The tournament/tournaments held on a certain surface just before the Grand Slam on that surface begins.
U.s. Open
A Grand Slam is a tournament of the ranked players and it spans across different continents. There are 4 Grand Slams in a year. The ATP is the Association of Tennis Professionals.
There is no "2012 open tennis tournament".
US Open
Cash
Quarterfinalists in the Us Open Grand Slam tournament win about $237,500.
The tennis Grand Slam is a annual tournament. There three tournaments within the Grand Slam. The US Open, the Wimbledon, and the Australian Open.
This Grand Slam is played in New York state.
She was the first African American woman to be a competitor in the world tennis tournament. She was also the first woman to win the Grand Slam award for her tennis-playing sucess. She also wrote an autobiograpy called "Nothing But Trouble." :)
The four major tennis tournaments; the US Open, the Open Championships(wimbledon), Roland Garros (French Open), and the Australian Open are known as the Grand Slam of tennis. Hitting a grand slam in baseball scores four runs and is the greatest accomplishment a baseball player can achieve during one at bat. Likewise, winning the Grand Slam of tennis involves winning four tournaments and is considered the greatest accomplishment in tennis. Because "tournament which makes up part of the Grand Slam of tennis" is so long it is usually shortened to "Slam".
Arthur Ashe was the first African American tennis player who won 3 grand slam titles.