Blame It On The? Rain Can’t Keep Djokovic Off The Court

Scoop, I can’t believe Fed or Nadal wouldn’t have access to an indoor facility.

I think, rain may have its biggest impact on Tsonga/Federer.

Fed is playing some beautiful tennis so far. He was brilliant against Monaco. But I am not so sure he can get past Tsonga. Even if he does, he probably will have to play Djoker the very next day. That may come to hurt him because at this stage in his career the recovery period is longer.

Fed and Tsonga would beat each other up so badly that they will come to lose to a relatively fresh Djoker (who plays his countryman and buddy Tipsarevic……oh come on!) the NEXT DAY! Having said that, this match up has the potential to become one of the all time classics in the history. I guess, it’s scheduled for 7PM tonight.

On the other side of the draw:
Isner should beat Simon; Murray should get past Young (even though Donald played some brilliant tennis to get here); Ferrer should beat Roddick in 4 or 5 (I know Roddick has the lead 3-1 or something); Nadal should win Muller in 4.

When the dust settles, Djoker may be the last man standing with his first USO championship!

Put in 13 hours today. Probably the best day of the tournament. Certainly the zaniest.

It starts on Armstrong. B. Decker is in the box today (didn’t see her yesterday). There are maybe 100 people there. Murray is next door at the GS. Nadal in Ashe.

They are still making sure the courts are good to go as I arrive. The players come out. They play a couple of games. I can see Roddick pushing his foot around the North-West baselines area and making a face. They play some more. Roddick starts complaining about the court. I think the Chair is Carlos Bernardes. He hops down to investigate the complaint. There is much discussion, finger pointing and foot rubbing. Ferrer comes over. There is a three way. Additional USTA people come out. Almost enough for Texas Hold ‘Em at this point. Ferrer extends both arms wide but I’m about 20 feet away and can’t tell if the gesture means what’s the big deal or of course we can’t play.

The small crowd is not happy. Roddick finally just up and leaves. This decision seems from where I’m at to have been unilateral. Some guy yells out “pull up your skirt Andy.” Ferrer gets his stuff after and leaves. I ask someone on the court what the problem is. Apparently Roddick has discovered a small leak in the court and it’s wet and not safe to play. In fact, Roddick pointed out another area much closer to the net but there isn’t much concern about that. Perhaps after tennis he can get into drilling oil wells.

I go over to the GS and watch 5 or 6 games of Murray who is having no trouble with Young. I walk back to Ashe and I see Brian Early on the ground drying the court with a towel. I think it odd that the tournament ref is down on the ground drying the court with a towel. If this is the best they came up with it doesn’t look promising. It’s maybe 30-40 minutes after Roddick left. Finally some other people come out with some equipment but I can’t tell what it is. I go back to Murray. Maybe 10 minutes later, I hear them announce the players again but I stay for Murray. A very short while later I go back to Armstrong but there are no players. Apparently Roddick was unhappy with the repairs and left again.

I’m back watching Murray. A photographer tips me off that Roddick has been moved to 13. A not very large field court. I run. I get a nice spot.

I don’t know how this information was made available but I think the fair way would have been to post it on the video monitor on Ashe at least 10 or 15 minutes before making it known elsewhere. So the people that started with Roddick would get first crack and to avoid a stampede.

It doesn’t take long before they lock down court 18 with metel barriers. If you’re not in, your not getting in. Turns out they moved the entire Ashe program to 13.

The atmosphere was very good. They don’t have the big TV camera setup but they bring in two small ones. It’s very crowded. Ferrer starts to make it a match by set three. I thought he would win set four but it didn’t happen. Roddick does a Taylor Dent 2009 and does a loop high fiving the crowd. Quarterfinal men’s match on a field court. I can’t recall that one before.

Next up on 13 The Woz. For reasons I can’t explain the already heavy obtrusive security is increased even more. Is Obama coming to see The Woz. Anyway. Petko put up the good fight in set two. But Nobody Beats The Woz — except of course Serena will kill her.

Then some drink. Some doubles and over to Ashe to see the end of Djoker match. I recall a Tipsy drop shot, Djoker covers the entire court and hits an amazing angled winner. The reason I recall it now is because a few hours later I see Federer run down a drop shot and just hit the ball — wide. Djoker is clearly faster then Fed these days, not surprisingly given the age differential, but that may be the difference when they meet.

A crazy US Open day. Men’s and Women’s QF on a field court in front of a tiny crowd. It Must Be Love (registered trademark of the USTA).

Thank you for allowing me to take over your blog again.

Did you guys see it ?

I probably should have added for those that care about this sort of thing. Squished in at the end were T. Champion I think her name is (Tennis Channel), Lief Shiras (TC), Corinna I can’t spell it (TC), Pam Shriver and Wilander all waiting for their interviews. Wilander is an excellent example of why you should never go out in the sun without sunblock on.

A lot of very upset fans outside of Ashe today due to the shuffling of what tickets for which day. And a stadium maybe 40% filled. $80 uppers were going for about $150, I you could find them.

Sucks typing on iPhone no matter what Jobs tells us.

Presidents wife is in a suite on the northwest corner. Second level. I can’t get a photo because I’m on the west side and she went inside the suite.

So I count on Scoop to scoop it.

Nasal is not ferrer in case any of forgot the quantum leap from the rest of the field to the top four

Hey you guys know there is a Major tennis tournament going on, right ?

I’ll start with the end today because I’m 80-90% I just rode the 7 train back with John Roddick. I only recognized him because I sat near the Roddick box on LA yesterday and looked like the same fellow; also the face looked like Andy except this guy was much stockier. And I think the guy wears nearly the same outfit everyday. Red Oklahoma shirt. He’s by himself. It’s about 9pm. I’m wondering why he doesn’t get a car back. Some other guy with some kind of Oklahoma hat that says “aggies” maybe and wearing a “D” placard (which is a player guest credential) meets him. They get off at Grand Central. I get off at Grand Central. That’s where we part so I guess it will remain a mystery.

Back to tennis. Morning is absolute confusion at the gates of the USTA Bille Jean National Tennis Center. Does anyone not on TV actually call it that. Confusion because people show up with their Friday tickets (surprise people don’t read email from ticketmaster) but the USTA is looking for Wednesday night tickets to get in to Ashe. Though they’ll let you on the grounds with your Friday ticket. But you can’t buy a ticket for today. There are very long lines for who knows what because they aren’t selling tickets for today. Some people told me they were allowed to switch the Fri for Wednesday tickets so maybe that explains the lines. The USTA has to know the stadium will be half empty even though a lot of people are outside Ashe wanting to get in and the TV audience will mistakenly think the matches aren’t well attended.

I’m sitting in the loge. I don’t really like the loge. Or I don’t like this seat where I get a great view of some guys head with a little court on the right and left. Toward the end of the Isner match I go up to the upper promenade. I look over the top of the West side. It’s all kids on the field courts. I don’t recognize anyone on the practice courts. I get a nice view of the Manhattan skyline through a hazy afternoon sky. I mentally note security is not hassling people this year about standing up there. That exercise was a constant for a while. People go up for a stretch and security chases them down. Rinse and repeat. Don’t build a walkway if you don’t want people to use a walkway.

About a 1/4 mile below me Isner has just double faulted at 1-1 in the fourth set tiebreak and you sense it’s near the end. At least I think it’s Isner. I remember Isner is in yellow and Murray amazingly not wearing white or gray is in red. Thankfully the giant monitor is there to help. Yes, Isner double faulted. Idea for additional revenue. Install those pay for time binoculars at the top of Ashe. Maybe sell canisters of supplemental oxygen. I think I’m getting dizzy; the air is thin up here.

Nadal-Roddick. Not much to say there. I like Nadal. I like his team. But I’m tired of Nadal’s See Spot Run Interviews. I no longer buy that he doesn’t speak fluent English. At this stage I’ll concede he will never be Djoker in the communication department but if all I’m going to get is the Chico Escuela-like “tennis been bery bery good to Rafa” I wish they would skip it. I skip it as I head out as he speaks.

It’s mostly kids downstairs and nothing grabs me. I head to the GS and notice on the Ashe monitor outside the stadium that they are playing the mixed doubles finals on Ashe. Did they even announce this after Nadal won. Does anyone care ? Even I have to draw the line and I continue to the GS.

It’s Shrevdova-King and Kirilenko-Petrova. I catch about the last set and the 10 point tiebreak and it’s more entertaining then the Nadal clinic. Someone tells me its the finals but I don’t think they would diss the WTA/doubles by sticking it out of the GS at the end of the day with little fanfare. It turns out it’s the semis. King wins. The overhang where I like to go for photos was closed. As usual no explanation from the powers that be. Apparently it’s not closed to three yellow shirts and two red supervisors. Anyone else notice the completely over the top amount of visible security ? I don’t care how much undercover you have but the visible security sometimes makes the place feel occupied.

Which reminds me, Mrs. President in da house. Yeh, as I posted earlier, Michelle popped up on the Ashe monitor during a changeover. Nice to have a tennis fan in the White House.

After the doubles semis I head out to court 4. The longest walk in the place. GS to court 4. It’s Junior girls but I’m only interested in seeing American Madison Keys play. I saw her briefly last year but I know she won her first round match in the main draw this year so I want to take a look. When I tell you there were flies out on and near court 4 you will not appreciate the volume. There was a small crowd and one photographer and we could not believe how bad the flies were. There were flies near 6 and 7 but nothing like 4. It was like playing in an infested swamp. The photographer left because she was getting them in her eyes. The players were constantly smacking them off. I don’t know how those kids played in that. On Keys. It’s hard to tell at 14-16 who is going to make it but Keys looked very good to me. Though her partner is one of four still alive in the Junior singles.

As I walked out I saw on the outside Ashe monitor Justin Gimelstob doing an on-court post-match interview with Mixed Doubles winners Sock/Oudin. I chat with quite a few people at The Open and you’d be hard pressed to find many positive comments about Gimelstob.

No blog on the Fed/Tsonga match?Did you guys have a report ready if he lost?