BSR

I saw the entire Raducanu-Sakkari match and the key parts (1st set tiebreaker & last half of the 3rd set) of the Fernandez-Sabalenka match. I also saw Sabalenka's & Sakkari's press conferences. Both veterans admitted that the pressure got to them. Watching their matches, oh boy, did it ever. After hitting a beautiful winner for her first point in the tiebreaker, Sabalenka then made 7 unforced errors to gift the breaker to Fernandez. Leylah didn't have to do much beyond keeping the ball in play. And when serving to stay in the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, Sabalenka once again became a font of unforced errors. Same song, different verse with Sakkari. She admitted that nothing was working for her. Yikes, some of her shots were flying out by 20 feet! When Boris Becker played his first Wimbledon final at 17, he wondered why his opponent the veteran Kevin Curran was so nervous. Only years later did he understand what was going through Curren's head. I have to think a similar dynamic played out in the 2 women's semis: a youngster playing freely while the veteran on court was playing with the weight of the world on her shoulders. PS: Special congratulations to Emma Raducanu for being the first qualifier ever to make it to a Slam final. John McEnroe once said that making it through Wimbledon qualifying was the toughest thing he ever did in tennis. If a qualifier wins their 1st Round match, that in itself is a helluva moral victory. Making it all the way to the final is simply unreal.

I have to mention my man Novak. Lucky for Novak that he got such an easy draw early on because he played C-level tennis for the first four rounds. Novak had to up his game and fast because he would face (imho) the three toughest outs in the draw QF-SF-F: Berrettini, Zverev & Medvedev. It was like Novak flipped a switch after his first set against Berrettini, going from B- tennis to his A game to win the last 3 sets. If he can bring the same level against Zverev & Medvedev that he did against Berrettini, I will be a lot more optimistic about Novak's chances of winning the calendar-year Grand Slam. But that's a big IF.

I saw part of one of Raducanu's matches at Wimbledon. While she clearly had talent, I never expected she'd get to the USO final. Beyond unseeded, Raducanu (ranked #150 going into the USO) was a qualifier. I don't know the last time, if ever, a qualifier made it to a Slam final. Aslan Karatsev made lots of headlines in February when he reached the Australian Open semifinal as a qualifier. The British press must be going absolutely bonkers. While I don't watch much women's tennis, I will definitely watch the final on Saturday because I'm simply gobsmacked that these two are the last women standing. By the way, Leylah Fernandez turned 19 on Monday (9/6); Raducanu turns 19 on Nov 13. While the last teenage Slam champ was fairly recent (19yo Iga Swiatek at the 2020 Roland Garros), it's becoming increasingly rare. I doubt we'll ever see it again on the men's side.

I read that Krejcikova was actually injured during the Muguruza match but somehow eked out the win. Unfortunately, she didn't heal up in time for the QF. I can't say I'm surprised that Alcaraz pulled up lame. 18yo's haven't had time to build up the fitness necessary to endure a 5-setter, much less two in a row. Still a great week for the young Spaniard, whose ranking will jump up to ~40, which means direct entry into all the Masters 1000s (lotsa ranking points, lotsa prize money). I hope Felix can give Medvedev a match. Felix always had all the physical tools necessary but lacked the mental strength to win big matches. With a Wimbledon QF and now a USO SF, Felix made a wise choice in hiring Uncle Toni as his coach. Not sure Felix has improved quite enough to beat Medvedev, but I'll be rooting for the Canadian. Edited to add: I think a player is allowed to receive treatment only if the injury occurs during the match. If a player goes into the match carrying an injury, he is not allowed to get treatment for it. If Alcaraz's quad was bothering him before the match, the most the trainer can do is give him pain pills or anti-inflammatories, no physical manipulation or taping is permitted.

@Charlie I think your 2 posts in the Naomi Osaka thread might be a better fit in this thread, so I'll respond to both here. To think, 13 Slam champions started in the women's singles draw yet not a single one is left. I couldn't even begin to predict a winner of the players remaining. I'm hoping Pliskova finally wins one because she's starting to be known as "the best player never to win a Slam," a distinction nobody wants. I follow a few amateur tennis analysts on YouTube, and they've all started calling Van de Zandschulp "Vandy" because the name freaks them out so much, LOL. As expected, Vandy bowed out to Medvedev but actually took a set, the first Meddy has lost in the tournament. I'm almost wondering if Medvedev's path to the final will be too easy. It's better to be tested a bit since your opponent in the final is usually a very tough player. I'm worried about my fave Novak because he hasn't looked good at all so far. I keep telling myself that he's just playing his way into form after a month-long break & no tune-ups, but he better shake off the rust pretty quick. With his current level, Zverev & Medvedev would crush him. I'm looking forward to the FAA-Alcaraz match, which starts in a few minutes. I fear the young Spaniard might be spent after two consecutive 5-setters. Then again, one should never underestimate an 18yo's powers of recovery. Win or lose, Alcaraz is Spain's heir apparent to the 35yo Rafa Nadal, who has 20 Slams and 209 weeks at #1 to his credit. No pressure, kid.

Oh yeah, a young Jean Paul Belmondo was sex on a stick. I watched "Breathless" three times at an artsy cinema in NYC even though I wasn't crazy about the movie, just because Belmondo was so damn sexy. R.I.P., beautiful man.

After her loss today against Raducanu, Shelby Rogers expected "9 million death threats" on her social media accounts. Ugh, apparently psychos on social media harass & threaten even journey(wo)men like Rogers, not just former Slam champs like Stephens.

According to Wiki, ~80 nations, socialist or not, celebrate Workers Day on May 1. The US & Canada celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday in September. International Workers Day is set on May 1 in honor of the American Federation of Labor convention which on May 1, 1885, passed a resolution calling for an 8-hour workday. You can read the Wiki article on Labor Day for the origins of the first Monday in September as the date for Labor Day.

Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim reported that Donald Young never realized his potential because he simply refused to work. The USTA paid one of the top coaches in the business to work with Young (Wertheim didn't disclose the name), but this coach quit within a couple of weeks because Young simply wasn't willing to put in the work necessary to become a top player. Tiafoe does put in the hard work but has yet to see the results he's hoping for (current rank #50, career high #29). None of the American Next Gen has. Taylor Fritz won the boys title at the US Open, and Tommy Paul won the boys title at Roland Garros, yet neither has broken into the top 20. I can see Reilly Opelka in the top 20, but not the top 10. Mal Washington is selling real estate in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Only 3 upsets on the women's side ... Maria Sakkari over Petra Kvitova isn't that surprising since Kvitova, from a small town in the Czech Republic, has never felt comfortable in loud, bustling NYC. As much as Naomi Osaka has struggled lately, no one was expecting 18yo #73 Leylah Fernandez to beat her. Osaka announced she will take an indefinite leave of absence from professional tennis because she isn't happy when she wins (just relieved) yet is very sad when she loses. Hopefully she gets the help she needs during her time off. The biggest upset of all was Shelby Roger's over #1 Ash Barty. Most shocking is that Barty served for the match twice yet lost in a 3rd-set tiebreaker. Hey, number one's are human too. Not an upset because #17 Kerber on paper was supposed to beat #66 Sloane Stephens, but Sloane was looking so good in the first 2 rounds. Apparently weighing on Sloane's mind were ~2,000 truly vile attacks she got via social media -- racist, misogynist death threats. I wouldn't be surprised if all 2,000 were from the same person. Apparently plenty of players get death threats, mostly from gamblers who lost more than they could afford to lose because they bet big on a certain player who ends up losing. Now that the gambler is (literally) facing homelessness, they go berserk & take out all their anger on the poor player. Hopefully Sloane gets help from the WTA and law enforcement to deal with this. It sounds like it was the first time this happened to her, and she was really shaken.

Upsets reign at the US Open! First the men's side ... Jenson Brooksby (ranked #99) beat #25 Aslan Karatsev, but this is an upset only on paper. Brooksby has been having a great summer (Newport final, DC semi) whereas Karatsev has slumped (3 wins, 7 losses) since Rome (beat Medvedev) and Belgrade (beat Novak!). Another only-on-paper upset is Lloyd Harris over Denis Shapovalov. Again, Harris is having a career-best year whereas Shapo hasn't won a match since that Wimbledon semi, plus Harris beat Shapo in March. Frances Tiafoe over Andrey Rublev qualifies as an upset, although not a hugely surprising one. Rublev, despite his #7 ranking, has never done well at the Slams whereas Tiafoe loves playing at home (by "home" I mean in the US). After losing heartbreaking five-setters at the USO to Isner, Roger, and Zverev, Frances finally wins a five-setter against Rublev. The biggest upset was #55 Carlos Alcaraz over #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas still seems haunted by losing the Roland Garros final after leading 2 sets to love, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting this. Carlos played his heart out and played the match of his young life. Darren Cahill said that when he was looking for a coach for Simona Halep, he asked Juan Carlos Ferrero if he'd be interested. Ferrero said he'd love to except that he was working with a 15yo who was really good. Well, Ferrero has an eye for talent because his now 18yo player is in the 4th round of the US Open.

NFL commentator Gregg Rosenthal has an interesting hobby: amateur tennis analyst. With a buddy, he has a YouTube channel where they talk tennis, and he's a bigger fan of women's tennis than men's. Anyway, don't ask me for his source, but on today's video he claimed that Sloane Stephen's average forehand speed is the highest of all the players who have played on Ashe, including Djokovic, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, and Zverev -- yowza! In a wide-open women's field, that is a strong argument for why Stephen's has a chance to win the title. Argument against: she has the draw from Hell. Kerber in the next round, Osaka after that, and that's just to get to the quarters.

So how was it that play continued on Arthur Ashe without interruption?

And through it all, play continued on Arthur Ashe uninterrupted. If a stadium cost $200 million to build, I think it should be playable in anything & everything short of a Category 5 hurricane. Flooding caused the tragedy of a number of deaths in the area, but flooding did not cause play stoppage in Louis Armstrong. A design flaw did.

I was wondering how one man, even at 6'5" & 300 pounds of muscle, could overpower two able-bodied men without a firearm, which is not mentioned in the original story.

Well, Stephens has about as good a chance as any because the women's field is so wide open. She is 1 of 11 Slam champions still in the women's draw. In contrast, since Marin Cilic and Andy Murray lost in the 1st round (not that either one had a shot at the title), Novak is the only Slam champion left on the men's side. PS: not US Open-related but not worthy of its own thread, the 9/13/21 rankings (first after conclusion of the USO) will be the first time since April 25, 2005 that Rafa is out of the top 10. Despite his many injuries, Rafa managed to stay in the top 10 for more than 16 years -- simply jaw-dropping.

The USTA spent $200 million to build Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was supposed to be a 2nd retractable-roof stadium playable in all conditions. But tonight, while play continued uninterrupted on Arthur Ashe, Armstrong was flooded, and needless to say the match was stopped. Anderson & Schwartzman did resume their match, but in Ashe and after 11pm because they had to wait for the scheduled Ashe matches to finish. Uh, what exactly did the USTA spend $200 million for??

Frankie Avalon was one of my earliest celebrity crushes. I remember one of the local stations used to run "Beach Week" featuring all the Frankie & Annette beach movies ... ah, Frankie in a swimsuit. Here is an 18yo Frankie Avalon singing "Venus" on American Bandstand. Also, check out how young Dick Clark is in the clip, LOL.

I've lost track of the number of posts from board members who paid up front, the escort "forgot something in his car," and the client is left with blue balls and an empty wallet.

When Spaniards speak Spanish or English? I actually find the Castilian accent in Spanish kinda boring, too monotone. And I've found that Spaniards often have poor English pronunciation, something that I think is unique to Spain because I don't notice those from other Spanish-speaking countries struggling with English pronunciation. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. Spain's president Pedro Sanchez has beautiful English pronunciation, and I think his accent is sexy as hell, maybe because I think he's sexy as hell. You can hear his sexy accent in the video below. It cracks me up that he slips and says "San Francisco" with a lisped "c."

Gilles Simon was forced to withdraw from the US Open because of a positive Covid test. Get this, though, his coach tested positive for Covid, not Gilles. Despite his own negative test, Gilles still has to withdraw because he's not vaccinated. According to the chatter on men's tennis forum, if he were vaxxed, he would be allowed to remain. Yikes, I'm pretty sure Novak is not vaccinated. He's never said one way or the other but has expressed doubt about the safety of the vaccine. Mind you, I disagree with the rule. If a player tests negative, vaxxed or not, he should be allowed to play. But I don't make the rules, the USTA does, and the players all knew the rules going into the tournament. If Novak gets the boot because one of his team (2 coaches and 1 physio) tests positive, the disappointment will be like his disastrous Olympics times a zillion. Edited to add: there's some debate over on MTF whether a vaccinated player who tests negative but whose coach tests positive would get expelled or not. It sounds like whether you're vaxxed or not, you get the boot even if you test negative. Doesn't sound fair, but them's the rules.

"they are not going to look at you at all" I can deal with. It's the screams of horror that I'm worried about.

Lobster? Foie gras? Pffft, I obviously won't be needing nutritional substinence if it's my last meal. So give me an hour, well OK two since it's the end, to munch on Max Whitlock's ass.

I don't think the US Open is placing many if any restrictions on players, in stark contrast to the strict "bubbles" at other tournaments. Remember when Musetti was booted from the Canadian Masters for picking up takeout a block from the players hotel? With that kind of freedom and given the density of NYC, you have to think other players will inevitably contract the virus. Whether the Covid-positive show symptoms or not, it's automatic ejection from the tournament. Oh gawd, as a die-hard Novak fan, I'll be crushed if his Grand Slam bid is thwarted by a positive Covid test.

I didn't know that Venus had been dealing with an injury, but I fully expected Serena's withdrawal, as did pretty much every tennis fan. Even when a player doesn't enter tune-ups prior to a Slam, you usually hear something about workouts or practice sessions, that is, if they're healthy. For example with Novak, who cited "multiple injuries" when he pulled out of his mixed dubs bronze medal match, there were sightings with video of Novak on the Adriatic coast, then on the beach in Marbella, and now on the practice courts in NYC. Apparently he's in great spirits and appears to be 100% recovered from all physical ailments. But with Serena, it was complete radio silence. And whaddya know.