Claim: John McEnroe was a tennis player.

The United States Open Tennis Championships is a hardcourt tennis tournament . The tournament is the modern version of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world , the U.S. National Championship , for which men 's singles was first contested in 1881 . Since 1987 , the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final tennis major comprising the Grand Slam each year ; the other three , in chronological order , are the Australian Open , the French Open and Wimbledon .   The US Open is held annually , starting on the last Monday in August , and lasting for two weeks into September , with the middle weekend coinciding with the Labor Day holiday . The main tournament consists of five event championships : men 's and women 's singles , men 's and women 's doubles , and mixed doubles , with additional tournaments for senior , junior , and wheelchair players . Since 1978 , the tournament has been played on acrylic hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows -- Corona Park , Queens , New York City . The US Open is owned and organized by the United States Tennis Association -LRB- USTA -RRB- , a not-for-profit organization . Net proceeds from ticket sales , sponsorships , and television deals are used to promote the development of tennis in the United States .   The US Open is the only Grand Slam that employs tiebreakers in every set of a match . For the other three Grand Slam events , if a match goes to the last possible set -LRB- the third for women , fifth for men -RRB- and there is a 6 -- 6 tie , the match continues until one player wins by two games , but the sets played before the last set always employ tiebreakers should a set reach 6 -- 6 .