2022 US Open (tennis)

[BSR]

Golf also has a US Open, but this thread is for tennis's version, which starts tomorrow (today in the Eastern time zone).  More than any Slam in recent memory, this US Open is missing a favorite or even solid contenders.  Novak and Zverev aren't playing.  Medvedev is the defending champion and world #1, but he hasn't looked good lately.  You can't get excited about his winning Los Cabos because it's just a 250.  He lost to Kyrgios in Canada and double-faulted the match away to Tsitsipas in Cincinnati.  Rafa would be the favorite if fully fit, but I've read he's serving at 3/4 speed because of the abdominal.  Alcaraz has been very beatable lately, losing to Norrie, Tommy Paul, Musetti, and Sinner 2x.  Tsitsipas showed in his loss to Coric in the Cinci final that he needs to do a lot more work to get his act together.  The rest of the top 15 (Ruud, Aliassime, Norrie, etc.) look not quite ready for prime time.  The one exception might be Sinner, but even he's a stretch. 

My favorite is a guy who's an even bigger stretch: Cincinnati champ Borna Coric.  No, I don't think Borna will win, but he's my favorite because the guy will look so damn good while trying.  Hopefully it'll be nice & toasty in Flushing and we'll be treated to a lot of shirt changes.

Feel free to free to discuss the women's side as well.  I don't follow the WTA all that closely, but their side seems just as wide open.  The other big story is Serena's retirement.  If you thought the crowd went nuts rooting for Jimmy Connors in the 1991 USO, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Edited August 29, 2022 by BSR
Typo

[+ WilliamM]

Great news because it will give younger players a chance. However, Nadal is still a dangerous player. Hope he wins.

[+ Charlie]

First man through is JJ Wolf, a young American who just took out the 16th seed RBA in straight sets. He looks good without the mullet and in sleeveless shirt.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Tsitsipas upset in round 1.  Maybe that means he will be back on a photo posting shirtless photos on Twitter again.

[BSR]

Congratulations to Brandon Holt for beating the #1 American Taylor Fritz.  Holt made it through qualifying, which is an  accomplishment in itself, only to draw the #10 seed in the 1st round.  But Holt handled himself like a seasoned player instead of a newbie playing his first Slam.

Fritz was off, not sure what was going on with him.  Since he was going into the USO with his highest ever ranking and career-best season, I have to think Taylor had high hopes for the 2022 USO, especially with a wide-open field.  Maybe he put too much pressure on himself & freaked out a bit?

Holt goes from #303 to #214 in the live rankings.  He more than doubled his career prize money with the win tonight.  Since I don't know much about his next opponent, I can't say if it's a winnable match or not, but at least Pedro Cachín isn't a top seed (ranked #66).

PS:  Brandon's mom Tracy Austin must be so proud.

[BSR]

4 hours ago, sam.fitzpatrick said:

Tsitsipas upset in round 1.  Maybe that means he will be back on a photo posting shirtless photos on Twitter again.

Win or lose, nothing stops Tsitsipas from posting shirtless pics.

Stefanos was suffering from an arm injury ( bicep?).  His average serve and forehand speeds were noticeably down.  After he got treatment from the trainer, he did win the 3rd set, albeit with both serve and forehand still subpar.

Great players often figure out how to win despite injury (Novak 3R 2021 AO, Rafa QF 2022 Wimbledon,  Steffi Graff her entire career), but it takes great mental strength, something Tsitsipas lacks.  OK, his bicep was bothering him but not that much.  Like I said in the opening post, Stef's got some work to do.

[+ Charlie]

Stef won only one game in the fast first two sets, and he actually snapped back at something coming from his box; after that, Apostolos seemed to pull back, as though he didn't think it was worthwhile pushing, and Stef actually played better, but couldn't maintain it.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Charlie

[+ Charlie]

8 hours ago, BSR said:

Congratulations to Brandon Holt for beating the #1 American Taylor Fritz.  Holt made it through qualifying, which is an  accomplishment in itself, only to draw the #10 seed in the 1st round.  But Holt handled himself like a seasoned player instead of a newbie playing his first Slam.

Fritz was off, not sure what was going on with him.  Since he was going into the USO with his highest ever ranking and career-best season, I have to think Taylor had high hopes for the 2022 USO, especially with a wide-open field.  Maybe he put too much pressure on himself & freaked out a bit?

Holt goes from #303 to #214 in the live rankings.  He more than doubled his career prize money with the win tonight.  Since I don't know much about his next opponent, I can't say if it's a winnable match or not, but at least Pedro Cachín isn't a top seed (ranked #66).

PS:  Brandon's mom Tracy Austin must be so proud.

Fritz was the overwhelming favorite on paper, so losing would be embarrassing, but he and Brandon have been friends since they were children, and their mothers were pro doubles partners, so winning might have been awkward in other ways. Kyrgios, however, seemed to have no qualms about rolling over his longtime friend and doubles partner Kokkinakis, who is trying to rebuild his singles career.

[mike carey]

3 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Kyrgios, however, seemed to have no qualms about rolling over his longtime friend and doubles partner Kokkinakis, who is trying to rebuild his singles career.

As it's been reported here, he clearly didn't like being put in that position and even says he hopes he never has to do it again. I'm sure he'll reconsider if they ever meet in a final! Let's see if the love is still there when the Special Ks play in the doubles!

[+ Charlie]

1 minute ago, mike carey said:

As it's been reported here, he clearly didn't like being put in that position and even says he hopes he never has to do it again. I'm sure he'll reconsider if they ever meet in a final! Let's see if the love is still there when the Special Ks play in the doubles!

Nick certainly looked like he was trying to get it over quickly.

[mike carey]

1 minute ago, Charlie said:

Nick certainly looked like he was trying to get it over quickly.

Business is business!

[+ Charlie]

2 minutes ago, mike carey said:

Business is business!

I'll remember to say that the next time I beat my regular doubles partner.

[mike carey]

@Charlie, I'm still somewhat in wonderment that you can be in PS and I'm in Canberra at 2.50am and we're trading comments within minutes. I had penfriends in high school. But that was a million years ago.

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

@Charlie, I'm still somewhat in wonderment that you can be in PS and I'm in Canberra at 2.50am and we're trading comments within minutes. I had penfriends in high school. But that was a million years ago.

When I was in grammar school in New Jersey in the 1950s, I had a penpal in Leeds, England. It sometimes took weeks to get a response from him. When I was in college in Pennsylvania in the 1960s, I would write letters to my best friend, who was in college in Vermont, and it would take at least a week to get a letter back (long distance phone calls were too expensive for us). When I lived in England in the 1970s, I would make tape cassettes and send them to my spouse in Philadelphia; it usually took about 10 days to get a tape in response. When I lived in Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, if I wanted to have a conversation with a family member in the US, I had to go to the local post office, and wait in a booth with a phone while a local operator put through a long distance call to an American operator, who would connect me to the person I wanted to speak to (if, of course, the person was at home). And now I can sit at my computer in California and type a comment, and get a response from you in Australia a minute later. Yes, it's amazing!

[BSR]

7 hours ago, mike carey said:

As it's been reported here, he clearly didn't like being put in that position and even says he hopes he never has to do it again. I'm sure he'll reconsider if they ever meet in a final! Let's see if the love is still there when the Special Ks play in the doubles!

I was a bit worried for Nick because he does struggle when playing against a friend.  Despite all his surliness while on court, Nick is apparently a much nicer guy off court and has plenty of friends on tour:  Kokkinakis, Andy Murray, and of course his new BFF Novak.  But Nick was all business against his buddy TK, and the result was very much as expected.

[BSR]

Brandon Holt had a rough start to his pro career.  He turned pro in 2020 during the worst of Covid when tournaments, especially the Futures and Challengers, were getting canceled everywhere.  Then in 2021 he needed surgery on his hand that sidelined him for 7 months.  He was struggling in mostly  Futures & Challengers, and he couldn't get into the main draw in the 2 ATP qualifyings he played.  So to make it into the main draw of the USO then to beat the #10 seed is a "pinch me I'm dreaming" moment.

Taylor Fritz did indeed have high hopes of winning this US Open.  How much that messed with his head, I don't know.

 

 

[BSR]

The big upsets continue.  Last year's surprise winner Emma Raducanu lost in the 1R to Alizé Cornet.  After last year's fairy tale run, Raducano has struggled to win matches at any level, and today was no exception.

At least my favorite Borna Coric survived, despite being 3-5 down in the 5th set.  Phew!

[+ WilliamM]

3 hours ago, BSR said:

I was a bit worried for Nick because he does struggle when playing against a friend.  Despite all his surliness while on court, Nick is apparently a much nicer guy off court and has plenty of friends on tour:  Kokkinakis, Andy Murray, and of course his new BFF Novak.  But Nick was all business against his buddy TK, and the result was very much as expected.

Friends with benefits of being   wonderful people

 

 

[+ Charlie]

Serena won the US Open for the first time in 1999, and she is one of only three former champions in the draw to make it to the second round; the others are Sloane Stephens (2017) and Bianca Andrescu (2019), neither of whom has particularly strong records since their championships. Angie Kerber (2016) withdrew before the tournament started (announced she was pregnant); Venus (2000,2001), Osaka (2018, 2020) and Raducanu (the defending champion) all lost their opening round matches, and everyone else since 1999 is retired. There is no one left in the draw who has ever defeated Serena in any major final except Muguruza, and she has had a bad year. Maybe fans' hopes for a Serena farewell victory aren't as hopeless as predicted a few days ago.

[Andy768]

Horrible day for the Bel Ami boys at the Open today; Coric, Coria, Dimitrov, and Hurkacz all lost. 😭

[BSR]

46 minutes ago, Andy768 said:

Horrible day for the Bel Ami boys at the Open today; Coric, Coria, Dimitrov, and Hurkacz all lost. 😭

I busted up laughing at your description.  In the immortal wisdom of Bart Simpson:  "It's funny because it's true."

After a very disappointing Wimbledon,  this 2R loss against #73 Ivashka must have dealt another body blow to Hubie.

Apparently the USO courts are quite a bit slower than Cinci, even though the USTA owns both tournaments and tries to make the court speed identical.  Unfortunate for Borna because he wasn't getting the same payoff from his new big serve, and once in rallies against Brooksby's depth + lack of pace, he was a bit lost out there.

A tough loss for Brandon Holt too, 5th set tiebreak against Pedro Cachín, who plays almost exclusively on clay outside of the Slams.  The loss is even more heartbreaking because #112 Moutet is a 3R opponent like you dream about.  Ah well, still a great run for him.

[+ Charlie]

I don't know whether I was more surprised by Borna's loss or Brooksby's win, especially with that score.

[+ Charlie]

Another former women's champion eliminated with Stephens' loss to Swiatek, leaving only Serena and Andreescu, and they can't meet in the final again, because they are on the same side of the draw.

Serena and Venus couldn't revive the old doubles magic last night, and it was pretty obvious that they hadn't played together in a few years. I doubt that we will ever see them together again in anything but an exhibition match for charity. Hradecka's new young partner Noskova was impressive, and Lucie was impressive herself, considering that she hasn't won a major title in nine years and is almost as old as Serena.

[+ Charlie]

Now that the Serenamania wave has crested and retreated back to sea, the game left on the women's beach doesn't look very exciting. Not only are there no former US Open champions left, the only current or former winners of any slam are Muguruza and Kvitova, who have to play one another next, Azarenka, and Swiatek. The sentimental favorite for the final is Kvitova, who is beloved by her colleagues, but she hasn't won a slam in 8 years, and Azarenka has lost every time she made the final. The smart money is on Swiatek, the #1 seed and current French open champion, as it has been since the tournament started. Of course, there will be some interest in whether Tomljanovic can keep up her momentum, but most of the remaining players are young unknowns, and the media doesn't favor Chinese and Russians (or Belarussians, which Azarenka is) .

So media attention will finally turn to the men. Can one of the young Americans (Brooksby, Nakashima, Tiafoe) go any farther? Will Rafa add to his already record number of slam titles? Will the adorable teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz snatch the torch from his aging countryman? Will the equally adorable Casper Ruud become the first Norwegian ever to win a slam? (If he does, he will also become the first Norwegian to be ranked #1.) Will Medvedev manage to defend his title and his #1 ranking? Will the strange and unpredictable Nick Kyrgios finally win an important title, or at least do something sensational? Stay tuned.

[Andy768]

Matteo Barrettini could be in the mix too. And he's a cutie to boot.

I'm pulling for Rafa.