US Open '11: Point by Point Coverage

[lt]

Arthur Ash's Kids Day has been canceled. Makes sense, even though the hurricane won't be getting here until Saturday night the event attracts mostly small kids and rain and thunderstorms and an approaching hurricane aren't problems the USTA wants to have to deal with with that audience. I'm so curious about Monday--it's supposed to be a sunny day but it's not like all the rain and wind damage will just disappear when the hurricane does.

[mooncreek]

I had figured when I saw someone comment last night on Mayor Bloomberg wanting to shut down mass transit on Saturday. Oh well. Have tickets for Wednesday in Ashe so hopefully there will be a favorite player there *crosses fingers for Venus/Lisicki*

Aug 26, 2011 16:32:27 GMT harry24 said:

Rafa is a handsome and charming young man

That he is.

But the hair. Dear God, what are we going to do about the hair?

[Roddick Fan]Enjoy it while it lasts[/Roddick Fan]

[falafaclese]

I think the major unknown quantity this year on the women's side is Venus. She has a draw that would, under normal circumstances, be completely manageable for her, but who knows how she's playing right now. The last 5 times she played she has only been beaten by Kim, Serena and Justine, all of whom ended up being the champions those years. I've got her going to the semis in my bracket, but I just don't know. Venus/Lisicki will definitely could be the acid test, I think.

I also don't know what to think about Maria. She's so up and down match-to-match, and even set-to-set, she's also hard to figure out.

Serena's definitely my favorite. She's been able to make it through two difficult back to back weeks of play, and I think it was smart that she dropped out of Cincy. I was reading Wertheim who was again questioning her respect for the game because of her withdrawal because after she did so, she was seen at an amusement park and there was talk of her going to the Kardashian wedding. I think playing another tournament would have been a big mistake.

For the men, I have serious concerns about Djoker right now because he seemed so completely drained emotionally, mentally and physically. That's a lot to turn around for such a big event, even with a week off. On the plus side, he'll only be playing every other day, but again, I just don't know. I picked Murray to win just because the arc of his performance seems to be the most likely to peak in New York.

I think my theme for the next two weeks is "I don't know what to think."

[acre]

Cause going to an amusement pa-k and attending a wedding a-e exactly like playing a high level tennis match. Such ha-d wo-k, so physically taxing. Honestly, that's just dumb.

[lt]

falafaclese, (and anyone else with an android), I guess the US Open decided to add an app for android--'cause I just downloaded it from the mobile site. Yeah! No worries about the radio now. And, if you are out there, how was the hurricane for you? Seems like I'm asking you about an awful lot of natural disasters lately. . .

[mooncreek]

I'm posting this just as Irene is about to hit (I'm on Long Island - they evacuated the south shore but I'm in an area that it's better to stay where I am) so I'll let you know. Right now it's just rain and power and even the satellite is okay but that won't much longer.

So I saw the New Haven semi and final. Caroline looks to be back to her usual self - in the semi match, Francie started well but ended up frustrated. As for the final, I would be concerned if I'm an Ana fan because this Cetkovska could cause issues for her in the second round, given the way Ana is in Slams - rather crafty and did just beat Radwanska, Bartoli and Li in consecutive matches.

The most interesting thing about New Haven was after the final. Caroline and Rory both came into the ESPN booth. They are ridiculously cute together, quite giggly. Probably fortunate for Caro that Rory is heading to Europe for a tournament once Irene passes because the USO attention would be a bit too much.

[falafaclese]

I just downloaded the app. Thanks lt!

We've had quite a bit of rain, but not much else. The wind's not even that bad, although, there have been some power outages here and there. Luckily I haven't experienced any myself.

[falafaclese]

Hope everybody made/is making it through Irene okay. It seems to have passed here. Still breezy with drizzles here and there here, but obviously it's the tail end. The worst that happened is that my cable and internet are out so I'm posting from my phone.

I hope everyone is doing okay.

[lt]

moon, I'm in North Jersey so we probably got the storm at the same time. (Except I guess LI got more wind and we got more rain.) falafaclese, I don't want to jinx anything but we managed to keep power and cable so *cross fingers* that remains.

My cousin heard they aren't playing tomorrow but I can't find anything on the internet about that so I have no clue if that was legit info or not.

[breezybee]

lt - The official website says they will make an announcement about Monday's schedule on Sunday evening. I guess the problem is that public transportation won't be back to normal? Fingers crossed! I really want to see some tennis tomorrow.

[roseha]

We're okay here in midtown Manhattan, power on and everything, but my bet is that they won't play tomorrow. On the news they showed power lines down in Queens, I don't know how close to the tennis center but there were five power poles down in one street and possible live wires that had not been taken care of yet.

Also we don't know when public transport is coming back on. My guess not in time for the day session. Maybe not the night session. We'll see I guess.

[lt]

The site just posted that they had minimal damage and expect to play tomorrow starting at 11am but that they'll keep in touch with city officials about transportation. I saw a crawl that said the MTA (NY trains/buses/subways) said no transportation tomorrow but I think the crawl might have been from yesterday. I guess they'll figure it out later. I saw that Long Island has a lot of power outages so I hope moon isn't sitting in the dark right now. . . Meanwhile, here? Bright sunshine.

[falafaclese]

Sunny and breezy here in DC too. There are branches down in places, and some traffic signals on the fritz here and there, but nothing serious that I saw, and a lot of people are out and about on the streets and in the parks . . . including the tennis courts.

[falafaclese]

Two double posts in as many days. Sorry.

Just thought I'd post the various expert picks for winners, dark horses, early exits, etc.
ESPN.COM
TENNIS.COM
SI Women's and Men's picks.
SI predictions.

It looks, not surprisingly, like Serena is the clear favorite among the women, and Djoker is the favorite among the men, but not as overwhelmingly as Serena. Sod seems to be the overwhelming favorite to suffer an early loss given his lack of play this summer.

eta: Djokovic has been using a hyperbaric chamber for recovery since last year's US Open.

[mooncreek]

I am still sitting in the dark (22 hrs w/o), relying on the battery of my laptop to get on now (and wind-up flashlights to hopefully type this okay - luckily I did take keyboarding in HS days) . Rain was a non-issue but the wind knocked out a lot of trees and the utility pole two blocks away is about six inches from either destroying an AT&T cellular store or completely blocking the world of a Dunkin Donuts (and the main block).

If you want a really good laugh regarding predictions, read the Yahoo prediction for the men. It's one thing for us to joke about Murray winning but to go through the draw to pick the one opponent where he'd be the favorite yet have no pressure (Fish).]

Usually where a qualifier lands doesn't lead to making a match against an elite player must-see. And then Radwanska vs Radwanska happened.