I asked Bud Collins, Who will be #1 ATP in 2015? He seemed perplexed for a few moments before answering with Djokovic.
The new Court 17 is a sunken bowl court. It’s really nice, like a bullring. Gasquet-Stakhovsky opened the court but the start had to be delayed from 11 to 1 because some of the wiring up to the TV booth wasn’t ready. For those who care, Gasquet (photo) won the very first point on the court by a failed netted drop shot by the Ukrainian.
The Radswanka sisters played each other in a first round match. They practice together every day of their lives and also hit together on P1 a couple of hours before their match. Agnieszka, WTA #13 won over Urszula, #116. They did not exit the court together.
Caroline Wozniacki is in town with her new boyfriend Rory McIlroy, the big-time PGA golfer. The couple attended Saturday night’s party at the Polish Consulate, after Caro’s fourth win in New Haven.
Michael Llodra had some major support at his five-set win over Victor Hanescu. Amelie Mauresmo, doubles partner Nenad Zimonjic, 200 Olympic bronze medalist Arnaud DiPasquale were there in his corner at court 4.
It was sad to see Ryan Harrison get booed after losing the second set to Marin Cilic. The New York fans were not pleased by Harrison’s bad habit of tossing his racquet. The frustrated young American tossed his racquet four times in the fourth set and hit two ball out of the court. I spoke with Mats Wilander after the match – he covered it for The Tennis Channel – and he believes Harrison is definitely top 20 material.
Jimmy Connors won’t be working with The Tennis Channel this U.S. Open and his replacements will be Wilander and Jim Courier.
Bernard Tomic hit with Radek Stepanek a couple of hours before his first round match vs. American qualifier Michael Yani. In my opinion, Tomic has all the qualities of a future #1 player. Like Mats Wilander says, he’s the smartest of the Young Four (Raonic, Harrison, Dimitrov), he has so many different shots in his arsenal, he’s super calm and focused on the court, he has a big serve. I really like what I see in Tomic.
Dimitrov lost in three sets, as was expected, to Monfils. I spoke with 20-year-old Dimitrov’s coach Peter McNamara on the way over to Armstrong and when asked what changes were made to Dimitrov’s game during his big climb up the rankings – he’s in the top 50 now – McNamara said it was nothing technical but mainly working on his head. He said he’s still not quite there yet. McNamara said he was a top 10 player in his day back in the 1980’s but Dimitrov is a much better player than he ever was. He also told me that Dimitrov had never played Monfils before but did hit with him twice in Melbourne this year. To get to the next level, McNamara believes Dimitrov just has to win two or three matches in a slam to get on a roll. With this loss to Monfils, Dimitrov’s big breakthrough will have to wait until 2012.
Tom Gullikson, a USTA coach in Boca Raton sang the praises of 15-year-old American Samantha Crawford, comparing her groundstrokes to Lindsay Davenport.
Bob McAdoo, the former NBA great, was at the US Open today and he watched the Madison Keys win over Jill Craybas.
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Thomas Tung · August 30, 2011 at 5:13 am
Wish I’d had the time to watch Tomic play earlier today — I’ve been a fan ever since I saw him play the Junior tournament here 2 years ago against Devin Britton. While Britton came back from a deep hole and won that one, I was very impressed with young Tomic — he can do what Stepanek does, but more and better. Add a big serve and steady groundstrokes, and the future’s looking bright for Bernard.
Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2011 at 12:46 pm
If you can, you must see Tomic play now, different player, much bigger physically. I really like his variety game and very professional business-like focus while practicing, which he did yesterday with Stepanek. He really has a presence on the court. The Cilic match will be a war.
@Tennis_Tipster · August 30, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Tomic looked deadly at Wimbledon and reminds me so much of Petr Korda it’s not true.
Nice to see Cilic putting it together of late and I think if he can roll Tomic will go into the 2nd week.
I had Stakhovsky as a real dark horse, so to see his ass handed to him by Gasquet, to me says a lot about where Gasquet’s head is right now – in a good place.
Michael · August 31, 2011 at 3:22 am
Day 2:
Gulbis killed Youzhny
michaella Krajicek, who won in three, was the last match to finish the day.
That’s my report.
You guys should really be posting real time from the Open.