Tennis: US Open 2012

[Gehrig]

Anyone else have been tuning in thus far?

 

[JackReacher]

[crickets]

 

[Matt1735]

Watched some of the Federer exhibition last night. Boy, has Donald Young gone from phenom to flop. At one point, he was the next Great American.

 

[Dyno]

I'm going this weekend, so I'll be watching then (if not before).

 

[qtlaw]

I love the tournament but have to say it does not get exciting usually until the Qtrs.

BTW, someone lent me "High Strung" about the peak of tennis at 1980; fascinating read about Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Vitas.

 

[John]

Watched some of the Federer exhibition last night. Boy, has Donald Young gone from phenom to flop. At one point, he was the next Great American.

To a degree he was afforded the Next Great American status, and got a ton of wild cards because of it, but it was a LONG time ago that most of us realized that he didn't have the size or savvy or all-around game to be a Top 20 regular. Now he's lost 17 straight matches.

 

[Mark2010]

John Isner is the next great American men's player.

Women? What ever happened to Melanie Oudin?

 

[qtlaw]

John Isner is the next great American men's player.

Women? What ever happened to Melanie Oudin?

Love the guy but that's pretty sad when he's the great hope. The guy is 6'10" with a huge serve, and hits a two-hander while playing behind the baseline. He's #9 and that's fantastic, but damn he should be chipping and charging and serve and volleying. I want him to be Roscoe Tanner, not Borg.

 

[Mark2010]

Yeah, tennis was more fun when you had some real serve and volley players. Last great one was Sampras, I guess. Maybe the modern racket technology has made that impossible.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Watched some of the Federer exhibition last night. Boy, has Donald Young gone from phenom to flop. At one point, he was the next Great American.

To a degree he was afforded the Next Great American status, and got a ton of wild cards because of it, but it was a LONG time ago that most of us realized that he didn't have the size or savvy or all-around game to be a Top 20 regular. Now he's lost 17 straight matches.

Actually, he snapped that 17-match streak a week ago at the Winston-Salem tournament ... so he's 19 of 20 now ...

 

[BTExpress]

Stat of the night.

Winners
Sharapova 30
Dominguez Lino 0

A professional player can't hit one winner in two sets?

 

[Donny in his element]

Andy Roddick just called impromptu press conference in which he has announced he is retiring after the US Open.

 

[Donny in his element]

And now we get twice the sappy retrospective coverage with Roddick taking some of that spotlight from Kim Clijsters.

 

[MightyMouse]

So Andy Roddick just announced he will retire after the U.S. Open.

I have just one question: Why not 5 years ago?

 

[Double Down]

I dislike it a great deal when people **** on Andy Roddick. Dude took a pretty limited game, and got pretty much everything he could out of it. He left nothing on the court. He wasn't a transcendent talent like Federer or Rafa or Djoker, but that didn't stop him from grinding and grinding and trying everything he could try to compete. I'll miss the fight. His epic fifth set against Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon made me so proud of him. He didn't have enough to win, but he pushed the greatest player of this generation -- maybe the greatest of all time -- to the absolute limit. I'm going to miss him. I really admire the nobility of the struggle to be great, even if you come up short.

 

[qtlaw]

You ever see the disdain Roddick displays simply asking for a towel from a 14 yr old? I cannot root for anyone like that.

 

[turski7]

I felt he never had the mental game to compete with those guys, but had all the shots one would need to beat them. His attitude rubbed me the wrong way and is probably why he couldn't come within reach of Roger, Rafa and Djoker. Yeah, 2009 was great, his one major was nice, but his career was disappointing.
I'm sure he'll have fun with his super-hot wife in retirement.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I dislike it a great deal when people **** on Andy Roddick. Dude took a pretty limited game, and got pretty much everything he could out of it. He left nothing on the court. He wasn't a transcendent talent like Federer or Rafa or Djoker, but that didn't stop him from grinding and grinding and trying everything he could try to compete. I'll miss the fight. His epic fifth set against Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon made me so proud of him. He didn't have enough to win, but he pushed the greatest player of this generation -- maybe the greatest of all time -- to the absolute limit. I'm going to miss him. I really admire the nobility of the struggle to be great, even if you come up short.

I always saw him differently. An underacheiver. He was number one in the world after that US Open he won. And then never did squat. The things you admire in him can basically be said about Andy Murray. Both defensive players. Both fall short against the supertalented more aggressive players like Nadal (and Roddick is miserable on Clay. It's like he never even tried to get better), Federer and Djokovic. Roddick's upside was Andy Murray. Did he ever really reach that and stay that good -- consistently a top 5 player? He's a good guy and I understand liking him. But I never saw him as the competitor you did. Maybe I missed it, though.

 

[qtlaw]

Watch Roddick in 2003, huge serve, big forehand. Look at him now, better fitness, yes. Big serve? Still kinda there. Forehand? Not so scary any longer. The backhand? Better chip, but the least penetrating backhand of any major winner since ......? That backhand scared no one. Still doesn't. I know its not easy to be a top 5 player and I give him credit for that. But that bad attitude just colors everything. If only he'd started coming in behind his serve say 2001-2002, he could have been so much better.

 

[Mark2010]

Yeah, I think Roddick put so much into his serve that he didn't develop other parts of his game. If a point lasted more than 4-5 shots, he was so often on the defensive.

He also came along at the worst possible time. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were fading and people expected there would always be an American there to fill the void and be among the elite. He won the 2003 US Open and was briefly No. 1 before Roger Federer really kicked it into high gear. Roddick lost four Grand Slam finals to Federer. If he wins a couple of those, he's probably regarded in a different light.