CreateLED’s AirULTRA-7 Displays Utilized at US Tennis Open
The US Open Tennis Championship has been held in New York City for the last 101 years. The event ran from Aug. 29-Sept. 11, 2016. Spectators from all over the world convened on the USTA event, which has been held annually at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York since 1978. It is the only Grand Slam tennis championship held in North America.
The US Open’s grounds hold a total of 22 courts, consisting of four “show courts” (Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, Grandstand and Court 17), 13 field courts and five practice courts. The main court is the Arthur Ashe Stadium. It holds 22,547 and was opened in 1997. It is named after Arthur Ashe, the African-American tennis player who won the men’s final of the inaugural US Open in 1968. For each of the past 10 years, total attendance at this multi-day event has exceeded 700,000.
This tournamet and New York City are an ideal match, they are equally fast paced and exciting. This year, spectators and players experienced the full advantages of all the recent renovations to the venue, including the new retractable roof installed over the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Now Wimbledon, The Australian Open and the US Open are protected by retractable roofs, leaving only the French Open exposed to the elements. These recent improvements make The Billie Jean King Tennis Center the biggest and most advanced tennis venue in the world. All the courts used by the US Open are illuminated, allowing television coverage of the tournament to extend into primetime.
Outdoor-Rated Screens
As a professional LED display manufacturer, CreateLED is proud to be a part of these upgrades and improvements. The outdoor rated AirULTRA-7 LED display, from CreateLED’s High Definition Family, has been phased in by the Center since 2014. This front serviceable, mechanically versatile, high definition product has been specified to create both the large video displays in the various stadia as well as the smaller clock and radar displays to the courts.
The ultra-fast nature of this sport demands a high performance video display to replay every detail accurately. This is where the high grayscale levels and high contrast ratio of
CreateLED’s AirULTRA-7 come into play, both literally and figuratively, producing high fidelity vivid images, making it the ideal choice for this application.
In total, four displays were supplied to the Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2015, 3 displays to the Louis Armstrong Stadium in 2014 and 44 displays to the courts and Grandstand Stadium in 2016. A total of 500 m2 has been installed to date. The new displays have been carefully designed and placed within the stadium to enhance and improve the overall spectator experience.
A new Grandstand was constructed on the site this year with 8,100 seats. The original structure on that site had been erected for the 1964 World’s Fair. The new venue is slightly larger than its predecessor but, more importantly, will still retain the original structure’s charming nature that appealed to the players and attendees. Two of the new video walls are located in the northeast and southwest corners of this new Grandstand. The video walls have a very clear 7.5mm pixel pitch and measure 26’ x 14.75’ and 24.6’ x 13’ in size, respectively. The two walls mirrored content so that fans seated throughout the Grandstand have the same video experience.
VWSE Productions just completed its fourth US Open looking after the video feeds and content at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “The USTA redid the Grandstand — refurbished a beautiful court on the grounds — and added the video walls. We were able to do a complete video show over there,” says Bob Becker, EVP of VWSE Productions. “They keep adding these great venues every year, and it’s allowing us to provide video services to all these new courts as they put them in.”
CreateLED is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of high performance LED displays for indoor and outdoor use. “We are very honored to have CreateLED represented at this prestigious location” said Mr. Cheng Zhuo, founder of Shenzhen CreateLED Electronics Co. Limited. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and operating in a global market, CreateLED is a leading designer and manufacturer of LED screen technology.
For more information, please visit www.createled.com.
