There was a time when the stars of tennis were as famous as the biggest football and baseball players, and maybe even more famous than the biggest names in basketball. Starting in the 1970s until well in the 1990s, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were the great players who made the sport incredibly popular. In addition to their talents on the court, players like McEnroe and Connors also had dynamic personalities.

The women’s side was also well-represented in those years. Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf were true legends of the game. They’re also among the rare athletes who impacted our culture beyond the court. (For proof, check out HBO’s recent documentary on King.)

Things have changed. Today the sport has a dominating men’s player and several excellent women’s players, few of whom the average sports fan could name. The sport as a whole just doesn’t seem to pack the punch it once did.

But for two weeks in late summer, much of the United States, especially the New York City area, will focus a lot of attention on the game veteran comedian George Carlin once described as playing Ping-Pong while standing on the table. The U.S. Open takes place this year Aug. 28 through Sept. 10 in Flushing, N. Y. at the USTA Tennis Center. It’s the last major tennis tournament of the regular season — the others are the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

The biggest matches at the Open take place at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which opened in 1997 and is considered one of the premier tennis stadiums in the world. It’s named after the tennis great who won three grand slam events, including the 1968 U.S. Open.

On the men’s side the dominating player this year is Roger Federer, who has won the past two U.S. Opens and the three Wimbledon championships. He’s also won two of the last three Australian Opens and is widely regarded as the best player in the world. Some see his failure to win a French Open, however, as a blemish on his record (Rafael Nadal has dominated Federer in the last two French Opens).

But even if Federer never wins a French Open, he’ll remain in good company. Connors, McEnroe and Sampras all failed to win there, while lesser players including Gaston Kuerten and Juan Carlos Ferrero took the title. There are clay courts at the French — even some of the best players don’t often compete well on clay. Others, like Nadal, turn clay-court play into a specialty. Regardless of his French performances, though, Federer figures to be a huge favorite in New York this year.

Last year, American Andy Roddick was considered a rival for Federer. Roddick won the 2003 Open, but has been dominated by Federer in recent years. Still, if anyone has a chance of upsetting Federer this year, it’s Roddick.

Lately, the women’s game has garnered the spotlight with such tennis luminaries as Venus and Serena Williams dominating 11 major tournaments, including four U.S. Opens. The sisters also have gone head-to-head five times in major finals. Although Serena is the defending Wimbledon champion, there’s been speculation that the sisters’ best days are behind them. Neither has reached a U.S. Open since 2002 (when Serena defeated Venus in the final).

Even die-hard sports fans may be hard-pressed to name the last three women’s U.S. Open champions — Kim Clijsters (2005); Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004); Justine Henin-Hardenne (2003). None of the three catapulted to celebrity status a la Steffi Graf, a former World No. 1 women’s tennis player from Germany who generally is considered one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time.

Martina Hingis, who emerged as a great player in the 1990s at a very early age, is a player to watch at this year’s U.S. Open. Hingis has won three consecutive Australian Opens and she took Wimbledon in 1997. Though she’s never won a U.S. Open, she did reach the finals in 1998 and 1999.

Injuries forced Hingis to retire in 2003 when she was 22 years old, but she returned to the courts this year and advanced to the quarterfinals at the French Open. Sports fans love a comeback story. If Hingis makes a run at the Open title, you can bet tennis will be the talk of the town again.