The volatile but supremely talented Alexander Kudrayvtsev took down Ricardas Berankis 76 06 63 and then, as he exited the court, swiped a kid’s white cap off his head. The kid ran after him shocked, then the big Russian playfully tossed it back to the kid and also gave him his yellow headband. I like this big hitter and who ever has to play him in the first round better be on high alert. By the way, AK may be the only player in tennis history to wear two different color socks, one red, one black.
My man Taro Daniel won again in three sets, watch this guy people, he’s got a very aesthetic game.
Fognini was hitting with Bolelli on grandstand. Fog man was strutting around and posing, just like he does for matches. Fognini is fun to watch, he has a cocky swagger but it’s not offensive or obnoxious.
James McGee finally made his first major main draw, but it was not without high drama. The 27 year old Irishman was up 52 but closed it out 64 despite cramps. McGee fell to the court and was crying. It was a far more emotional reaction than more than a few first time major title winners. In some ways, McGee’s achievement is more impressive than Fed and Rafa. McGee’s example of Perseverance is something to admire and be inspired by.
Rajeem Ram lost 76 in the third (5) to Andreas Beck of Germany on court seventeen, the last match of qualies. Ram is classy and embraced Beck at net. Beck is fiery but not in an offensive manner, he yelled a lot of Hewitt like Come on’s in the third set. When he finally won the match, after Ram’s final landed just long, Beck fell on his back Rafa style, you could see this win meant an awful lot for him.
Ons Jabeur has earned her first US Open main draw after several failures. The Tunisian, as I have said many times, has a fun game to watch. A little Rios and Taylor Townsend. Jabeur won French Open singles in juniors a few years ago but has been hindered by two surgeries since.
A ballkid told me that in one of his matches yesterday, a German girl was crying after losing serve in the first game of the match and then again she cried after losing the second game to go down 0-2 but she came back and won the match when the opponent retired in the second. I looked back at all the results and could not figure out who he was talking about.
Talked with Kokkinakis, Ebden and Boris Sobkin about Facing Rafa.
Schiavone was practicing on P6 at dusk and was having a lot of fun with her coaches, it was high intensity but high fun also. You rarely see players practicing so hard while also having fun and laughs too. They were doing some kind of cross court challenge points off serves. After her hit, Schiavone was swarmed by kids wanting selfies, after obliging them all, Schiavone went over to watch from the corner, the Francoise Abanda match, with her team. Curious to see Schiavone, a former French Open champion, watching a qualies match between two non Italian unknowns on a far outer court. She was observing it for about 8 minutes. This was while Berankis vs. Kudrayvtsev was going on on the adjacent court but Schiavone had no interesting in it.
Borna Coric, the seventeen year old, made the main draw by beating Jimmy Wang. I saw the other seventeen year old Alxandre Zverev and asked to do an interview while he was on way to bus, but he asked me to go through the ATP so they can tell him.
I saw Richard Gasquet tweeted a photo of himself running in Central Park this morning, near Columbus Circle. Saw him hours later on the practice court. These guys can’t get enough training can they?
Melanie Oudin was ahead in the first set and also 52 in the tiebreak but blew it (choked) to Ashleigh Barty, the young Aussie, coached by Jason Stoltenberg, former coach of Hewitt. Oudin looks a bit heftier now. Kokkinakis was watching with his big travel bag carrier, looks like he’s flying out of NYC tomorrow to somewhere. Tough loss for Oudin who really needed this one.
Happy to say my Facing Hewitt and Facing Federer books are on sale at the US Open Bookstore now located next to the Yonex booth.
Rain delay of about two hours halted play.
No tags
You Know Who · August 23, 2014 at 12:02 am
“and also gave him his yellow headband”
I was looking after kids at that point and the young girl just kept saying “I want to ask him for his yellow head band.” Now we know where it went. We saw the last set. And then went to see Ram because they remembered Ram took a photo with them last year or the year before. Kids always remember that stuff. And Ram signed for them despite the tough loss — you know I like that.
If Gasquet was running through Columbus Circle to CP then my bet is he’s staying at the Mandarin Oriental.
I was watching Schiavone for quite a while before Berankis. Yeh, she really works hard. Odd I only ran into you while eating because I was at many of the same matches as you. Fun day. Tomorrow will be madness. The gates open early too.
Bryan · August 23, 2014 at 1:00 am
Glad to hear Borna Coric made the draw. Any word about Alize Lim? She’s playing qualies.
You Know Who · August 23, 2014 at 1:31 am
Lim lost on the second day of qualies. I saw her last year. A very good looking young women but she never gets out of the qualies. Her parents were out last year supporting her. Someone told me she dates (or did) Julien Bennetau. I guess she has some fans though.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2014 at 8:49 am
Cur that “Madness” 80s tape and run it all day long ) Gonna be a zoo today, until about 2-3 when the clinics are over and the players hit the courts for practice.
Bryan · August 23, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Thanks for the info You Know Who. Yeah as far as I know Alize is still dating Bennetau. Awhile back she put Maria Sharapova on blast for not knowing who he was when in fact he was ranked above Dimitrov at the time.
Hartt · August 23, 2014 at 1:06 pm
You mentioned that Schiavone and her team watched a few minutes of the Abanda match. Francoise may well be worth watching for the future. In the USO qualies she won her 3 matches something like 6-1, 6-1; 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-0. She’s just 17 years old and was planning on playing in the juniors at the USO. A severe shoulder injury kept her out much of last year, but if she’s injury-free she could do well on the main WTA tour.
Thomas Tung · August 24, 2014 at 12:08 am
Saw the Taro Daniel match, looked him up online afterwards and apparently he trains in Spain. Played like a classic smooth stroking clay-courter, I really liked his focus and work ethic out there.
My friend Abid mentioned how impressed he was by Coric, and Coric got the big points right against the veteran Jimmy Wang. Guys like Wang and Russell are the gatekeepers to the ATP 100 — if you can’t consistently beat guys like that you will never make it to the higher echelons of the game.
Scoop Malinowski · August 24, 2014 at 1:31 am
Lim’s boyfriend is Chardy, not Benneteau. She did delicately chastise Maria on Twitter last year.
Bryan · August 24, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Thanks. I mixed up Chardy a consistent top 20 player for Benneteau, who until recently still had to play qualifiers.