the color of happiness

As twilight fades, I’m still remembering the previous night when Rafael Nadal won the U.S Open for the first time. It was a sweet victory shared by so many of us who have followed his career and seem to live and die by each match. People tweeted through tears and blogged with huge grins on their faces over the fact that their hero made the final transition from great player to Legend.

It wasn’t easy. There were rain delays and worries about his opponent, Novak Djokovic. There was frustration about the jumping bean television coverage. All that seemed to fade away after match point. What was left was sheer unmitigated joy. A dream fulfilled. Critics silenced. History rewritten. It was Rafa’s party and everyone was invited.

Nadal was asked a question on his blog for the Times of London about what color did he want the star on his tennis bag to be if he won the Open. He said, “I don’t know. The color of happiness?” It leads to the question then, what is the color of happiness? Is it red mixed with white and blue floating above an ebony sky hovering over  tanned caramel draped in black, gray, and neon yellow? Could it be gleaming silver?

It could be so much and if asked, anyone who experienced it that night would be hard pressed to describe it. But what we all know is that we saw it.

Congratulations Rafa. May you always see the color of happiness.

yes and no (another day at the U.S Open)

It’s day 3 of the U.S Open and I’m already awed by the high quality tennis. Andy Murray looked invincible in his 1st round match. Venus looked very strong even after being tested by a girl who was playing in her first ever Grand Slam tournament. Isner did his thing. Jamaican player Dustin Brown caused an upset, and 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison caused an even bigger one by bouncing out veteran Ivan Lubijic.

Along with Ivan, we said goodbye today to Tomas Berdych (Andy Murray sleeps a little more soundly tonight), Na Li, Jie Zheng (she was beaten by some girl named Ana Ivanovic), Andy Roddick and Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka wasn’t beaten by her opponent though, she was keeled over in the middle of her match and was later diagnosed with a mild concussion. Weird. Let’s all hope for a speedy recovery for Vika. Things just aren’t the same without her snarling at a ball boy.

So again, YES to the tennis, but NOOOOO to the following:

Nope. The gathering at the bodice is distracting and the skirt is way too short.

Non! She only lasted 1 round and that was enough. All the bad mojo and voodoo in the world was woven into that dress-along with some leprechaun vomit.

Nada! The outfit is an out take from the party store challenge on “Project Runway”. Velvet like material belongs on portraits of Elvis and Tupac.

Nyet! The day kit wasn’t any better.  Bra straps popping with a halter teamed with a skirt that constantly had to be adjusted means a big ol’ pile of #FAIL. I hope she wins the tournament though. Still love ya, Vee.

Back in Black

World number 1, and this blogger’s favorite male player played his first round match tonight at the US Open.  He had a tougher time than anyone expected defeating Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. His backhand was shaky and his return game was M.I.A until the third set. But I don’t want to be all Negative Nelly on Rafa, I thought he served extremely well. Nadal fans have been writing “131″ on their blogs and tweets all  evening. That’s because Nadal hit a 131 mph serve tonight. In fact, he was serving bombs all night. Can we all raise a glass to the return of Rafa’s big serve which took an extended vacation during the Cincinnati Masters? He wasn’t broken once and ran around the court like rabbit. A rabbit in black.

Let’s talk about the kit for a minute then shall we? It’s sleek and it fits him like a glove. The color combination finally works and the shoes are on point. In other words, I approve. I really approve. Let’s hope we get to see more of this ensemble during the next two weeks.

In other news:

• Novak Djokovic won a match he should have lost.
• Ernests Gulbis lost a match he should have won
• The New Haven curse has reared his head: Nadia Petrova and Marcos Baghdatis were bounced out
• The Glitter Serb nearly met the same fate, but her opponent gagged a big one and she slipped through
• Fernando Verdasco and David Nalbandian, potential 3rd opponents decided they wanted extra practice at playing long drawn out error-prone matches. *yawn*
• I’m not even going to mention the tweener shot by the Swiss #2. Enough wads have been blown and enough panties have been wrung over it already. No need to say more.

last laughs

Ha ha haaa!

 

HA HA HAAAAAAA!

 

HA HA HAAAAAAA!

tears and tears

*Sigh*

Being a Rafa Nadal fan I should be used to this by now. Some big tall power hitter has the best two weeks of his life and decides to blow Rafa off the court. The victor this time was Juan Martin Del Potro and he demolished Rafa 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Nothing was working: The serve, the backhand, the forehand. Nothing. He was pushed back to nosebleed seats and failed to convert all 5 of his break point opportunities. But with usual good cheer, he smiled, waved to the crowd, and signed autographs for the kiddies. Not before being ambushed by Pam Shriver to give a post ass whupping interview on court. Really? Who’s bright idea was that? Yep. That’s the first thing a player wants to do after they lose, talk about the loss in front a full stadium!

But anyway, Rafa explained later that he had been playing with a muscle tear in his abdomen which restricted his movement. Amazing when you think about it. Getting to the semi finals of the U.S Open playing with that kind of pain. Rafa is a warrior, no doubt. The loss was painful for his fans, but I think I can speak for many: He made us proud. Plus, he’s back to #2. Yaaaasss!

The ladies final was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Nothing was stopping the Clijsters train, especially a novice finalist. To make a short story short. Kimmie won in straight sets and the tears flowed as Jada joined her Mommy on the court. More tears flowed as the hubby joined in the on victory celebration. Don’t get me wrong, Kim’s run was spectacular and made a wild women’s event even wilder, but I’m still stung by the events of the semi final. It’s not her fault, she just went out and played the best tennis of her life in a tournament wrought with ridiculous officiating and rotten decision making. No, the fault lies with the USTA. Their handling of everything was a complete disgrace.

out with a bang

I know I’ve skipped a day or two of my U.S. Open thoughts but because the rain caused so many matches to be postponed, I didn’t think it was necessary to express my boredom. No point in writing about tennis if there’s no tennis, right?

So, after a nearly 48 hour delay Rafa Nadal finished off Fernando Gonzalez to reach the semi finals for the second straight year. It only took him 34 minutes because he was the only player on the court that decided to actually play tennis. He won the tiebreaker without dropping a point and blitzed Fena 6-0 in the third. Talk about out with a whimper.

In the evening, the ladies semi finals got underway. Caroline Wozniacki made it to her first Major final by beating unhearalded (and by me, unseen Yanina Wickmayer). It was a straightforward affair, 6-3, 6-3. Congrats to Caroline. The other ladies semi final pitted Jada’s mom against defending champion Serena Williams. Kim started off strong and never let up. She pinned Serena to the baseline and attacked Serena’s second serve at every opportunity. Ree for her part sprayed errors, double faulted, and basically played like crap. She was outplayed pure and simple.

But oh, if that was it. Unfortunately, some cock-blocking blind ass lineswoman decided to inject herself into the match by calling a foot fault on Serena during the final game. Serena understandably went nuclear and let the lineswoman have it. After pleading her case to the umpire and the tournament referee, Serena was given a second code violation (she got her first after she smashed her racket after losing the first set), and was defaulted. CBS replayed the supposed fault and it didn’t look like a fault to me, nor to Johnny Mac, Mary Carillo, or Dick Emberg. It was bullshit plain and simple. Male players get away with pure murder and are rarely if ever called on it. I’ve actually heard Roger Federer yell, “SHIT” at the top of his lungs and the umpire just smiled at him. I’ve heard Andy Roddick call an umpire a “fat ass” and nothing happened to him. I’ve seen rackets thrown and cracked, balls swiped, and more foot faults overlooked than decency allows. But this particular time with THIS particular player: The defending champion gets a default because she said what a lot of us would like to say to someone who fucks up royally.

Like I said, none of it should never have happened. If blind owl line lady had shown some self control and judgement, Serena would have accepted the loss, Kimmie would have gotten her kudos, and everything would have been everything. Now, for the next few days, weeks, or even months we all are going to be subjected to this sorry display. Serena will be deluged with criticisms from hypocrites far and wide.

Talk about out with a bang.

don’t stop believing

The amazing run has ended. Stopped by a 19 year old Danish player who is enjoying her best showing at a Grand Slam Championship. Melanie Oudin’s time at the U.S Open was a real breath of fresh air. Even though she singlehandedly destroyed the top half of the ladies draw (thus ruining my chance of winning a Tennis Channel Racket Bracket T-shirt), it was great to see someone so young completely seize the moment. Her incredible match play gave the WTA a much needed spark. Without her we would have been subjected to mopey slamless #1′s, struggling gazillionaireses, and all around inconsistency.

But now it’s over. Much of it had to be blamed on the solid play of Caroline Wozniacki. Some of it had to do with the heavy burden of expectation, some of it can be attributed by the tasteless reporting of her parent’s ugly divorce proceedings. She lost in straight sets 2-6, 2-6. Let’s hope she doesn’t lose the belief that she can get back to that stage of competition again. Let us hope that belief doesn’t get muddled with celebrity or complacency. Let us believe that there are more Melanie Oudins out there in America waiting for their chance to their hearts out on Ashe Stadium.

Now with that, I gotta call out the pundits and the more irresponsible reporters. They know who they are. All of this excitement over Oudin wasn’t completely rooted in the love for American tennis. No, some of it was bred from a desire to see the next blonde, all American, tennis star: Chrisse/Tracey redux if you will. So caught up were some that they almost forgot that another American player has been ripping up the bottom half of the draw. This player along with her sister have carried the mantle of American Tennis on their shoulders for nearly 15 years. However, Serena and Venus will never get that kind of love and adoration. Their faces will never be the ones highlighted as the future and the promise of Women’s tennis. Good thing is, they realize that and they just go about the business of winning. If these lint lickers ever tried to pay attention to history, then they would realize that hype is the number one killer of promising tennis careers. If I could make an appeal, I would ask them to just leave Melanie alone and let her develop into the great player she can be.

What else?

Ah yes, Novak Djokovic defeated Fernando Verdasco to reach the semi finals for the 3rd straight year. I gotta hand it to Novak, he seems to thrive in New York. It must be something about the noise, or wind,  or rowdy fans, that stirs up his best. Verdasco has obviously hampered by a slight injury but credit Novak for keeping his head and doing the damn thing. His opponent is the wearer of multiple Monograms. He survived a late night match against the Swede Who Shall Not Be Named. What can I say about the match other than I think I detected some drops of sweat from Sir Jacket. Can’t be sure though, I’ll have to check the replay.

here and now

I know I’ve skipped a day of U. S. Open Coverage but WordPress was on some bullshit so I couldn’t update. Plus, I has a funeral to go to. I haven’t been to one since 1992 when the center of my life, my grandmother passed away. It was sad, sometimes painful, often times inspiring. I’m glad I went to say goodbye to Marjorie. She was a special lady. She wasn’t famous ( I noticed that some readers tried to Google her). She’s was just a regular person who loved her Alma Mater, loved teaching children, loved music and singing, but most importantly-loved her family. The lives she touched were no doubt made better in some way. I just wish there were more like her.

I’m still a little sad so I’ll make this brief.

Serena won a tough match against Panetta. As always, her serve got her out of trouble and when it mattered she hunkered down and got to business. I watched the replay on ESPN 360 and it was a thoroughly enjoyable match.

Rafa Nadal brushed aside Galloping Gael in 4 sets. I’ll admit, I was very nervous before the match. When he’s not in La La Land, Monfils can really bring the rain. Up until last night’s match, Monfils was literally cruising and if I’m not mistaken, he hadn’t even dropped a set. I felt my nervousness was justified considering the last time we all saw Rafa, he was laid out on the court getting his tummy taped. The thing is if everyone was nervous, Rafa was oblivious to it. True to form, Gael started the match on fire. He was serving well and scurrying to and fro and was generally make life very uncomfortable for Rafa. However, like a boxer Rafa absorbed those first set body blows and started to wear Gael down with his consistency. By set three, Gael was huffing and puffing and only won 1 game. By the time the 4th set came to a close, he was shanking and spraying. Rafa seized the win and for all of his trouble he gets a kiss on the cheek by a loony fan who snuck by security.

Can enough be said regarding the utter fuckery of that situation? USTA security gots some ‘spalining to do.

There could be a very good reason as to why Rafa got himself together and took out Monfils is such splendid fashion. According to the rankings, if Rafa managed to go one round better than Andy Murray he would once again be ranked number 2. That’s exactly what happened. Murray was booted out of the tournament earlier that day by Marin Cillic of Croatia. BIG HUGE UPSET. Not only had Cillic never beaten Murray in the four previous times they played but Murray was the pick of a lot of tennis insiders to win the tournament. But now, he leaves New York with no trophy and no number 2 ranking. He just wasn’t ready ya’ll. Deal with it.

Moms and Meltdowns

I could see it coming when I saw the women’s draw. I could really see it coming when Venus Williams debuted the massive strap job on her knee. What I couldn’t predict is the strange ass score: 0-6, 6-0, 4-6.  2 practice sessions and 1 competitive set and Jada’s mom, Kim Clijsters is in the Quarterfinals. I’m not mad nor am I bitter. The sheer joy on Kim’s face was just wonderful to see. Wow, a woman who took 2 years off to live a normal life decides to make a comeback and makes it to the quarterfinals of the U.S Open is something to celebrate. All hype aside, I really appreciate Kim’s love of the game. She deserves all the kudos being given to her.

With Venus out of the main singles draw, Serena Williams is the only top 5 seed standing. Serena got into the quarterfinals by destroying Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0. Serena is marching along all business and big serve. It’s very likely that she will meet her sister’s conquerer in the semifinals. The rest of the match ups are rather unclear. There are upsets galore on the women’s side, but conventional wisdom says that the U.S Open is still Serena’s to lose.

My main Mallorcan Rafa Nadal had a tougher time than he probably expected against his Davis Cup team mate, Nico Almagro. His was broken during his very first service game and the set continued with each player breaking the other. Almagro’s huge one handed backhand and aggressive game had Rafa scrambling, but you never got the feeling that he believed he could beat Rafa, and he didn’t. The most dramatic moments of the match were when Rafa and Nico both called for medical timeouts. The pictures of the both laid out on the court was disheartening to see because it reflects an even bigger problem in tennis. I’ve written about this before. The season is too long and too many tournaments are played on hard courts. During the Open, I don’t think I’ve seen so many players with leg and knee wraps. Not to mention shoulder and stomach tape. Nadal, after having to sit out for 2 months because of tendinitis is now suffering from an abdominal strain. Not to be outdone, his 4th round opponent Gael Monfils is sporting taped knees.

Hmmmm…

See what I mean? Gilles Simon had to retire because of injury and Vera Zvonereva…*sigh*

Let’s just go ahead and talk about the match, okay? Vera Zvonereva and Flavia Panetta’s match was the most dramatic so far of the championships. Vera started out on fire and won the first set 6-3. The second set started out pretty much the same as the first until Vera was serving for the match. Flavia started to have belief and Vera started to fall apart. It’s been a while since Vera has disintegrated on court, but boy did she return to her old ways in style. Racket cracking, hysterical crying and tape ripping became part of the show and by the end of the match, Flavia raised her hands in triumph and Vera departed the stadium in tears not having won a single game in the last set. It was fascinating and yet tragic to watch. As happy as I am for Flavia I can’t help but feel for Vera. That’s the kind of match that can haunt your dreams and affect your play forever. Just ask Gabriela Sabatini.

Such is life. Such is tennis.

number one and done

As Day 5 of the Open closed, the upsets seemed to get bigger and bigger. First, Melanie Oudin and her magic shoes took out Maria Sharapova. John Isner then beat number 5 seed Andy Roddick. After that Petra Kvitova defeated the number 1 women’s player.

First, Ms. Oudin vs. Ms. Sharapova or the lightwight vs. the glamazon. If one went by history only, all bets would have been on Sharapova. She’s a former champion, she’s mentally tough, she’s got the big forehand, the serve…okay, maybe not the serve. Since her shoulder surgery last year, Sharapova has changed her serve motion in order to relieve the strain on it. Unfortunately, she hasn’t adapted well and her service games are plauged with double faults. Sharapova is a player whose game revolves around the serve. If it isn’t effective, the rest of her play tends to suffer. During the match with Oudin, Sharapova served a staggering 21 double faults. Oudin had her own serving woes and the match became more of test to see who could hold serve consistently. It was definitely an error filled affair of the running wounded.  Oudin was sporting a heavily bandaged thigh and Sharapova calling the trainer to get some relief for a sore shoulder. Regardless, Oudin played gutsy and fearless tennis. Her march through the Championships is one of the best stories so far. Go USA!

In the battle of to big serving Americans, the biggest managed to pull out a tough 5 set victory. John Isner is 6’6, all arms and legs and rocket serves. Not known to be the fittest player on the tour, Isner shocked everyone-including Andy Roddick by hanging tough and fighting through that last set tie-breaker. It’s often been speculated that Roddick is still haunted by his Wimbledon loss. That could very well be the case as to why he’s lost so many close contests afterwards, but give credit to Isner for showing no fear and sticking to his guns. Go USA..again!

And the third upset of the night..Well, what more needs to be said? The top ranked woman, playing craptacular tennis finally gets bounced consequently ending her misery and ours. Apparently, she was pissed because her match was moved from Ashe Stadium to Louis Armstrong so that the fans could see James Blake stumble out of the Championships. That sucks, the USTA sucks, that much is known. Champions however, roll with the punches and do what they have to do. Being pissed is no excuse for losing, especially when you had 3 match points. Shit is tough: The USTA screws up your court assignment, everyone is on your back about losing a major, your knee hurts, your retired brother gets more respect than you do…cry me a river, heifer and play better.

Moving right along…

Federer dismissed Hewitt in 4. Even with some really scratchy play, he was never really in an danger of losing. Hewitt showed moments of his old brilliance but time and the evolution of the game proved to be too much to overcome. Novak Djokovic put out Jesse Witten’s flame but not without a few racket tosses and chest bumps. Witten was up to the challenge and Novak seemed very tentative. Of the big big 4, he might be the most vulnerable right now. That could change with the next match, but right now I don’t see that his heart is really into trying to this tournament. Verdasco vs. Hass, or as I called it, “the hottie match” was a 5 set exercise in torture, but Verdasco moves on. Sam Querry, the men’s U.S Open series winner falls to the Swede who shall not be named…no bonus for him.

Two ladies who haven’t gotten a great deal of attention but who have been playing well are Caroline Wozniacki and Sveltana Kuznetsova. They are quietly making their way through the draw in dominating fashion. But in week two, either one or both could be make some real noise. Since the number 1 is gone, that entire section has been busted wide open.

So that’s it. Next up is Rafa, Ree, and Vee. Vee’s match with Kim Clijsters could be really interesting.