I love tennis and the US open in Flushing Meadows, NY is in full swing on the Tennis channel and ESPN2.
Last night Lleyton Hewett beat Juan Del Potro in a 4 hour 5 set marathon.
I never saw that coming.
For now , Nadal looks the best on the men's draw, and Serena Williams is the obvious women's fave.
Fans?
Last edited by nosebone; 08-31-2013 at 12:00 PM.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
I went last Wed. and organized a trip for our local tennis club. We've been going annually for the last 4 years. I've been to the French Open, too! However, nothing compares to Indian Wells as far as spectator-friendly! Last year, I chatted with Marion Bartoli as we were both watching James Blake and Jack Sock on the practice courts! She had a match with Sara Errani in 1/2 hour and was just casually hanging around! She lost, though. Maybe she should have been more focused!
Last edited by Guitarplyrjvb; 09-04-2013 at 08:08 PM.
Cool, I hope to get there on Labor Day, weather permitting.
I heard they're putting roofs on Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong which is about time.
I've never been to Indian Wells, but James Blake showed up to practice at the tennis club my son trains at a couple years ago.
He even hit a few balls with him.
Last edited by nosebone; 08-31-2013 at 06:44 PM.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
James sounds like a pretty cool guy! An amazing story about how he recovered from a broken neck caused by slipping on the clay and bashing his head against the net post during a practice session!
Have a good time at the tourney! There should be some excellent match-ups by then!
I watch loads of tennis, and hit balls when I have time as well (4.0 kind of guy). Roger is coming up on the DVR soon.
Tomorrow's match with Serena and Sloane will be a good one. Simona Halep is the hot player, tennis wiseon the WTA currently.
She demolished Kirilenko today, a pretty good player. Blake had a good career, and is one of the nicest, smartest guys as well.
Maybe he'll do commentary. Speaking of commentary, the two commentators that bug me most are, in order, Chris Fowler and
Cliff Drysdale, who talk constantly and say little, especially Fowler. Of the non pro commentators, Ted Robinson is the best IMO.
His comments are intelligent and he doesn't try to be an expert like Fowler. I like Courier especially, and Carillo, both Macs, even though
John talks a lot too. Mary Jo, Chris and Martina are good as well. I live in Northern California and haven't been to Indian Wells yet.
I need to. I just never seem to have the extra money, plus my wife wouldn't let me go alone. Someday...
Go Roger! Always a Roger fan, whether he's at the top or not. Nadal looks to be in the best form as Chris said.
As for my own playing, I had a tumor in my right calf two years ago, surgery, then radiation, so can no longer run, but my strokes
are still fine, so I still play singles and my partners try to direct balls in my direction. I thought I would take more lessons after retirement.
Life throws lots of curve balls at you all right. Did I mention, Go Roger!
Did you see the Italian camila giorgia whoop Wozniacki earlier?
Really solid player and super cute.
I think Fed's grand slam days are over, although he still is my favorite men's player.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
I saw Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, and Jimmy Connors play at the Volvo tournament once - we even ran into Rod Laver at a supermarket. Also saw Billie Jean King play with the Boston Lobsters. Just sayin - those were the good days. CTTOI, Laver might not have played, maybe was just there to watch or as a commentator.
I saw Peter Gabriel and also Talking Heads & Tom Tom Club play at the Forest Hills tennis stadium - is the US open no longer played there? Does it still exist? Those were great concerts.
Forest Hills still exists AFAIK, but the US Open is played at Flushing Meadows, also in Queens. I saw Rod Laver play a seniors event in the 80s. What a treat.
I saw Arthur Ashe play the US open when I was a kid, and Connors when he was 19 at the Dannon Yogurt Classic on Long Island.
Roger can still win another major, though it is increasingly difficult, due to his age and how much better the other top players have gotten. He did win Wimbledon last year and was ranked #1 for a time then. It will be fun to watch him play Rafa in the quarters Wednesday evening, unless Robredo plays out of his mind Monday.
Giorgi was impressive for sure. Wozniacki's style has caught up to her. If she was more crafty, like Radwanska, she would do better, but she'd be better off by being more aggressive. It's just not her mind set. Change is tough on the court, like in life.
By the way, Go Roger!
Giorgi was really something! That must have been the match of her life! She hasn't beaten anyone like Wozniacki before, although she had a few wins against top-20 players. I agree about Wozniacki's style. You can't hit over 90% of your shots from behind the baseline and expect to win. Now that she's ranked lower, she's going to face a lot more competition in the earlier round of tournaments. Unless she changes her style and gets a real coach, I don't see her getting better.
Del Potro is my favorite men's player, although he lost to Hewitt.
I'm glad Hewitt advanced.
I never used to like him, about after all those surgeries, he played blood & guts tennis against Depo.
Btw, what the hell happened to Depo during that match?
Brad Gilbert called him the sleeping giant.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Yeah, he totally looked out of gas!
Serena took no prisoners today. The top players hate to lose to anyone, more than those below them it seems.
Sloane needs to learn to move forward instead of retreating. Once she's comfortable moving forward and
at the net, watch out!
Originally Posted by rapidfirerob
I agree.
Moving forward and moving her feet will make her more a formidable opponent.
She handled Serena's serve better than most imo.
Lesson learned.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Saw those shows there too, along with the worst Yes concert ever; Genesis; Eurythmics with the incredibly brilliant Howard Jones and Martha & the Muffins as well as several more.
As mentioned above, the tournament moved to Flushing quite some time ago; the facilities are basically across the street (Roosevelt Avenue) from Shea...errr, Citi Field, home of the NY Mets.
Info on the old stadium-
http://www.foresthillstennis.com/
Last edited by Obscured; 09-02-2013 at 05:01 PM.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
Unfortunately, Giorgi girl lost to fellow countrywoman Vinci.
Giorgi likes pace and Vinci threw in a lot of variety which threw her off.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Go Roger(anybody but Nadal!)!
I would love to see Ferrer finally take one home.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
All 15 U.S. men have been eliminated.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
Roger's out, Nadal looks strongest to me .
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Tommy Robredo?! Well 3 of the big 4 are still out there! We'll see!
I was glad my DVR didn't catch more than a few games of Roger's match. He's had
days like this, but not recently. It sounds like he was completely off his game yesterday.
I guess no one beats Tommy Robredo 11 times in a row! At least his dad named him
after The Who's Tommy. Nice to see Pennetta back playing well. Halep has been on fire for months
and Flavia took her out in straight sets.
Did you by any chance see Crimson at Pier 42 on the ToaPP tour? I was at that show too. Great show!
What was Marion Bartoli like? She was my favorite women's player, and while I was very happy to see her win Wimbledon, I was very sad to see her retire a few months later. At Wimbledon, the announcers did say this would change her life forever, but I guess they didn't think it would be like that.
I was there. Killer show.
She was very polite and casual. She was chatting with fans that were gathered around the practice court and this was probably only 1/2 hr. before her match against Sara Errani, which she lost! I couldn't believe she was so relaxed and friendly before an important match!
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