{"id":928788,"date":"2026-07-11T23:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/928788\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T23:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:15:21","slug":"family-of-man-who-created-national-tennis-center-claims-usta-is-pushing-them-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/928788\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of man who created National Tennis Center claims USTA is pushing them out"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Tennis Association has no love for the family of the man who created the National Tennis Center, erasing his legacy from the famed sports complex in Queens while squeezing his heirs for nearly half a million dollars, a lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n

The children of William \u201cSlew\u201d Hester claim the USTA has violated a decades-old settlement agreement by demolishing their box in Arthur Ashe Stadium and offering \u201cinferior\u201d seats to the US Open \u2014 and only if they pay a whopping $460,000.<\/p>\n

The stunning price tag left Hester\u2019s surviving children, Bill and Kathryn, with no choice but to sue \u2014 for a second time \u2014 the organization their dad once led, they told The Post.<\/p>\n

Bill and Kathryn Hester claim the United States Tennis Association is trying to erase their father\u2019s legacy at the National Tennis Center. \tCourtesy of Bill and Kathryn Hester<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the USTA\u2019s current board doesn\u2019t have a better understanding of who Slew Hester was, and what he did for the USTA and the US Open,\u201d Bill Hester said. <\/p>\n

A Mississippi oil man and one-time USTA president, Slew Hester was said to have been flying into NYC in the 1970s<\/a> when he spotted what was then known as Singer Bowl, a city-owned facility used for the 1964 World\u2019s Fair that had fallen into disrepair.<\/p>\n

Hester met with city officials and convinced them to build what became Louis Armstrong Stadium to host the US Open, ripping the competition from the staid, private West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills where it had been held and thrusting it onto a far more prominent \u2014 and lucrative \u2014 stage.<\/p>\n

Construction was finished in a lightning fast 10 months, in time for the 1978 US Open. <\/p>\n

A grateful USTA rewarded Hester lifetime box seats for him and his heirs; a memorial plaque gracing the entrance and a namesake restaurant, his family said in a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no better seat in the house\u201d than the Hester family box, which Slew \u201ctreasured,\u201d his children said in court papers.<\/p>\n

Hester and his kids attended the open every year at \u201cThe House That Slew Built\u201d until his death in 1993 at age 80.<\/p>\n

The USTA\u2019s \u201cattitude toward the Hester family changed\u201d after his death, they alleged in Manhattan Federal Court papers.<\/p>\n

The Hesters claim the USTA\u2019s renovation of Arthur Ashe Stadium \u2014 which has eliminated lower bowl seating \u2014 stuck them with inferior tickets and a whopping $460,000 price tag. NYPost<\/p>\n

When Arthur Ashe Stadium was built and became the main venue for the US Open, the USTA charged the family a $45,000 annual fee and stuck their seats \u201cin a corner, with sightlines blocked by the umpire\u2019s chair,\u201d they alleged.<\/p>\n

They sued, prompting a 1998 settlement agreement which included better seats in Box 35G, regular bus and restaurant passes, and continued lifetime rights to attend the Open as long as Bill and Kathryn are alive, continue to pay the fee, and the competition is held at the National Tennis Center, according to the legal filing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 30 years since, the USTA has at every turn worked to undermine the settlement agreement and freeze the Hesters out,\u201d Bill and Kathryn alleged. <\/p>\n

The Hesters also claim a plaque dedicated to their dad has been removed from the National Tennis Center. ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n

Not only did the price tag for their seats soar to a staggering $215,416 in 2025 \u2014 their box has since been eliminated in the $800 million renovation of the tennis center, <\/a>which removed \u201call lower-bowl seating, including Box35G,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

In December the USTA claimed the family\u2019s only choice for 2026\u2019s competition was to take regular seats costing $460,000 \u2014 a price tag which would jump to $560,000 by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe USTA\u2019s decision to eliminate the Hesters\u2019 lifetime box and offer as a consolation prize inferior seats at more than double the cost is but the latest chapter in the USTA\u2019s attempts to freeze the Hesters out and diminish Slew\u2019s legacy,\u201d they said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Adding injury to the already-Grand Slam level insult, the family claims Slew Hester\u2019s memorial plaque has been removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo explanation has ever been given to us as to why the plaque was taken down,\u201d Bill Hester, 78, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the USTA does not comment on pending litigation, it should be noted that the USTA has fulfilled its commitment to the Hesters by providing them the opportunity to purchase seats in a location consistent with their prior seats and on the same basis as other purchasers,\u201d a USTA spokesman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Tennis Association has no love for the family of the man who created the National…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":928789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[109078,336,4413,62,1464,5724,67,132,68,1154,20886,101776],"class_list":["post-928788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-arthur-ashe","tag-lawsuits","tag-queens","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-match","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-us-open-tennis","tag-usta"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116903892849231776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}