The Rearview Mirror: The 2013 US Open

by Savannah


via Elsa/Getty Images North America)

In a bruising conclusion to tennis's Grand Slam season, Rafael Nadal overcame Novak Djokovic in four sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, to win the U.S. Open. The turning point in the match came in the eighth game of the third set, when Djokovic failed to convert a triple break point after Nadal had slipped and fallen. When asked how he kept his nerve in the moment, Nadal said, "I was sipping on Cava back in Mallorca, as I am wont to do, when I was startled by a passing lark. In the moment I dropped my glass, and it clattered upon my tile floor, yet did not shatter. And I said to myself, 'Rafa, did the glass break?' And then I said, 'No, Rafa, the glass did not break.' And then I said, 'Rafa, is Rafa not stronger than glass?' And then I said, 'Yes, Rafa. Rafa is stronger than glass.' And that's when everything changed for me."

Quote found on Grantland.com


via Clive Brunskill Getty Images

The conversation has changed. I read a lot of comments about how dull the 2013 US Open was and asked myself what tournament they were watching? It couldn't be the one I was privileged to see that ran from August 26 to September 9 2013. A tournament that saw the death throes of US Mens tennis even as US women are poised to make a big splash in the next three to five years. There may be a kid laboring in a public park somewhere trying to make the best of his game but you can bet the USTA will never find him.

It saw the end of the illusions being harbored in Australia about it's women's tennis (Samantha Stosur) and it's men's tennis (Bernard Tomic).


via Matther Stockman Getty

It couldn't be the tournament that saw a young Haitian American girl named Victoria Duval captivate the crowd on Louis Armstrong Stadium on a cool summer night bringing the crowd screaming to its feet with a masterful dismantling of one of the top women players in the world.


via Getty Images

It certainly wasn't the tournament that had tennisheads ranting on Twitter about being unable to watch two fifteen year old girls, a young Croatian named Ana Konjuh and a young American named "Tornado" Alicia Black.


via Maddy Meyer Getty

The same malcontents wanted to see a kid named Borna Coric play. He's all of sixteen.


Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)

Not only did Andrea Hlavackova win the Mixed Doubles title with Max Mirnyi but she had the audacity to turn around and win the Women's Doubles title partnering with Lucie Hradecka.


Matthew Stockman Getty Images

Insolent wench.


via David Cummings AP

Adding insult to injury a couple of geezers named Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek won the trophy most of the US commentators had already given to the Bryan twins.
An aside. The USTA really needs to rethink the demands put on US players by the US Open series. As you know the Europeans only come for the Premier or Masters events so it falls on US players to pick up the slack and bring in paying customers. The Bryans, loyal to their Federation had played a lot of tennis coming into the US Open. They did the best they could do.

But that's an aside.

I don't like to write the Grand Slam reviews right away because when they're over, especially when this one is over, there is such a let down. For two weeks there was wall to wall tennis. Two and a half if you count the Qualifying event which is now streamed. There are tournaments this week and Davis Cup at the end of the week but it's hard to get too enthusiastic right after a Slam ends.

Not writing right away also gives you time to think. And I kept coming back to these people who kept saying that the US Open was a bust. I tried to see how they could say that after everything that happened but I realized what was motivating them. An era has died. The final nail was hammered into the coffin of the tennis of the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and early 00's.
It's gone. There will always be serve and volley but it's not the only way to play any more. The iconoclasts of this new era aren't wedded to the courts and play they demanded. The racquet's won't let them live in the past. And not everyone is happy about it. I never thought I'd see players sliding on hard courts but they are right? It's going to change the hard court game. Has changed it. Our players can't slide on dirt let alone a hard court. It's not supposed to be done is it?

You hear the nostalgia for the old days in the commentary booth, especially when you're listening to the men and women considered the top of the heap in the United States. They can't analyze what's going on on court because they're too busy trying to make the viewer see the play through forty year old lens. What is happening on court is incomprehensible to them so they joke among themselves, talk about incidents that happened when they were in their prime, anything but describe the modern tennis game.

There are exceptions. Chanda Rubin and Taylor Dent are excellent commentators but the only way you heard them was if you watched online streams. I don't mean to slight any of the Tennis Channel commentators but I don't have that channel so I can only go by what I had access to. Chanda and Taylor have no problems talking about the modern game and breaking it down so even those who think they know it all see the game in a different light. That is what commentary is supposed to be about.


Jaime L. Mikle/Getty Images

An old sports show in the United States had a slogan that has now become a cliché. During the opening credits the narrator, Jim McKay, would talk about "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".


via Getty

To see grown men and women leap for joy because their hard work, their physical pain, and yes their loneliness and their sacrifice has not been for nothing is something that brings tears to the eyes of many tennis fans, especially this one. When you have two players who have been maligned, called cheats, malingerers, accused of not being loyal to the sport that has made them rich, when you see them come back from what could have been career ending injuries and illness and despite all the noise focus on the goal they've set for themselves and fight through seven matches to win, this is what people pay to see, want to see. It's this that makes tennis great.

It's not treason to cheer for a player from another country. It's not being divisive to point out the way some players are treated. These arguments are made by those who are upset that tennis has moved out of the country clubs of the United States, Britain and Australia and into the world. Tennis has been embraced by the world and it's time for those who ruled in the past to realize the parade has moved on and that they need to get over it. It's you who have to adjust not the rest of the world. The era of the player who rolls out of bed and onto the court is over. If that's the kind of player you want to create fine. They can play each other in what amount to second tier tournaments.

The rest of us will cheer for who we like when we like and how we like. Hopefully one day you'll join in the fun.

End Note

I haven't forgotten the other matches and players. Here is a list of the winners I haven't listed above.

Boys' Doubles

Kamil Majchrzak / Martin Redlicki

Girls' Doubles

Barbora Krejčíková / Kateřina Siniaková

Wheelchair Men's Singles

Stéphane Houdet

Wheelchair Women's Singles

Aniek van Koot

Wheelchair Quad Singles

Lucas Sithole

Wheelchair Men's Doubles

Michael Jeremiasz / Maikel Scheffers

Wheelchair Women's Doubles

Jiske Griffioen / Aniek van Koot

Wheelchair Quad Doubles

David Wagner / Nick Taylor

Miscellany

Jon Wertheim dropped a bit of insider information that seems to have gone unremarked upon.

Off the court during the U.S. Open, a fierce battle was fought between the WTA and four "joint events" (outside the Slams) that disburse equal prize money. While the purses are equal at these events, under a seldom-mentioned agreement, the WTA repays the tournaments for the shortfall in commercial benefit compared to the ATP. The terms of that agreement were renegotiated last week. According to multiple sources, the agreement is close to being finalized. (Discuss: Does this not give the lie to equal prize money? I can pay my kids the same allowance of $10 and technically say it's equal wages, but if my wife then reimburses me $4 because one child does fewer chores, is it disingenuous to claim parity?)

The answer is yes, it's disingenuous.

I also wonder why not much attention has been paid to this arrangement by fans or media. It's always possible that I missed some commentary but I think this is a pretty big deal, especially since the WTA is going to be based in Asia for most of the remaining season.

That alone deserves a full column of it's own. I just wanted to plant that seed in your mind.

2013 US Open Women's Final

by Savannah


via David Goldman AP

Top seed. Top ranked. Best (you could say the only) server in the WTA. Serena Jameka Williams finds herself right back where she was about this time last year. Can anyone argue about how dominating she's been over the last couple of weeks? She's overcome shitty scheduling (although to be honest it was better for her to play her doubles semi yesterday and take advantage of two full days off) and wannabes who don't have half of her work ethic.

Some in tennis are arguing over whether or not she's changed her game, the effect of Patrick Mouratoglou not only on her game but on court demeanor, and where she stands among the all time greats, an argument that is silly because you can only be great in the generation in which you played but people indulge in it anyway.

My opinion? Serena has changed her game. She had to. She's 31 now. She's had health problems that would've seen some cowering in the corner and making excuses about losses. Did Patrick initiate the changes? I think he gave her the confidence to proceed with what she had to do. There is no doubt her footwork has improved. That has led to improved movement on court. She is also obviously out thinking her opponents and adjusting her play during a match. That was obvious in how she adjusted to an inspired Li Na in the second set Friday afternoon. The commentators were too busy chit chatting about who knows what and never once commented on how she stepped in on Li's second serves in that set. I guess they figured their conversation was more important than the match. Or they still see her the way she was ten years ago. I really think that American commentators have no idea how to call a match if a player isn't a servebot. Increasingly that means that they know how to call a John Isner match but not any others since players are moving away from that style of play.

But none of that detracts from what Serena brings to the WTA now. She's a mature, confident, more than competent player at the moment. She's also going to be fully rested on Sunday.


via Emmanuel Dunand Getty

Victoria Fiodorovna Azarenka is ranked #2 in the WTA. Has she earned it? Yes she has. For the first time in a long time there is no dispute about the top two in the WTA. Victoria has won Slams. She's beaten players she should beat. She is never going to win Miss Congeniality for her on court behavior but is she talented? Yes. Does she have the will to win? Definitely.

There was quite a bit of controversy this US Open about her raising her racquet every time one of her opponents in order to disrupt her serve. It wasn't a ten minute medical time out to stop her from choking away a match but it's one of the reasons fans have not warmed up to Azarenka. It didn't start with the medical time out fiasco though. For me it started when she threw a tantrum in Australia a few years back and went after the chair umpire and almost hit a lines person. She doesn't do things like that anymore but it can be said that she "cheats within the rules".

That said she's made it to the US Open Final for the second year in a row, doing it while not playing her best tennis. Her semifinal against Flavia Pennetta showed that she doesn't need to resort to cheating in order to win. She worked Pennetta over, not letting her set up so that she could get off her best shot combination while moving her all over the court and tiring her out. But Azarenka's serving was awful. If she didn't execute the rest of her game she would've been in trouble. The first set was one of the worst I've seen in a semifinal match. Break after break after break.

I don't do predictions. I will say that the USTA, by making sure that both players are equally rested coming into the Final has done one of the best things it could do not only for players but for the sport. It should be a good match.

2013 US Open: The Ladies Final Four

by Savannah

The Bottom Half


via AP

I don't think that it's too much of a surprise that Victoria Azarenka, the #2 seed, made it to the semi finals. She came into the US Open on a bit of a tear having defeated Serena Williams in Cincinnati. Beating Serena she was agile, mobile and totally dialed in. So the Open should've been a cake walk to the semi's for her right? No. Instead she's struggled badly at times and while she obviously won the five matches she's played so far the bottom half of the draw was considered the softer of the two and yet both Alizé Cornet and Ana Ivanovic took her to three sets. She's been sluggish and her movement hasn't been the best. She moved better during her quarterfinal match against Daniela Hantuchova who, while having no real weapons against her still managed to give her a bit of a hard time.


via usopen.org

No one expected Flavia Pennetta to be in the Final Four. Why would they? She was the top Italian player a few years back but injury had dropped her to the second tier of the main tour. Of course, being European, she wasn't expected to do all that well in Flushing Meadows.
Only one other woman coming into the semi's has played consistent tennis.

Flavia steamrolled Nicole Gibbs of the United States and then faced her country woman Sara Errani who admitted after her loss that she is not enjoying the pressure of being a top player one bit. She might enjoy it more if she ironed out some of the kinks in her game - no serve - but she seemed after the match to want to go in her room, close the blinds and curl up in the fetal position on her bed.

Back to Flavia. After defeating a fading Svetlana Kuznetsova Flavia faced Simona Halep, a player who had been on fire coming into the Open. I thought Flavia would lose here but she needed a second set tiebreak to defeat Halep. Her Round of 16 match was against another country woman, her long time friend Roberta Vinci. Vinci couldn't handle the situation and it's Flavia who is into the semi final.

On paper this should be a romp for the woman they call Vika. A lot of matches are romps on paper. You can criticize the weakness of the bottom half of the draw but since they're "random" there isn't anything to say right? You play whoever is standing across the net from you. With Vika's form coming into the semifinals and Flavia being a first timer in this situation in my mind this match is a toss up. Vika should win. But I won't be surprised if she doesn't.

The Top Half


via AFP

Li Na. Serena has admitted to having alter egos, personalities that are very different from her normal one. She's given them names. Ms Li's fans have provided her with one. her name is Madame Li. Madame Li takes no shit. She is focused, moves well, and controls the court. Li Na, not so much.

Li's path to the semifinals saw her play Olga Govortsova and Sofia Arvidsson before facing the much hyped Laura Robson. She easily defeated all three women. Her next opponent was one Jelena Jankovic who provided Li with another easy win.

Ekaterina Makarova was the one to finally force Li to play hard winning a second set tiebreaker 7-6(5). Li closed her out with a 6-2 third set.

Li is presently being coached by one Carlos Rodriguez. You all remember him. the Éminence Grise behind Justine Henin. He seems to have brought Li in ready for whoever she faces and whatever they throw at her.


via usopen.org

Let's see. Best (only) serve in the WTA. Keen court sense. Great movement. Able to adapt. Confident. Prepared. What skills doesn't she have?

On her way to the semifinals she faced Francesca Schiavone whom she beat badly but showed much respect. Next came Galina Voskoboeva who was followed by Yaroslave "Golden Set" Shvedova. Next came the rematch with Sloane Stephens, who was getting the full star treatment in the New York press. This was supposed to be a war between the old and the new. Serena won 6-4, 6-1. Serena's quarterfinal match was against Carla Suarez Navarro who took out Angelique Kerber. Carla had less to bother Serena with than Dani Hantuchova had to annoy Vika. I didn't even watch the match, the only match of Serena's I didn't watch. Score was 6-0, 6-0.

It's easy to say Serena will beat Li. But I think this'll be tight. Rodriguez wants to show he's more than a controlling s.o.b. He's broken Li's game down and is in the process of putting a new one in place. Let's not forget Serena is a different presence on court than she was a few years ago. Because of the intangibles I think this is a toss up as well.

Miscellany



This is Tornado Alicia Black. She has a sister named Hurricane Tyra Black. I'm going to say it. Both are poised to take the junior ranks by storm. I'm so sorry but it has to be said. Tornado is 15 and playing the Junior US Open. She's done well so far. And let's not make her the next big thing okay? She's 15.

A friend of mine came into town from North Carolina, a friend I hadn't seen in over five years. She's a tennis fan too so it was a no brainer that we would spend a day at the Open.
We went on Sunday hoping to get somewhat affordable tickets into Ashe. That didn't happen so we got grounds passes and walked around, had a nice meal indoors in air conditioning, and sat in front of Ashe to watch Serena vs Sloane.



The USTA is doing fans a great service by alerting us to who is on the practice courts. There were a lot of people there but look who we got to see. Fans were eagerly anticipating neck rolls, sucked teeth and general unpleasantness with the two women on the practice courts at the same time.



None of that happened from what I could see. What I did see was Sloane go through the motions of a practice session while her USTA Player Development coach stood and watched Serena and her team go through a real practice. Sloane was barely on the practice courts twenty minutes, if that long. In fact she seemed bored to even be there. Richard Gasquet, whom you see was also on the practice courts, was working hard. Sloane didn't even stay long enough to work up a sweat.



There are a lot of things Sloane needs to work on with her game. It's also possible that she had an earlier, better work out that I didn't see. But what I did see is a somewhat arrogant player whose ego is outstripping her accomplishments at the moment. Less photo shoots and covers on the sports pages. More work off court. Lots of player have the talent. The ones at the top know that it's not enough.

End Notes

Now that there are fewer matches I'm watching ESPN's coverage and not streaming from the US Open App. The American tennis establishment seems to still be upset about the cheers for Gaël Monfils against John Isner the other night. Have they been emphasizing the European origin of the remaining players all along or has this just been a thing since the other night? I don't remember "European" or "Australian" or "British" being used as an epithet back in the day. But almost every match I watched was talking about the Europeans as if they are some sub species of humans. They're tennis players. Tennis is an international sport. It's a major sport everywhere but the United States where it seems the people at the top want to keep it a strictly country club phenomenon.

Bitch and moan all you want commentators, USTA hierarchy and yes, former players. The United States has no one right now who can challenge the top players, all but one of whom come from that place, you know, Europe. As long as US players think Chipotle provides a proper sports diet and that fitness and practice, you know, match preparation, scouting are things to do when the mood strikes you, we'll continue to be a second rate tennis power. Watching Sloane Stephens coach do nothing to work with his charge while watching Serena's practice says all you need to know about why US tennis is in the state it's in.

It's work people. Lots of it. And you're doing your players a disservice by not making them do it.

2013 US Open Week 1 Day 3

by Savannah

In the wake of Victoria Duval's upset of Samantha Stosur Tuesday and the suddenly competent play of Donald Young Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal reports on the phasing out of the USTA Player Development Center in Boca Raton. The Center was based at Chris Evert's Academy. Here's the lede.

After years of watching American tennis sink into the shadows, the U.S. Tennis Association decided in 2008 to make a bold move: It would open its first-ever full-time training academy for top juniors. Under the program, the country's best prospects would be invited to Boca Raton, Fla., to live and train, all expenses paid, with the goal of beating back the onslaught of talent from Europe.

But as the U.S. Open gets under way this week, the future of U.S. tennis is still precarious, with few serious male contenders and only a handful of promising young women in the field. And after six years of rapid turnover among players at the USTA academy and many complaints—including one lawsuit—from players and parents who say the program is too harsh, the USTA has decided to change strategy.

Next year, just three players will live in the academy's dormitory, down from a high of 18 in 2009.

(...)

There is no consensus on the best way to mold young tennis champions: The process is handled differently all over the world. But in interviews, more than a dozen parents, players and coaches who were associated with the USTA's elite program characterized the camp as a stressful place where players were subject to unreasonable expectations and lived in fear of losing scholarships if their results slipped.

"They are almost training these kids like they are running out of time," said Zaza Corinteli, whose son, Luca, left the program last year. "You have a lemon in front of you, you squeeze all the juices out, then you put it in the garbage can. It just feels like there is very little regard."

It's sad to see a program that started with such high hopes and seemingly unlimited potential turn out to have been so wrong for tennis in the United States.

Perrotta is the reporter who broke the story of Taylor Townsend's problems with the USTA last year. He gives an example in his article about the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Academy.

In June 2012, Julia O'Loughlin a former trainee at the academy, filed a lawsuit against the USTA in Palm Beach County, Fla. In a copy of the complaint reviewed by the Journal, O'Loughlin, who was 14 when the alleged problems occurred, alleges that her coaches knew she had a prior eating disorder, but she was put on a restrictive diet anyhow, subjected to daily weigh-ins and told she needed to lose 20 pounds. In November 2011, O'Loughlin alleged in her suit, she was trained "to the point of exhaustion," running 17 miles in two days in addition to her normal routine before being taken to the emergency room with severe dehydration. She was later admitted to a residential treatment center for bulimia for 30 days.

O'Loughlin's lawsuit was dismissed on grounds of improper jurisdiction, because it was filed in Florida rather than in New York, where the USTA is based. That ruling is currently being appealed.

Collette Lewis who writes the Zoo Tennis and has covered Junior and Collegiate tennis for the past eight years and who is responsible for getting me pointed to this article says the following:

I've never supported the USTA's venture into the academy business, feeling the money devoted to the select few in this circumstance could be much more effective if spread out over a substantially larger number of players. I do think the USTA needs a place with temporary housing to optimize the time spent there by those in town for weekly camps, but running a full time academy always felt unnecessary to me. Some players have thrived under in USTA's academy setting, but a significant number have not, and I believe the move away from this centralization experiment is a good one. And while they're making changes, I'd love for the USTA to consider reviving the Junior Davis Cup (and Junior Fed Cup).

That sounds like a good idea Ms Lewis.

And The Rains Came

To my knowledge there is no threat of a hurricane hitting the New York City region in the next few days but Mother Nature is sending in the rain. I'd like to think that the USTA heeded the wishes of the fans about new roofs for Ashe and Armstrong but I think it has more to do with shame. They were the laughing stock of the tennis world and I guess they got sick of it. Just think. If they'd started building the roof at the same time the folks at Wimbledon did the rainy forecast from Sunday to Tuesday wouldn't be an issue. I'm sure some suit at CBS is raking another suit from the USTA over the coals for not remedying the situation sooner. That makes me smile.

At any rate the USTA was not put in the position of having to refund or make good on tickets for yesterday's play since there was tennis available for the night session ticket holders and some matches from the day session played to their conclusion.

What was outstanding yesterday? I'm sorry to admit that I wasn't that interested again.

Day 4

The match that stood out for me was between Bernard Tomic and Daniel Evans. If you've never heard of Evans don't feel bad. No one outside of Britain had heard of him until he knocked Nishikori Kei out of the US Open in the first round. Then of course the ticker tape parade began. All of the British journalists on my Twitter timeline were talking as if he'd discovered how to cure world hunger. They were so happy to see that young Evans is doing well now that he's committed to training and discipline, the things that go with doing well in tennis. It's amusing isn't it that it's news when a player from the US or Britain starts doing what all those people from countries with funny names or from non Northern Europe do to keep themselves at the top of the sport. If they're not doing the drills, the exercises, the diets then what the hell are they doing? Why are the USTA and LTA spending untold sums of money to "develop" these players, none of whom have come close to winning a major in decades.

Anyway back to the match. Tomic came out like a house on fire taking the first set 6-1. After that he seemed to lose interest. Every now and then he'd hit a nice shot or bestir himself to actually chase down a ball or put together a nice sequence of shots. But most of the time he looked bored shitless.


sports.yahoo.com

Evans, with large tattoos on his arms, woke from his slumber and played as well as he needed to defeat Tomic. He didn't light up the court (unless you're British) and he doesn't seem to have anything special. I don't know what was going on with Nishikori but I could've beat Tomic today. Well almost. You know what I mean.

Is Tomic pining for his Dad's presence on court? Don't know. I do know that the player I saw today has no chance of being top ten if he thinks the hustle, the sweat, and the pain that goes with playing top tier tennis is beneath him. It's hard to think you have to do more than show up when you've been told you're the shit ever since you were old enough to hold a racquet to make a shot.

For example when asked about Tomic's bad boy reputation the Australian commentator gave Tomic a pass. He's young. He likes the toys that making money allows him to have. I mean he's young. Seriously. I'm sure Tennis Australia was not happy with his performance today. Meanwhile the LTA is probably having emergency meetings to discuss how getting tough with a player pays dividends. How much do you want to bet that they threatened to take Evans stipend?


sports.yahoo.com

Anyone who reads this space regularly knows that I rarely listen to or watch ESPN coverage. I'm that person who likes to see a match from beginning to end in one sitting. I don't mind being updated on other scores but I don't like being forced to watch someone I could care less about or listen to "neutral" commentators fanboying. It's a quirk I have.

So all day I watched tennis on the USTA App. It's a wonderful thing and gives you live scores as well as live video. A lot of the commentary comes from ITV it seems. Whoever they are (Virgina Wade is one) they're not talking about where someone ate or fawning over a WAG. These comms don't talk during points and keep their focus on the match. Weird right?

I'm getting there. Patience is a virtue.

Anyway after watching the men's match on Ashe I put on ESPNw. the usually sane Darren Cahill was working with the usually sane Chris Fowler. Brad Gilbert was thrown out of the sandbox and was working the sidelines.

Within five minutes of my tuning in everything went to hell. Well at least these three men thought it had. You see the crowd, drunk as they usually are this time of night (the Grey Goose Bar gets tons of action and they're placed strategically around the grounds and of course the beer) and were cheering for Gaël Monfils. As we all know Monfils is a showman and when he knows he can't win a match he begins to do his act. The crowd was eating it up and chanting his name. Fun right? Except that he was playing the United States #1 player John Isner.

I don't know if you've ever watched Isner play. If you look up "servebot" in the dictionary his picture is on top of the pile of American players. Servebot is my new favorite word. I didn't make it up someone else did. It's a quick way to summarize the approach to tennis taken by the USTA, especially it's male players though and as I said Isner is their leader. I'm sure he's a nice man, a good person and treats his mother well. But when it comes to playing tennis you'd get moe excitement from a bump on a log than watching one, two serve. Take a step raise arm serve. Step back to the other side and repeat. Not what a drunken crowd needs to stay engaged.

Well Cahill and his cohorts were upset! Hysterical I tell you about an American crowd cheering for a Frenchman. I mean what loyal patriotic red white and blue American could ever be a fan of someone from another country (Unless he's at the right hand of the Deity of course)?

Their reaction was amazing. They praised some woman who was wearing a Georgia Bull Dogs baseball cap who was chastising the fans in her vicinity for cheering for a foreigner. Brad Gilbert starting raging about how the match should never have been on Armstrong but held in the neatly sanitized confines of Ashe. The fans there would know they were supposed to be urging their fellow American on no matter their state of inebriation. The yahoo's on Armstrong, well, "we" don't accept them as true tennis fans.

The other night when Armstrong rang with the voices of people cheering Victoria Duval there was a kid, a young kid, two rows behind me who, whenever there was a lull (you know, for breathing and other necessities of life) he would shout out his support of Samantha Stosur. No one berated him. No one yelled at him to shut up. He had his favorite and he stuck with her no matter what the crowd was doing. I was surprised to see that he was ten years old at the most.

I'm saying that to say that tennis is an international sport. The USTA, the LTA, Tennis Australia and the FFT all give lip service to that reality but deep down they think that this is still the 1970's when the US, Britain and Australia dominated tennis. If you think I'm exaggerating I read an interview John McEnroe did just before the start of the US Open where he refused to admit that the technology that has made the modern game of tennis possible can't be thrown aside. He really thinks that wooden racquets and the courts that made them effective are coming back. And to think he runs a tennis academy!!

You can find the interview HERE

I have a question for you fans. Does anyone remember how the US Open crowds would cheer Justine Henin when she was playing Serena Williams? No matter who played against Venus Williams the crowd was for her. It was the same when Kim clijsters played against either of the sisters. Do you remember any commentator clutching his or her pearls about it?

Me neither.

2013 US Open Week 1

by Savannah

Day 1

The USTA needs to stop trying to make Lauren Davis happen. Watching her being dismantled by Carla Suarez-Navarro was painful to watch. Lauren, like fellow American Taylor Townsend, makes beautiful shots. What she needs to learn to do is put them together into a cohesive whole. In other words construct points, have a plan to get from A to B to C. Try to think one or two plays ahead instead of making a beautiful shot only to have it whiz by you because your opponent has positioned themselves not only to return it but to get it past you for a winner.

And it's not just the women. American men are having the same issues. They don't know how to think on court. When they are pressured you see frustration and melt downs not to mention thrown racquets or balls hit in anger. I keep thinking about the woman who was raging to no one in particular after Taylor Townsend lost her last qualifying match. She kept saying that Americans don't have the mental toughness of the Europeans. They don't.


via France24.com

Venus Williams drew Kirsten Flipkens in the first round. Unseeded and with physical issues that can render her ineffective on court no matter how strongly she wants to play no one knows what to expect from her. Playing Flipkens, who beat her in three sets in Toronto, I know I was hoping that Venus didn't embarrass herself. She didn't.

I would say Venus came dressed as the Pink Ranger but the dress was actually a floral print of the kind that is popular today. It also had a lingerie feel to it, another popular motif being shown for Fall.

For today Venus was her old domineering self. She defeated Flipkens in straight sets. I was glad to see her back to her old self. I hope she hangs around.

One of the bigger surprises for me was Ernests Gulbis loss to Andreas Haider-Maurer. I shouldn't say big surprise because during his hit with Jeremy Chardy the other day he was not happy with himself and was cursing up a storm. I didn't see the match today so I don't know what happened but he was missing stupidly Friday. I don't know if Haider-Maurer played the match of his life or not. I'm sure Ernests was practicing his cuss words again today.

The younger Williams sister opened the night session. As usual there was an opening ceremony which, as usual, I refused to watch. I was watching a food show I DVR'd Sunday so when I got to the tennis Serena Williams was in the process of pounding Francesca Schiavone into the pavement. For a minute there it looked as if Fran would be the second woman to be served a double bagel on Day 1 but she managed to get one game. That only infuriated Serena who closed out the match love and one in an hour. It seems the gods were on Serena's side because as soon as her match ended it began to rain. The second night matches were cancelled and rescheduled for Day 2. I hope people took note that after the match was over Serena didn't jump up and down, shake her fist in her opponents face or disrespect her in any way. Sportsmanship. It's a beautiful thing.

I should mention that there was a lot of talk about Serena's kit too. I'm not a fan of handkerchief hems. Never have been. But the cut of the skirt works on Serena. It's not something I would recommend for anyone else.

Day 2


via Mike Segar Reuters

This was my Day at the Open. it almost didn't happen because despite great seats at Ashe there was no one playing on that court we particularly wanted to see. We went so far as to try and sell our tickets back but waited too long to post them for sale and with no buyers we got on the #7 train and headed out to Willett's Point.

I could go on about how hard it is to watch Caroline Wozniacki play live but I won't. The woman she played, Duan Ying-Ying, hits a very hard flat ball. She's also tall like Li Na. Hopefully she'll play more top tier matches and gain confidence in her game and shot making. With more confidence she could've pulled off a big upset.

We wanted to see Gaël Monfils match but we met a friend for a snack so we went to Armstrong to wait for Victoria Duval's match.

Oh. My God.

Before Victoria took the court we suffered through one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Sara Errani took the court against Olivia Rogowska who was playing in place of Ayumi Morita who withdrew due to injury. Errani has no serve. None. And she's in the top five. Rogowska has no game though so I guess that's why the match turned into a romp for Errani.

Not that Rogowska didn't have her chances. At one point she had a chance to break. Or win the game. I don't even remember. All I remember is that Errani won that game and I face palmed. If Ms Duan had played Rogowska she would've won. That's how bad Rogowska was.

Once the stench was cleared from the court Victoria Duval took the court to play Samantha Stosur, the 2011 US Open Champion. People are going to make excuses about what happened, temporary coach and all that, but they'd be missing the point. The match was a war. Stosur had a ton of unforced errors - 56 if I remember correctly - but that is how tough Duval was playing her. Vicky was not afraid to stand toe to toe with Stosur who may have been guilty of looking past her first round opponent.

Vicky, with her father Jean-Maurice standing almost the entire match, played aggressively. She adjusted to whatever Stosur threw at her. An example: Duval tried a drop shot that didn't work and on the very next play made the very same shot. Duval made some nice shots but in context of the match she was playing. She wasn't making shots just to make pretty shots. She was using them as weapons in an arsenal that few thought she had, especially at her age.

I came in a fan. I've been following Duval since she was a young girl. I think I can say I was one of the first to blog about her in the early days of this site. By the middle of the second set Victoria had the Armstrong crowd lifting and carrying her on its back. During the third set it was a sight to behold as the ever swelling crowd lived and died with every shot. There were vocal Stosur fans in the crowd, especially one kid sitting behind me but their voices were drowned out by the shouts, cheers, moans and groans of the now pro Duval crowd.

To be hones I don't think Stosur knew what hit her. They'd set her up with a seemingly easy draw and I don't think she was expecting the teen with the high pitched voice to be able to neutralize her game and defeat her.

I wanted to hold off writing about Mlle. Duval until she played her next match but she deserves the glory she's receiving. She knows how to play and understands tennis at the pro level. She needs some work on her first serve but the rest of her game seems solid.

Along with everyone else I'm looking forward to her next match. I wonder what court she'll play on?

End Notes

James Blake announced that he will retire after the US Open. Wild Cards have kept him playing on the Main Tour, especially in the United States. I don't have much to say about Blake because I've never been a fan. Still he used his modest skills to have what many would call a successful tennis career. He's said that he wants to be Davis Cup Coach one day.

Good luck to James in his future endeavors.

Rain is predicted for Wednesday afternoon. It's likely I will be back out to Queens on Friday.

A Day At the Open - 2013 US Open Qualifying

by Savannah

One of the things my daughter and I always look forward to is our trip to the US Open. We don't go every year - for instance we didn't go last year, but with the promise of good weather and the chance to see tennis players in a way you don't see them during a match plus the ability to go to any court with the exception of Ashe, who wouldn't take a chance to roam the grounds of the National Tennis Center for free. Of course the food isn't free and is being sold at regular price but you can still have a nice time.

The one thing about going during Qualifying is that the diversity of the tennis audience in terms of age, ethnicity, race and gender is on full display. There are lots of large families too, families that couldn't afford to buy a seat for themselves and their children during the regular event but can take a subway or drive out and let the kids run around without getting lost in a crowd. Of course if everyone got hip to the deal the Qualifying Tournament offers that may be less of an option in the future but for now it's great.

What's so good about Qualifying? Just think about being able to say that you saw Player X during Qualies and knew he or she was going to be good in a few years? Or that so and so walked right by you close enough to say hello to? Or that you were so close to Ernests Gulbis that you know he's fluent in US curse words? Very fluent.

What did I take away? That Tommy Haas' intensity never lets up? That Angelique Kerber has a quirky service motion that I never saw watching her on television? That Svetlana Kuznetsova is not as bulky as she appears on television? That Tomáš Berdych's legs look like they belong to two different people?

I guess it's best to start at the beginning.



We walked in to people heading towards the Grandstand so we followed the herd. Richard Gasquet was hitting with Milos Raonic. I'd never seen either man live so we sat for a few minutes. There was another hit going on on Armstrong so we walked across the connection and found Li Na hitting with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Li is taller than I thought she was. I've seen Sveta in person before. In fact we saw her play when she won the US Open in 2004. She wasn't too happy with how she was hitting yesterday. We watched them until they finished and went out to get something to eat and stretch our legs.



Gasquet and Raonic were still hitting so we stayed on Armstrong and watched Angelique Kerber hit with Agniezska Radwanska. I never picked it up on television but during her service motion Kerber comes to a full stop before hitting the ball. That gave me my theme for the day and any other matches or hits I watched i was paying attention to the service motion. If you're at the pro level you should be able to hit adequate to excellent ground strokes no?



I also noticed that Aga's serve is really all over the map. Sometimes it's very good. At other times you have to make sure that Ana Ivanovic hasn't dyed her hair blonde. Once she's got the ball in play she does her thing. It's getting it in play that is an adventure.



The other player we watched was the young US player Grace Min. I don't know when Grace developed her lower body to the extent she has but her legs, specifically her thighs, are almost on a Berdych level. Too bad she spent the first set defending her second serve since her first serve was shit. We left because we thought the other woman would win and were totally surprised that Min won the match. Either she got her serve together or her opponent didn't know what to do with the gifts she was being given.



Later I saw the end of the Tomáš Berdych and John Isner hit. From his ankles to his knees Berdych's legs look like any athlete's. After his knees these thighs just appear out of nowhere. They're wider than his calves and jut out at a weird angle. I'm sorry I didn't see the whole affair but I did see Isner get mobbed by the kids with the big autograph balls and hang around for a long time.




Tommy Haas hit with Fabio Fognini and I don't think Tommy is quite over Hamburg. As you can imagine these hits can take on the intensity of a real match and this was one. Fabio was trying to keep it light but Haas was having no part of it. I kept thinking to myself that Tommy is 35. If he's working this hard during a hit what will he have left for the tournament.



After Haas and Fognini came Jeremy Chardy and Ernests Gulbis. By the end of the hit I knew more than I ever wanted to know about Gulbis thanks to how hard he was sweating. I mean i now know all I need to know about Ernests. I hope I'm being clear. These two didn't play as intensly as Haas forced Fognini to. They were working on certain shots and talked to each other about what they would practice. I wonder why it is that when people learn a different language they learn the curse words first? He's well on his way to learning English.

On our way to see Taylor Townsend Nicolas Mahut walked by with his team. He's a bit taller than I thought he was.



There was a line to get on Court 11 where Taylor was playing Chanel Simmonds of South Africa. Simmonds had won the first set and Townsend the second. We got seats during the beginning of the third set. Townsend was up 4-1 and with the crowd behind her it looked as if Taylor was cruising into the main draw. And then the sky caved in.

Taylor should've gotten a break for 5-1. Instead she was broken and she went to pieces mentally. She also started, as my mother used to say, puffin' and blowin'. Physically she was spent and mentally she was fried. Her play after that made absolutely no sense. She was still hitting great shots but with no rhyme or reason. We saw Katrina Adams leave after the debacle began but before the end of the match and if we'd had any sense we would've left too. Instead we stayed along with most of the crowd hoping that Taylor could pull herself together. It wasn't to be however.

On our way out one woman was ranting about the mental fragility of US players and that until they developed the mental toughness needed to overcome adversity during a match we wouldn't have any players able to compete at the top levels. Sloane Stephens is still struggling with this along with the US men.

I've you're laboring to breathe in a third set you're not fit. Don't get me wrong. Taylor is quick and can chase balls down early in a match as long as she is able to stand still and move side to side or forward as necessary and on her terms. What her opponents have become wise to is that all they have to do is wait her out, get to a third set. Once there it's done and dusted for Ms Townsend. If you add the mental fragility to the lack of conditioning you're a sitting duck for any opponent who has the patience to wait you out.

With that our day was over. We had a great time and got to see players we don't normally try and see once the tournament has begun or that we only see on television during week two.

I recommend anyone who can to come in for Qualifying.

End Note

I Hate To Be That Person...

by Savannah

...but I'm going to be. Let's look at what happened on the way to Maria Sharapova withdrawing from the US Open last evening.


via The Guardian

First there was the meh performance in London and the withdrawal from Toronto due to a lingering hip injury.

Thomas Högstedt was fired soon after Wimbledon was over. There was very little sympathy for Högstedt due to two words, Li Na.

Then came the surprise hiring of Jimmy Connors as her new coach, a choice that left many scratching their heads. No one expected the partnership to last long based on the personalities involved. It was also unclear if Connors had the ability to give Sharapova what she needed to improve her game.

The duo made their debut in Cincinnati and to say that was disastrous for Sharapova is an understatement. Connors, presumably paid a nice sum for his days in service to Ms Sharapova, found himself with time on his hands not soon after the debacle.

After that one of the most ridiculous publicity campaigns ever was unveiled. There were breathless reports that Sharapova was going to change her surname to that of the candy she shills for. Anyone with an ounce of sense called bullshit but the speculation went on for two days before Max Eisenbud, Pova's long time agent, said the name change wasn't going to happen. I know, some were really shocked. If you ever wondered why advertising is so successful I hope you'll remember this episode the next time you want to buy some product being used by smiling people on your television screen. Total hype. Total bullshit. But it got tennis people talking about her and not Victoria Azarenka or Serena Williams who had just played one of the best women's matches of 2013. And that's what it was all about right?

While all the candy hype was going on some were asking if Pova was really going to go into the US Open without a coach, the real story that needed to be fleshed out. Oh, I forgot a supposedly irate Pova had her father call Connors to fire him because it had been at his urging that she hired him. Uh huh. I was born at night not last night. Did Yuri fire Högstedt too?

So now that things had calmed down and the focus was rightly on what she was going to do during the US Open Yuri was seen around the grounds at Flushing Meadows.

The suspense was ended when the announcement was made that Maria Sharapova was not going to play the US Open due to shoulder issues.

Now is it wrong for me to ask why the shoulder injury, sorry shoulder bursitis, and not the hip injury that caused her to withdraw from Toronto was the injury of choice? Are they laying the groundwork for her to withdraw from all the Asian events this fall? Probably. Was the hip ever really a problem? Was it always the shoulder? Or was it none of the above?

I haven't seen any tennis "journalist" ask that question. Yet there are "journalists" who still question the extent of Serena's injuries and whether she was really injured based on nothing but an attitude among some that African American's don't really get sick. Yet the idiocy about Sharapova's "injuries" during the last two months are accepted without question.

I also haven't seen any "journalist" cite the following chronology of injuries that were oddly diagnosed before a bad loss. A fan calling themselves "Marlena" posted it on the fan site "Tennis Forum".

Montreal 2012: She pulled out because of a stomach bug... oh, and by the way, she had been dealing with it since the Olympics (where lost the final to Serena); some reports even had that she had picked it up right before the final.

Rome 2013: She played two matches and then pulled out citing a virus... oh, and by the way, she had also been dealing with it the week before in Madrid (where lost the final to Serena).

US Open 2013: Shoulder... oh, and by the way, she had been advised to not play Cincinnati (where she lost her first match to Stephens).

You won't see a tennis "journalist" recite that litany of happenstance either.

And yes I'm going to say it. If Serena Williams had such a history of turmoil, public turmoil, in her camp every one of the so called "journalists" would be writing and Tweeting about it.

I'm very happy to see all fans haven't gone for the okey-doke.

It's also time that tennis be covered by real journalists who know how to go after a story and hold athletes accountable instead of waiting to be spoon fed information from agents and publicists.