The Most Influential Players, Innovators and Leaders Over 50 Years of The US Open

In the five decades since the first US Open, these are the players, innovators and newsmakers whose contributions have helped make it one of our nation’s essential sporting events

- Stephen Tignor

The US Open would seem, at first glance, to run on autopilot. Every year, the grounds look a little sleeker, the crowds feel a little bigger, and the prize money gets a little larger. This tournament, borne from the risky experiment of Open tennis in 1968, has proven to be one of the most resounding success stories in sports over the last 50 years.

But you don’t go from a $100,000 purse at Forest Hills in ’68 to a $50 million purse at Flushing Meadows in 2018 without a lot of help from a lot of people. To keep bringing in fans and keep pushing forward, you need stars on the court, and visionaries off it.

In honor of the US Open’s golden anniversary, we highlight 15 men and women whose impact on the tournament continues to be felt today.

PLAYER

Arthur Ashe

Virtually all young tennis players dream of winning their national championships. For Ashe, who grew up in Richmond, VA, in the 1940s, the idea of playing them must have seemed fanciful enough. Like all African-American players before 1950—the year Althea Gibson broke tennis’ color barrier at Forest Hills— Ashe wouldn’t have been allowed to play the U.S. Nationals.

Ashe would make the most of Gibson’s breakthrough. In 1968, nine years after his debut at Forest Hills, Ashe became the first black man to win the title there.

Ashe’s win wasn’t just historic. His popularity with fans, his telegenic presence—he was the first player at a major event to wear non-white clothing—and the media attention he generated helped set off the early-’70s tennis boom in the United States, and bring so many fans to Forest Hills that the US Open would soon need to move to a larger facility in Flushing Meadows.