Tennis Prose




Sep/15

8

The Second Week Begins

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Second week Tuesday always means three things – the grounds are practically empty of fans, most of the players have already gone home, and the US Open and east coast summer is almost over.

The electricity and energy of all the matches on the outer courts is replaced by near vacant food courts and footpaths, save for a few junior and wheelchair matches.

The few survivors who have made it to second week Tuesday now have a chance to make their names a part of history — Kiki Mladenovic, the under-achieving French woman is in her first major quarterfinal and up a break in the second on Roberta Vinci of Italy. Kiki looks like she has slimmed down and gotten herself supremely fit this year and the hard work is paying off.

But it has been a painful journey for the former top ranked junior who is now 22 years old and ranked 40 in the world (7 in doubles) – I saw her in tears and agony the last two years in Washington DC, after losing straight set singles matches to Kurumi Nara and Sam Stosur, respectively.

Venus Williams will do battle with little sister Serena in the other quarterfinal tonight, and on the other side of the draw it’s Kvitova vs Pennetta and Azarenka vs Halep.

On the men’s side Djokovic will battle Feliciano Lopez tonight, Cilic takes on Tsonga, Wawrinka vs Anderson and Gasquet vs Federer.

This Thursday is a special day for fans who are invited free to the national tennis center grounds to watch legends doubles, the college invitational featuring the top eight men and women college players vying for a wildcard into US Open qualies next year and of course the junior and wheelchair matches.

As I write this, Mladenovic has fumbled away her lead to Vinci and is down two break points at 4-4 in the second to Vinci, who won the first set 6-3.

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33 comments

  • jg · September 8, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    Are you going to watch the Tommy Paul match today against the Canadian

  • Dan Markowitz · September 8, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    I was thinking of going down to watch it, but I think on Thursday you can get into the grounds for free and I hope the juniors are still going on. Is there any way of watching this match on the internet? I wish they’d show it over Mladonevich-Vinci, what a snore.

  • Dan Markowitz · September 8, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    Actually, I’m rooting for Vinci to win the whole enchilada, beat Serena in the semis and whatever big babe she faces in the finals. Frankly, I thought Vinci was basically only a doubles player. This would be like Leander Paes getting to the quarters of a singles slam.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    No live stream of Paul vs Felix on court five, Josh Meiseles will give a running commentary on Twitter though —

  • jg · September 8, 2015 at 3:12 pm

    I just saw the score, looks like Felix the Canadian won the first set.

  • Dan Markowitz · September 8, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    Wow, this 15 year old, Auger Aliassime looks like he’s the real deal. He lost to Tommy Paul 7-5 in the third today in the second round of the boy’s juniors. This might be the teen who wins a slam again.

    Here’s the piece about Aliassime from the US Open web site:

    By McCarton Ackerman
    Tuesday, September 08, 2015

    Felix Auger Aliassime is playing in his first Grand Slam event at this year’s US Open, but it’s a safe bet that it won’t be his last.

    The recently turned 15-year-old is currently the youngest player with a ranking on the ATP World Tour, checking in at No. 770. He’s also been in dominant form on the ITF junior circuit, winning 12 of his last 13 matches. He breezed through his first-round match in the US Open boys’ singles draw against Tung-lin Wu, 6-2, 6-4, before narrowly losing in the second-round to No. 5 seed and reigning French Open boys’ singles champion Tommy Paul, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

    “It’s been really different being at a Grand Slam. When I got here, it almost felt like an attraction park and not a tennis tournament,” said Aliassime. “There are so many people here and a big crowd for all the matches, so it was pretty nice.”

    Growing up in Montreal, Aliassime first started playing tennis with his father at age 5. But as he kept racking up junior titles, he eventually outgrew his father as a hitting partner. He’s now at Canada’s National Tennis Centre in Montreal, training under the eye of former top-ranked Canadian player Frederic Niemeyer.

    Aliassime made headlines in the tennis world this March when, as a 14-year-old, he qualified for a Challenger event in Rimouski, Canada. A highlight reel of his final-round qualifying match racked up nearly 100,000 views on YouTube. This summer, he came through qualifying at another challenger event in Granby, Canada, and then defeated a Top 200-ranked player (Darian King) on his way to the quarterfinals.

    The results even attracted the attention of fellow Canadian and world No. 10 Milos Raonic, who invited him to serve as a hitting partner during the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Montreal.

    “The wins gave me a lot of confidence because I know what I’m able to achieve now,” said Aliassime. “There’s a little bit more pressure at the junior level after you’ve won some matches in the pros, but I think I’ve handled it well so far.”

    It also seems that Aliassime relishes the pressure. Instead of jumping onto the pro tour, Aliassime said that he plans on playing more junior events and competing in all the junior Grand Slams next year.

    “I’ll play some pro tournaments in Canada because they’re right there, but I’m not planning on traveling around for them for another couple of years at least,” said Aliassime. “I’m still young, so I want to focus more on the juniors for now.”

  • sharoten · September 8, 2015 at 5:53 pm

    Good article. The kid’s future is extremely bright. He only won one point less than Paul today and considering it was his very first slam, very impressive showing. Paul is 3 years older, an eternity in junior tennis, and has already turned pro and qualified into the main round of the USO so for Felix to stay so equal with him is amazing.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    No shame at all losing to Paul 75 in the third, Paul is red hot right now, I saw him up 3-0 on Seppi with two break points to go up 4-0, so Paul is playing amazing tennis right now and so too is this fifteen year old marvel — what a match this must have been to see, sorry that I did not get to see this amazing clash of super talented teens — prediction – five majors for Felix, four for Paul 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    Darn — I met Darian King last week in qualies, and did not ask him about this kid Felix, wish I knew — next time —

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    Venus vs Serena is a huge event and attraction right now, but I think Johnny Mac vs Serena would be far bigger — more looking forward to see Djokovic vs Lopez next —

  • JG · September 8, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    This match is boring, we had a party the other night and heated exchanges as to who wins, JMac or Serena, non tennis players generally felt Serena would kill Mac, those “I. The know” felt it would be all Mac, watching this match tonight I could not see Mac losing.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    I think Venus is subconsciously semi tanking, she would rather see Serena win the GS then win another major for herself — just the way I see it — no way Venus wins this — it’s just never enjoyable to see two siblings compete against each other — Never.

  • Michael · September 8, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    I went out to Ct 5 and saw the last set of Paul/Canadian Kid. Wow it was hot and humid. That is what I remember most. Also the match could have gone either way. Maybe it’s all beggening to blend in at this point in the tourney but it looks like every junior plays the same exact game. The same grips, the same strokes. The same baseline game. If someone were to serve and volley a single winning point they should be immediately awarded the match. I am impressed as heck especially with the girls who are younger than the guys I think that they can play at all in this heat let alone for 1-2 hours.

    But I don’t want to talk about that kids match. I know it’s your board and your topics but I want to mention that after 15 days I finally ventured into Ashe to see the final set of Cilic verse [Fill in any of the endlessly talented French Players that Can’t go Deep in NY], I mean Tsonga.

    First, why are they building a space ship around Ashe stadium. It’s very strange.

    Second, I won’t go into my very long and likely boring to most detailed rant of how Ashe is the worst stadium ever built for tennis and how it’s getting even worse with a roof. I will mention the most messed up thing I’ve seen this year is the fact they insisted after Cilic win that every seat loge and up (85 % of the seats ?) exit by going down the inside stairs. This is unprecedented, extremely uncomfortable and inherently dangerous. I wonder how the couple that brought a 10 day old baby to a tennis match on a 90 degree day (WTF ?!) navigated their way down.

    Dan, Tuesday was traditionally a great day on Armstrong, if you prefer Men’s Singles. That is all over with the new schedule pushing the Men’s R4 forward so it is done on Labor Day instead of Tuesday. The dubious benefit is Thursday traditionally one of the two “dead days” is free being it is even deader than usual because there is no adult singles tennis at all.

  • Dan Markowitz · September 9, 2015 at 7:23 am

    Michael, I’m distressed that you saw the last set of the Paul-Aliassme match and it so non-plussed you that you have nothing to say about it.

    I totally agree with you that the non-diversity of these junior players and pretty much all the male players left in the draw after Lopez is out is also distressing. The Cilic-Tsonga match was a good one as was the Murray-Anderson match (I didn’t see Djoko v Lopez match), but the Williams’ sisters match zapped out in the third set when it looked like it was just about to get good.

    I don’t expect any great shakes between Wawa and Andy or Fed and Richie G, but then a Fed-Wawa and Cilic-Djoko matches could be good.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2015 at 8:23 am

    The best matches most often seem to be early in the tourney, first week, somewhat rare to get a Sampras-Corretja or Djok-Fed, Roddick-Hewitt, etc

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2015 at 8:30 am

    Michael has had his full of US Open tennis, sounds like he’s in a tennis daze and a bit tipsy at this point ) Words of wisdom, you have to take a day or two off, too much tennis as in fifteen straight days, is not good for one’s soul, skip a day Michael, asap — the new Ashe is amazing, the roof structure is awe inspiring to marvel at, Ashe is perhaps the most amazing sports arena in the world, i like how the roof makes it more cozy and intimate — it is strange how the French always seem to crumble in NY, Pioline was the last success but he too crumbled in the final — Paul vs Felix must’ve been a classic —

  • Dan Markowitz · September 9, 2015 at 9:01 am

    Actually, the French had a great tournament: Paire, Chardy, Tsonga and Gasquet. Now if Richie can play the match of his life and upend Fed tonight, the French will be going mad. Simon and Monfils flamed out, but Tsonga’s has come back well from his bad start to the year. And to me, Tsonga is the most likable player out there.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2015 at 9:05 am

    Gasquet has had a superb run this tournament but he has as much chance vs Fed tonight as Quint has against the shark in the Jaws movie reruns — straight sets for Fed —

  • Michael · September 9, 2015 at 11:38 am

    Yes, Anderson was a good one at least the last 2 sets or so, which I was I saw. It was extra good for LA being in the shade by the time I got there.

    We could see Anderson moving even deeper. Thiem was actually playing well a few nights ago and Kevin still won a tight 3 set match. He was as good or better against Murray. He doesn’t strike me as one of these players that has a major letdown after a big upset and has a good record v. Stan . I know Gilbert was making fun of Kevin after the Mirray match for his demeanor but he won’t get thrown by playing a big match on Ashe. I remember some years bag Kevin won a thriller 5 set over Bellucchi and over a very vocal Brazillian crowd. He wasn’t bothered by the crowd at all. He’s all business and very focused on court.

  • Michael · September 9, 2015 at 11:40 am

    Please excuse all my typos. I see you still haven’t added the ability edit a post after the fact. (-:

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    Anderson is like an assassin, stone cold killer, as controlled as Borg was, I have never seen Anderson suffer a meltdown, his focus is remarkable — I thought Gilbert was being slightly disrespectful in trying to provoke Anderson to show emotion, even questioning his heart, Anderson eventually obliged the requests by Gilbert by raising his arms aloft like a champ for the fans, but Gilbert should appreciate Anderson for what he is and not try to provoke him to show emotion — imagine Gilbert trying to do that to Borg or Graf how uncomfortable that would be — I generally like BG and all his ESPN work, maybe this was an offshoot of him interviewing a clown like Djokovic a couple of nights ago and that dance bit, that could have put him in a playful spirit for these on court post match interviews — which is good — if BG can get Anderson to dance like Djokovic and that kooky fan the other night, if he beats Stanimal, I might eat my hat 🙂

  • Michael · September 9, 2015 at 10:39 pm

    Scoop, I think I was in a daze but if I take off a day I’ll break the streak. If I told you the number of consecutive day sessions you wouldn’t believe it.

    You mentioned Sampras-Corretja which was easily one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. Before the Fed-Robredo match a couple years back I saw Alec (he was coaching Robredo at the time) and mentioned that great match and he seemed to really appreciate being part of such an epic match. I rank it above Pete-Andre 2001 (though P v. A was obviously a much more historically significant match) which was also incredible in terms of atmosphere and quality of tennis and I was lucky to be courtside for both. The intensity on Armstrong for the 5th set of the Coretja match was as good or better than any match I’ve ever seen. And, sorry, but Ashe even in a frenzy never has the same intensity as Armstrong. I will mourn the coming and unjustifiable killing of Armstrong stadium. I would like to be there if they intend to implode it — if you could arrange that.

  • Michael · September 10, 2015 at 9:49 pm

    Day 17.

    “Welcome to the US Open.” Yes, that’s what the sign says so this must be the right place. Hello is anyone here ? I thought there was a tennis tournament going on this week ? Anyone ?

    That’s what it felt like when I first arrive. Later I realize the problem. The USTA was expecting a Caddyshack situation whereby they open the pool for 5 minutes a year for the general public and expect a riot. So they shut down the US Open Club and the Heineken Lounge and everyone left the facility. Where am I supposed to go in the drizzle ?

    Play finally starts. I mostly want to see the young Canadian kid play doubles but before that was a surprisingly entertaining and competitive girls (kids) doubles. After watching some of the men’s doubles on Armstrong, more kids and wheelchairs I end up at the college tennis matches mostly because they are out on my new favorite courts 4/5/6. I realize it’s a desperation move. Soon it rains again. I leave.

    They are still on schedule except for some of the college matches which are easy to catch up. If it rains tomorrow they may have a problem.

    Dan, what can be grueling day after day are things you might not consider:

    Such as the taking the #7 to/from. I think John Rocker if I recall his name correctly got something of a raw deal years ago. The #7 is like stepping into the Twilight Zone as the song goes. And not the good episodes. It’s not fun after a full day in the sun to have to listen to singing or other various sub-par vaudeville acts. It almost makes you pine for Rudy G. to be Mayor again.

    The Food Court. To give you a second movie reference. I am at the point that when I pass the Food Court I have a Clockwork Orange reaction. My stomach beings to churn as I realize I must put some of this crap into my body again because I need the fuel. I would prefer almost anything else including Solent Green (movie reference three). All kidding aside I feel as if I am unwittingly doing my own Supersize Me (movie reference 4) experiment and it won’t end well.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 7:41 am

    What a day at the Open, me and Dan were scheduled to cycle out there but the rain scrapped that plan unfortunately, guess the rain deterred a lot of fans who were going to take advantage of the free admission for the DOubles On Us campaign — John Rocker sure did get a bad deal, and unfairly vilified and demonized, taking that 7 train is always an adventure and a risk — Soylent Green – helluva movie — Supersize me – helluva movie —

  • Michael · September 11, 2015 at 9:55 am

    Where can you leave your bikes that they would still be there at the end of the day ? Do the let you leave them in Lot A ?

  • Michael · September 11, 2015 at 10:09 am

    I don’t really keep up with the draw while I’m going (I don’t buy their draw sheet each day with cumulative results, I print the schedule).

    So two days ago I think it was I’m out by 16. It’s just me alone watching Pannetta and her coach I guess it was. And I was thinking what is she still doing here must be in the doubles. Yesterday I finally see she’s still in the singles ! And Vinci ! Vinci !! They aren’t taking any chances with the Calander Slam at stake. 😉

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    Michael, tennis is not WWE, it’s not a rigged draw for Serena, she has tow in seven matches, nobody gets to the semis by accident, Pennetta and Vinci earned it, so did Halep —

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 1:12 pm

    Lock em up by the bike rack at end of subway ramp by the main entrance Michael —

  • Michael · September 11, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    That your bike is still there is testament to the quality of your bike or the mange in the city.

    Vinci wins. Amazing. Amazing choke.

  • Michael · September 11, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    That would be change in the city. Darn spell check.

  • Bryan · September 12, 2015 at 2:57 am

    A better US Open than usual for me. Vika and Isner made it to Week 2 but crashed on Monday and Tuesday. Hey, it beats those majors where all my favorites get smoked in Week 1.

    PS Janowicz and Gulbis are garbage until further notice.

  • Bryan · September 12, 2015 at 3:01 am

    “I’m rooting for Vinci to win the whole enchilada, beat Serena in the semis and whatever big babe she faces in the finals.”

    Dan, against all odds, must be a happy chap today.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2015 at 8:23 am

    Bryan, looks like Janowicz and Gulbis are done, JJ looked awful at US Open, no confidence, same mistakes, looked sick of the ATP life, not happy to be there, Gulbis will need to win matches at Challenger level, Thiem doesn’t even bother to practice with Gulbis anymore, not enough comp I would surmise —

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