UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The organizers of the newest tennis tournament in the New York area wanted to make a splash.
Strict rules dictate how a pro tournament must be run. The venue, the equipment, the officials and the seeding must meet professional standards, and tour events cannot simply pick and choose the players they want to invite.
But there were a few things organizers of the New York Open could control — the color and surface of the court itself — and their choice is almost completely off the tennis grid: black hardwood.
The gritty, matte surface and white lines make the two courts inside the renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island resemble airport runways, and the owners of the tournament hope the fashionable black look will pique the curiosity of fans.