U.S. Open running thread

[Small Town Guy]

Headed there tomorrow. Buddy has passes to the Stadium and the outside courts. The outside courts are so fun. Some big names out there, but doubles and matches between people you've never heard of can be just as much fun, especially when seated right at courtside. Last year we heckled some tall German named Florian who pouted and got his ass kicked.

 

[Double Down]

Very artfully written NYT Magazine piece by Nicholas Dawidoff on John McEnroe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/magazine/24mcenroe-t.html

The tantrums and the boorish epithets he lobbed at fans, opponents and, especially, umpires sometimes obscured not only the innovative subtleties of his game but also the way his play suggested a sophisticated moment-to-moment processing of whom he was up against. That was never truer than at Wimbledon. McEnroe became famous there in 1977, reaching the semifinals as a brazen teenaged qualifier with pouty cheeks and a terry-cloth headband. Three years later he and Borg staged a championship that has become one of those seminal public events about which people can say exactly where they were when they saw it. (Nelson Mandela told McEnroe he listened in prison on Robben Island.) McEnroe served and volleyed as Borg stood stoic at the base line contesting points so complex and involved they felt like short stories. The best moments came at the end, a 34-point fourth set tiebreaker, won by McEnroe, followed by a 8-6 fifth-set loss so thrillingly close that Borg’s fifth consecutive Wimbledon victory spoke to the brutal, bright-size-life way that singles tennis has of revealing a man and displaying what he is made of. It is a martial game: eliminate or be eliminated.

I liked that bolded line very much.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Interesting background info on Young from McEnroe.

 

[sportschick]

Mr. Safin did not lose his five-set match, and I'm a happy girl.

Serena is just dismantling one of the Bondarenko girls.

 

[BTExpress]

She can handle those Ukrainians.

We'll see how she does against the Russians.

 

[sportschick]

Probably depends on which Russian she gets. I'm interested to see how she'll do against the Serbs as well.

 

[Beaker]

This conversation sounds like a Cold War strategy meeting. :D

 

[BTExpress]

Well, Belgium got wiped off the WTA map this year.

 

[sportschick]

Didn't have anything in the pipeline for when the Big 2 retired, just like the U.S. doesn't seem to have anybody for when the Williams sisters and Davenport retire.

 

[Double Down]

When you consider that the U.S. has, literally, 30 times the population that Belgium does, I'd say that's a much bigger indictment of American tennis than Belgian tennis.

Off topic: I went to a wedding once where the groom was Belgian, and I got a little drunk at the rehearsal dinner and apologized loudly to a group of Belgians for George W. Bush. They got a little huffy and said that all Americans had to own that monster, since all we did was eat fast food and watch American Idol, and I tried to explain that 49.9 percent of us hasn't actually voted for Bush, but they didn't want to hear any of it.

So we talked about women's tennis instead, and I expressed my love for Kim Clijsters but my dislike of Justine Henin. They agree that Henin was a big *****, but a fierce competitor.

 

[sportschick]

I would agree it's a much bigger indictment of American tennis, DD.

I miss Henin. I have no one to root against these days. In order for somebody to be a good sports villain, they have to, well, be good, if not great, at the sport. It's why Kyle Busch is so good for NASCAR, and it's what's lacking in tennis -- men's and women's -- right now.

 

[sportschick]

Roger's attire does not meet with my approval. Ugh.

 

[The Big Ragu]

When you consider that the U.S. has, literally, 30 times the population that Belgium does, I'd say that's a much bigger indictment of American tennis than Belgian tennis.

Off topic: I went to a wedding once where the groom was Belgian, and I got a little drunk at the rehearsal dinner and apologized loudly to a group of Belgians for George W. Bush. They got a little huffy and said that all Americans had to own that monster, since all we did was eat fast food and watch American Idol, and I tried to explain that 49.9 percent of us hasn't actually voted for Bush, but they didn't want to hear any of it.

So we talked about women's tennis instead, and I expressed my love for Kim Clijsters but my dislike of Justine Henin. They agree that Henin was a big *****, but a fierce competitor.

I love you like a brother, DD. But I'd have kicked your ass for apologizing to a bunch of Belgians for ANYTHING. When they did that whole fast food, American Idol thing, I'd have apologized to them too, for not contributing as much to the world as they have with their waffles.

They're Belgian. Did they forget that? They should be happy that when we're weren't all busy eating fast food we decided to liberate their weak asses from the Nazis. Oh lord, do I wish I had been at that rehearsal dinner. I'd have created an international incident.

I was at the open yesterday. The cool thing about the first round is that you get to see some high level tennis up close on the outer courts. I can't think of another premier sporting event in which you can be right up close watching the 7th or 8th best player in the world perform.

 

[sportschick]

Who the hell dressed Novak this morning? That is hideous.

Ginepri's through, and Roddick finally plays tonight. No clue why they stretched out the men's first round for three days.

 

[sportschick]

Apparently Djokovic got busy in the Olympic village, because he's now dating the hot model/javelin thrower from Paraguay.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nejs1cBXmn0/RrjYJ20LySI/AAAAAAAABI4/_7stJsPUQDg/las+del+uni+023.jpg (link is SFW, but huge)

 

[sportschick]

Apparently, I'm the only one watching the Open this week. Ana Ivanovich is in major trouble against a qualifier from France, down a set and on serve in the second. She is not playing well.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Bethanie Mattek lost. :'( Her outfit was hot, tho.

 

[sportschick]

I've become a Mattek fan. I think she might still be around in the doubles.

 

[sportschick]

Ivanovic won the second set, but the French girl, Coin, is gonna take the third. She's up 5-2. Damn.

 

[sportschick]

And Coin does it. Knocks off the No. 1 player in her first Tour level event. Holy ****.

I'll now switch over to the convention :D