2007 US Open Tennis Roundup

A little Davis Cup news first.  Andy Roddick clinched the Davis Cup tie against Sweden by beating Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-4.  That means the US will face Russia in the David Cup final for the second straight year.

But back to the US Open.  Everyone who's anyone has already written any and everything that anyone wants to read about it except me.  Since it feels like major unfinished business if I don't write something, here we are.

My friend Lizzie and I went on Labor Day and the day session on the Wednesday after Labor Day.  That's in addition to Opening Night which I wrote about here.  Photos from Labor Day and the Wednesday after are here.

Every year I say I'm not going to the US Open.  I curse the USTA because of the lousy parking, the lousy seats, the lousy ticket policies, the lousy scheduling of matches.

It's hot, it's exhausting---walking up all those steps to get to our Ashe Row W seats.  It's emotionally draining when the player you've been sitting out in the sun devastates you in a fifth set tie-break of yet another match he should have won.

Heartbreak, thy name is B-L-A-K-E.

And every year I go.

Now I'll be the first to say if James had won that ill-fated fifth set tie-break against Tommy Haas on Labor Day, all the lousy parking, the lousy seats, the lousy ticket policies and the lousy scheduling of matches would have mere footnotes and not worth mentioning.  If he had won that match, in a fifth set tie-break, for only his second fifth set match win, with a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium pulling for him, it would have all been worth it to experience that match in person.

But he didn't win.  He lost.  Again.

A stunned Lizzie and I left the grounds in a depressed funk, swearing that James was now dead to us.   But as time has passed, I can't help but spare a sympathetic thought for James.  It couldn't have been too nice for him either.  I still have the match on my DVR and I haven't been able to watch any of it.  It's just too painful.

On to brighter things.

My pick to win the whole thing on the women's side, Venus Williams came up short, but only because Justine Henin took advantage of every one of Venus' mistakes and made almost none of her own.  Venus' win over Jelena Jankovic in a third set tie-break was a true nail-biter and a phenomenal match.  Somebody give James Blake a copy of that one and tell him to study it.

I won't even mention the names of the other women semi-finalists, their match was that bad.  The women's final was a pre-determined blowout and the best women's player won.

Congratulations to Andy Roddick for throwing absolutely everything he possessed at the number one player in the world, Roger Federer.  As he said later, he can take away from that match the knowledge that there wasn't anything else he could have done to win.  He was just up against the greatest player ever born, at his peak, and that was that.  Good for Andy though for not cracking under the pressure of the hype.

The men's semi-final matches were snoozers.  Novak Djokovic engraved his name a little deeper on that third place slot behind Federer and Rafael Nadal by reaching the final while Roger added another jewel to his humongous crown.  It'll be interesting to see how well Djokovic does next year with more guys gunning for him, and everybody who's waiting for Federer to have a let down is going to have a long wait.

Some fun stuff from the outer courts:

We found ourselves sitting in the Israeli cheering section during Shahar Peer's match against Sharapova-killer Agnieszka Radwanska in Louis Armstrong Stadium and boy, was that fun.  If we hadn't already been rooting for Shahar we might have had to move our seats.  As it was, we were accepted into the vocal group like honorary Israelis.

A Champions doubles match between Mary Joe Fernandez and MaliVai Washington and Natasha Zvereva and Andres Gomez.  The first two sets were split so they went to a super tie-break which Zvereva and Gomez won.  I was surprised at how well Mary Joe still plays and as far as I'm concerned Zvereva could still play on the main doubles circuit if she wanted to.  Her reflexes are incredible and her serve was tough to break.  Die-hard tennis fans might remember her as the Russian version of Billie Jean King.  She made such a stink after getting to the final of the French Open and proclaiming to interviewers how unfair it was that the Russian federation was going to get most of her runner-up check that it was the beginning of the Russian players getting to keep most of their prize money.

Mal Washington looked age-less and was thoroughly enjoying himself and former French Open champ Andres Gomez has lost more than a few steps but played well for an over thirty-fiver.

Another Champions match was Conchita Martinez playing Martina Navratilova.  Unfortunately sitting courtside watching one of the greatest women players ever couldn't be offset by the fact that the two of them played as aggressively as if they were playing in Martina's backyard after a heavy lunch.  No excitement at that one.

I've already decided that I won't be going to any more second week day matches because they're a waste.  The marquee matches are saved until the evening sessions and unless you go on Labor Day when they load up the day schedule for CBS's coverage, there's little reason to go.  I had decided that several years ago and then all of a sudden there were some good day matches scheduled during the second week.  Now the USTA has gone back to their shady scheduling tactics so I have to re-think my ticket buying strategies.

But next year...I'm not going.