NEW YORK -- The Grandstand might have been the most beloved of the US Open courts at the National Tennis Center until it was replaced by a spanking new version -- an entire stadium -- situated all the way across the grounds.
Loads of diehard US Open guests mourned the change, which doomed the quirky, intimate structure that was attached on one side to Louis Armstrong Stadium. Both were demolished after last year's tournament, paving the way for a brand-new, roofed "Louie."
Over the course of 38 years, the Grandstand produced some of the most dramatic moments in US Open history. But it was also difficult to get into the 6,000-seat venue and the choice seats shaded by Armstrong were quickly grabbed -- and held.
Over time, the Grandstand became the US Open's version of that delightful little Parisian hotel hidden somewhere on the Left Bank, unknown to most tourists.
Guess what? A good Grandstand is hard to keep down.
The new, temporary court erected near the East Gate for this year is officially called Louis Armstrong Stadium, presumably to avoid confusion. But that's a joke. The court is on the footprint of the old grandstand, and it's even more unconventional. Some folks are going to love it and remember it. Many others won't even know it was there.
The tournament's No. 6 seed Dominic Thiem was on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium on Thursday, taking on Taylor Fritz. The court had yet to provide the kind of memory the old Grandstand created so often, although young Andrey Rublev did score a major upset on the new court earlier in the day, dusting No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets.
Thiem was on fire over the first two sets, while Fritz had trouble keeping pace in the rallies. But Fritz, the promising American 19-year-old, slowly began to find his range and convert the break points that he wasted in the first two sets. Fritz almost took the match to five sets, but Thiem shut him down, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
"It's a nice court," Thiem said later. "It was almost packed, so it was good. I won, so of course I like the court."
Asked if he had any fond memories of the old Grandstand, Thiem slowly smiled: "I played [Feliciano] Lopez there once [2014]. I won. It was the first time I made the fourth round of a Grand Slam."
Fritz was satisfied with his performance, as he's been in something of a slump. He also remembered the old Grandstand fondly. He played his first match on it in 2015, the year he won the junior title.
"I liked the old Grandstand a lot because I felt like everything was really close to the court. This court is more open."
But the new court wouldn't be so much like the old Grandstand if it was just simply nice. It has to be quirky, and it passed the test. The match was interrupted periodically by the squealing of brakes in the railyard alongside the NTC.
There was unintended background music, coming from one or another of the pop-up stages. It sounded like a weepy Adele number, but a Stevie Wonder tune overwhelmed it a little while later.
The two temporary scoreboards, at the north and south ends of the court, are large and roughly cobbled together. The Hawkeye review screens hang from them like enormous, dark sheets on a clothesline.
If you enjoyed the old Grandstand, you probably loved it. At least until the sun peeked out from behind a cloud and light turned the large aluminum modules from which the main walkway around the court is built into an enormous tanning reflector. It actually hurt the eyes.
"Visually, it maybe a little bit different [than the other courts at the NTC], John Isner said, in his best diplomatic voice. "After a couple of games, you get used to it."
The distinguishing feature of the new court is the tree that pokes out of the west bleachers. It's the same tree that gradually grew large enough to throw shade on the east bleachers in the original Grandstand (that's how far the court is from the old stadium site). The USTA decided to keep the tree, although it's likely to become just another source of shade alongside a wall when they finish the new Louie stadium.
Thiem said his only quibble with the court was the way the shadow of the branches and leaves, now that the tree is on the west side, crawl across the court. But that, too, is a familiar lament.
Players often complained about the way the shadow of the east wall of the Louie (the real one) once dramatically crawled across the old Grandstand. Some things never change.