Some thoughts:
1. The U.S. Open is celebrating 40 years of the Open era and predictably had a really lame opening ceremony last Monday night, complete with—get this—the Jersey Boys doing a Four Seasons medley. They also invited 40 past champions to help celebrate. Inexplicably, the only two 5-time men’s champions, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras, were M.I.A. These guys defined the U.S. Open during their respective eras. Not sure who’s at fault here, but it felt awkward to me. Also missing: Steffi and Andre.
2. As I mentioned in my preview, I was a little upset that James Blake had to play Donald Young in the opening round, but that ended up being a really enjoyable match—at least the last two sets were spectacular. On Saturday night, Blake had to face one of his best friends on the tour, fellow American Mardy Fish. They are such good friends, that Blake will be a groomsman in Mardy's September wedding. Fish, for those of you who don’t know, is two years younger than Blake and might be the poster child for wasted talent in the Men’s game, but he managed to get by Blake in straight sets to make the round of 16 at the Open for the first time in his career. While both players played well, this was not a fun match to watch. It seemed neither player was enjoying himself.
3. My two picks, Andy Murray and Dinara Safina looked less than invincible during the first week and both were pushed to the limit getting to the fourth round. Meanwhile, the Williams Sisters (who should collide in the quarters), Nadal, and Fed have all cruised easily through the early rounds. Good thing I’m not a betting man.
4. As good a story as Mardy Fish making the round of 16 a month before his wedding is, perhaps Sam Querrey’s (pictured) story is even better. The six foot-six inch, 20-year old from Southern California made a huge statement on Saturday by beating an even taller (6'10") Ivo Karlovic in straight sets. What sounds like a pretty boring match on paper, ended up being quite entertaining. Up next for Querrey? Unfortunately, he’s got to face Nadal.
5. Perhaps more than any other Open that I can remember, this tourney has been all about the Young Guns. There has been some electric play from guys who wouldn’t be old enough to buy a beer during their stay in Queens. I’ve already mentioned 19-year old Donald Young and 20-year old Sam Querrey, but there have been others. Guys like Marin Cilic - 19 (who is in the midst of a four set battle with world #3, Novak Jokovic as I type this), Ernests Gulbis – turned 20 during his match with Roddick (he had a chance to go up two sets to love against the big serving American, but eventually lost), Juan Martin Del Portro – 19 (who is still alive in the tournament!), Kei Nishikori – 19 (who is also still in and all he did was get by former #1 and current #4 David Ferrer!). The kids are alright, indeed.
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Addendum: All the matches in the fourth round are set. There are some intriguing match-ups in the men's draw. Most notably, two of the teenagers I mentioned go head to head: Del Potro (from Argentina) goes up against Nishikori (Japan). I can only hope that the powers that be will cover this one, because both these guys have game. While I don't think Mardy Fish will get to the next round, he is going to play an exciting young, French Talent, Gael Monfils (I think he's 22). That should be a good one, especially if Fish can use the New York crowd to his advantage.
I also failed to mention that the Americans have fared pretty well so far. Three are left in the men's draw out of 16-- no other country did better, though Spain also has three, and Russia and Switzerland have two each. On the women's side it's not quite as rosy. Of the 12 women left (they are a day ahead of the men) Only the Williams sisters have survived, and as I mentioned they should meet in the next round. Surprisingly, no country has more than two still in the draw. Russia and France are even with the U.S. France was the only country to have three in the round of 16.
Oh, and as for the question of who will be number one on the women's circuit, there are only four left: Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic are all still in contention.
I don't know what this says about the current state of tennis, but I haven't heard of anyone in this article outside of James Blake and the past legends who weren't in attendance. It might be good news - future stars are emerging - or it might be a sign of tennis' troubled state.
I have seen the RF looks good so far. At this point, I really like him and his rivalry with Nadal. If they play in the finals, I'll watch.
I don't think Tennis is in trouble at all-- maybe in the U.S, but globally it is doing very well. Attendance records are being shattered at this year's Open (surely they're not all foreign tourists?), and Rafael Nadal is being treated like a rock star in New York. Both the men and women's fields are so deep, that you get to see high quality tennis at nearly every match. Heck, even the American Qualifier (Ryler DeHeart) Nadal beat in the second round put up a good fight-- well, after the first set where he looked like a deer in headlights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
As for not knowing the names, due to the nature of the sport turnover is high. Was it Boris who said, you have to measure a tennis player's life in dog years?
That is a good point about the turnover - it is a weird sport when you are over-the-hill at 27.
Whose shelf life is longer - a rapper or tennis pro? You've got Snoop and Sampras, but you've also got Juvenile and Jim Courier.
I smell a blog entry on this...
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