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BOB DOUGHTY: Our question this week comes from China. Diyan loves the sport of tennis and wants to know more about the United States Open.

The U.S. Open is the fourth and final event of the four major tennis competitions. The other three are the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon in Britain. A player who wins all four events in one season is said to have captured the Grand Slam.

Maria Sharapova of Russia thanks the crowd after beating Anastasiya Yakimova, of Belarus, during the U.S. Open in New York Thursday

The U.S. Open is held every year over a two week period in late August and early September. This year, play began on Monday.

There are five main events: the men’s and women’s singles, the men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. There are also events for young tennis players and players in wheelchairs.

The U.S. Open takes place on the hard courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. That is in the Queens area of New York City. In two thousand six, the United States Tennis Association named the tennis center in honor of tennis champion and activist Billie Jean King.

The largest stadium was named after another tennis champion, Arthur Ashe. He won the first ever U.S. Open in nineteen sixty-eight. Before that year, the United States had five separate tennis championships. Arthur Ashe was also the first African-American to win the men’s singles competition at a Grand Slam event.