The
US Open Championship, formally the
United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt
tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the
U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final tennis major comprising the
Grand Slam each year; the other three are the
Australian Open,
French Open and
Wimbledon. It is held annually in August and September over a two-week period. The main tournament consists of five different event championships: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for senior, junior, and
wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has been played on
acrylic hard courts at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in
Queens,
New York City.