By Sandra Harwitt
This is going to be one of those brief posts because I need to get up and go really early and it’s already after midnight and have to file to Australian Tennis Mag with my men’s piece.
My impressions of this U.S. Open – one of the most interesting Grand Slams with intriguing stories all the way through – that I can remember.
Juan Martin del Potro was a Grand Slam champion-in-waiting and the way he won his first Grand Slam title will be one remembered for the ages. He upset the great Roger Federer to become one of only two guys, Rafael Nadal being the other, to beat the Swiss genius in a Grand Slam final.
Federer was composed in defeat unlike how he lost it and cried after his loss to Rafa at the Australian Open. But that was before he won his first French Open and grabbed the Grand Slam record from Pete Sampras with 15 major trophies to his credit.
Biggest shame of the day was that Dick Enberg seemed hell-bent on not giving Juan Martin del Potro the microphone to say something in Spanish. Hey, the guy just won the U.S. Open and he deserved the right to make his speech. An embarrassing moment that put a little damper on the victory for del Potrom who eventually prevailed and had his say in his native language. But in the big picture, he won’t remember that as much as that he beat No. 1 Roger Federer in the final and No. 2 Rafa Nadal in the semifinals to take home the U.S. Open title.
And let’s not forget that Caroline Wozniacki, who lost the final to Kim Clijsters, got in her speech in English, Danish and Polish!
I guess we can’t ignore Serena Williams, who sent out an amended statement today saying she apologizes to the lineswoman and did not behave “appropriately” as a role model for youngster the other night in her semifinal match against Clijsters.
I guess that’s better late than never.
Serena actually handled herself well in the post-match press conference after picking up the doubles trophy on Monday with sis, Venus. The PR person tried to shut down questions regarding the incident – we don’t know if the Williams camp initially requested he do so or if he took that decision himself. To her credit, Serena spoke up and said that she would answer all questions. She also said that she’d like to give the linesperson “A big old hug.” No word from the lineswoman that remains nameless as to whether she’s amenable to a bear hug from La Serena.
As an aside, Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez tells me that Venus and Serena have committed to travel to Italy in November to play in the Fed Cup final. The sisters have not played the first two rounds, which gave young Melanie Oudin and Alexa Glatch a chance to lead the U.S. into the final. If Serena and Venus show, the Fed Cup team will round out with Melanie and doubles star Liezel Huber. Fernandez hopes to bring Alexa along on the trip as she was instrumental in the team making the final. It’s a pretty impressive effort for Mary Joe to lead the U.S. to the final in her first year as captain.
The U.S. has won the Fed Cup title 17 times, but has not captured the title since 2000 when Billie Jean King was the captain. The last time the U.S. was in the final was in 2003 when they played France – the semifinals and finals were held at the same time and the venue was Moscow and that was my first trip to Russia.
Clearly the U.S. Open is all over American Idol contestants to sing before the final. Yesterday, David Archuletta sang God Bless America before the women’s final and Constatine Maroulis, who is now on Broadway, is singing the same before the men’s final.
U.S. OPEN HISTORY FOR September 14
In 1929, Bill Tilden won his seventh U.S. title in a five-set final against Francis Hunter. I must admit I don’t know who Francis Hunter was so I can’t offer any details.
In 1987, Ivan Lendl takes a four-set final match on Monday over Mats Wilander after rain delayed the match on Sunday.
So we bid adieu to the U.S. Open for another year and we're thankful that the event gave us some great memories to look back on.
I'll continue this blog but will probably not post everyday. At least I won't this week as a well-deserved break is needed.
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Sandy,
ReplyDeleteI compeletely agree with you about Enberg. I'm assuming CBS told him that they didn't have time for Juan Martin Del Potro to speak, but come on he had just won the U.S. Open. It looked so bad at the time and I'm guessing that whoever is in Enberg's ear told him to go ahead and do it. Juan Martin handled it in stride though and seemed very happy when he got to give the speech to his parents. I think Enberg is annoying anyway when he calls rallies "delicious" and silly things like that. Just give us the McEnroe's.
I think the Serena deal was a bit overblown. Yes she reacted inappropriately and deserved a point penalty, but the call was ridiculous. The line judge had to have it out for her to make that kind of call there. I think many players would have done at least as much given the situation. I hope that does not take away from Kim Clijsters who pulled of maybe the greatest comeback in the game's history. She and Melanie Oudin did more for women's tennis in 2 weeks than anyone has in the last 5 years. I found women's tennis so boring over the last few years that I have direct tv partially so I get the 6 court action and never have to watch them. However, I found myself glued to Oudin and Clijsters matches. I hope Oudin can build on it and Clijsters can stay in the game for a few years and continue to give Serena and Venus great matches.
Do you have any idea what Querrey's schedule is like between now and end of the year. I'm assuming a few weeks off after his busy summer schedule that would've made Davydenko proud. I think he had a great run, better than I expected. He never got going at the Open but I know that Soderling is a really tough matchup for him and it might not have mattered how well he played. Soderling has lost to only Fed in the last 3 slams. I think Soderling is basically a better version of Querrey at least right now. Hopefully that can change. Do you know if they're considering Querrey over Blake for the Davis Cup next year?
I love the blog, keep it up:)