Is the US Open Australia's best hard court Slam?

Lleyton Hewitt with the 2001 US Open trophy. (Getty/Ezra Shaw)

Australia has its own hard-court Grand Slam, played in familiar conditions, with Australian crowds behind its players and more opportunities for locals to get into the draw.

So since the Australian Open moved to Melbourne Park and switched from grass to hard courts in 1988, you would expect it to be the hard-court major where Australians have enjoyed the most success.

Except, over nearly four decades, they haven't.

Australian players have consistently produced bigger results on the other side of the world at the US Open.

Since 1988, Australians have won four US Open singles titles: Pat Rafter in 1997 and 1998, Lleyton Hewitt in 2001, and Samantha Stosur in 2011.

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Over the same period, there have been two Australian singles titles at Wimbledon and one each at Roland Garros and the Australian Open.

But it is not just the wins.

If you separate every Australian run since 1988 by where it actually ended, the difference between New York and Melbourne becomes even clearer.

At the US Open, Australians have recorded:

• 4 wins

• 2 runner-up finishes

• 5 semi-final finishes

• 10 quarter-final finishes

At the Australian Open:

• 1 win

• 2 runner-up finishes

• 3 semi-final finishes

• 9 quarter-final finishes

That is 21 Australian runs to at least the quarter-finals in New York compared with 15 in Melbourne.

There have obviously been some huge moments at home, particularly Ash Barty finally ending Australia's 44-year wait for a home singles champion in 2022.

But when you look through Australian tennis history, New York keeps popping up as the place where players have done something special.

Australians keep breaking through in New York

For almost four decades, Australian players have repeatedly produced some of their best Grand Slam results in New York.

Darren Cahill reached his only Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open in 1988, and Wally Masur did the same in 1993. Mark Philippoussis reached his first Grand Slam final there in 1998, only to run into fellow Australian Rafter, who was on his way to a second straight title.

Hewitt then put together an extraordinary run of seven consecutive US Open quarter-finals from 2000 to 2006, winning his first Grand Slam title there in 2001 and returning to the final in 2004.

And even after the Australian titles dried up, the breakthroughs kept coming.

John Millman stunned Roger Federer in 2018 to make the only Grand Slam quarter-final of his career. Alex de Minaur reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open in 2020 and has since returned to the last eight in New York in 2024 and 2025.

Ajla Tomljanovic ended Serena Williams' career in 2022 before reaching the quarters, while Nick Kyrgios knocked out world No.1 Daniil Medvedev on his way to the last eight at the same tournament.

Most recently, Alexei Popyrin beat Novak Djokovic in 2024 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

It is a lot of different Australians, from different generations, producing some of their best tennis in the same place.

So what is it about New York?

Heat, noise and a bit of chaos

There probably isn't one simple answer.

Hard courts are an obvious factor, but that alone doesn't explain much. Melbourne is played on hard courts too.

It may be the particular combination New York offers on top of the playing surface.

The US Open can be hot and horribly humid. Arthur Ashe Stadium is enormous, and the crowds can be loud, restless and far less restrained than those at most tennis tournaments.

Hewitt certainly enjoyed that.

"It's probably a bit louder crowd here," Hewitt said when discussing the US Open atmosphere in 2007.

"I enjoy playing in big atmospheres. I look forward to the big matches."

Few Australian performances fit the New York conditions better than Millman's win over Federer.

The humidity that night was brutal, but for the Brisbane-born Millman, it was also familiar.

"It was very humid, very similar to the conditions I'm used to back home in Brisbane," he later recalled.

Millman believed he simply coped better, as Federer visibly struggled.

It doesn't mean Australians are naturally better in the heat, but hard courts and uncomfortable temperatures are hardly foreign to players who have grown up playing through Australian summers.

Popyrin also seemed to embrace the chaos when he faced Djokovic in 2024.

It was his first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and instead of being overwhelmed by the occasion, he found himself feeding off it.

"The crowd was amazing," Popyrin said afterwards. "When I hit those passing shots, it was quite amazing to feel the crowd on my side."

He went on to knock out the defending champion.

And his overall record suggests it was hardly a one-off.

Entering this year's tournament, Popyrin had a 9-6 main-draw record at the US Open. It is the only Grand Slam where he owns a winning career record.

Is Melbourne part of the answer?

There is also another side to these results. 

It may not just be that conditions in New York suit Australians. The expectations, pressure and visibility that come with playing at home may also have affected results in Melbourne.

Samantha Stosur is the clearest example. She won the US Open, reached a French Open final and three other semi-finals in Paris, but never made it beyond the fourth round of the Australian Open.

"I put far too much pressure on myself in the Aussie summer because I really, really wanted to do well," Stosur later admitted.

"You only get the opportunity to play at home for a few weeks, and I probably built it up too big and didn't handle the occasions on court very well at all."

And there are some other striking examples.

Rafter won back-to-back US Opens but went beyond the fourth round in Melbourne just once.

Hewitt made seven consecutive quarter-finals in New York, yet outside his run to the 2005 Australian Open final, never reached the last eight in Melbourne.

During that 2005 run, Hewitt spoke openly about the expectations around him, saying every match had felt "like a final" and wishing more Australians had reached the second week "to take a little bit of that load".

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Of course, it isn't true for everyone.

Barty won the Australian Open but never went beyond the fourth round in New York, while players like Jelena Dokic and Alicia Molik also produced their best Grand Slam results elsewhere.

So there is no magic formula that makes Australians better at Flushing Meadows.

But for some, New York may offer something Melbourne cannot: familiar hard court conditions without quite the same weight of expectation.

America is also becoming more familiar

There is another factor that has become more important for the current generation.

More Australians are coming through US college tennis.

Rinky Hijikata spent two seasons at the University of North Carolina, Aleksandar Vukic played at Illinois, and Adam Walton spent four years at Tennessee.

Those players have spent years competing on American hard courts, but perhaps just as importantly, years playing in front of noisy and sometimes hostile college crowds.

"College tennis really sets you up for matches like that and in massive atmospheres," Hijikata said. "You have to be a really good player under pressure in college."

His best Grand Slam result remains the fourth round of the 2023 US Open.

For Walton, the connection is even more personal. Friends from Knoxville travelled to New York to support him at this year's tournament.

"I have a lot of support here as I do in Australia," Walton said. "In some ways it feels like home."

And this year's players are no different

Fifteen Australians were in the singles draws at this year's US Open before a ball was hit, and their own Grand Slam records follow much the same pattern.

Entering the tournament, their combined career main-draw records were:

• US Open: 58 wins, 61 losses, 48.7 per cent

• Wimbledon: 48 wins, 53 losses, 47.5 per cent

• Roland Garros: 53 wins, 62 losses, 46.1 per cent

• Australian Open: 68 wins, 89 losses, 43.3 per cent

Melbourne has produced far more matches, which is not surprising given Australian players generally receive more opportunities at their home Grand Slam.

But as a percentage of matches played, this group has performed best in New York.

For the nine Australian men, it is even more striking.

They entered this year's tournament with a combined 42-41 US Open record. It is the only Grand Slam where the group collectively has a winning career main-draw record.

Seven of the 15 also have their best or equal-best Grand Slam result at the US Open, with Hijikata and Popyrin particularly standing out.

And there have already been a few additions to the Australian win column in 2026.

Taylah Preston claimed her first US Open main-draw victory, and just the second Grand Slam win of her career, with a straight-sets victory over American Alycia Parks.

Kimberly Birrell came from a set down and saved a match point to beat Petra Marčinko, while James Duckworth produced one of the standout Australian results of the opening round by knocking out 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi.

It was Duckworth's first victory over a seed at a Grand Slam.

Whether any of them can turn an encouraging start into another genuinely deep Australian run in New York remains to be seen.

There probably isn't one simple explanation for almost 40 years of results. But the pattern is hard to ignore.

The Australian Open may be the home Grand Slam, but when it comes to hard courts, New York has consistently brought out some of the best in Australian tennis.

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