The US Open court of champions is a way that the US Open tennis tournament honors the most storied champions of the event. The ones whose US Open tennis scores have etched them a place in the history books. There is a permanent monument that honors these champions.
The tennis monument is kind of separated into two categories, the Open era, which is what we currently think of when we think of the US Open, has only been around for the last forty years or so. Pete Sampras is part of this era of tennis greatness. Now before the US Open had become the tournament that we know today it was completely different. This was known as the Golden Era in the tournament’s history.
For a player to be eligible to be inducted into the Court of Champions they must have won one singles title and must have been retired for at least five years. The Court of Champions inductions are a fairly new part of the tournament; the first people were inducted in 2003. Those that were first inducted were: Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Bill Tilden and Helen Wills. Since then there was quite a big class in 2004 as well: Jack Kramer, Margaret Court, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf. Since then there have not been any more big classed inducted into the court of champions, only about two tops get inducted each year with the exception of Althea Gibson, the only person that =was inducted in 2007. Last year, Pete Sampras was inducted along with Molla B. Mallory. Mallory was a player from the Golden Age of the tournament.
If you get a chance to go to the US Open, this is a great stop that you need to make a part of your itinerary. It’s a great way to learn a little tennis history while you are on the grounds of the Open.
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