What happened when the US Open switched to clay courts for three years in the 1970s

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The US Open has not always been held on hard courts as they have done for the past 47 years.

Carlos Alcaraz won the US Open this year, winning the New York major for the second time in his career after beating Jannik Sinner.

While in the women’s singles draw, Aryna Sabalenka defended her US Open title after beating Amanda Anisimova in the final.

Sabalenka has produced her best results on hard courts, so perhaps she would have been glad to miss the brief period when the US Open was held on clay courts.

What happened when the US Open was held on clay in 1975, 1976 and 1977

Prior to 1975, the US Open had been held exclusively on grass courts, alongside both the Australian Open and Wimbledon at the time.

However, after reported player complaints about how the balls were bouncing on the surface and in a bid to make the US Open more appealing to television viewers, they decided to transition from grass to clay.

The US Open was first held on clay in 1975, and that was not the only change as the addition of floodlights also enabled the possibility of night matches for the first time.

In the men’s tournament, Jimmy Connors was the defending champion and he showed that the switch of surfaces was not an issue for him after reaching the final.

This is where he would play 1974 French Open finalist Manuel Orantes, with the Spaniard taking advantage of having two Grand Slams on his preferred surfaces.

Orantes would stun top seed Connors to win his first and only Grand Slam title in his entire career.

After losing to Bjorn Borg in the quarterfinals the following year, Orantes was unable to defend his title, while Connors would go one better than the previous year and beat the former in the final.

Confirming a different winner in all three of the years that the US Open was held on clay, French Open champion Guillermo Vilas would win the title, with Connors once again in the final.

Completely contrasting to the men’s singles event, there was only one women’s singles champion in all three years that the US Open was held on clay.

Chris Evert had already shown herself as someone with clay court pedigree after winning the French Open in back-to-back years, and she was able to showcase this once again at the US Open after winning her first title in 1975, before defending her title in both 1976 and 1977 on clay.

Two of Evert’s US Open final victories in those years came against Evonne Goolagong, while the other was against another Australian in Wendy Turnbull.

Why did the US Open decide to transition from clay courts to hard courts?

The 1977 tournament was the last time that the US Open was held on clay, with the event then transitioning to hard courts.

This coincided with the US Open moving from Forest Hills to Flushing Meadows, where the tournament is still held to this day.

As a result of this, the US Open is the only Grand Slam to have been held on grass, clay and hard courts.

Evert would win the title for a fourth consecutive year in 1978, and is the only woman to have won the US Open on two surfaces.

While Connors lost in two US Open finals on clay, his victory in 1977 means that he is the only player to have won the tournament on three different surfaces.