How well do you know the U.S. Open, usually each year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament but the second of 2020? Give this AP quiz a try:
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1st Round: Entering this U.S. Open, which woman holds the record for most appearances in Grand Slam tournament main draws?
a.) Venus Williams
b.) Martina Navratilova
c.) Chris Evert
d.) Kimiko Date
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2nd Round: Novak Djokovic is the only member of the Big Three of men’s tennis entered in the U.S. Open this year. When was the last time a Grand Slam tournament began with neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal in the draw?
a.) 1997
b.) 1999
c.) 2009
d.) 2017
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3rd Round: There only will be line judges used at two courts at Flushing Meadows this year; at others, calls will all be made via an electronic system. The U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to employ video review. Which player made the first official replay challenge?
a.) Mardy Fish
b.) Serena Williams
c.) Roger Federer
d.) Maria Sharapova
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4th Round: Who holds the women’s record for the most singles titles in history at the tournament currently known as the U.S. Open?
a.) Helen Wills
b.) Serena Williams
c.) Molla Bjurstedt Mallory
d.) Chris Evert
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Quarterfinals: Three men ended each of the last 10 seasons with at least 30 match wins and ranked in the top 20. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are two of them. Who is the third?
a.) Roger Federer
b.) Marin Cilic
c.) Kei Nishikori
d.) John Isner
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Semifinals: Who was the last man to win the American Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set?
a.) Pete Sampras
b.) Neale Fraser
c.) Jimmy Connors
d.) Rafael Nadal
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Final: What is the largest age gap in years between two women’s Grand Slam finalists in the Open era?
a.) 19
b.) 18
c.) 17
d.) 16
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ANSWERS
1st Round. a. This year’s Australian Open was Williams’ 85th Grand Slam main draw, the most in the Open era, which began in 1968. Her younger sister, Serena, ranks next at 74.
2nd Round. b. The 1999 U.S. Open was the last time a major tennis championship’s main draw included neither Federer, who holds the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles, nor Nadal, who is next on the list with 19. Federer, who made his Grand Slam debut earlier that season, lost in qualifying at Flushing Meadows, then started a streak of 65 consecutive major appearances at the 2000 Australian Open; Nadal’s first Grand Slam main draw was at Wimbledon in 2003.
3rd Round. a. Fish, now the U.S. Davis Cup captain, challenged a call during his first-round victory over Simon Greul at the 2006 U.S. Open. For the record: The original ruling stood, so Fish lost the point.
4th Round. c. Mallory won the tournament eight times, in 1915-18, 1920-22 and 1926. She is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and was the first woman to represent Norway at the Olympics. Wills won seven titles from 1923-31, while Williams and Evert share the Open era record of six.
Quarterfinals. d. Since 2010, Isner has finished a season ranked as high No. 10 (2018) and never lower than No. 19 (2010, 2014, 2016, 2019), with his win total always from 30 to 45. Federer has won at least 36 matches in 19 of the past 20 seasons, but he missed half of 2016 because of a knee problem and finished with 21 wins.
Semifinals. b. Fraser won 21 of 21 sets at the 1960 edition of the tournament then known as the 1960 U.S. Championships. Roger Federer won the Australian Open in 2007 and Wimbledon in 2018 without ceding a set, and Nadal did the same at the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2017.
Final. b. Serena Williams, 37, was 18 years, 263 days older than Bianca Andreescu, 19, when they met in the 2019 U.S. Open final, won by Andreescu. That topped the previous record of 17 years, 45 days from the 1991 U.S. Open final, in which Monica Seles, 17, beat Martina Navratilova, 34.
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