US Open game washed away as skies open up

Article posted by Coliseum, September 3^rd, 2021

Image: @darren_cahill (Twitter)

Rain poured through the gaps in the roof of the Louis Armstrong Stadium (US) on the night of September 1^st, disrupting second-round play at the US Open.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium, which holds 14,000 seats, was updated ahead of the 2018 US Open with a naturally ventilated roof.

The ‘ESPN’ stated that the Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium are the only courts at Flushing Meadows that can be covered during bad weather, but even that was an issue as wind helped push rain through the space between the concourse and the retractable cover at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. After two hours of steady rain, the stadium was completely soaked, halting play on the show court.

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The United States Open Tennis Championships is a hard court tennis tournament. The tournament is the modern version of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, for which men’s singles and men’s doubles were first played in August 1881.

The 2021 US Open is the 141^st edition of tennis’ US Open and the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year. It is held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. This year’s US Open began on August 30^th and will conclude on September 12^th.

The Arthur Ashe Stadium is a tennis stadium at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City (US). Part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it is the main stadium of the US Open tennis tournament. The stadium has a capacity of 23,771 and it is the largest tennis stadium in the world.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium is a 14,000-seat tennis stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, one of the venues of the US Open. It opened for the 2018 US Open as a replacement for the 1978 stadium of the same name.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States.

The ‘ESPN’ further stated that the match between two-time major finalist Kevin Anderson and 11^th-seeded Diego Schwartzman was suspended with Schwartzman leading 7-6 (4), and it resumed at the Arthur Ashe Stadium following the conclusion of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0 win over Adrian Mannarino.

Schwartzman eventually won 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round.

Fans in attendance received flash flood and tornado warnings that read, “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”

As the downpour got steadily worse, spectators huddled under umbrellas or left the tennis center.

Subway stations and tracks became so flooded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended all service, and New York City put in place a travel ban until 5 am of September 2nd for all non-emergency vehicles.

The New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, announced she was declaring a state of emergency “to help New Yorkers affected by the storm”.

The National Weather Service recorded 3.15 inches of rain in New York’s Central Park in one hour, far surpassing the 1.94 inches that fell in one hour during Tropical Storm Henri on August 22^nd, which was believed at the time to be the most ever recorded in the Park.

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