The US Open began in 1881 as the U.S. Championships, a relatively small event held at The Casino in Newport, R.I. Today it has grown into the biggest tennis tournament in the world, with a long, rich tradition of attracting the best players from around the world to perform on the world s greatest stage: the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. As the last major of the calendar year, the US Open annually brings down the curtain on the Grand Slam season with some of the most unforgettable matches in tennis history. In 2006, it featured another stirring chapter in the growing rivalry between the winners of the last three US Open men s singles titles two-time defending champion Roger Federer and 2003 champion Andy Roddick. The two met in the Wimbledon final in 2004 and 2005, with Federer emerging victorious both times, and the Swiss entered the 2006 US Open on one of the greatest runs in the annals of the sport. The tournament s top seed, Federer had won seven of the past 11 Grand Slam events and was attempting to become the first man in tennis history to sweep the Wimbledon and the US Open titles for three consecutive years. The ninth-seeded Roddick, meanwhile, entered the final on a roll of his own. After a desultory spring knocked him out of the Top 10, Roddick teamed with new coach Jimmy Connors and embarked on a brilliant summer campaign, winning the Olympus US Open Series title for the second time. And buoyed by a series of impressive wins in Flushing Meadows, Roddick entered the final primed to derail Federer and reclaim his US Open crown.