Q: Why is the U.S. tennis center in New York named after Louis Armstrong? To my recollection, Armstrong never picked up a tennis racket. Why not name it after great American players like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe or Pete Sampras?
—Andy Sims, Douglasville
A: The U.S. Open is played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
The center was named for King, who won 39 Grand Slam titles during her career, in 2006.
The center’s second-largest stadium is named for Armstrong, the jazz great who lived in a nearby home from 1943 until he died in 1971.
The stadium was built as a venue for the 1964 World’s Fair and originally was called the Singer Bowl.
It was renamed for Armstrong after he died.
Armstrong Stadium was renovated into a tennis facility when the U.S. Open moved to that area in 1977 and was the center’s largest stadium until Arthur Ashe Stadium opened in 1997.
Ashe won the U.S. Open in 1968, the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975.
Q: What happened to the Falcons’ player named Collins? Why is he suspended for the first four games of the season?
—Mattie Jones, Decatur
A: Atlanta Falcons cornerback Jalen Collins must serve a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances.
The league issued the suspension in April.
“I was just going through some things last year and made a mistake,” Collins told the AJC in May. “I’m paying for it now.”
He was a second-round pick in 2015.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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