US Open 2003

Mr Chris - space telly asphalt action would be great. Perhaps towards the climax of the event? Super Saturday, maybe? If it's OK with Vicky. I can load up your fridge with Duvel and Leffe in celebration of a Justine-Kim knucklefest.

Kim Clijsters will not win. I'm inclining towards Venus, injury pending, and if injury pends then Justine H-H will step into the breach. Kim's simply an inferior player to both.

Safin has pulled out but it's Juan Ignacio Chela who's been moved into the seeded position because the ATP fucked up the rankings this week. This is good as Henman and Roddick both need to lose asap, and this match-up will ensure that at least one of them is gone by round 2. Having said that, Roddick is far and away the men's favourite... which to be honest is the only reason I have to NOT pick him to win.

If Jennifer Fatriati v wunderkind Maria Sharapova in round 3 comes off, that will be very interesting, especially given JenFat's injury/form issues.

The beautiful Anastasia Myskina has a dream draw to the quarters, but form and headcase tendencies are decreeing otherwise.

Not, of course, that any of this matters as I have an internship for the whole fortnight and will be stuck in a hotel with no Eurosport access GRAR.

US Open site yet to update their draw to reflect Safin's withdrawal.

I suspect this isn't yet Roddick's time; those players on a hot streak through the North American hardcourt season don't usually sustain it through to the end - think of McEnroe in '85, Gilbert in '88, Agassi in '95.

The Anastasia Fantasia may jam in the projector long before the quarters, I agree; everyone seems to coo over the Russians, generously failing to mention that they keeping stalling in the second week of the slams. I hope Sharapova (from the Bloc) is the one to break through, ousting Jenny (from the...).

Hmm, the Rafter '98 hot streak sustained him into the US Open pretty well, and everyone not named Roddick is in such patchy form at the moment. He may not have much competition.

The US Open site hasn't acknowledged that Canas has pulled out either... useless.

There is a British woman in the last round of qualifying! And a British man! 'Tis miraculous. I've interviewed Anne Keothavong, actually, she's a lovely girl. Says her dream in life is to see Coldplay live (her eyes went all misty!), which I thought was really really sweet.

I obviously don't follow tennis as closely as I like to imagine (I like to imagine I follow it with a scanning electron microscope) - I'm oblivious to the pop passions of our heroes and heroines. Well, I know a bit *too* much about McEnroe's tastes. I reckon Roger Federer chills out with a bit of Fennesz.

So, wow. Venus is out and no one seems entirely sure what the draw will look like now, but signs point towards Kata Robotnik being moved into Venus' spot to make life hella easier for JenFat. Justine officially = my women's pick now.

Now the event's underway and I must clear my mental throat and...

Anyone see Pistol(Super)WhipPete's G'bye? Were there tears? Vomiting?

Staggered to see Chandralier drop out; leaves the way clear for Thresher, if she can handle the Presher, to make the last eight. No such future for NoRout. Amelie, Lindsay, Kim all impressive.

Greg's pram/toys incident vs Roddick looking more and more like the final maddened act of a fading talent - Rusedd out to a Frenchman ranked 100 who's never been higher than... 100. Ferrero, Hewitt (remember him?), Martin and Fish ease through.

The Handy Andy - Grim Tim showdown is the second of the night session matches on Arthur Ashe Court, which means it'll kick off around 1:30am Wednesday for BSTers. Maybe I'll dream the result.

Pete, it's true, most of the time you were as boring as batshit, but by God we're going to miss you. And in a sporting world of flakeheads like the aforementioned L.H., and the never-ending saga/farce of the supremely appalling Mr Warne, and the spoilt show-pony acts of Jon 'Bulldust' Drummond, a bit of boring excellence with occasional, REAL passion suits me just fine.

Jen vs Torrens underway, which means Henmang/Rodrick only an hour or so away. Wake me when it's over.

Day 3's highlight surely Zabaleta-Blake, though I'll be intrigued to see how Silver Spring's compact and bijou Alex Kim copes with El Anayoui.

It's slightly depressing going through the player's biogs looking at the ones I know are around my age - Patricia Tarabini, Jeff Tarango, etc - and seeing how long ago they peaked as singles players (10-15 years). I didn't have a peak, I just had bumps in the noisefloor.

Wayne Arthurs allegedly lives in 'Middlesex, England'. Someone needs to buy him a new map.

Damn, I was hoping Chicken-Legs would beat (Rod)dickhead... at least he'd be sure of going out in the next round. I suppose Dickhead will take the title now. Sigh.

It must be very depressing to be Patricia Tarabini's age. It's depressing enough to realise that the teen phenoms are no longer the same age as you - good lord, Sharapova the Queen of Scream is nearly five years my junior.

Bovina the Definitely Not Bovine contrived to lose to one Ludmila Cervanova yesterday. But then Cervanova presumably had the advantage of merely having to repeat her own name to remember her serving technique...

It must be very depressing to be Patricia Tarabini's age.

Hey! She's a day older than me. Which makes PT precisely the same age as Gillian Anderson. I've served less double faults in my life than the former (by two) but fallen down as many stairs as the latter.

PT + Gillian Anderson in same sentence makes me think of PT Anderson, which is, well, very different to either original lady.

El Aynooeyooeyooeyooey a set and 6-6 up against the Kim who isn't Clijsters... would've thought it would be easier. Alex Kim is rubbish and doesn't deserve to share my name.

Looking at the bios, I find that Dickhead is exactly the same age as me. To the day. Gah.

Tipsarevic (who eliminated Arvind Parmar in the last round of the qualies - a man who can sleep easy at night safe in the knowledge that he will never again carry the burden of a nation's hopes) offered no obstruction to Poopsizzle and Enqvist destroyed Portas with such ease it would suggest that putting former top-fiver Thommy E through the indignity of the qualifying event just made him MAD.

I see Rog has broken back. Now flick the genius switch.

I don't know which is more shocking - that Lisa "not a doubles specialist" Raymond lost to Melinda Czink, 20, Hungarian, barely in the top 100, or that Big Lindsay's foot held steady through another match.

No comment on men's tennis except to say that despite the silly name, Mardy Fish = HOT.

Moya the next top tenner to fall, I reckon. Wesley (mean, Moodie and munificent) awaits in the round of sixty-four.

Ha! After the sisters Williams retire the Americans will have no one! (Except Roddick.) And half the top 30 will be Russian! Ha!

Agree re: Moya. Surprised he managed to beat the Tinker Tailor Draper Soldier in round one to be honest.

Meanwhile, Marat's lil sis Dinara is keeping the Safin(a) family honour intact - she's into the third round for her best ever Slam result, a convincing win over Cervanintothenet. Dokic Dumbchick vs Pierce the water buffalo lookalike is into a final set while - good god I never saw THIS one coming - 32nd seed Marie-Gaiané Mikaelian (MGM) has crashed in straight sets to Sweet'n'Saori Obata...

http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles/playeractivity/default.asp?year=2002&player=B676&x=11&y=8

Pierce comes back from 1-4 down in the third to squeak the tiebreak, while Safina will be playing Claudine Cloak'n'Schaul, who seems to be taking over where Anne Kremer left off as Best And Indeed Only Luxembourgian Tennis Player, for a place in the last 16...

Top half of men's third round looks a bit tasty, as the Pinefox would say, if he were here. Carraz not the bit-part heavy in an Alain Delon movie I first thought, overturning Inclement from two sets adrift to set up showdown with Coria, who's fizzing again.

A Candice Breitz installation immediately below that - Double Juan, along with Dentyne (who's fast) trying to chase down Gonzalez (who's just speedy) and a repeat of the '99 semi between Yevgeny (the guy who kept turning up for work after they pensioned him off) and Andre (who'll never be made redundant).

Hmmm, so our old mate from Wimbers, James 'Sexton' Blake, looks like he's headin' somewhere?

Blake failed to find Jerusalem in Wimbledon's green and pleasant land. But he's having better luck in the dark satanic mills Formerly Known As Flushing Meadow.

One random observation, and one random non-observation, from the womens' singles:

1) That Best And Only Luxembourgean Tennis Player you alluded to earlier isn't ranked 208, by any chance (I think she may have played herself in an epic semi-final at the 1980 Hollywood Open, but I'm really dustin' off the oldies now...)

2) The absence of Anna the Hologram from this year's guest list completely passed my notice.

I can't remember, but it's entirely possible that Anne Kremer is rankled 208... she's been injured all year. She nearly beat Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon one year, though that's hardly an uncommon feat.

Anna K is apparently doing some sort of broadcasting TV coverage thing. 'Not live', we are assured.

Lindsay D and Nadia P are both a set up on Czink and Coetzer respectively... neither has lost a game yet. It's a race to the double bagel finish line! (If there's food at the finishing line, I suspect Lindsay will be extra motivated.)

And Dave Nalbandyandyan is a set down to Jark the Shark!

Bandy three points away and as...I...hit...submit ...(two points)...

Raining in NYC - Bjorkman-Kucera halted in the midst of a rally at match point at 5-4 in the 5th to Jonas (I think one of them fell over). I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing happening before (the match point suspension and the "play two, it's getting slippy" ruling). Bizarre.

(hasn't JG always been a baby?)

With each passing major, Nailbags is looking less and less like the oncer We All Knew He Was at Wimbers 2002. Back then it was said Leyton was lucky he was playing such a nobody in a GS final. Now you could say he was lucky to catch him still raw and overawed.

I think the Oz flag might be all rolled up and soaked in spicy coconut come Tuesday night. We've all underestimated Moya again - after his cliffhangers at Roland Garros, he's motoring through this. I think he'll beat t/b-edger Younesco in four.

The Sch-Sch Schowdown is anybody's - Rainer is another, like Bandy, who isn't supposed to be this consistent, and SchalkDust showed limestone resolve in his R2 recovery and R3 Ivo barrage. Roddick obviously in fine form but Malisse and then the winner of SchuSchuSchudio? He could be spent by the time the Artist Currently Known As Roger rolls round.

Dent seems like the sort of young thumper Ags eats for breakfast, Coria more of a danger in the quarters. Todd-JCF all the way to a 12-10 tie-breaker in the 5th - tears and Elastoplast.

You're right about the Bandy Andean and the two Schs not being meant to be this consistent, though to be fair Dave was tipped as a prospect some years before that Wimbledon run, just not that much of a prospect on that surface. I quite like him too - and as for his chances vs the Fed, I believe that the Fed has never beaten him in something like five tries. He's got to like his chances.

Poor Tammy T... her compatriot Srichaphan gets the mad red-shirted Srichafans cheering his every move, but even when she makes noise of her own they fail to show up for her. SEXISM!!!!! Anyway, yeah, she lost. And Srichaphan will beat Llittle Lleyton, who is llittle more than a llatter-day Jim Courier. If he's llucky.

Five Russians in the last 16, and they're doing their customary flame-out at this stage... horribly depressing. Two down yesterday, three to go today. Though on balance I am ecstatic that Myskina made it this far in the first place, and Dementieva has a very good chance against JenFat.

Predictions, then back to work. Agassi v Coria, Martin v Srichaphan, Schuttler v Roddick, El Aynaoui v Federer, then Agassi v Srichaphan and Roddick v Federer, then Srichaphan v Roddick, Roddick to win. There will be no upsets in the women's event from here on in, with the exception of Mauresmo beating Clijsters and Davenport to make the final.

Blake-Federer's hour-plus Set 2 was pretty great. Blake wore himself out tho.

I have tix for tonight and it looks like I'll have to wait until next year. :(

TV is showing the 86 Steffi-Martina semi - remember when the women were exciting?

JenFat

hey, she's just being trendy

I had forgotten that Mary Pierce is the most beautiful woman in the world.

B-but, her opponent! Nervous of nudging this thread down a path it absolutely should not go, did anyone see the women's high jump at the World Athletics Championships? Kuptsova! Vlasic! All these ravishing beauties from the East - where were they all in the 80s when Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvilova were winning everything?

The forecast for the next three days in NYC looks terrible. What's gonna happen?

Hmm. Remember when all the pretty girls came from the West and the Eastern Europeans were all steroid trolls? When did the flip occur?

People like Dickhead because Yanks like brashness... it's just ugh. I am schizo-ambivalent about him... I never cheer for him, and think he looks like either a rat/retard most of the time, but in certain photo shoots it's just, like, FWOOARR. Which is confusing. Dent, on the other hand, is just an ugly meathead whose limited game makes Ivanisevic look like Federer.

I've seen JenFat warm up with her brother a few times... gaydar alert! gaydar alert!

And yet - after the drizzle, so much actual, living, breathing tennis in the last few hours I can hardly take it all in.

Myskina - through, Sugiyama - out, after waiting for *weeks* to grab the four points she needed for victory.

Bandy pulls the old arch-nemesis stunt *again* vs error-filled Rog, through in four - as is Coria, Hewitt. Martin heroics vs Ferrero, but not enough, JC through 6-3 in the 5th. Still out there, but nearing the finishing line: El Anayoui and Schalken, both 2-1 and a break to the good vs Moya and Schuettler resp.

It doesn't stop there... women's qf underway (God, the organisers are lucky sods), KimC 6-1 1-2 vs Amelie, Davva 3-1 Suarez. Myskina-Henin has vanished from the schedules: tomorrow? Capri Arty still to play Scheer Voney.

haha well unfortunately I have no fucking cable so I can't comment on the US open but the world athletics was 'interesting'. I love watching races and so on but the 'highlights' were def the women's pole vault and high jump.

Justine-Jen should be good... unfortunately, I still won't be able to see it. I want it to rain non-stop in New York until I get home on Sunday.

(Incidentally... wtf is the US Open's incompetence all about? Staff have to go around mopping up rain water with TOWELS?! Go out and buy a couple of £50 tarpaulins, for fuck's sake! Even Wimbledon manages to have court covers to keep the rain off. And notice the big scheduling conspiracy of getting Agassi and Roddick through to the QFs first, thus giving them an extra day of rest over their competitors...)

The line on court covers was that "it would only save us a few minutes each time", meanwhile the hot air dryer sprung an oil leak earlier in the week, coating the Grandstand court and putting it out of action. The thing is, thanks to the unexpectedly prolonged dry spell yesterday, they're going to get away with it. Forecast for today, tomorrow and Sunday is clearing cloud, dry and high 70s. The singles events will finish on time.

I think it might be the Clidge and the Cap to advance tonight.

Poor Ai... and after that comeback, Skier Voney was never going to have anything left vs the Capster. I'm still proud of Nastya though - a rare case of Russian's Nerves Hold Steady.

My predictions are already shot to pieces, but I'm going with the Clidge and the Hen.

JC-Younes/Bandy brulee final still possible.

Capriati's momentum isn't enough in the face of a clearly superior game and in spite of obvious pain on Justine's side. Grete Weitz wins the marathon. Will there be moules frites tomorrow night?

?!

Quite right, Phil. In fact, I don't really know why they continue with this anachronistic 'tournament' at all - just have a $10 million shooutout between Agassi and Roddick on a star-spangled court - say, who can win the most points in 40 minutes, and at the end the winner is showered with diamonds and the loser falls through a trap door into the bowels of hell.

Meanwhile... the Cap-Hen match sounded amazing. Justine can't have much left now. I went to bed at 4am BST and it was one set all then, so they must have gone into the small hours local time.

Coria and Sjeng both sent packing with alarming ease. So, it's Bandy or bust.

While Linz is obviously not the stunt double for Furillo's namesake main squeeze on the late, very much lamented 'Hill Street Blues', she does seem to have a personality that is kinda interesting an account of the fact that the 'Handling The Media 101' air-brush marks aren't quite so bloody obvious.

Oz woke, not quite in tears, to the news that Hewitt had gone down, to some bloke our media still call 'John Clod'. He claimed a sore hip. Which meant his hip was not hip to the beat and he was subsequently beaten. We don't think it was the hip on his shoulder THIS time.

Still, the future Mrs H (who could very easily be HIS stunt double) marches on.

Ha!Ha! That's exactly what I was hinting at, actually.

Sometimes it seems, though, that I'm the only guy here who wants to be womanhandled by strong chicks.

er?

JHH played more beautiful tennis tonight. I couldn't believe the crowd - they were like 'we've been ripped off because there are no Americans here' (one dude even yells out "Serena" during the winners' ceremony) and they clapped more for Kim even though J was playing better (Clijsters did play well) on fewer resources (though electrolyte replacement can do wonders, I suppose). I also got to see a few points of Vilas in the Senior Doubles and ate too many pupusas in Woodside post-match.

hey didn't you read my post abt the world athletics championships.

Davenport is alright but you know: williams sisters, henin and clijsters hello hello!!!

maybe they're still bitter about that JHH French Open not-ready-hand-signal-serena-half-served-into-the-net-then-not-owning-up-to-the-judge-about-it-thing.

We were a point away from a ratings apocalypse - Ferrero-Bandy final and the USTA would be operating from a pre-fab shed this time next year. Bandy now = Roscoe Tanner (don't lend him a tenner) - unexpected Wimb final followed by giant-killing Flushing run and agonising semi defeat from m-p up. Which makes (Gr)And(Slam)y Vitas G and JC Mac '79. My spies tell me the Bandy-Nooey qf was a classic.

Prediction time: Ferrero in four.

But then I didn't see it. Whadda I know.

Maybe KimC is Ivan Lendl with superior dental work. Y'know, haul of tour titles, #1 on the computer, keeps losing GS finals. If so, look out in 2005/6...

See y'all in Melbourne. G'night.

Do US Open crowds ever, ever shut up?

Melbourne? Melbourne? The Tour moves on, you know... to, er, Bali this week for the girls and I believe Bucharest and somewhere in Brazil for the boys.

Yes, yes, but we only seem to have GS threads in here. Start a general APT/WTA tour thread by all means.

Do French Open crowds ever shut up?

The crowd was notably quiet during the womens' final. (But they booed when the event thanked the support of Mayors Bloomberg, Dinkins and Koch. The absentee has always hated the event because Flushing Meadows was Dinkins' baby and G never got any credit for it. Also, I was at the Agassi-Sampras quarter 2 yrs ago, and pre-match the crowd cheered when various celebs were shown on the monitor - Brokaw together w/ Mike Wallace, e.g. - but booed when the camera showed Trump, who waved back. During the womens' final this year they showed I think Cameron Diaz and J-Lo, not together).