This colossal structure is named after Arthur Ashe, winner of the inaugural nineteen sixty-eight US Open and a tireless civil rights advocate. When the stadium was dedicated in nineteen ninety-seven, his widow noted the tribute served as a fitting present honoring his legendary humanitarian achievements, as well as what would have been their twentieth wedding anniversary.
That barrier-breaking spirit lives on at the players entrance, where a plaque displays a quote from tennis legend Billie Jean King: Pressure is a privilege. That phrase actually comes from a moment of pure panic. During a year two thousand tournament, a very nervous six-foot-three Lindsay Davenport pleaded with King, her captain, to just say something to help her. King looked up and spontaneously fired back, Pressure is a privilege, and champions adjust. Davenport absorbed the impromptu wisdom and went on to win the match.
Opening this two-hundred-and-fifty-four-million-dollar venue was a spectacle, featuring Whitney Houston singing at the inauguration. But New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani intentionally boycotted the gala. He protested an outrageous contract clause that forced the city to pay massive fines if airplanes from nearby LaGuardia Airport flew over and disrupted matches.
Disruption, it turns out, is built right into the fabric of this place. This court has seen fierce drama, like the two thousand eighteen finals where Serena Williams clashed with the chair umpire over alleged hand signals from her coach, sparking a global debate about sexism and double standards in officiating.
It also hosts the unexpected. In two thousand nineteen, a sixteen-year-old gamer named Bugha won a three-million-dollar grand prize here at the Fortnite World Cup, out-earning Wimbledon's winner that same year. AEW professional wrestling has packed these stands with deafening ovations, and in twenty twenty, this sweeping complex was even transformed into a massive makeshift hospital to relieve local medical centers during the pandemic.
The most fascinating engineering feat is right above you. For years, unpredictable rain and wind delayed tournaments, so they desperately needed a roof. There was just one problem. The ground beneath you used to be a wetland swamp, and later, a sprawling industrial dumping ground. The soil was incredibly poor.
To solve this, engineers designed two huge, eight-hundred-ton fabric panels made of a lightweight PTFE membrane, which is a super-strong, high-tech synthetic material. Those panels glide shut at twenty-five feet per minute, flawlessly controlling the environment.
Here, a sweeping master plan of a high-tech stadium sits on a humble foundation of swamp and ash, brought to life by raw, unpredictable human emotion. As we will see, that battle between massive architectural ambition and the reality of the ground below defines this entire park. In fact, Arthur Ashe Stadium sits on the exact footprint of an earlier, equally ambitious dream. Right where you are standing, we will explore the ghost of the United States Pavilion.
