US Open Series
The US Open Series is the name given by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a series of North American professional tennis tournaments leading up to and including the US Open. It is part of the "North American hard court season". Emirates sponsored the series in the past, under a deal in place from 2012 to 2016. The series was initially organized in 2004 as a way to focus more attention on American tennis tournaments by getting more of them on domestic television. Until 2004, most summer North American tournaments were not on television, the exceptions  being the prominent ATP Tour Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati. Under the US Open's broadcast rights, ESPN has held domestic rights to all US Open Series events since 2015. The eight non-Masters tournaments receive about 50 hours of television combined – about two hours on each day of their final weekends, chiefly on ESPN2. The dual-gender Washington D.C. Citi Open (the only ATP 500-level tournament in North America), which had been a part of the series since its 2004 founding, withdrew from the series for its 2015 edition due to frustrations over this lack of  coverage; that tournament sold its exclusive coverage to Tennis Channel. The tournament re-joined the US Open Series in 2019, but continues to maintain its broadcast rights with Tennis Channel. Bonus Challenge. Players earn points for the US Open Series Bonus Challenge in order to win a bonus on top of the individual series tournaments' prize money, according to their results in these events. More points are awarded at some of the events, such as the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5 events. The three male and three female players with the most points in the US  Open Series Bonus Challenge earn a money purse. The amount depends on their US Open Series placement and US Open result. If both are won then the bonus is $1 million as of 2010.Lleyton Hewitt and Lindsay Davenport were the top point-getters in 2004, Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters won in 2005, and Andy Roddick and Ana Ivanovic won in 2006. Defending US Open champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova won in 2007.In 2005, whereas Roddick was upset in the first round against Gilles Müller at the Open, Clijsters became the first player to win both the US  Open Series and the US Open, receiving $2.2 million, at the time the largest payday in women's sports. Clijsters defeated Frenchwoman Mary Pierce in straight sets: 6–3, 6–1. In 2010 she won $2.2 million again, this time $1.7 million for the US Open title and $500,000 in bonus for second place in the US Open Series.In 2007, Federer became the first male player and the second player overall to win the US Open Series and go on to win the US Open, winning $1.4 million plus the US Open Series bonus of $ 1 million, bringing his prize winning total to $2.4 million. This topped Clijsters' $2.2 million as the biggest US Open payday to date. In 2013, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal both won the US Open after also winning the US Open Series. Due to several considerable prize money increments over the years, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal surpassed Roger Federer's Us Open series payday record by winning $3.6 million each, and they shared the record for the largest prize money paycheck in tennis history for a single tennis tournament. In 2014, Serena Williams would repeat her  previous year performance in winning both the US Open Series and the US Open. She now stands alone in the record for the biggest payday in tennis history, with a total amount of $4 million. Starting from 2017, the US Open Series will not feature a Bonus Challenge. Series tournaments. Tournaments. In 2021, the "US Open Series" comprises the following tournaments: Series standings + performance at the US Open. Note: From 2006 on, only players who earned points in at least two US Open Series events are eligible for the final (Top 3) standings. US Open Series The US