The US Open (of Tennis) 2009

Draws are out! for men and

women.

Predictions for round of 16:

MEN
---
Roger Federer
James Blake
Robin Söderling
Nikolay Davydenko
---
Novak Djokovic
Radek Stepanek
Tommy Haas
Andy Roddick
---
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Fernando Gonzalez
David Ferrer
Rafael Nadal if fit (how are things?), otherwise... Gasquet??
---
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Stanislas Wawrinka
Andy Murray

Unluckiest seeds in 1st round: Mathieu (vs Youzhny), Hanescu (vs Isner), maybe Almagro (vs Darcis).
Most even 1st round matchups outside of seeds: Hernych v Schüttler (could be Gicquel v Tursunov but latter apparently injured?).
Guess at number of qualifiers to proceed: six (two guaranteed), then two, then none left.

WOMEN
---
Dinara Safina
Virginie Razzano*
Ana Ivanovic*
Jelena Jankovic
---
Elena Dementieva
Jie Zheng
Caroline Wozniacki
Svetlana Kuznetsova
---
Victoria Azarenka
Na Li
Kim Clijsters
Venus Williams
---
Vera Zvonareva
Flavia Pennetta
Samantha Stosur
Serena Williams

*) These seem like the toughest 16ths by some distance.

Unluckiest seeds in 1st round: the ones in the 16ths just mentioned (esp the first one), Szavay (v Peer), perhaps Bammer (v MJMS).
Most even 1st round matchups outside of seeds: Dulko v Makarova, umm... Govortsova v Mirza?
Guess at number of qualifiers to proceed: six (one guaranteed), then one, then none left.

wtf formatting up there? I blame Notepad.

going 2 days this year, daytime sessions on the 2nd and 7th. psyched! (the open is my favorite live sporting event, especially the first week when there are so many matches everywhere.)

haha juan carlos is seeded for this? excited abt going the first week too if i can sharapova looked shaky against pretty uninspired competition in toronto shld be interesting to see how she does here. is clijsters playing? lol i think im just looking for reasons to get excited about the women's like any reason at all will do

yeah JCF said after his queen's run that his goal was to make the top 10 by the end of the season and we all went "lol you are outside the top 50!". Then he promptly made the Wimbledon QF and is a couple of lucky Masters Series runs away from actually getting there.

Ughhhhhh I really dislike Clijsters...the "St Kim of Niceness" crap that follows her around, her ugly-ass forehand, her "career-ending injury!" drama every few weeks before proceeding to dismantle everyone 0 and 1. The latest rumour is that Henin is coming back next year! ("In training for exos" Yes, we know where that led with St Kim.) I love her but try not retiring in the first place.

Sharapova has drawn Demented in the 3rd round...I can't see her getting past that. Her serve is woeful now. And Demented has to save her epic choke for the SF against Jankovic or final against Silliams.

Will do predictions and such later...I really like both draws. Nice and balanced. Weird seeing Murray at the bottom of the draw!

haha yah sharapova looked TERRIBAD in toronto - more than just her serve is woeful. agreed on clijsters too but i mean cmon so many of the new jills have failed to step their games up iirc u were hot on that tactical polish chick who's name i wont even guess @ - she looked so limp and inert in toronto as well

looking forward to your men's draw predictions took a look over and realized i had NO CLUE for most of these outside the really obv three

Nadal is not anywhere near his best yet but he should still massacre Gasquet, who lost in New Haven QUALIFYING last week and complained that he hadn't picked up a racquet for two months because of the coke business. That didn't stop you from practising, Richard.

xps I love A-Rad but am not fooling myself that she'll ever be a Slam contender. Born too late :(

Didn't see much of Cincinnati, but so much for New Dad Fed being re-schooled by his younger rivals. It's one thing beating Sod, Rod, Haas (twice) and DelBoy to win Slams, but doing a couple of top-fourers back-to-back is something RF hasn't been capable of for a while, so that was good to see.

Murray for this title, though, I think.

hes got the best draw, for sure

as for the men, Federer of all people threw a massive spanner in the works by winning Cincy! Like...despite his RG/Wimbledon titles, he still hadn't beaten Murray or Djokovic this year yet. And he didn't have to beat them, or Nadal, to win his Slams. But then he straight-setted them both at Cincy!

xp

What I saw of the Cincy SF was reminiscent of last year's USO F - Murray doing what Murray does, lots of nice angles, great retrieving, but Fed just stepping up and ending points quickly. When RF's attacking game is on, Murray seems powerless. Which is clearly not the way their head-to-head has gone over the last three years.

Predictions, then!

Women's - 4R:

Safina, Safarova, Lisicki, Jankovic, Dementieva, Zheng, Wozniacki, Szavay, Azarenka, A.Radwanska, Clijsters, V.Williams, Zvonareva, Mauresmo, Stosur, S.Williams

QF:

Safina, Jankovic, Dementieva, Wozniacki, Azarenka, Clijsters, Mauresmo, S.Williams

SF:

Jankovic, Dementieva, Clijsters, S.Williams

F:

Jankovic, S.Williams

Champ: Silliams

Men's 4R:

Federer, a qualifier, Querrey, Davydenko, Djokovic, Mayer, Verdasco, Roddick, Tsonga, Berdych, Chardy, Nadal, Del Potro, Ferrero, Wawrinka, Murray

QF:

Federer, Querrey, Djokovic, Roddick, Tsonga, Nadal, Del Potro, Murray

SF:

Federer, Roddick, Tsonga, Murray

F:

Federer, Murray

Champ: Federer

Champ: Nadal
http://cornedbeefhash.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/nadal-fans-indianwells09a.jpg

once a fanboy, always a fanboy

And back out of my semi-permanent ILX retirement for another tennis thread. Give me a decent backhand and call me Justine Henin.

(please come back Justine.)

I saw an interview with Justine in the paper a few months ago in which she said she was really happy, (working in Tennis still). Won't believe in a comeback till I see it.

Murray to win it. Didn't see that Masters defeat but I read it as Murray not having much left after winning the Masters title the prev week, the accumulation of matches getting to him.

As for Fed I think he might not get in the final this time.

part of it was def because Murray was tired but quite honestly those last two days at the Masters was abt as close to vintage Fed as I've seen him play in ages. i mean the next day i thought Djokovic was playing much better than Murray was and he was totally crushed too. t

hat said, i don't know if Fed can still keep up that level of play for long - he does seem to switch off mentally often enough these days that i think Murray still might have a good chance of winning if he has a better serving day than he did at Cincy (I say might primarily because i haven't been completely convinced by Murray's ability to play best-of-five matches).

agree with lex's predictions on the women's draw except that i'm going for Demented over JJ.

*that said

sweet analysis of federers footwork http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/31/sports/tennis/20090831-roger-graphic.html

weather forecast for the first week looks perfect.

Hey look this tournament has actually started. Of course, nothing interesting has happened yet. Clijsters is rolling and Kirilenko and Mathieu are winning as well.

And oh by the way 10 games into the Kirilenko/Koryttseva match and not one single winner for either player. That's interesting I guess.

sigh, we all know Blake is going out in the first round, right

After about a second of thought that can't be right. There must be something wrong with the winner counter.

bout to feel the wrath of lex but hello women's tennis

Clijsters/Kutuzova was pretty much exactly as you'd expect - Kim controlled virtually every point and hit a few out (nearly as many errors as winners) but at no stage looked troubled.

Also STFU Azarenka, you're nearly as bad as Sharapova with your 'grunting'.

so not that I want to encourage any illegal activity here, but how can I watch this from the comfort of my British home without subscribing to Sky Sports?

oh it's on Eurosport. Don't suppose they'll be showing the 'big' games or anything in the later stages, though?

Seeded losers in Day 1 Morning Session: Hanescu & Mathieu, thought neither were really upsets. Both had tough round 1 matchups (Isner in front of a home crowd and on his surface and Youzhny). Kaia Kanepi is the only seeded loser on the women's side.

Whoa, Stosur is seeded 15.

Venus is down a set and a break. I'll believe it when I see it but her results on the hard have been spotty at best. I just wish she'd win and Serena would lose :(

Okay, now she's just down a set. She's playing the Douchebag, fwiw.

they are both playing so bad its kind of n/l

interesting tht from mary carillo she was saying that the decline the quality of the womens game is from going for power over everything - if youre off your game at all than theres no margin and gets really ugly.

I would agree with that even if I were just looking at the stats! Heaps of errors, and yeah, it's a shit match.

To change the subject, Venus is in a fuchsia outfit that is highly flattering!

there have been seen really pretty points (the passing shot to close the tiebreaker, a few baseline rallies where venus dominates) but they keep finding themselves in weird spots hitting out of position - like i honestly cant tell what either of them are thinking or why theyre doing half the things theyre doing

lol @ douche completely whiffing a shot too - wtf?????

haha lol @ posting and watching and yah that dress is really nice

Loved that Douche volley at 15-30, it was almost as if she was lucky to make contact.

Douche's backhand = not being with the very good.

Okay, she's not going to win another game in the whole match now. Venus breaks to 6-5.

lmao @ the douche's body lang after that ace

hahaa she's walking off the court as venus tosses it!!

women's fucking tennis

Oh god, the McEnroe brothers will be commentating the Roddick match. That'll be the antidote for scary pro-Roddick feelings I've been having lately. McEnroe, P is insufferable on the topic.

most interesting thing about douches game 1) two handed backhand 2) ocd need to hit the ball after any point she misses 3) ...

Okay, I love you Venus, but that overhead was looool

DF to put villiams up 1-0 in the third..........

espn commentary has been noticeably excellent this match critical and incisive but then anytime i get too giddy they do something like mention "top players" and "mauresmo" in the same sentence

oh god double faulting to lose the opening game :/

Yeah, I'm watching an ESPN stream and it's so much better than anything I'm used to on Austrlaian TV. Giggle at Venus' hitting partner's voice, it's kinda camp.

man after a couple of the commentators were discussing whether a women's match should be the featured night match, this shit ain't a good look

haha i thought that conversation was interesting - mary carillo (i think thats who im thinking of) is such a bitch but she often has some insightful shit to say - lol @ the debate getting shut down with "well if u make the women go on 2nd no1 will stay to watch them"

this is just nagl for both of them

OMG. 0-30.

There is now way fed can win from here

1...

15-40!!!!

please don't go out on a double fault

fed seems out of power, potty is a duracell bunny

This final set reminds me of the Aussie Open when Fed practically gave up against Nadal and was making a shitload of errors

DF to give Pony a 3rd MP...

WOW

well deserved!

amazing reach by fed but still not enough

wow.

way to go pony boy.

fed looks like he's getting better at losing these things. guess he's going to have to.

well deserved!

― youcangoyourownway, Tuesday, September 15, 2009 12:26 AM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^^

lol at Sky commentators saying there is now a big five in tennis, Murray hasn't won a slam yet you idiots

right, i can go to bed now. nightall.

That was awesome - so glad I made it home from work in time to watch the tie-break & final set!

Ok, I don't think dodgy web feeds are the way to watch major sporting occasions - on DP's first match point, the stream froze on every single stroke of the rally! Agonising.

Well done, Delpy! Fed's serve has been the difference in his three 5-set Slam finals this year - terrible today and in January vs Nadal, 50 aces vs Roddick in SW19.

Can't believe how out of it Del Potro looked at 3-6, 0-2...he was barely winning points and seemed to have no idea. A few hours later, here we are!

omg pony! SO AWESOME. he's beaten both Rafa and Federer in a tournament and becomes the first person not named Nadal to beat Federer in a final.

welcome to the big league kid.

thank god he's not crying.

Wow he destroyed him faster than I could get home. In a state of shock.

Vilas milking the crowd. It's not about you, dude.

What the hell, what is all this prize money bullshit discussion.

Oh, screw the fucking car - let the guy speak!

It's Martin Landau all over again.

Someone gave that guy a roasting in his earpiece: "give him the mike and let him speak"

gracias a dios

Y'see, Fed is the GOAT cos he can cry in his 2nd or 3rd language. JMDP can only cry in his mother tongue.

It literally sounded like that dude had interrupted his own speech to read out a car advert. The USO has the worst presentations. I still remember "Christine", the year Henin won it.

Beating Nadal and Federer back to back in the last two rounds to win your first Slam. One thrashing and one 5-set classic. Doesn't get much better than that! So happy for Pony.

I thought Fed played very well until the 5th set collapse which was very reminiscent of the AO match - though overall, I was reminded more of another 20-year-old upending an established champ, Safin in 2000.

Three five-setters in four Slam finals this year. It's really a golden age for men's tennis.

AO was, for four sets, the greatest Slam final I've ever seen; Wimb was just a ridiculous spectacle for its sheer length; tonight had one great set (the 4th) but was pretty exhilarating for the sense of breakthrough from DP. Lex is right - this is a bit like Safin just not missing all afternoon vs Sampras.

Good night, everybody!

am not going to sleep and going to try to survive on adrenaline and caffeine today. i'm so happy for pony - been pulling for him to make a breakthrough here since last year and he did so in fine fine fashion.

I'm not ready for anyone else to be in the big leagues. I just figured Federer would win but I'm glad that the guy who beat raf won.
Raf has things much harder now with more worthy competition. Will he ever win the US Open?

Also just remembered that not only was Justine called "Christine" when she won in 2004, she was called "Henin-Hardenne" when she won in 2007, nine months after her divorce. Oh, USO.

Roll of honour!

Men's singles: Juan Martin Del Potro
Women's singles: Kim Clijsters
Men's doubles: Lukas Dlouhy & Leander Paes
Women's doubles: Serena Williams & Venus Williams
Mixed doubles: Carly Gullickson & Travis Parrott
Boys' singles: Bernard Tomic
Girls' singles: Heather Watson
Boys' doubles: Marton Fucsovics & Cheng-Peng Hsieh
Girls' doubles: Valeria Solovieva & Maryna Zanevska

- second British girl to win a junior Slam in the past 14 months!
- Zanevska is apparently a student at Justine Henin's academy
- if Fucsovics makes it in the seniors, all nicknaming will be rendered redundant

...and the new rankings.

1. Roger Federer (1)
2. Rafael Nadal (3)
3. Andy Murray (2)
4. Novak Djokovic (4)
5. Juan Martin Del Potro (6)
6. Andy Roddick (5)
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7)
8. Nikolay Davydenko (8)
9. Fernando Verdasco (10)
10. Gilles Simon (9)
11. Robin Soderling (12)
12. Fernando Gonzalez (11)
13. Gael Monfils (13)
14. David Nalbandian (14)
15. Marin Cilic (17)
16. Tommy Robredo (15)
17. Radek Stepanek (16)
18. Tomas Berdych (18)
19. David Ferrer (19)
20. Tommy Haas (21)
21. Juan Carlos Ferrero (25)
22. Stanislas Wawrinka (20)
23. Philipp Kohlschreiber (24)
24. James Blake (23)
25. Sam Querrey (22)
26. Lleyton Hewitt (32)
27. Paul-Henri Mathieu (27)
28. Victor Hanescu (29)
29. Dudi Sela (35)
30. Nicolas Almagro (33)
...
39. John Isner (55)
53. Mardy Fish (26)

and the women...

1. Dinara Safina (1)
2. Serena Williams (2)
3. Venus Williams (3)
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova (6)
5. Elena Dementieva (4)
6. Caroline Wozniacki (8)
7. Vera Zvonareva (7)
8. Jelena Jankovic (5)
9. Victoria Azarenka (9)
10. Flavia Pennetta (10)
11. Ana Ivanovic (11)
12. Nadia Petrova (13)
13. Agnieszka Radwanska (12)
14. Samantha Stosur (15)
15. Marion Bartoli (14)
16. Virginie Razzano (18)
17. Dominika Cibulkova (16)
18. Na Li (19)
19. Kim Clijsters (-)
20. Amelie Mauresmo (17)
21. Daniela Hantuchova (24)
22. Yanina Wickmayer (50)
23. Anabel Medina Garrigues (21)
24. Francesca Schiavone (28)
25. Elena Vesnina (23)
26. Jie Zheng (22)
27. Maria Sharapova (31)
28. Sabine Lisicki (25)
29. Sorana Cirstea (26)
30. Kaia Kanepi (27)
...
34. Kateryna Bondarenko (52)
44. Melanie Oudin (70)
45. Patty Schnyder (20)
186. Nicole Vaidisova (143)

lol poor old Dinara Safina - she tried her best to lose her number one spot. Too bad Serena couldn't close the deal.

She leads the race to the Championships by a reasonable amount, too. If Silliams plays a few autumn tournaments, and the YEC, and others to win matches, she should be able to overtake Dinara, but what are the chances of that happening.

Marton Fucsovics? What's so funny about that, it's pronounced "futchovitch".

Oh, wait.

lolz apparently Justine Henin is to hold a press conference TOMORROW!

Stealing Kim's thunder. I love her.

Also, Sugiyama is retiring at the end of the year. She should be very proud of her career - she was in the top 100 when I first started following tennis, and in all those years never fell out of it! - and she'll really be missed.

The Real Estalker has an entry on Kim's New Jersey place. Lovely.

why wasn't the wheelchair finals winners included in your role of honor lex :p

just playing ^_^

(oops that looks a little too happy. stupid smilies)

Yay Del Potro! I was listening on the radio until midnight then thought Fed would do it and switched off (still like him to bits but he is the greatest of all time - don't like that acronym, sorry:-)) (plus I had to get up early). Glad he willed it through.

Really liked his speech at the end - some nice affection toward Fed.

this guy

http://newballs.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/trophy-head.jpg?w=500&h=375

looking pretty fly here too

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/4e/fullj.8cc528bbc7b4d8b388889cce68ad22e7/8cc528bbc7b4d8b388889cce68ad22e7-getty-90128108ct001_us_open_champ.jpg

Being the photography nerd that I am, I immediately grabbed that for the EXIF data. Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, 17mm, f/11, ISO 125, 1/250sec, flash fired, fact fans! Great shot.

http://twitter.com/TennisChannel/status/4008584321

!!!!

Also, I thought Del Potro was a bit ungainly to look at but in that nice collar and jumper (I have a v similar one!) he looks quite gorgeous.

yeah he cleans up good. I was really distracted by his "i'm so nervous i forgot to shave"-look during the semi and final.

and the news about justine (if true) is simultaneously surprising and not at all.