US Open 2012

And as we peacefully move towards this blessed event in the holy shit:

A high-ranking umpire on the U.S. professional tennis circuit arrested Tuesday in New York allegedly bludgeoned her 82-year-old husband to death with a coffee mug in Woodland Hills and then tried to make it look like he fell down the stairs, authorities said.

Lois Goodman, 70, was arrested at her New York hotel and charged with murder by the L.A. County district attorney's office. She was in New York to officiate at U.S. Open tennis matches.

"...love-40"

well damn

That's one strong mug

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/interactive/video/live.html?promo=subnav

the live streaming from USO qualies is AMAZING quality!

so cool!

As I mentioned before, I will be attending the 2nd Monday night session, so I am just hoping the mediocre Americans lose so that they don't steal night slots away from the people I actually want to watch.

After getting broken in the third set, James Ward launched a ball out of Court 17. It landed two courts over and caused play to be stopped on Court 11. Qualies <3

As for the insane murder story, I hope it was a white mug #jokesthatmakesensetonoonewhoisntatennisfanatic

How are the seeds usually arranged over the first round? Is it that the odd numbered play on Monday and the even on Tuesday?

I am off to watch the evening session on the first Tuesday. Still pretty exciting even if I don't get to see the tennis players I really like watching.

either the top half or the bottom half play on Mon, then the other on Tue (plus i think the USO idiotically drags the men's 1R out for three days). Don't think there are any Wimbledon-esque traditions over who starts first. Draws out tomorrow, you'll know after the Mon schedule is released (erm I think this might be at the weekend?)

Donna Vekic's Slam debut is a 0 and 2 win over Sirotkina. Nice start. That's a name to remember - just turned 16 and has been cleaning up in the ITFs. There's been a dearth of teenage prodigies or even just decent juniors in women's tennis lately but I think Vekic and Ashleigh Barty look really promising.

An olden days flashback.

WAIT WHAT KING AND SHVEDOVA DREW EACH OTHER IN R1???????

OMG

You still have time to book a flight.

Federer vs Young lolololololollllllllllllllllll

King and Shvedova are doubles partners and BFFs! I don't know how I feel about that, I love them both but it's kinda hilarious

Meanwhile if you need more tennis stories to read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/magazine/venus-and-serena-against-the-world.html?pagewanted=1

No luck for Venus - Kerber in R2 is a horrible match-up for her even if she's not having a Sjögren's day

FUCK FUCK FUCK why does Li have to draw St Kim, we'd better not have an AO repeat. LOL at the British journalists referring to that section as a "potential Watson vs Robson 3R match" - um, LI AND CLIJSTERS YOU GUYS.

On the subject of St Kim, I recommend reading the back story of her R1 opponent, 16-yr-old wild card Victoria Duval - Haitian-born, her dad had to be rescued from the earthquake

If Sloane Stephens decides she wants to prove me wrong and be any good at all this would be an ideal draw to start with, she should be aiming for the QF

So Nalbandian wasn't suspended for the Queen's incident but maybe he secretly agreed to be drawn against a top 8 seed in every Slam R1? Tipsy at Wimbledon and now Pony, ouch.

Dimitrov vs Paire is a good R1 match for fans of flashiness and hott men.

still can't believe there are two American sisters in the qualy draw by the names of Chi Chi and Chalena Scholl

I mean, you really really have to wonder about the parents

i hate this tournament

Two of the most likeable, prepossessing juniors bringing the DRAMA in qualies. First Putintseva somehow choked a 6-1 5-1 lead against terminally awful sub-100 scrub Anna Floris in the first round. Then last night Larcher de Brito outdid her by losing a 6-2 5-0 lead over Svitolina, then this happened:

@BenRothenberg
Michelle Larcher de Brito loses, collapses to her knees in tears, then walks off wailing, sobbing without shaking any hands. #usopen #drama

More importantly, Vekic won another match. One to go for the MD. Still on this bandwagon.

And in Dallas, Vinci just double bagelled Jovanovski in the SF. This after double bagelling Ivanovic two weeks ago. Did a Serb steal her boyfriend or something? And...she has JANKOVIC in the final next! A chance to go 36-0 against the whole of Serbia!

oh man tell me there's video of LdB meltdown out there

noooo it wasn't even televised, Rothenberg was on the spot

we have been robbed tbh

UNLESS someone had the foresight to video it in person

I hadn't noticed there was a new thread! Really liked that NYT piece on Venus and Serena.

Young will fall out of the Top 120 if he loses to Fed. Oops.

He has the Bangkok final coming off a couple of weeks after the USO too.

Young will fall out of the Top 120 if he loses to Fed. Oops.

lol @ if

17-match losing streak meets 17 Slams :D

ha i did type "when" at first but though eh, why not give the guy a break. xpost

Gasquet could make a good run out of the middle of the draw. He looked great couple of weeks ago. Hoping for a good tournament for Stan Wawrinka.

Man murray really got the short end of the stick here. Entirely possible that he has to go Raonic-Tsonga-Federer-Djokovic to win.

The Ferrer quarter is a huge opportunity for everyone in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFW4kgu-V3s&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFW4kgu-V3s

OMFG Rodionova drew Cohen

PLEASE put that shit on Ashe, only stadium worthy for it. Most likely tennis match to end in actual murder ever

Murray got through a tough Wim draw to reach the final and I see the same thing happening here.

Fed looked his age at the Olympic final so if they meet I can see one outcome. Djoko looks his old scrambled self so maybe a Murray - Del Potro final.

I don't know what's happened to Djokovic's FH this year, he's just not hitting it with the command he did last year. So many times I've watched him in 2012 and he's hitting neutral loopers with it repeatedly like his name is Azarenka.

Murray getting Fed in the SF is probably better than in the F, right?

I don't think it will matter if Fed's BH is really off.

Preeeeeeedix.

Azarenka d. Goerges
Li d. Lepchenko
Sharapova d. Wozniak
Kvitova d. Pavlyuchenkova
Stephens d. Giorgi
S.Williams d. Kirilenko
Kerber d. McHale
Vinci d. Jankovic

Azarenka d. Li
Sharapova d. Kvitova
S.Williams d. Stephens
Kerber d. Vinci

Azarenka d. Sharapova
S.Williams d. Kerber

S.Williams d. Azarenka

Federer d. Fish
Berdych d. Stepanek
Murray d. Raonic
Tsonga d. Cilic
Isner d. Troicki
Ferrer d. Haas
Del Potro d. Monaco
Djokovic d. Wawrinka

Federer d. Berdych
Murray d. Tsonga
Ferrer d. Isner
Djokovic d. Del Potro

Murray d. Federer
Djokovic d. Ferrer

Murray d. Djokovic

man I just finished that Venus/Serena article

I love them both so much

predicting on the men's side seems impossible. Fed has swung back and forth from inaccurate to sublime 3 or 4 times in the last 6 weeks, Djoker seems to be in a fog, Murray lost to Chardy etc.

Since it's raining.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/08/26/federer-on-tennis-and-everything-else/

Nice interview with Fed - dude seems really happy and contented.

I have the general feed going, anything out of nowhere happening?

German girls going down, mostly.

Lol how in the world does Lisicki have a 0-3 losing record to Discount Ana?! 0-4 now.

Goerges losing to one of the Pliskova sisters is way more embarrassing though.

Murray-Bogomolov match is hilariously terrible - Andy is playing what seems to be the laziest match of his life but is winning anyway. Prob still hungover from the Olympics.

Soooo I didn't miss anything while I was at carnival then. Didn't expect KrisPlis to be decent enough for the Gorgeous upset but JuGs is in terrible form (and kinda sucks anyway) so not a massive shock she lost. Not even any drama in the Cohen/A-Nasty match? :(

Lisicki has only ever had decent results on clay and grass, I can't really think of a reason why she'd be awful on hard courts, but she always is.

Hate today so far. The Date-Krumm loss (I'd forgotten that Arvidsson is the most boring player in the top 100), the Ivanovic win and the brainlessness on display there from both, Goffin going 1/14 on BPs so far in this match...

If Karlovic and Raonic could continue to lose their matches it could be redeemed.

Just getting the basic coverage now. Yay talking heads I guess.

Raonic majorly choking this. Fuck this tournament.

I meant Giraldo. If only Raonic would choke this.

Raonic didn't choke it but he only just finally won.

smh Giraldo, those two stupid FHs to end it on

This King/Shvedova match is so awkward. Neither displaying any emotion at all, no fistpumps or c'mons, they're turning away from the court as soon as points finish. Like they're trying to pretend it's not happening.

Shvedova failed to serve out the set but broke for it on a King DF. Obviously.

Actually, despite that there's actually been some decent shotmaking in this match, it's not like that MJF/Davenport mess from the '90s.

Jankovic just shanked a FH and yelled at the wind.

I know she's hurt but lol @ Woz

Dolgopolov was down 2 sets and 0-4 and won 12 of the next 13 games to take it to the fifth set.

SO ON BOARD with that comeback! :D

up a break in the 5th too

really really curious to see if this is a grand slam record

I seem to remember someone coming from 2 sets and 2 breaks down, but it was 3-0 not 4-0

it was connors, he was down 2 sets and 0-3 to Patrick McEnroe

levine had a break point for 5-1 in the third o_O

Henri Cochet came from 2 sets and 1-5 down to beat Bill Tilden at the 1927 Wimbledon. That might be the only bigger lead busted in a 5 setter.

"Down two sets, the No. 4-seeded Cochet beat Frank Hunter in the quarters, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Trailing the great No. 2 seed Tilden, three points from defeat at 1-5, 15-all in the third, he reeled off 17 straight points, also survived a service break to 3-2 in the fifth and won the last four games to seize their semi, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. For an encore magnifique in the final, he lagged again and had to repel six match points to beat No. 3 seed Borotra, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5: Hurdling a match point at 2-5, and five more with Borotra serving at 5-3!"

holy lol @ this headline: http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/match_reports/2012-08-28/201208281346207669581.html

lol @ dog

Official USO site actually running with the McFail nickname?! LOL. She can be forgiven anyway, she retired from her last match so might not be recovered yet.

Massive LOL @ Wozniacki. Begu has been struggling all year and to lose TWO AND TWO...battling it out for that last 16 spot will be Begu, Soler Espinosa, Pironkova and Morita.

IRL fistpump @ the Dolgopolov comeback!

Silliams double breadsticked Colleen :D

Paszek really doesn't like winning matches off grass, does she?

Connors beat Pernfors (famously) at Wimbledon in '87 from 1-6 1-6 1-4 down (and 0-3 in the 4th). I seem to remember Wally Masur winning (or losing?) a US Open 5th set from 5-0 down (or up?). Good old memory, not failing me yet.

Funny how Levine seems to be Canadian today. I'm sure he was American yesterday.

(A remarkable number of recoveries from 0-2 in this event so far, eh?)

yes and most of them seemed to occur while i was asleep -_-

^^USO is always the worst at wreaking havoc on my sleep patterns.

I don't think I'll get to watch much of this slam at all actually - have to leave town for work next week. :(

Watching this Burdette for the first time (feel like I should send her a thank-you note or something for the money she's earned me this summer). She's really good, teeing off on everything, albeit Hradecka is playing very poorly. Is she really going to go back to college though? She'll be top 200 after just five tournaments. That's enough for Slam qualies...that's the tough part of establishing yourself on tour basically done.

Wow, surprised that Zheng beat Rybarikova and Petrova beat Halep so easily!

Burdette through and you have to wonder what she can do to Ma$ha: she's a very different proposition to the other young Americans Sharapova traditionally draws in the USO 3R.

ugh, Paire vs Dimitrov not on a TV court

Tipsy going down right now

okay boo ESPN2

I don't want to watch Malisse/Isner, I want to watch Tipsy trying to to get rofflestomped

he's coming back now, Rufin seems to be a big tall bashing type who's currently gone off the boil. streams at http://www.lshunter.tv/tennis-live-streaming-video.html if you can do them

I just found the extra US Open channels on my parents' DirecTV so I've got it now

Also I can watch Ferrer ^_^

haha Ferrer just hit 3 monsters servers to go from 0-40 triple set point to deuce

luv that little dude (who is taller than me ;_;)

oh shit he just won the game with a drop shot

ugh, Paire vs Dimitrov not on a TV court

sucks. I was looking forward to watching this. :(

Best of three @ slams idea gaining steam among tennis personalities.. I say YES PLEASE THANK YOU RIGHT NOW.

so glad I found these channels, now flipping between Kvitova/Cornet, Baker/Hajek and Rufin/Tipsy

Gulbis/Haas could get interesting - Ernie had a haircut and a shave and looks like he came to play, which isn't always a given with him.

Kvitova is playing so badly ;_;

:( i did worry whether she was overdoing it in the warm-up tourneys.

Nieminen of all people halfway to a triple bagel over Kukushkin

Beyond The Baseline ‏@SI_BTBaseline

As expected, Paire/Dimitrov, put on a non-TV court (?) sounds nutty. Paire throwing tantrums, Dimitrov calls supervisor b/c of bad calls.

Why can't we watch this why why why

RT @onthegotennis Benoit is throwing a fit...just tossed his water bottle on the court.

RT @returnwinner: Benoit kicking balls, throwing rackets against walls. It's all happening.

WHY CAN'T WE WATCH THIS

apparently there's some history between them - do you know what happened?

I don't, but I suspect we will find out tonight!

Gulbis/Haas disappointingly straightforward so far.

omg Isner/Malisse just got entertaining

I guess it's been nonstop bad calls against Malisse and he started bitching out the umpire about how badly his officiating sucked and how awful the line judges are and the crowd started booing and Malisse audibly told them to fuck off and then started conducting the boos

then during the changeover he continued bitching out the umpire

Isner is basically just standing out there going "doo doo doo, I'm not involved in this"

*tunes in*

Malisse is such a douche

haha of course it's now back to boring mcboring but I'm glad I caught that bitchfit, it was hilarious

oh hey, Li/Dellacqua

oh ernie, all that hard work to get back on serve then hit the worst volley ever on break point. not coming back from two sets down, boo.

Youzhny/Muller is another one I want to watch but can't, last I looked at the scoreboard Muller had a MP serving at 5-4 in the fifth and now Youzhny is 6-5 up

Isner seems like a nice guy but plz stop showing his matches so much

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg
Language from Xavier Malisse toward fan: "Shut your fucking face, man. He got lucky. He's not going to be smiling much longer." Oy. #usopen

:o

surely an Isner fan deserves worse than that

anyway it's quite an exciting tb, Malisse has savd two MPs and is hitting great winners. Isner's groundstrokes are so basic

...and Malisse nets an easy BH volley to give Isner MP on his own serve

lol Malisse eating a tennis ball

and boom

oh fuck no

show more of Malisse cursing everyone out, that was great

Remember when Capriati and Malisse were, like, the classiest couple on tour

Gulbis somehow won the third set!

ha I changed to Del Potro/Serra just in time to see Serra net a volley and then launch into a wild-eyed tirade about... obviously netting a volley?

like he was gesticulating and shouting and waving his racquet at the net, which I guess had the temerity to be there in the way of his terribad volley

I saw Zahlavova-Strycova do that IRL one Wimbledon while her opponent (Paszek iirc?) just stood there staring disdainfully at the madwoman on the other side of the net!

Serra should be thankful to be in the draw at all tbh

Pony is basically floating second serves at him and letting Serra hit them out, or acing him

It's kind of funny

okay I guess Li was down 4-0 in the second set

it is currently 4-3

a scoreLiNa in one set!

Wussquet is a set down to Mountains, lol

Gulbis is actually trying hard! At the moment, anyway

BH DTL winner then drop volley on the stretch from Gulbis to save BPs...

Li now up 5-4

Another clutch hold after saving a BP with a terrific winner from Gulbis *rubs eyes in disbelief*

and ANOTHER one :o

This clutch play can't last surely

lmao Ernie Gulbis, mental giant. I can't believe I'm staying up for this.

that Haas service game was a missed opportunity...

story of Gulbis' life^

wow, after having to save BPs all set, Gulbis just does two aces and two service winners.

OK that was an amazing drop shot. 0-30...

SET POINTS c'mon Ernie!

wow is this really happening?

Haas nets a FH, into a fifth set we go!

omg

also lol the last time i looked, pretty sure Kim was up 5-2 on Robbo. It's 5-5.

yeah and the minute I switch over St Kim gets SPs :(

...Robson saves both with big serves!

Gulbis' new forehand grip/motion is crazy

ridic drop shot from Haas on BP which Ernie then kicks away in disgust

ya he's had that funky forehand for a while now. It's working for him though! xpost

Robson wins a 10-minute game and saves 3 SPs to take us into the TB

some of these new adidas outfits are horrible

adidas outfits are pretty horrible in general

what a fucking return by Robson

laura's returns O_o

haha another one

YES!

WOW

set point Robson! C'MON

Brilliant stuff

0-30 for Gulbis on Haas' serve...I think Haas has been cramping or injured while we were watching Robson?

Big FH on the third and Gulbis will serve for the match. ROZ are you still awake!

OH MY GOD THAT AWFUL DROPSHOT ERNIE

lol wth was that Gulbis?

YES I AM, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BTW XPOSTS

YESSSSSSSSSS

:DDDDDD

GULBIS: FIGHTER, MENTAL GIANT, CLUTCH PLAYER

oh hey apparently you and Gulbis share the same bday lol

Every time i turn back to ashe, Laura's come back from a break down. I'm liking it.

oh hey apparently you and Gulbis share the same bday lol

haaaa I never knew this. Roddick too. Threesome.

anyone got a decent stream for the robson match? mine just stopped working :/

try this one: http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-4/2/196/v-439753.html

I can't find any working one on the usual sites, am using the bet365 one (which is pretty shit tbh considering it's legit)

Robson a game away from ending Kim Clijsters' career...

thanks Roz

please don't fuck this up laura

this really is impressive from Gulbis, something he would not have done a year ago. maybe being bumped down to qually level woke him up.

oh fuck OFF Kim with that defence

that smash error was brutal

15-30! C'mon!

MATCH POINTS

holy shit that robson shot

MPs!

oh fucking hell Kim

ugh, saved, TB

depressing

oh god that miss ;_;

Robson has a really beautiful game

seriously impressive stuff from Robson here - a far cry from the petulant, sulky mess I saw at the AO earlier this year

incredible winner to get to MP again...

OMG that FH DTL

Amazing stuff. What a match!

wtg robson

Fantastic

i love her

incredible. well done, Laura!

she really played so well - even the defence was better than usual, her strokes were as gorgeous as ever and her serve was on point. but as Roz said the real improvement was mental.

and NO MORE ST KIM, HALLELUJAH

bye kim, no one will miss you!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

so happy for laura robson. YES.

goodbye kim! see you on your next farewell tour

haha u guys and kim clijsters

only issue I see for Robson is her poor speed

is the whole St. Kim thing just because she's a mom?

it's always been a mystery to me

it's because she was always so ~~nice~~

Robson's movement is still pretty bad but tbh even that was better than usual in this match. Her new coach is Zeljko Krajan (who took Safina to No 1 and transformed Cibulkova into a ballbasher) who's a hard taskmaster so maybe he'll iron out her giant lazybones tendencies.

St Kim has always been very keen for audiences to note her halo ever since she broke through.

I'm very confused, I thought Robson was the Brit everyone hated

Who am I thinking of? Someone on the women's tour

Also the ESPN coverage has basically spent all of its time extolling Clijsters' praises since the end of that match, even over Harrison's match. They just asked Lino about Clijsters and now they're asking Sharapova about her.

They ought to call this the 2012 Kim Clijsters Jackoff Sesh.

If Chris Evert says "Kimmy" one more time I may scream

^^this is that St Kimmy thing I have found so awful over the past decade, yes

I find Baltacha fairly grating as GBR players go, dunno if anyone really hates her though, it's not like she's v relevant

oh now that I see that name I think Baltacha is the player I am thinking of; the whole time I was watching Robson I kept thinking "huh why does Lex hate her, she's kind of brimming with potential"

come on Dodig, give us a match

sometimes it is fun to watch Sharapova rofflestomp someone

lendl watching murray is one of the funniest things

they should cut to him after every point

If Chris Evert says "Kimmy" one more time

gotta cute-ify. it's a compulsion. she was "chrissy" in her day of course.

She prefers to be called Chrissie now(again)!

I only acknowledge on Chrissy:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3-HNW9t7bnA/TLoASeLVwJI/AAAAAAAABNY/0CMv9FKI_NA/s1600/Suzanne%2B(4).jpg

grr ONE

would aknowledge on

Q. When is the last time you felt this good about your tennis?

NA LI: Last year in the French Open.

^^warning fired?

Q. If Kim advances, you would play her in the next round. Talk about what you would anticipate from that matchup. You could be her last professional match.

NA LI: It was really tough. I was play Kim this year in Australia, so I think both of us play very good in the match. But for me is the worst because next day is Chinese New Year. After I lose the match, I was like, What was going on? Everyone was so happy without me, so I was like, Okay, just take the beer and totally drunk. Next day I wake up, I was like, Okay, forget what I do yesterday. (Laughter.) You know, in China, how you say, if you lose the day, they are feeling a whole year is not so lucky. So I said, Okay, c'mon. I have four match points. Suddenly I was lost. I was like, Okay, totally lost. I just drink all the time, yeah. (Smiling.)

^^the question is irrelevant now (YESSS) but lol @ the answer, <3 <3 Li Na

I am sad for Clijsters. I was always a fan, though with the best will in the world, she was no Justine. The tie-break, just as I was going to work (I was late, but nobody cared) was the first of this slam I've seen. tbh her comeback was over a year ago as she never played well last 12 months, but she beat down a lot of players I had no time for, so.. hurrah. Yes she should have had a couple more slams (only that bum ankle stopped her beating Azarenka this year at the AO, and those FO finals were unfortunate) but by and large she showed up the elite from this generation as being (Serena/Venus/Henin/Ma$ha aside) wanting in nearly every department when she was on. I'm just glad we'll have a couple more years of Li being awesome and hopefully a lot of Petra slams to make it better.

no reason to feel sad for her, if she wanted to keep playing tennis she would

bye kim, no one will miss you!

i will miss her

yeah her part-time attitude has been one of the most annoying aspects of women's tennis since 2009 and it's telling how many fans she turned off with it - in her first career most people bought into her phony ~niceness~ but permanently moaning about having to, oh no, travel to Asia or play on clay got old pretty fast. remember when she pulled out of the Asian swing half a year in advance because she was afraid of radiation poisoning? smh.

in a sense, she should have had fewer Slams, given her inferiority to peak Serena/Justine/Venus; the only reason she has more than one is because she came back to vulture up the weakest era of women's tennis in decades.

and no matter how many times you get photographed visiting sick children in hospitals a truly NICE person doesn't let daddy go around throwing doping accusations at your peers and then refuse to correct him.

God are we judging whether people are TRULY nice now?? I will miss Kim, haters gonna hate.

Cibulkova wins a point with the help of a net cord. "POMEEEE!" she yells.

WHAT was that serve from Jovanovski :OOOOOOO

Jankovic is getting dictated to by LARA ARRUABARRENA VECINO. It's actually quite funny how her game has deteriorated into complete nothingness.

Klizan is...Rosoling against Tsonga atm. When Tsonga got the early break back I thought that'd be it but no...

With King Kolya up a break on Fish and Pironkova on a televised court this day can't get much better.

Klizan had 0-40 on the Tsonga serve at the start of the 2nd, Tsonga got out of it and then Klizan handed over the break with a woeful dropshot. The Rosoling has come to an end I think.

tsveti and kolya both taking the first set!

Petzschner's knee-high socks o_0

Almagro gets the 5th set break on a wayward Petzschner FH...

F-Lo going five sets with ANDUJAR?! o_0

OMG please let CHUANG AND ZHANG end St Kim's doubles career here

wtf is going in the tsonga match?

a scoreLiNa!!!! :D

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg
Trainer out for Nikolay Davydenko. Based on his needlessly thorough gestures, I believe he's nauseous. #usopen

Nooooooo :(

Klizan has the break in the fourth. Dreadful game from Tsonga.

WOW @ that Klizan return

88mph on the stretch O_O

Double break!

wow Jo Willy

some more Rosoling in that game from Klizan

Tsonga going for a tweener at a time like this o_0

Two DFs and Klizan loses one of those breaks :/

eh this tournament would be better with Tsonga in it

Second set for Davydenko!

hilarious tiebreak from fish btw

oh no st kim lost in doubles already as well so sad :(

they're talking on ESPN about Klizan footfaulting with his backfoot over the middle line, but Isner does that ALL THE TIME

Klizan did it! And he's coached by KAROL KUCERA! Blast from the past, a very welcome one <3

I'm out and drunk but wtf is going on... Holy shit.

Anyone else remember that awesome Kucera d. Agassi USO QF from 1998? One of my fav tennis memories. Agassi was driven INSANE by Karol.

We live in a post-Rosol world, Roz

Rosol was the end of irony

lol @ sloane stephens losing 4 straight games to lose the 1st set vs TATJANA MALEK 7-5

5 set comeback #10

"Andre Agassi ‏@AndreAgassi
Great work @Clijsterskim!! You've done well...#USOpen"

trolling?

Roddick has called a press conference, presumably announcing his retirement.

this one actually is sad

this one is just as welcome

he was a bro

nice job by Blake so far, taking care of Groaners

Hang on what Roddick is retiring as well? I'M RID OF BOTH RODDICK AND CLIJSTERS AFTER THIS? IN ONE GO?

Best. US Open. Ever.

Though actually this one is sad. Who will I laugh at now Roddick is gone. Can we get Hewitt to stick around a bit more (NOT WINNING ANY MATCHES THOUGH)

if I thought he'd ever win a major I'd say you have Granollers to mock

Granollers being as high as he is pretty much disgusts me

Gah I haven't been able to see much today. Watching Venus's match for now.

And Venus out to Kerber. Pretty fierce match but way too many errors from the former.

venus is the most fucking stupid 7 time slam winner ever. absolutely brainless.

ugh so annoyed I was asleep during that, I knew it'd be an exciting match. I missed their Olympics tilt as well :(

Result doesn't surprise me, horrendous match-up for Venus. Kerber is a really really good player.

Knew Vinci/Shvedova would be good as well - 3-6 7-5 7-5 to Vinci.

Though actually this one is sad. Who will I laugh at now Roddick is gone.

Yep, I missed hating on Becker post-'99, that's for sure.

Tons of potentially good matches on the schedule tonight. Genuinely contemplating cancelling a date with one of the hottest boys I've ever met to stay in and watch shitty tennis streams.

Lepchenko/Stosur...Stosur's looked relaxed and sharp against non-opposition but Shanksur has to appear at some point, right?

Will be interesting to see how Burdette's massive first-strike game matches up against Sharapova.

Li/Robson...I don't think Robson will pull off another upset but if Li can go down 0-4 against Dellacqua she can do anything.

Del Potro/Harrison...can Delpo thrash him please. Get a bagel in there. I wonder how many tantrums Harrison will throw.

Tipsarevic/Baker...Baker surely has a shot at the upset here, with a home crowd and given Tipsy's 1R struggles.

Safarova/Petrova...Nadezhda leads the H2H 4-1 but I'm not going near a prediction for these two nutjobs in a Slam.

Bartoli/Mladenovic...the present of French women's tennis (in horrid form) against the future of French women's tennis (whose entire career has been a huge disappointment until this tournament)

Johnson/Gulbis...I've heard good things about Johnson. Does Ernie do his usual thing of sucking and losing to whomever right after a big 1R win or is this really a New Gulbis. I suspect the former.

Kohlschreiber/Paire...well, it'll be a fun match anyway.

Minella/Tatishvili - LOL is this the US Open third round or some Challenger first round.

I'm still too hungover to process the news about Roddick properly but I'm kind of sad about it? Feel like tennis needs its villains and he was one of the big ones on the men's side. Hating on a twerps and bores like Harrison or Isner just isn't as fun.

yeah I def miss that sports hate on the men's side, closest I come to it with anyone who's relevant since Soderling left is Berdych. Raonic looks like the best future bet but even then he seems like a decent person, I just hate big servers. Roddick had a gross game AND was a huge asshole.

I'm quite glad Roddick and Clijsters have managed to overshadow each other, too, so that we don't get blanket FAREWELL ST KIMMY THE ANGEL MOTHER or RODDICK WAS SUCH A DUDEBRO stories for the next fortnight

Is it worth it to get excited for the Sharapova/Burdette match?

I miss Soderling btw

I just noticed that Roddick is playing Tomic tonight lol, now there's a hate-able child. How much do you think he wants to be the one to end Roddick's career?

I dislike Roddick but tbh some of the things that made me hate him the most weren't even his fault, like, he didn't ask the Wimbledon seedings people to bump him to 2 every time, and it's not his fault that journos are such dim bulbs that they fawned over him. He just played the game. IN a way I didn't like. I won't miss him, you'd barely have noticed him over the last year or so.

SO PSYCHED for Bartoli/Mladenovic. I'm going to record this match as I have to be ASLEEP. Love Marion but she sucks lately and I would love to see Mlad the Impaler get some points and some confidence because she is potentially so so great.

Li's is making a ton of errors. :/ Robbo's picking up where she left off, is up 5-2 now.

bah typos. Li is or Li's*

Robson not dealing with the wind very well, DFs on breakpoint while serving for the set.

but more errors from Li gives Robson the set! wow it would be kind of amazing if Laura takes out both Clijsters and Li here.

Laura is allowed to beat Li Na only if she promises to keep playing good tennis later on.

Nervy TB, but Li takes the second set with a shot that lands right on the baseline at Robson's feet.

Hasn't been the most exciting match so far, but it seems like Li has finally found some rhythm, could be a good third set if Laura can keep her level of play up.

Serving for it.

And Robson wins.

Okay, Roz, give me a court to watch here.

At Johnson/Gublis for the moment.

Just wow. Even taking into account Li's errors, that was insanely impressive from Robson. I thought she might crumble a bit after losing that second set, but she was so composed - serving big and hitting so cleanly.

Gets Stosur next. Clijsters, Li, Stosur, has anyone ever had a tougher draw?

Ned, I'm just abt to go to bed! Maybe stick around for Del Potro-Harrison in a bit?

lol at Gulbis prob going out to someone much lower-ranked after pulling off a big upset... again.

Yeah, I just switched over to the Parmentier match now mostly to kill some time. But Del Potro should be fun.

LR sooo needs to take out Stosur.

"Steve Johnson"

oh ernie

i dont even know who steve johnson is

Steve Johnson is the three-time reigning college tennis champion in the US.

of course

Awesome Laura Robson - come on!

wow, phenomenal backhand lob by hewitt on set point

an american tennis player called steve johnson, now there's a guy who i bet's really exciting.

I haven't seen Johnson but apparently he has a really funky game actually.

great tiebreaker from Dog to get through over backfattis

holy shit nieminen pt getting to 5-5 in tiebreak

after a ace was called a let that was clearly over the net

isners gonna lose his shit

wau

That was all kinds of weird.

the pt after the let was incred dfense by niminen

Niemenin is actually making this match bearable

nice bagel by Tomic, wins only 5 points in the third set

at least it's over

guy across the aisle from me shouting JACK IT UP after every point. gotta love america

sock it 2 me

SO hot here today

watched a nice men's doubs match and was gonna leave but murray is letting lopez back in this. found some clutch seats w/ a great perspective in the shade inside louis armstrong

Murray is fkn killing me again

a good number of feliciano lopez fans in the house. or else everyone just wants five sets

you alone/doing anything for dinner kev?

Chokepez

Kirilolnko

yeah wtf was that drop shot

iatee i just got on the 7 and i'm headed back to connecticut. i'm sweaty and dressed like a bum anyway. next time dude!

np

I feel weird, I've missed two full days of this (Friday: date, Saturday: all-night house party blowout). Ready to get back on it.

Your women's last 16 is set.

(1) Victoria Azarenka vs. Anna Tatishvili
Laura Robson vs. (7) Samantha Stosur
(3) Maria Sharapova vs. (19) Nadia Petrova
(11) Marion Bartoli vs. (5) Petra Kvitova
Tsvetana Pironkova vs. (12) Ana Ivanovic
Andrea Hlavackova vs. (4) Serena Williams
(6) Angelique Kerber vs. (10) Sara Errani
(20) Roberta Vinci vs. (2) Agnieszka Radwanska

If Robson can beat St Kim and Li, I don't see any reason not to give her a shot against Stosur. Would LOL heartily if Tsveti beats Ivanovic again. Well done Andrea H for taking out Discount Masha! This is a nice story on her: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/sports/tennis/andrea-hlavackova-from-family-of-brewers-raises-tennis-profile.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimessports&seid=auto

damn, rough one there for steve johnson - was up 4-0 1st set tiebreak v gasquet, lost next 7 pts

If Pronky beats Ivanovic I will do cartwheels.

Stosur's playing decent. Robson, when developed, will be a nightmare match-up for her but aside from her victories over Kim and Na I'd have guessed by the time Robson is developed most of the WTA will have been retired. Still, encouraging.

Azarenka had a bye to the quarters when the draw was made and now it's the semis.

(Basically: young players of the WTA step up because once Serena goes, I am not having Azarenka as a dominant Slam champ or I will cry).

Aw, poor Laura. I reckon she could have come back if not for that net cord on match point.

OH MY GOD. Kvitova, flubbed drop shot aside, just looks so uber. That winner to get the second break against Bartoli was breathtaking. I LOVE YOU PETRA.

Thank you for turning into peak Shitra Shitova again :( Well you'd just have lost to Ma$ha next round. Maybe Bartoli will win that.

Oh god, now Sharapova might actually lose to Petrova, Azarenka now has a BYE to the final. Where only Silliams can save us. Or perhaps Kerber.

It really cracks me up that one of the main US hopefuls is named Jack Sock

he's THE main US hopeful

Yay, Kohlschreiber de-Isnered the tournament. Public service award.

Given that Petra wasn't winning the tournament anyway after her dumb scheduling, better that she lose to Cake than put us through another aggravating Sharapova match.

I fell asleep midway through Wawrinka/Dolgopolov last night, the latter was very disappointing.

Oh, men's last 16. Seedy.

(1) Roger Federer vs. (23) Mardy Fish
(11) Nicolas Almagro vs. (6) Tomas Berdych
(3) Andy Murray vs. (15) Milos Raonic
(12) Marin Cilic vs. Martin Klizan
(8) Janko Tipsarevic vs. (19) Philipp Kohlschreiber
(13) Richard Gasquet vs. (4) David Ferrer
(7) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (20) Andy Roddick
(18) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. (2) Novak Djokovic

It's settled, going off to night session tonight to watch Williamses v Petrova/Kirilenko and Murray v Raonic.

Three DFs from Pironkova in her opening service game.

It's not like Ana's played well, but it's 0-3.

Ivanovic gets the bagel. How many matches has she lost despite winning a 6-0 or 6-1 set though? At least four I can remember in the past 18 months or so.

Well she won, but I think 8/10 serve games in the 2nd set were broken.

Wow, this is really her first slam QF since FO victory?

Yeah. And what a draw to get there! Svitolina, Arvidsson, Stephens, Pironkova.

Ashe crowd who just got Cilic/Klizan instead of Fed/Fish got lucky imo, in what world is a match that might be competitive between an erratic-but-talented seed and the break-out men's player not preferable to a match that is 100% NID from start to end but still gets dragged out to tiebreaks because the lesser player has a big serve.

Kerber has to step up if she wants to have a hope, it's like she thinks she can get past Errani with her B/C game like she's Serena. Errani has already noticed that Kerber is looping many of her BHs high instead of driving them, so she snuck into net off a lob approach to Angie's BH, and got the easy loopy putaway volley.

Like THAT. Kerber's FH DTL is so sweet.

You guys Kerber/Errani is really good.

I cannot stop watching Serena devour Hlavackova alive

wow @ that Kerber get off a pretty damn good Errani dropshot

other than in practice i doubt hlavackova has ever seen a ball go 120 mph. poor girl

Hopefully Serena does the same to Ivanovic in the next round.

jesus that bryan bros sequence was really live ?

wow, bob bryan just hit a ball between his legs and followed it up with a perfectly angled pass. at 5-5 in a tiebreak, down a set.

lol at serena trying to keep a straight face "she's such a good player"

Two points from the set, Kerber stopped mid-rally to challenge a ball that landed on the line.

Haha that was incredibly dumb

Wow Errani

Lex OTM this match is great

Errani's volleying <3

Holy shit that rally

I still have NO IDEA who'll even win the set let alone the match

Wow @ that Kerber DF on SP

"great" end to that set

Tuned into this match for the tiebreak. Why is every point a moonball exchange?

It was a really great set though.

xp apart from all the times Errani came to the net, and Kerber's FH DTL winners, and the sundry dropshots, and Errani's amazing retrieval of that lob etc...

Only watched tb, so.. But crowd seems pumped up.

Loving this Errani/Kerber match.

Kerber has just fallen apart

I want Sara to make Kerber CRY.

Errani is all "spirit of Paszek, guide me" in this set so far

Well that didn't last long

Why did Errani retreat from net there!

Kerber comeback is on...she can be pretty dangerous when she's down.

I am viewing this match as the Spirit of Paszek leaping back and forth between them

in what world is a match that might be competitive between an erratic-but-talented seed and the break-out men's player not preferable to a match that is 100% NID from start to end but still gets dragged out to tiebreaks because the lesser player has a big serve.

― lex pretend, Monday, September 3, 2012 4:59 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fed-Fish matches are usually pretty good and not that tiebreaky

Amazing hands from Errani to control that at full stretch! Nice applause from Kerber

Errani to ump after correct challenge: "Don't make me do the call!"

YESSSSSSSSS

Such a great reaction! Love them both but v happy for Sarita. Who would have bet at the start of 2012 that she'd make THREE Slam QFs? And that only Sharapova, Kvitova and potentially Radwanska would match her in that?

huh Gimelstob just basically ascribed Fish's heart issues to mental frailty o_0

gimelstob's not the sharpest guy

Vinci is playing so well. Clean dropshot return winner!

Then a chip-and-charge on set point!

What a pass to break. 6-1 3-1.

huh Gimelstob just basically ascribed Fish's heart issues to mental frailty o_0

I still can't get over this

The first real ruh-roh moment from Vinci, a netted FH that made the score 30-30...and Radwanska took advantage by netting a terrible smash terribly. Vinci holds for 6-1 4-3

wow @ these A-Rad errors, like she can afford those at any time let alone 1-6 4-5 down

MATCH POINTS ROBY

What happened, I am confused

Lolling that she has to play Errani next though, isn't this the second major this year where that's happened?

Bravura performance from Roby. Can't hate in the slightest.

xp not unless Acapulco is a major now! The Errani/Vinci h2h:

SF Acapulco 2012 S Errani(3) - R Vinci(1) 6-4 6-1
1 Rome 2011 S Errani - R Vinci 6-2 1-0
SF Pattaya 2011 S Errani(8) - R Vinci(5) 6-1 6-4
QF Linz 2010 R Vinci - S Errani(9) 5-7 6-3 6-4
1 Brisbane 2010 R Vinci - S Errani 6-4 2-6 6-2

Acapulco should be every major

Full women's QF line-up:

(1) Victoria Azarenka vs. (7) Samantha Stosur
(3) Maria Sharapova vs. (11) Marion Bartoli
(12) Ana Ivanovic vs. (4) Serena Williams
(10) Sara Errani vs. (20) Roberta Vinci

Vika is 6-0 against Sam, Ma$ha is 4-0 against Cake and Serena is 3-0 against Ivanovic. Enthralling QFs await.

I don't think the gimelstob comments are a big deal. Gimelstob and Fish were shown embracing before that interview and Fish looked really depressed. I think Gimmy was just saying that the stress of the tournament was aggravating his health problem.

http://www.cbssports.com/tennis/blog/eye-on-tennis/20037851/video-justin-gimelstob-says-pressure-health-concerns-led-to-mardy-fishs-withdrawal

Can we go back for a second to how Woz lost in the first round? lol

raonic hit ball hard and run slow

poor raonic is not enjoying this. at least he's going to grow up to be lane pryce.

murray's really a likeable guy. i'm not just finding this out - he's my fav player - but he just seems like a chill and contemplative dude

has to be super awkward to be interviewed by gilbert though, i wonder how those two get along these days

I am somewhat surprised by how much I delight in Raonic's losses

I figure I may as well delight in them while I can, he really underperforms at Slams right now but I have a possibly-unreasonable fear, borne from loathing, of big servers winning lots

and if Isner can reach the top 10, Masters finals and Slam QFs even though he REALLY IS TERRIBLE apart from the serve, Raonic can definitely go higher and be an irritant to me for like the next decade, and he'll probably outlast the current Big Four generation too ;_;

US Open Tennis ‏@usopen
Russian pair of Ana #Ivanovic and Nadia #Petrova dethroned the #Williams sisters in a quick two-set match last night:...

:((((

YES!!!

at the result. NO!!! to getting the nationality wrong. Ana so quickly forgotten.

Gah and only now am I realising that Ana wasn't even playing with Petrova!! D'oh to me.

Lmao I can't decide whether Kirilenko should feel flattered or insulted at being mistaken for Ana.

<i> Enthralling QFs await. </i>

First one delivers with a breadstick nailbiter.

(But as I write this Stosur breaks in 2nd!)

It's so simple for Vika. Sam's topspin doesn't bother her so all she has to do is hit to the BH, repeat, repeat, either get the shank or get the sitter and go ham.

The outcome of Ferrer/Wussquet is probably just as NID but there's some fun shotmaking and running in this.

Amazing overrule by Cicak!

Gasquet hit a purple patch in that set to go up 5-2, and Ferrer is not playing that well today. But not only did Wuss fail to serve it out, obviously and predictably, he then blew 0-40 and 4 SPs on Ferrer's serve in the next game with the most amusingly passive errors.

what a dreadful tiebreak from stosur

She's reverted to her normal level.

That. Azarenka. DF.

And Azarenka wins, holds ranking.

Ends on a Stosur shanked BH. Duh.

never thought i'd dread the day serena retires but there you go

seriously

if she retires and we get Azza/Shazza dominance that might actually be it for me and Women's Tennis

A sometimes decent match shanked away.

maybe Radwanska will figure out how to get into Sharapova's head like she did to Azarenka at the beginning of this year

or I dunno, maybe Robson and Stephens will keep getting better and start owning everyone

Rain delay over BTW

double break!

So relieved that potential hideousness at 3-0 was averted. Cake continues to zone. But rain, now.

delpo, wtf is this bullshit

don't even think about losing to roddick. just don't. i don't want some fluke 'glory run' at his last tournament making him think his career was relevant

lol if roddick beats pony

don't even think about losing to roddick. just don't. i don't want some fluke 'glory run' at his last tournament making him think his career was relevant

this is a real and legit fear of mine, Delpo struggled waaaaaay too much in the previous round against Leo "Snapper of 17-Match Losing Streaks" Mayer

I mean Roddick's def not gonna get beyond Nole obv but even there I fear Nole might let him, like, win a set or something so he can retire on a high rather than retire CRUSHED AND HUMILIATED like he should

Cake takes the first set in the battle of intense fistpumps and death stares.

Thanks for the tip, thought it was still raining...

Hahahaha Cake just fistpumped and yelled "come on!" right in Sharapova's face

Man this final set is getting crazy tense.

Argh Cake stop blowing BPs!

come on stan! djoker needs a proper challenge today.

Oh Bartoli... that miss.

WHY MUST I GET HOME AT JUST THIS POINT

;_;

Why does this year have to be dominated by fucking Azarenka/Sharapova/Serena? Could the tennis gods not throw me even ONE player I find vaguely tolerable?

UGH

NID, for once.

But this isn't good enough for Hardcourt|Vika. Could get ugly.

Meh. Cake played so well until that last service game. :(

In other news, Sara Errani is in her second slam semi of the year, who saw that coming?

I need Errani to win this to redeem women's tennis in 2012

12-0 in 2012 three-setters.

well, she's our ~~fighter~~ after all

Would enjoy Errani troubling Serena. Don't see anyone else doing it.

FIGHTING WARRIOR CHAMPION!!!11111~~~~

ugh how many years have I put up with that hype now

since I started following tennis the ONLY female player I have started out liking and never stopped liking who actually became a legit multi-Slam champion: Henin. Everyone else you could literally predict their career trajectory based on whether I liked them or not. THE TENNIS GODS HATE ME.

Let's do this, Delpo!

After five tennis-free days, so glad I came home in time for this match - never been happier abt a rain delay.

Can't really talk to Masha fans about 'years' and putting up with spending those in agony, tho.

Not the best start there Juan Martin. :/

Oh for fuck's sake is this going to happen as well? Why do the tennis gods hate meeeeeeeeee

arghhhhhh wake up pony!

Gross

Gross gross gross

Hey Delpo remember that time you broke through on US hardcourt by pwning Roddick in back-to-back tournaments? Need a bit more of that like, right now.

smh smh smh smh smh smh smh

Oh jeez. You HAVE to break here Pony - I don't think I can take another TB.

Thank god Roddick is flopping in this TB.

YESSSSS

Argie fans getting loud in Ashe, love it.

And BLAM, Delpy breaks him to love at the start of the third. 2 and 2 now, surely.

Booo, no bagel.

Maybe in the next set! End his career with a golden set, Pony! :D

:D

Oh hey Cilic's up an early break. Prob won't last, though.

pretty pathetic audience at the roddick match

Roddick is getting all FIGHTING WARRIOR YELLING CHAMPION!!!!!11111 on us and it is as aggravating as when anyone else does it. Be QUIETTTTTT

But he wants to be a man

And be manly

Grr

itt tennis courts instruct you on how to be a man

Heh, he just got broken :D

Is it completely hot and humid out there? The audience look like they're being beaten down by air.

And so has the other Andy - Cilic took the first set! xpost

ONE MORE GAME

Retirement pt!

Serve this out swiftly, Pony.

This is like the fall of Ceausescu.

A little less blood.

Fin.

Off into the sunset.

I kind of miss him.

I'll miss seeing him get beaten.

I just remembered JMDP also played the career ending match of Marat Safin. it definitely seems like the end of an era somewhat.

This is like the fall of Ceausescu.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, September 5, 2012 9:54 PM (6 minutes ago)

haw

a god time to say-

RIP big man

Cheering against Roddick has been so integral to almost my entire life as a tennis fan.

For me, the hate figures have been:
Connors 1976-79
McEnroe 1980-84 (was probably a fan by '87 or so)
Becker 1985-99
1999-2003 position vacant
Roddick 2003-tonight

Mine have been Sampras, Henman, Hewitt and Roddick on the men's side. Harrison and Tomic qualify to succeed them easily on personality grounds but not on relevance grounds.

I would've hated Connors SO FUCKING MUCH if I'd been watching tennis in his years

Murray chokin

why must this shit go on...

The transitional moments above were: cheering for Connors vs McEnroe, Wimb sf 1980 and being bitterly disappointed that Mac lost from match-point up vs Becker at Stratton Mountain, Aug '86 (JPMcE's first event post-sabbatical). Though I disliked Becker from that first Young Masters appearance in Birmingham 18 months earlier. Roddick I could take or leave in the first couple of years (USO qf vs Hewitt, AO qf marathon vs El Anayoui) but his Queen's win over Agassi in '03 put him in the evil camp. Boris and Andy were never redeemed.

Sampras and Hewitt sort of weakly fill that gap above.

Cilic chokin now

Oh bloody hell Marin

such a gag

Oof, double-break gone. Bed now. Murray in 4.

lololololol another DF on BP

gotta lol at Murray's "C'MAWWWN" after the DF too, all class

Peak Moron Cilic

huh, now Murray blowing the TB

yeah, tightening up as soon as he gets his nose in front

oh Cilic will re-blow it for him then

gotta lol at Murray's "C'MAWWWN" after the DF too, all class

whatever it takes, huh?

Okay, let's see here...this match is still going?!

And Murray wins and etc.

Cilic is really something

Anyone else watching the current match? Berdych just crushed Federer in the tiebreak for the first set.

lol at person in the photographer hole behind berdych taking shots with an iphone

Haha good catch.

Berdych now up two sets!

gotta say, the streams at the official site are the best i've seen of any slam.

Aren't they? Just ridiculously high quality, I'm watching this full screen and have barely had a problem or buffer.

wau

You got that right. Now let's see about this fourth set.

Haha whoa umpire attack!

damn, byrd

Wow! If you were asleep and missed this one, wow.

fantastic match, fourth set was just immaculate

yeah good for berdych - and murray :)

What in the

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/schedule/index.html

"Exhibition Doubles: John McEnroe (USA) / Adam Sandler(USA) vs. Jim Courier (USA) / Kevin James(USA)"

yeah so weird that the schedule breaks down this way

it's gonna last like 20 minutes too

Berdych?! Well...he's done it on the big stage before and looked good here before. No excuses for Murray now, lol.

What is today's schedule. They couldn't even get relevant or athletic-looking slebs ;_;

Saw a stat somewhere that this will be the first time neither of Federer/Nadal have been in the semifinals of a slam since RG 2004. Cripes.

federer looked absolutely depressed after that. can't think i've seen him look so down before.

do you think they'll stream this exhibition doubles biz? morbidly curious. might be entertaining for 5 mins.

tipsarevic's shades belong in the "innocuous things..." thread for me. hate em. fully expected to click on the site's player profile and see him with him on for his mugshot.

Yeah it's kinda...yeah.

ferrer gettin into it nicely, breaking back and holding after tipsy broke him first game out

one last thought about the stream, it's also kinda funny to watch the changeovers. always think of when kramer pulls the merv griffin set out of the trash and stages a "show." they break, he has a snack. we're back!

Okay, who else watching here. This tiebreak's kinda nuts.

Tipsarevic wins second set.

Some crazy points in this third set!

was gonna say the last two have been o_O

And that last one!

yea tipsy is insane @ the moment

And he has the third set now.

Ferrer wins fourth!

go david! looking way more energetic than tips. just gave up on that last game to save whatever he's got left for 5th.

and here's the trainer

damn hardcourts are brutal on the feet

janko won't be wearing flipflops to the beach for a minute

it's over for janko. david just went to take a dump and is gonna be like a new man when he gets back.

horrible line calls now. it's almost inconceivable that janko's up. david blowing chances. cmon!

This last set is a weird grind.

And another insane point!

holy shit tipsy

lex where ARE you?

WHAT THE

Wow, that was almost a disaster and a half.

Spills and Thrills! Back on serve.

And the insane points continue!

wow, tipsarevic is gonna lose this

boooooo

rooting for ferrer now

Then again...

good tape job i guess

Another bizarro point. This match!

yeah i love this match

Five-all...

sicc forehand

wasnt sure tips had that left

never rooted so hard for ferrer in my life

LOL at "Final Countdown"

this couldn't be more intense

WOW WHAT A POINT

match on ferrer's racquet

Match point...

It kinda had to end that way, didn't it.

HUGE love for both these guys. damn. just damn.

that also must be the furthest a Technifibre has ever made it in a slam

Okay, Joker and Del Pony up now...

This has the makings of another crazy match.

Cripes, Djokovic just now all over the court but he made it all happen and won the game. Serving at 5-all second set.

Good god, this game alone is fifteen minutes long and counting! Either Djokovic to win set or Del Potro to force the tiebreak.

And...tiebreak. I have this feeling even I'll be in bed before this match is over.

del potro is playing without a backhand tonight but may somehow even the match

djokovic has only played 20 tiebreaks this year, kind of a low number. and he's lost nine!

really wish the chair would do its job and just overrule obvious missed calls

Yeah I've been wondering about that.

AAAAAAARRRRGGGH THAT POINT

it's been an issue since replay was instituted several years ago and lots of players have complained; there's this feeling that umpires, knowing players can challenge questionable calls, are less inclined to overrule, maybe to save themselves embarassment. it's definitely noticeable

xp WHAT A POINT

wow, absolutely blistering crosscourt backhand from del potro just redirected by novak down the line for the set

xpost -- Point of the tournament, and Djokovic winning just now was insane. Was it him screaming like mad?

not sure but i wouldn't doubt it

Yeah it was, confirmed by the replay. Who could blame him.

absolutely cannot get broken to open this set

ack, why slice that

just started watching, seeing those highlights was/is insane

great shot! BP for pony here

wow another awful drop shot, come on

Hmm hmm hmm at all this.

But that was a crazy point there from del Potro!

If he goes out that was a moment of glory regardless.

And the Joker is through.

Pony. :(

Cheering hard for Ferrer now, but will be happy for Nole if he defends his title (which he prob will now).

lex where ARE you?

haha I do leave the house sometimes, i was at the pub

looks like I missed a good one despite the second thursday always being the emptiest USO day, oh well - funny when you glimpse a match winner when browsing news headlines quickly and just think "oh, boring result, expected winner" and then later you realise all the drama en route to the result.

I guess I am rooting for a Murray/Djokovic final and, er...Errani versus, idk, a walkover or something. Azza and Shazza to be simultaneously disqualified for HINDRANCE.

Great for Katya Makarova to win the mixed!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444273704577635530959121916.html

wow, wtf does the USTA think it's doing here? Asking the junior world No 1 to skip her home Slam because they think she's too fat? Way to nurture talent. Obv fitness is important and she needs to work on it but this is going about it in entirely the wrong way.

Beautiful:

Andy Roddick Retires At Top Of Everyone Else's Game

And lex's two favorite players warming up here.

like australia never happened... oh wait.

awful challenging so far

wow, Sharapova killing Azarenka and then serving for the set at 5-1 30-30...two DFs

Another two consecutive DFs...

...but Azarenka does nothing to take advantage of the mini-meltdown and Sharapova takes the set with an ace

Azarenka starting to warm up a touch.

Jo Durie talking about LMFAO was a bit strange there

Al Trautwig has been on fire with bizarre digressions. Restaurant mishaps, whether or not 'finagle' is a real word...

Oh look, a DF on BP, what a surprise

This is what Azarenka should have been doing from the start, keeping her shots deep and consistent

Another two DFs in a row then a netted smash, lol

Probably the point of the match there. How Azarenka is only 3-2 rather than 5-0 up I have no idea.

this match is torture

Mmm. On the bright side, been getting a lot of work done while I keep an eye on it.

there's no variation, just endless ballbashing

but what did i expect

why is this match not over yet

why are the women's #1 and #4 seed not playing each other in the semifinal? that is odd bracketing

And there we go. Bring on the next match, please. And yeah, why ARE LMFAO or their clones in the personal box, did I miss something?

finally. no more Houdini escapes for Ma$ha. That final set should have been so much quicker.

why are the women's #1 and #4 seed not playing each other in the semifinal? that is odd bracketing

no, in tennis #1 and #2 are drawn randomly against #3 and #4

ah thank u

btw i was visiting my parents the last few days; we watched a bunch of tennis with the sound off

my 69-year-old mom thought that david ferrer was 'really obnoxious'

my 76-year-old dad thought that ekaterina makarova was 'pretty busty for an athlete'

they both thought novak and pony must dislike each other, but did not choose sides

I hope Serena realises that, given that Victoria Azarenka is the most horrible creature God ever put breath into, it is in her, and the world's, best interests for her never to retire until she's too old to lay beatdowns on her. I'm thinking she could probably keep going until she's Mrs Krumm's vintage.

I could actually see Azza having a chance if Serena has one of her weird USO freezes, which would not have been the case for Shazza. I don't think she'll struggle to win games.

I am likely to either be sunbathing in the park or at a house party when all of these matches are being played, oh well.

I can't see this ending any other way than about 6-2 6-2 to Silliams. Azarenka's serve is not as rubbish as Errani's but goes in less often and isn't anything special when it does go in anyway, and her loopy forehand is just begging, nay, screeching its demands that Serena bash it for a winner. Which she will do.

Berdych/Murray could be not terrible I guess.

Serena to destroy Azarenka.

Looks like Djoko has gotten some serious form back huh? Damn, but hope Murray can pull it off this weekend.

Just some weather updates:

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/weather.html

Everything allegedly due to start in half an hour.

HAT DRAMA

women's final cancelled till tomorrow.

not sure why murray-berdych are on facing powerful (sometimes gale?) winds.

On serve but Berdych dealing wih the conditions well - not sure Murray can hold on for the tie break...5-4

doing NOTHING on the Berdych serve. Murray is got to hold again...and it gets really windy when Berdych serves in the breaker; if we get there, that is...6-5

Berdych predictably breaks to win the set 7-5

And Berdych with the first set. Strange match.

fk this shit

Murray breaks: the rally to go 0-40 was awesome from M.

Still too early to break...

the rapid cloud movement over the court is making watching this mildly psychedelic.

Yeah. The clouds seem to be moving faster than the ball.

shane warne would be proud to see some of the east to west movement. sheesh!

Murray playing better, still in the e'verything is fkn shit, stop this right now' mode.

dbl break - Berdych's serve totally switched off here..

wow@the recover from M, 0-30 down now its 5-1

Goofy/lovely point there.

furniture on the attack. this is a bit ridiculous.

totally.

Plastic bags, bits of paper, bits from people's bags...amazed we haven't gone for 10+ DFs from each player here.

M wins the 2nd, really classy at the mo. but Berdych stopped the rot at the end, should be a tighter 3rd...

Real farce of a slam SF. Can't this slam move to another country...China, maybe?

Okay kinda all worth it for the Sean Connery shot for a few seconds there. Talk about tanned, relaxed and not giving a fuck.

completely misery from Berdych...grin at the start, he's gone walkabout.

Comment on TV: "This blows!" I'm just vaguely looking in here and there at this point.

EVERYTHING going long for B. 2-00 M

Murray with the third set.

Break in the 4th! M 2-0 up

Just when you thought it was over Berdych is finding his range again to break back...if only Murray had taken the break point when he was 3-0, he might yet have to look back to that.

well now...game on

On serve in the 4th - turning out to be quite a match now.

Now they arre both playing well and there is some atmosphere: 5-5

tie breaker!

mini-break for B

what in the complete fuck is this match

YES!!