U.S. OPEN Site To Be Named In Honor of Lesbian Phenom

The New York Times reported today that the United States Tennis Association has decided to rename the USTA National Tennis Center, the site of the U.S. Open, in Flushing Meadows, NY after open lesbian Billie Jean King. (What, you were expecting the Martina Navratilova National Tennis Center? Pshaw!) According to the Times, the USTA is foregoing almost 5 million dollars in annual revenue from corporate naming rights by bestowing the honor upon the most important American female athlete of all-time. According to the USTA, the soon-to-be-named "USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center" is the world's largest public tennis complex with 45 courts being used by 65,000 people annually on 46.5 acres. The USTA National Tennis Center contains the world's largest tennis stadium, Arthur Ashe Stadium (inaugurated 1997). The naming ceremony will coincide with the opening night of the U.S. Open on August 28th.

Billie Jean King is generally regarded as the founding force of the modern international women's tennis tour. She is also an International Tennis Hall of Fame champion, with 12 Grand Slam titles (1966-68, 1972-73, 1975 Wimbledon, 1967, 1971-72 and 1974 U.S. Open, 1972 French, 1968 Australian Open) and 67 singles titles and 101 doubles titles.