Top Ten Surprises of the 2009 US Open

***REPOSTED FROM MY PREVIOUS BLOG "LIVE AND LET DIGRESS***

ORIGINALLY DATED September 13, 2009

10. Marat Safin loses in the first round of his last Grand Slam event.

*This wasn't actually a surprise considering how he's been playing this year, but I couldn't let his retirement go by without saying something. People tend to forget that he is a two time major winner ('00 US Open and '05 Australian) and as late as last year made a run to the semis at Wimbledon. He has provided us many years of incredibly entertaining and dramatic play as well as entertaining and dramatic press conferences.

9. Roger Federer's between the legs shot on the penultimate point of his semi-final match against Djokovic.

*No one but Federer would have been able to pull this off, if you missed this shot, please check out this video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVQhIEPbM0g

8. Dinara Safina maintains number 1 ranking regardless of her miserable play during the Open.

7. Kim Clijsters captures women's title after several years of retirement. The last US Open she played was 2005, which she also won.

6. Andy Murray loses to Marin Cilic in the fourth round.

*I had him going all the way to the final again this year.

5. The majority of the seeded women are defeated early in the tournament. Almost every early round match seemed like a huge upset. Only half of the quarterfinalists were seeded, only 1 in the top 5.

4. Serena Williams threatens to kill a linesperson over a foot-fault call in her semi-final, resulting in a point penalty on match point.

*We all knew she was terrifying, but never expected this. A $10,000 fine is not enough, and she should not have been allowed to play in the doubles' final. The WTA should really consider suspending her form the Australian Open. This unsportsmanly behavior reflects poorly on the whole sport.

3. Andy Roddick loses in the third round to 6'9" American John Isner, who precedes to lose to Fernando Verdasco, resulting in the first time an American man has not made it to the quarter finals at the US Open.

*Seriously Andy Roddick, every time I start to believe you can win another major, something like this happens. I'm expecting great results at the Australian.

2. Unseeded American Melanie Oudin, only 17 years old, beats Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova en route to her first major quarterfinal.

1. Juan Martin del Potro defeats Roger Federer in the first five set final since 1999.