when did us open switch to hard court
US Open (tennis) In 1978 the tournament moved from the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Queens to the larger USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, three miles to the north. In the process, the tournament switched the court surface from clay, used in the last three years at Forest Hills, to hard courts. Jimmy Connors is the only individual to have won US Open singles titles on all three surfaces (grass, clay, hardcourt), while Chris Evert is the only woman to win on two surfaces (clay, hardcourt).[3] The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that has been played every year since its inception.[16] During the 2006 US Open, the complex was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in honor of four-time tournament champion and women's tennis pioneer Billie Jean King.[17]