After 42 years, DecoTurf will be replaced by Laykold hard courts as the tournament’s surface.
The last time the US Open changed the surface was in 1978, when the event moved from Forest Hills to Flushing Meadows Park. After 94 editions held on grass courts, the tournament had been played on Har-Tru (green clay) courts for just 3 years, with Manuel Orantes, Jimmy Connors and Guillermo Vilas becoming champions. Then, the surface changed again, switching to hard.
This time, it’s only the court brand which is going to change at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The aim is to find a better-performing court in the hot and humid conditions of the US Open, and the Laykold courts are already used in the New York Open, the Miami Master 1000 and many ATP Challengers like the Arizona Tennis Classic and the Open d’Orleans.
“Laykold has been trusted in the tennis court industry for 75 years and to add the US Open to our roster of major events around the world is a landmark moment for us,” said Jim Sacco, chief operating officer of Advanced Polymer Technology. “We have been waiting for an opportunity to showcase our quality at the world’s biggest tennis tournament, and we are delighted to have been chosen. We are grand slam ready.”
Laykold courts will be manufactured by Advanced Polymer Technology, a member of “Sport Group”, which is the world’s largest business dedicated to sports surfaces.
“At the conclusion of the complete transformation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we felt it was time to explore all new approaches and technologies to court surfacing,” added Danny Zausner, chief operating officer of the NTC. “During this exploration, Laykold quickly rose to the top, and working with them, we are confident we will have the best-playing and best-performing courts in the world.”
