Tennis: 8 Things you didn't know about the US Open

Jimmy Connors. Photo / Getty Images

1 Neapolitan ice cream flavour

The iconic tournament has been played on three different surfaces in its 130-year history. It was played on grass until 1975 when the switch was made to the red clay. Three years later, the current hard court was installed. Perhaps appropriately, American legend Jimmy Connors is the only player to win on the three different surfaces - in 1974 (grass), 1976 (clay) and 1978 (hardcourt).

2 Left handers dominate

It is hard to believe considering they make up around 10 per cent of the world's population, but over a decade between 1974 and 1984, every male US Open champion was left handed. That was followed by a long drought for the lefties until Rafael Nadal's win last year. On the female side, there was not one female left handed champion between 1902 and 1982. Martina Navratilova broke the streak in 1983.

3 Shot down the line

The US Open is the only major tennis tournament to be interrupted by a shooting. During a third round match in 1977 featuring John McEnroe, play was halted after a disturbance in the grandstand. After some confusion, the chair umpire told the players to continue and McEnroe won. It was later revealed that a 33-year-old fan had been shot in the leg by a stray bullet, which had been fired from the nearby streets of Queen's.

4 Waiting is the hardest part

Ken Rosewall won his first US crown in 1956 as a fresh-faced 22-year-old. Fourteen years later the Australian legend triumphed again. To put this in perspective, Roger Federer would need to take the title in 2019 (as a 38-year-old) to break this particular record.

5 Stars rule the stripes

While the French dream about a local champion at Roland Garros, and the British wait for a hometown presence in a Wimbledon final, New Yorkers have almost always enjoyed a local presence come finals day. Between 1970 and 2002 there were only two years (1973 and 1988) when an American did not appear in either the men's or women's singles final. The zenith came in 2002, when Andre Agassi faced Pete Sampras, after Serena Williams had beaten her sister Venus Williams a day earlier. Things have been harder since then. Andy Roddick was the last US male to win (in 2003) and Serena Williams (2008) the sole women's champ since 2002.

6 The number one club

The US Open is often seen as the truest test of a champion. This is borne out by the remarkable statistic that every men's champion from 1977 to 2009 was a current or former world number one, before Juan Martin Del Potro upset the odds two years ago.

7 Norwegian Wood

The most amount of women's singles titles at Flushing Meadows belongs not to Serena Williams, Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova but one Molla B. Mallory from Norway. Her eight victories, between 1915 and 1926, were all against different opponents and she was 42 years old when she took her last title.

8 Czech cashes in

Czech Ivan Lendl was a Flushing Meadows fixture in the 1980's, making the final for eight consecutive years between 1982 and 1989 (winning three times). This is a record for any Grand Slam in the open era.