Kyrgios, Australia
- Fernando Verdasco, Spain
- Filip Krajinovic, Serbia
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