The U.S. Professional Indoor Championships, also known as U.S. Pro Indoor,
CoreStates Center
. It was originally named the Philadelphia Indoor Open Tournament prior to the open era.
History
The tournament was founded in 1962 as the Philadelphia Invitational Indoor Tennis Championships.
ILTF World Circuit.[4] In 1964 the tournament was also known as the Philadelphia Indoor Championships.[4][5] In 1969 the name was changed to the Philadelphia International Indoor Open Championships.[4] In 1970 the tournament was organised by the International Tennis Players Association (founded in 1965 as the International Professional Tennis Players Association)[6] and branded as the International Tennis Players Association Open Indoor[7] or ITPA Open Indoor. In 1971 the tournament was re-branded as the Philadelphia International Indoor Open Championships[8] also called the Philadelphia International Indoor[9]
In 1972 the United States Professional Indoor tennis championships were created in
Spectrum at each of its yearly editions, with Rod Laver, John Newcombe or Marty Riessen winning the event in the early 1970s. After the WCT absorbed the NTL in 1970, the tournament continued to exist within the WCT tour until 1978, when the event officially became part of the Grand Prix Tour, precursor of the current ATP Tour
.
As part of the Grand Prix's top tier tournaments until 1986, the Philadelphia event known as the U.S. Pro Indoor since 1973, saw American players dominating the fields in the 1970s and 1980s, with
World No. 1s Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe six finals each, and Czechoslovak Ivan Lendl three. In 1985, Swiss watch company Ebel S.A. started its six-year sponsorship of the event, the tournament becoming until 1990 the Ebel U.S. Pro Indoor.[12][13] The event entered the new ATP circuit in 1990 as part of the Championship Series, to see eighteen-year-old, and future US Open champion Pete Sampras win his first career title against Andrés Gómez