So Let's Recap (Most of) What Happened

I know. I know. I’ve been bad. I promised you a Day 1 Recap. Well, today you’re getting two for the price of one as I discuss some of my favorite (and least favorite) moments of Days 1 and 2. You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit of a mess. I just moved into a new apartment, my family’s moving half way across the country this week, and I started my senior year of college today, which means recruiting time is upon us and I need a really good job to keep up my tennis habit. But, you shouldn’t care about any of this. You should be preoccupied by the awesome tennis that has already been displayed in the first two days of the US Open, the most glamorous of the Slams.

I often complain about ESPN’s coverage of tennis (i.e. cutting out in the middle of Isner/Mahut Wimbledon madness to air a meaningless World Cup match), but I have to say that their coverage of the US Open Series and the US Open has been great. They’ve even continued coverage of matches that over run their allotted timeslot. Clearly they air more of the US Open than any other major because it’s in New York and for some reason a lot of Americans only appreciate American athletes and American events. However, was it really necessary for ESPN to air a commercial completely knocking the other 3 Slams and touting the USO as the best?

Personally, I think there’s something special about all the Slams. I hail from the lovely state of New Jersey (don’t judge me, I know you’re judging me), so the USO takes place in my back yard. No, really, I’m from the part of New Jersey you can actually see Manhattan from. For this reason, and many others, I love the US Open. New York is like no other city in the world. There’s something kind of magical, yet raw about the city and that energy extends to the US Open. The night matches provide some of the most exciting tennis of the entire year and I don’t think fashion ever plays a bigger role in a Slam. But, I would never go so far as to say it’s the best.

I visited the French Open for the first time this year. It’s usually my least favorite Slam to watch on TV, but once I was there, it was a totally different experience. I think Paris is one of the best cities on Earth and the French takes on that Parisian feel. There are so many hard core tennis fans in France and I met people from all over the world that were using their vacation time to come to the French Open. I’ve never been to Wimbledon, but it’s pretty much the gold standard of tennis and I don’t look forward to any two weeks of the tennis year more than I do Wimbledon. Wimbledon is classy and historic, much like London. Finally, there’s Australia. Honestly it’s the most often forgotten Slam, but apparently a player favorite. They do call it the ‘happy’ Slam and many players have made a run there where they haven’t had much success at the others.

Like I said, I get national pride, ESPN, but that’s no reason to malign the other Slams.

Alright, I believe I promised you some of my observations from the last two days.

So, much like the first few days of Wimbledon this year, we’ve already seen a great deal of five set matches on the men’s side and several top seeds have been tested. Djokovic gave everyone quite a scare today, down two sets to one against countryman Viktor Troicki. I think this was an extremely telling match for Djokovic. He’s been as high as 2 in the world this summer and comes into the USO as the number 3 player. Based on rankings, the guy should always be a contender for the title, not a guy who could lose in the first round. There’s been a lot of talk about Roger, Rafa and Murray, but almost none about Djokovic taking home the title, even though he has one Grand Slam title and has made it to the final of the USO before. Why? Because he looks like he’s about to keel over when it’s hot. I wasn’t there today, but apparently it was hot, really hot. That wasn’t good news for Djokovic. But, he pulled out a five set victory in crushing heat, and even though he wheezed his way through the on-court interview, it should bring out some confidence.

Who else needed five sets in their first match? Gael Monfils played a hotly contested match against Robert Kendrick. Kendrick overshot the baseline on what would have been a break point in the fifth set. No big deal, he doesn’t get the break. However, Monfils went to bat the ball out of the way. It was unclear whether Monfils’ racket actually hit the ball before or after the ball hit the ground. Big difference. The chair umpire ruled that Monfils hit the ball after. When Monfils was asked about it after the match, he said he was unsure of the timing and thus stuck with the umpire’s call. If you go back into the tennis vault, you’ll recall a similar incident at the 2008 Olympics where James Blake believed opponent Fernando Gonzalez did not admit that the ball hit his racket. They did a replay of Monfils’ shot several times and it was really difficult to tell when the ball hit the ground versus when it hit the racket, so I’m giving Gael the benefit of the doubt and backing up his assertion that he was unsure.

Arnaud Clement, a tour veteran who hasn’t had great results lately, took out Marcos Baghdatis in five today. Baghdatis is coming off great results from the summer hard court season, so it was a bit of a shock to see him go out so early at the US Open. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. Baghdatis is so up and down that there are no guarantees with his game. I think he peeked a bit early this summer and may have played a little more tennis than he’s used to. That’s the problem with winning, you have to keep playing more matches.

David Nalbandian has also had a great hard court summer after returning from injury. But did he peek too early? It took him five sets to defeat Rik de Voest, a 30 year old qualifier. Based on his draw, I gave him a good shot of getting to the quarters. Hopefully he got all the bugs out of his game with this match and will be all set to face Serra in the second round.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco also went to five sets in his first round match against Fabio Fognini. Fognini actually ousted Verdasco in the first round of Wimbledon this year, so I was happy to see Fernando get his revenge, but it really shouldn’t have been this difficult. Verdasco is a very talented guy and should be blasting players like Fognini right off the court. If Fernando wants to stay in the top 10, he’s going to have to bring the heat.

America’s favorite diet story, Mardy Fish, also took five sets to defeat Jan Hajek, but it was a very weird five setter. The sets he won, he won 6-0, 6-0, and 6-1 and yet somehow he lost two sets. Fish is having the best year of his tennis career and I would love to see him make it to the second week after putting in so much hard work. Plus, I’d really like to see him play Andy Roddick again, but I think it’s Andy’s turn to win.

Perhaps the biggest surprise first round battle occurred between world number 5, Robin Soderling, and qualifier, Andreas Haider-Maurer. I watch a ton of tennis and I have never heard of Andreas Haider-Maurer, so I figured it would be a pretty routine day for Soderling. Over the last year, Robin has transformed himself into a player that can really contend for any title. He’s consistently talked about with the top players and has a real chance of winning a Grand Slam in the next couple of years. I watched some of the match, but still can’t really explain it. Robin wasn’t playing poorly, but Haider-Maurer definitely upped his game. I think the five setters really come down to experience. When the qualifier finally realizes they have a chance at beating a top player, they tend to fall apart. I’ll definitely be watching for more from this guy.

Dmitry Tursunov came super close to beating 15^th seed Jurgen Melzer. Tursunov is recently back on tour after being injured. He’s fighting his way back up the rankings and it’s slow going. Luckily he had a protected ranking which gave him entry in the USO. Dima used to be a top 20 player so hopefully he can fight his way back. Taking the 15^th seed to five sets after being two sets to love down, well, it’s a good start.

Perhaps the biggest five set victory was Paul-Henri Mathieu over Lleyton Hewitt, a former US Open champion. Poor Lleyton’s been plagued by hip issues for the past several years. He’s a real crowd favorite and always a pleasure to watch. Props to Paul-Henri. He’s also on the comeback trail and has some choking issues at big moments, so an impressive win for PHM.

Ok, I promise a women’s update is on its way, but I have class tomorrow so I’m going to have to cut this post short. On second thought, this post is really long enough so you’re lucky I’m tired. We’ll talk women tomorrow. Goodnight all!

I Guess I Can Still Write About Toronto...

Even though I can’t be there, I’m still following the happenings at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. It’s actually been a fairly eventful couple of days. Don’t worry, all your top seeds are still in the game. The highest seeded player we’ve seen make an early exit is Fernando Verdasco (9.) All of the top 5 players in the world are still working their way towards the final. The boys in pink, Nadal and Federer, seem to be doing alright, as is Murray. Djokovic is having some of his infamous issues with his breathing in the heat. I’m not really sure what he can do to alleviate this. It doesn’t seem to be an injury or even an issue with fitness. If it was either of those, I think he would have fixed it by now. It really seems like his body just can handle being in such hot conditions and playing for a long time. That’s far worse than an injury that just needs some time to heal. Interestingly, Djokovic’s only major title was at the Australian Open, which is the hottest of all the Grand Slams. Oh well, he made it through his match today and hopefully Toronto will cool off a bit for his sake.

Soderling rounds out your top 5. He also made it through to the third round, but not without a fight. Ernests Gulbis, the young Latvian, kept up with Soderling well into the third set. Steve Tignor, one of my very favorite tennis journalists, interviewed Gulbis after his defeat and wrote an excellent piece that can be found at http://tennisworld.typepad.com/thewrap/2010/08/whatever-happens.html. Honestly, I’ve never paid that much attention to Ernests Gulbis. Every once in a while, he pops up on my radar and then disappears for a while. Apparently he’s the second coming of Marat Safin, and it’s probably not clear from my blog, but I really miss Marat. He was one of my favorite players to watch, sometimes because he was unbelievably talented, and sometimes because he was wildly unpredictable. Everyone loves a bad boy, and Marat was the quintessential tennis bad boy. He partied too much; he got in fights, and broke more rackets than anyone could count. What other player has shown up to a tournament with a black eye from a bar fight? It’s true, after watching several interviews with Ernests and seeing him in person, he does share several qualities with Safin. There are far worse players he could be compared to. People are quick to criticize, but Safin won two Grand Slams. You may say he was capable of more, but who cares? Most players would kill for what he achieved, and he managed to have a good time doing it. Who are we to scold him for it? Back to Ernests, the first thing that struck me from the interviews was that he sounds exactly like Safin. Gulbis is from Latvia and Safin is from Russia, two bordering countries, so it stands to reason that they would speak English with a similar accent. If you believe the news, Gulbis also shares Safin’s penchant for women. He was arrested in Sweden for picking up a prostitute last year. He’s only 21 years old and already an international sports star, I think we should probably cut him some slack. The other major similarity comes in the form of Ernests nonchalance. Win or lose, the guy doesn’t really seem to care. When Tignor interviewed Gulbis, he had just lost a match he really should have won. He had a ton of break points in the second set, and as Tignor says in his article, Soderling won the match because he wanted it more. He also has the same love/hate relationship with tennis that Safin so often portrayed.

I like Ernests Gulbis. He has an interesting game when he can get it to work and his casual personality makes him seem like the guy next door. If I had to choose a tennis player to hang out with, this guy would definitely be on my short list. He manages to be funny even in English, which is very difficult for the players who speak it as a second language and he doesn’t care what other people think (the pervasive opinion is that he is merely lazy.) You almost wouldn’t know he was a tennis player. At an ATP tournament, even someone who’s never watched tennis can pick out most of the players. Hint: they’re the tall, fit ones, traveling with an entourage and carrying giant racket bags. I saw Ernests on Sunday morning in Toronto and barely noticed him at all. He was sitting alone, in a chair in the hotel lobby, with a hoodie pulled all the way up and listening to his ipod. He looked exactly like any other 21 year old guy. I can’t say I’m really sure why he plays tennis at all, considering he’s from one of the wealthiest families in Latvia and doesn’t seem to like it all that much, but I’m glad he does. Maybe he’ll be discussing it with me one day.

I didn’t mean to dedicate this whole article to one player, but this guy’s been getting a lot of attention again, and I’m intrigued. In other news, the Rogers Cup has lost some fan favorites already. David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Janko Tipsarevic, and Sam Querrey are all out. It's worth noting that Janko Tipsarevic, who's had a pretty good few weeks, hurt his ankle and has since pulled out of Cincinnati. Hopefully he'll be alright for the US Open. I don’t think it makes much of a difference though because everyone wants to see what happens with our top 4. They’re what matters. They do have some threats though, like an in form David Nalbandian, who’s been on an absolute tear lately.

As a parting thought, I just have to mention how confused I am every time I look at the Toronto draw. Roger Federer’s name is not at the top of either half. It sits cozily in the middle of the right half. In all the time I’ve been watching tennis, Roger has occupied one of the coveted end spots. It’s completely foreign for me to have to search for it. I believe Roger will sit firmly atop one of those columns at some point in the near future, particularly with growing concerns over Djokovic’s game.

In completely unrelated news, Dmitry Tursunov, pictured above with Gulbis, was awarded a wild card entry into the Binghampton challenger event this week, but was disqualified when he arrived late for his first match. If he's looking to get back to the top 20, he's going to have to remember to actually show up for his matches. Dmitry is another guy who is quite funny to listen to and he has an excellent twitter account. He often responds directly to fans with questions or comments. You can follow him on twitter @TursunovTales.

More Fun Facts: 7/31 + 8/1

I'll be posting a more serious entry about my weekend at Legg Mason later today, but I wanted to share some of the little things I learned this weekend.

Tomas Berdych and coach checked out the view from the POV rooftop bar before dinner. The three women standing next to them held out a camera and asked Tomas to take their photo. They clearly had no idea who he was. He happily obliged.

David Nalbandian took in the late night view from the bar with a considerable entourage and a fairly ugly shirt. FYI David, I'd be happy to join your team as a fashion consultant.

Kristof Vliegen mostly enjoyed the view of the women instead of DC, but seemed content to chat with a few visiting businessmen. I never would have recognized him if he didn't say that his name was Kristof and he was from Belgium, even then I had to check the draw to see if he was Christophe Rochus or Kristof Vliegen.

Fernando Verdasco was sleepy Sunday morning, or at least that's what he told me.

Radek Stepanek is feeling good after coming back from injury, according to a conversation with his buddy on his way to the gym.

John Isner is really hard to miss, but you probably already knew that. He was taking in some time at the gym late yesterday afternoon after a morning practice session with his coach.

Nenad Zimonjic wears True Religion jeans.

One of the guys traveling with Marcos Baghdatis wore a Roger Federer shirt to practice today. You would think Marcos would be a little offended by this.

Everyone loves Dmitry Tursunov. He practiced for a long time Sunday afternoon and thus ran into several other players on the courts. Before practice, he threw water at a shirtless Michael Llodra, who didn't seem to mind one bit, but did try to retaliate. Dmitry and Ernests Gulbis shared a few laughs before Gulbis' practice with Baghdatis. He even got Alejandro Falla to crack a smile, ribbing him about a flirtatious spectator. Overall, Dmitry just seemed to have a great rapport with the other players on tour. Plus, I kind of love him too.

Andrey Golubev had his girlfriend playing ball girl during serving practice.

Radek Stepanek likes dogs, or at least the one that was in the elevator with us.

Like I said, more on the actual tennis to come later, plus photos.

Do I Really Have to Leave Tomorrow?

Hi guys. So, after a wonderful night's sleep, I am over last night's ordeal and had an amazing time at the tennis today. Qualifying play started at around 10am at the tennis center in Rock Creek Park. Unfortunately the spectators' shuttle doesn't start until Monday, but the hotel Acura service chauffeured me to the tournament around 1pm. I didn't miss too much. Plus, while I was waiting in the lobby this morning, I happened upon an unoccupied Tomas Berdych, who was more than happy to pose for a picture with me and sign an autograph. This was definitely a good start for the rest of the day.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't spend anytime on Center Court today. Instead, I chose to enjoy the view of the practice courts. I watched a lot of practice sessions, including Michael Lloda, Gilles Simon, Julien Benneteau, Stanislas Wawrinka, Yen Hsun Lu, Viktor Troicki, David Nalbandian, Andrey Golubev, Rajeev Ram, Dmitry Tursunov, and probably a few more I forgot about.

Nearly all the players were happy to stop and sign autographs after their practice sessions. Stan Wawrinka was particularly fun to watch in practice as he was quite playful with his coach and spoke English the entire time. Although, he definitely wasn't pleased that someone screwed up his practice reservation. Gilles Simon did not seem at all happy with his practice this afternoon. If I knew any French obscenities, I'm betting that's what I was hearing from Simon's side of the court. Llodra was lovely as always. I've had quite the soft spot for him since I watched him practice in Rotterdam. Dmitry Tursunov looked like he was ready to kill someone after his practice. I got there at the very end after he was already finished, but it didn't look like it went well. His coach did hand out the practice balls to fans at the end though. Anyway, that was most of what I saw today, but I would like to follow this post with some fun facts.

Some Things You Probably Didn't Know:

Tomas Berdych has ridiculously blue eyes. I know they show him on TV all the time now, but this guy is a thousand times better looking in person. I even saw him play in person at the French, but this was still better.

Julien Benneteau has a picture of him and a woman I assume is his girlfriend as the background on his blackberry. No, I was not being a creeper. We road down in the same elevator this morning and he was holding his phone.

Even ugly players have pretty girlfriends.

David Nalbandian has the prettiest autograph I've seen so far.

There were puppies. They drew almost as large a crowd as some practice courts.

No one watches doubles practice.

Alright, I'm getting ready to head off for dinner, but I will definitely have a much more in depth tournament article for you guys on Monday.