US Open Wrap-Up

This is a bit belated, but now that the U.S. Open is over, we can look back on things with some more perspective. Obviously, the tournament was an unqualified success for Rafael Nadal, who completed his career grand slam, won his third consecutive major tournament, and put himself in the conversation among the greatest players of all time. Really, a stunning fortnight for him - and while he may not have had to face his toughest opponents on the way, but neither did Federer when he won his French Open. You can't blame Nadal for not being able to beat Federer this year - he beat everyone who he was supposed to, and that's all he needed to do.

Novak Djokovic had an amazing week as well, after nearly buckling in the first round to compatriot Viktor Troicki, he was fading in the heat and looked down for the count. But the sun started setting, he got a second wind, and rode it all the way through to the final. He thoroughly outplayed Federer in the semifinal match, but he still just barely won it. It's the best he's played since he lost to Nadal during the clay-court season in 2009, in the greatest three-set match ever played. But even with the aid of the weather, it wasn't enough to challenge Nadal in the final. But then again, we can only ask so much of one player.

Which may be part of the explanation for Federer's fall in the semis. Even though he almost won the match, he was the second-best player for the whole encounter. He was hitting way too many errors and not serving well enough to have expected any other result. But really, how could anyone have expected him to make another U.S. Open final? I guess we might have, since that's one record he didn't own - Lendl still (and probably always will) have the record for consecutive U.S. Open finals. Federer was probably spoiled by having relatively easy competition straight through to his semifinal - his only potentially tricky opponent, Soderling, he was able to take on in absolutely ideal conditions. That's not to say that he didn't play brilliantly in that match, but he may have gotten to Djokovic and started thinking about the final before he had dispatched the Serb. And though I wouldn't have expected it, the Djoker rose to the occasion and played spoiler. Still, a fine summer for Federer, despite not making the final here.

Everybody else, on the other hand, has some work to do in the last part of the season to make up for their disappointing Summers' ends. Well, Youzhny probably can take a break - and maybe Wawrinka, who played amazing tennis but wore himself out. But Andy Murray was passive and petulant in his loss to the other Swiss player, and he's gone another year without his maiden grand slam title. His game is brilliant, his talent is unquestionable - but his tactics are sometimes less than ideal, and his attitude is often the thing that brings him down.

Andy Roddick's showing was even worse - I'm honestly getting tired of hearing him say that his plan, going into the match, was to let his opponent miss. "There's no way he can keep this up," is his mantra after so many grand slam losses. I'm thinking back to Kohlschreiber at the Australian Open, Gasquet at Wimbledon, Lu at Wimbledon this year, or the other time that Tipsarevic beat Roddick, also at Wimbledon. But it's terrible to come out after the match and say that he successfully executed his strategy in that match, because if that's his strategy, then any player can play an hour and a half of brilliant tennis and beat him. Sometimes, he needs to be able to win matches, not just allow other players to lose them. Tipsarevic himself said as much, talking about how nobody fears Roddick from the baseline anymore. Andy's out of the top ten once again, though he's still in the top eight in the year-to-date race, so he has a chance of making the year-end championships in London, with a couple good showings at the last two Masters events. But he needs to tweak his gameplan for the big matches, or else he's going to keep getting blown off the court.

Fortunately for Andy, the other Americans did well enough at the tournament to draw attention away from his poor performance on court and worse, his fairly childish reaction to a line judge. Of course, she was stupid too, (we should all be able to tell our right from our left) but her foot fault call was correct. Anyway, Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey both had good runs - one young player and one vet, and another pair had promising showings despite trouble with an injury or an unlucky draw. I'm looking at you, Isner and Blake. Despite not having any Americans in the top ten, we still have players who can win tournaments and be in the conversation - and we'll have one back in the top ten soon enough. There were a handful of performances from really young players that were just amazing - teen Ryan Harrison played great tennis, but choked on the verge of a famous victory. And the 17-year old Jack Sock may have lost in the first round of the main draw, but he won the junior title to become the first U.S. Champ in the boys' event since Andy Roddick. This is not all bad news.

There's still a lot to play for this year - two more Masters events and a handful of 250s and 500s. The Asian swing and the European indoor swing, two oft-overlooked but still great parts of the season. In the coming years, watch for the Asian swing to become more important, not less. I'd keep an eye on the young Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, this year - he played great at the U.S. Open, upsetting Marin Cilic, and he should be back in the top hundred by the time this year is over.

US Open - Super Saturday

In just the three matches we had today, the full gamut of tennis competitiveness was on display. We had one match which was a complete fiasco, in which one of the players didn't even show up mentally and was never even on the same court as the eventual winner. We had one match where it was a tightly-contested affair, with both players achieving a good level of tennis, but one was simply the better player today, and despite some moments of brief tension, the outcome was never really in doubt. And we had one match that was utterly topsy-turvy, but when it all came together near the end, both players reached an astonishing level of play, and it wasn't clear until the last point was played just who was going to come away with the victory. It was without question a classic match, one of the best of this year's Open, if not the entire year.

Of course, the first refers to the women's final, where Vera Zvonareva managed to be as much of a headcase as she'd been in the past. Credit to her for getting this far, but she really couldn't hold herself together in the pressure of the final, unfortunately. Kim Clijsters played good tennis, with a 17-15 winner to unforced error ratio, but her opponent was at a mere 6-24. It's a shame for Vera, who played unbelievably well to get her, to stumble at this stage once again. There must be something wrong with the Russian tennis development system to produce players with so much skill who have so many problems in situations like these. Dinara Safina, anyone?

The second was the contest between Mikhail Youzhny and Rafael Nadal. The Russian didn't play bad tennis by any means. He played a strong match, considering how much he had to play recently, compared to how fresh Nadal must have been. But Youzhny just didn't have the game to handle Nadal today. He managed one short-lived, last-minute surge of great play to break Nadal in the third set, but was quickly broken back and lost the match. No shame in that, he was just beaten by the better player - short of breaking Rafa's knee with his racket, I don't know what Youzhny could have done out there today.

The third match was a great one. I don't think it was a match for the ages - any match where one of the players loses sets 6-1 and 6-2 could have been a lot closer and more even throughout, but the fifth set was one of the best moments of the Open this year. Federer made a big push at just the moment that you thought he would, having essentially given away the fourth set - while Novak was serving to stay in the match. He got up 15-40, giving himself a pair of match points. Despite having some rough patches of play, it looked like Federer was going to close it out and face Nadal in the final. Everything was going according to the script.

But apparently, Djokovic hadn't read it. Down two match points, he blasted three straight winners - and not just winners, but stone-cold winners, blasted at ridiculous velocity passed a stunned Federer. To make those shots under any circumstances would have been impressive, but to make them down match point in the semifinal of a grand slam against Roger Federer - that's just sick. And Djokovic was apparently so pumped up by it that he was able to break Federer in the next game and serve out the match. Really stunning display by Novak, who hasn't had a performance even close to this one since winning the Aussie Open back in 2008.

That said, I would be shocked if Djokovic can beat Nadal in tomorrow's final. After the monumental effort he had to put forth in the semis, he still gets to play the world's top player with essentially no rest. Nadal still hasn't lost a set and has had a pretty clear path to the final. He'll be fresh and eager to put his stamp on history, and a physically and mentally exhausted Djokovic is exactly who he'll hope to see on the other side of the net. Nadal won't go on walkabout for a set or two at a time the way Federer did. He won't spray his forehand all over the place deep in the fifth set - or any set, for that matter.

It would be one of the greatest performances in tennis history if Djokovic could come back from this and beat Federer tomorrow. I don't see it happening.

US Open Day 12

The women's semifinals took place today, and they were pretty surprising. Three of the four players were shaky and off their game today - and the one who wasn't was Vera Zvonareva. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki played her first shaky match of the tournament, and the Russian was there to capitalize. Credit to Vera, who played a very strong, solid match from a player who hasn't been known for her consistency in the past, but Wozniacki was strangely not present today. For somebody who has played so solid from day one against some very tough opponents in an array of conditions, I'm not sure what it was that got to her today. But Zvonareva has emerged as one of the best stories of the tournament, since she's made consecutive grand slam finals and has emerged as the Russian. No small feat for a player who was bawling on the court last year, tearing off her own leg strappings after missing six match points against Flavia Pennetta.

And she'll get Kim Clijsters in the final, but after their performances today, I'd like Zvonareva's chances against the two-time champion here. Because Kim and Venus were both shaky today - lots of double faults in key situations from both players. In the second-set tiebreak, Venus's play suddenly became riddled with unforced errors, and she basically gave the set away. Then in the third, Clijsters did the same thing while serving for the match! Very strange performance by both players, on such a big stage.

Honestly, given the way that Kim played yesterday, and the way that Vera did, I have to like the Russian's chances to win her first major tomorrow, and become the first Russian to take home a major title since Kuznetsova last year. Normally, Clijsters would be far and away the favorite, but based on their respective semifinal performances, it's hard to favor the Belgian.

As for the men's semifinals, they appear to be a bit more straightforward. Youzhny faces Nadal, and even though the Russian beat Nadal here, Rafa has since become a different player on this surface. He's managed his schedule better this year, so he comes into the US Open much fitter and on sturdier knees. Rafa is rolling, having won the last 19 matches at majors, and I don't expect this veteran Russian to be able to trouble him tomorrow.

The other semifinal is less straightforward, as Djokovic holds a 5-10 record against Roger. But he's only beaten him once at a Grand Slam, and that was at the Australian Open when Fed was suffering from mono. Djoker has played solid tennis against lower-ranked players this whole year, but he hasn't been able to step up against top players. He's only made a single final, and he won that - but it was in Dubai, where the competition wasn't quite what he can expect tomorrow.

Really, all signs point to a Rafa-Raja final, which is really what everyone (except Djokovic and Youzhny) wants, so let's go ahead with the tennis!

US Open Day 10

There isn't too much to say about today's tennis. All four quarterfinal matches were straight set victories for the favorites. There were moments of tension and some intermittently excellent tennis being played, but the only real story of the day was the wind. There were many commentators in the booth or on-court today who have been regularly attending the U.S. Open for ten, twenty, maybe even thirty years, and the consensus seemed to be that this was the windiest open in memory.

It was bizarrely blustery - I'm amazed that Soderling was able to control his toss as well as he was (and even that wasn't especially well) because Cibulkova and Monfils were absolutely baffled by the shifting, swirling winds. Cibulkova did all right once the point was started, but the Frenchman didn't even know how to hit the ball anymore, it seemed. It's a shame that the conditions are so rough, because it really makes for odd tennis. Not necessarily bad tennis, but strange tennis.

I'm really hoping that tomorrow, we'll have some better weather, because there are a pair of potentially excellent matches. Mikhail Youzhny takes on Stan Wawrinka - it's a match between two comparably talented, fairly accomplished players, even though they've both been top twenty stalwarts with only brief visits to the rarefied air of the top ten. This is a big chance for both guys to a grand slam semifinal - I have to think that Wawrinka is going to be more tired at this point, and his injury may be nagging him. But he's also played better up to this point, so who knows? They both have great one-handed backhands - a fairly rare occurrence to see a pair of one-handers facing off this late in a tourney. This one is a tough one to call.

As much as I'd like to say that both matches are close ones, I'm afraid that the second men's quarter is potentially a bit more one-sided. Despite the fact that Nadal and Verdasco played one of the greatest hard-court matches ever at the Australian Open semifinals in 2009, it's hard for me to believe that Verdasco can equal the effort he put forth that day. He has to be drained after his match with Ferrer, and Nadal has just been playing brutal tennis so far this tournament. Not only has he not dropped a set (neither has Federer) but he hasn't even dropped serve. It would take a monumental effort from Verdasco - I'm not saying he isn't capable of it, but it's just not especially likely at this point.

What is likely, honestly, is a Federer-Nadal final. And really, that's not such a bad thing.

US Open Day 9

Well, that was definitely one of the most exciting days of the open yet, and there are good odds that will be the peak of tournament, in terms of excitement. Out of six matches, three were absolute nail-biting thrillers - Wawrinka over Querrey in five, Verdasco over Ferrer in five, and Clijsters over Stosur in three.

Sam Querrey and Stan Wawrinka was the only match played entirely during the day, dealing with the worst of the wind. But both Sam and Stan were playing some of their best and gutsiest tennis. Sam was clearly the crowd's and the announcer's sentimental favorite, even if it seemed like Wawrinka's experience might see him through the match. And it did turn out that way, more or less - the key moments of the match came while Sam was serving to stay in the third and fifth sets, and Wawrinka turned up his aggression for one last push, and managed to break Sam both times. Querrey just wasn't as good at managing his energy and playing his best on the biggest points - the American had 15 break points to Wawrinka's 8, but Sam was only able to convert 3, while Stan managed to break Querrey's serve that essential fourth time. Chalk this one up to experience - Sam needs to be able to play those points better, because I think that over the course of the day, Querrey was actually the better player. But Wawrinka knew when and how to attack, and even though he was slightly hobbled and running on empty, he came up with a famous victory today. Here's hoping that Querrey will be inspired by this tight, tough loss, and not discouraged about how close he came.

The other men's match was even more brutal and exciting - as Fernando Verdasco came back from two sets to love down against countryman David Ferrer and won in a fifth set tiebreak, in a match that lasted four hours and 38 minutes. That's devastating for Ferrer, who was also up a break in the fifth set and a minibreak in the tiebreak. Verdasco closed the match with an unbelievable, looping forehand winner up the line off a very strong Ferrer volley at net. A really tough match from both guys, but Verdasco showed why his ranking is so high.

The Clijsters-Stosur match was also a tensely fought affair - but I didn't get to see much of it, I'll admit. I'm looking forward to the Clijsters-Venus semifinal though, I can promise you that.

The other matches on the men's side were less thrilling, as Youzhny closed out Robredo in four and Nadal (predictably) ousted Lopez in straight sets. Now Nadal and Verdasco will play a rematch of their epic semifinal in the Australian Open in 2009, one of the best matches of the year. And Wawrinka gets Youzhny - but the Russian is so much more well-rested physically and mentally, I'll be amazed if Wawrinka can pull another rabbit out of his hat.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, the quarterfinals are underway on the men's side. Novak Djokovic gets Gael Monfils (I may have been confused last night and thought Monfils was going to play Robredo, despite being in the other half of the draw) and the pair have played some thrilling matches. A tough five-setter five years ago, here at the U.S. Open, and the final of the Paris indoor Masters last year. But Novak has won all four - and while Monfils has looked strong this week, he hasn't even played anybody who was seeded, yet. I have to think that the Djoker gets another win and gets back to the semis.

On the other hand, the Federer-Soderling match is a really appetizing contest. Fed had trounced Soderling repeatedly, and thoroughly, up until this year's French Open, where Soderling broke a number of the Swiss's streaks in one blow, including 12 matches straight against the top Swedish player. Now Federer gets a chance for revenge - last year, they played here in Flushing and Federer won, but it was tight towards the end. If Soderling can start off that way, he'll be in with chance. Federer has looked so sharp thus far, and Soderling actually dropped a set against Albert Montanes, which you just can't do if you want to be in the proper form. Fed is still the huge favorite, but it will be interesting. The most interesting Federer match to this point, by far.

On the women's side, I'm afraid to say that the quarterfinal matches are pretty dull. Wozniacki and Zvonareva should both cruise against their unheralded opponents, unless they suffer some injury or complete mental meltdown. Not much more to say about that.

US Open Day 8

Labor Day is one of the biggest days of the U.S. Open, both in terms of attendance and television viewership. There were some blockbuster matches lined up for today, but now that they've been played, did they live up to their billing?

In short, it's probably the case that the matches weren't quite what one might have hoped for, in terms of the excitement provided. There were some tight matches, but the losing player only won two sets in eight matches. One of which was a bagel - I'm amazed that Yanina Wickmayer could win the first set 6-0, lose the second set in a tiebreak, then lose the third set 6-1. That's almost like the match that Vera Zvonareva lost last year, although this year the Russian's venture onto center court was much more successful. She blasted Petkovic off the court. Her compatriot and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was not quite so lucky, as she fell to Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. The young Slovakian player didn't have to do much but keep the ball in court, as Kuznetsova committed 42 unforced errors and 10 double faults.

The two headlining matches in the day session didn't quite provide as much drama as one might have hoped, either. It seems like all the tennis that Mardy Fish has been playing recently finally caught up to him, as he looked a bit flat against Novak Djokovic, who on the other hand was quite sharp. What could have been (and what the tournament organizers and promoters were certainly hoping would be) a stunning upset turned out to be a by-the-books beatdown by a higher-ranked player. And on the subject of those sorts of matches, Jurgen Melzer put up a great fight against Roger Federer, but it simply wasn't enough. As if talent and experience weren't enough, Federer benefited from two net cord winners during the second set tiebreak. That was plenty to stop Melzer's pushback.

The real headliner match was between Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova. It was a pretty good match, no question, but once again - the organizers were disappointed in the result. Wozniacki is a talented young player, but the fact is she's not as much of a draw as a player like Sharapova, yet. She probably never will be. Her game is less exciting to watch, but that doesn't mean it's less effective. Today, the returning power of Caroline Wozniacki was better than Sharapova's attacking game. And her course through the rest of the draw is almost comically clear. It will be a shock at this point if we don't have a rematch of last year's final, or at least half of one.

Kim Clijsters still has Venus Williams to contend with in the bottom half of the draw. They're each one win away from facing each other in the semifinals, but those wins are by no means guaranteed. Tomorrow, Venus has to face French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, while Clijsters has to play Sam Stosur, who just beat Elena Dementieva last night - well, technically, earlier this morning. Neither of those matches are guaranteed wins for Clijsters and Venus. This half of the draw has the stronger remaining field, no question. The only interesting question remaining in the tournament on the women's side might just be if these four players beat up on each other so much that whoever faces off against Wozniacki in the final will be too tired to put up enough of a fight.

Meanwhile, we have to determine the second half of the men's quarterfinals. There are five Spaniards playing in four matches, so we'll have at least two in the quarters. Nadal takes on Feliciano Lopez in one of the all-Spanish match-ups. F-Lo beat Nadal on grass at Queens this year, but this is a different situation. Nadal can pass like nobody else, with his high-topspin forehands, and Lopez will make a great target up at net. The much more interesting match is between Verdasco and Ferrer. The pair has played ten times, but only once on hard courts. They're 6-4 overall, which Verdasco leading, and 1-1 on the year. But Ferrer has their only victory on hard courts - albeit that was six years ago. This one is pretty much a pick-em.

The other two matches are also interesting, since with Murray out of that quarter, the semifinal spot is pretty much wide open. Querrey gets Stan Wawrinka, who will be tough to beat if he plays as well as he did against Murray. Querrey is the only player left carrying the U.S. hopes for the men's side after today, but we'll see if that inspires him or if he collapses under the weight. The other side will feature Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Robredo - an interesting match, as Robredo has benefited from some soft draws and retirements to get this far. Assuming that the Russian doesn't injure himself (or hasn't already) I think he'll be able to oust Robredo, who doesn't really have the weapons to do much against someone who has as much firepower as Youzhny. Youzhny made the semifinals here in 2006, while the other three players in this section have never been that far. Querrey and Wawrinka have never even been past this round at a grand slam, while Robredo is possibly the best active player never to have made it past a GS quarterfinal (he's fighting James Blake for that honor). So here's a lot of guys who have a big chance this week.

US Open Day 7

We have completed the first week of the U.S. Open, and we have one of our first really big upsets - Stan "the Man" Wawrinka came out on fire and demolished the ball against Andy Murray, smacking his serves and blasting his forehand in addition to his backhand. It's exactly the gameplan that has troubled Andy Murray in the past, as big-hitters like Berdych, Gonzalez, and Verdasco have blown him off the court. And it paid dividends - Wawrinka staged the biggest upset of the tournament, a fine tribute to his new coach Peter Lundgren.

Sam Querrey also pulled off what is on paper a pretty good upset, as he demolished the Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in straight sets. While everyone thought that he had earned a spot against Andy Murray, Wawrinka had other thoughts. It will make for a surprising couple of matches, as all of the top four seeds in that quarter of the draw have now fallen.

Today also had a few players who had put up amazing efforts finally breaking down, as Sergiy Stakhovsky and Michael Llodra retired with injury in the middle of their matches. It's always disappointing when it happens, but it's almost inevitable at this stage of the tournament. Some players just run out of gas getting this far.

It doesn't seem like the Spaniards are in any danger of running out of gas, though, as there are six Spanish men in the last 16, 4 of whom are all in one quarter of the draw. Lopez takes on Nadal while Ferrer gets Verdasco in the Spanish quarter, which guarantees at least one Spanish man in the semifinals. Verdasco, by the way, had a big win over the hot Argentine Nalbandian today, in pretty dominant fashion. It may have been that Nalby was a victim of overhype more than anything else - this was his first Grand Slam in almost two years, and people really considered him a dark horse? Under the circumstances, I'd say he had a fine showing.

Starting tomorrow, all of the men's and women's singles matches will be taking place on either Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong courts. We're into the second week now, which means that the stakes are much higher for each and every match. It's also interesting because Tennis Channel has the night matches while CBS gets them during the day, which means you get some slightly less interesting matches schedules at night.

For example, night session ticket holders for Arthur Ashe get Zvonareva and Petkovic. Full disclosure - I was in the stadium last year when Zvonareva completely melted down against Flavia Pennetta, so maybe the Russian doesn't have the best memories of that court and that session. But hopefully she has a little bit more mental fortitude in reserve this year - or perhaps she won't need it, as her unseeded German opponent may not be quite as much of a challenge.

And after that, the Tennis channel subscribers get to watch Roger Federer demolish poor Jurgen Melzer, who despite having the best year of his career at 29 has none of the weapons that one would need to get a win over Roger. It will be a beatdown, I have every confidence in the world.

The day matches are much more exciting (which is why you'll be seeing them on CBS). It starts with Svetlana Kuznetsova against Cibulkova, one of the few unseeded players left in the draw. But after that, Mardy Fish gets Novak Djokovic. I can assure you that Mardy and his camp are hoping for a surprising heat wave to come along, because those are the conditions that Novak finds toughest. Fish has yet to win against Djoker in four tries, but he's had a couple of really tight matches. It would still be a huge upset for Mardy to pull this off, but it's not outside the realm of the possible.

And then, the best match of the tournament thus far - the one that everyone was looking forward to as soon as the draw came out. Maria Sharapova gets top seed Caroline Wozniacki, in a match that will likely determine the finalist from this side of the draw. Wozniacki has looked absolutely brilliant through her first three matches, dropping just three games. But she hasn't really been facing opponents of the same caliber as Sharapova. This will be the real test about whether she's a real contender for this title. And Sharapova wants to remind everyone that she's one of the few former champions in this field. This will be a cracker of a match.

The matches on Armstrong are also good, though they probably don't have quite the same star power - it starts with Monfils against Gasquet in an all-French meeting, which will feature a lot of shot-making. They're 2-2 against each other up to this point. Then Wickmayer gets Kanepi go at it (tough to say that there's going to be a lot of interest in that one, honestly) and then Robin Soderling gets Albert Montanes. It's probably the biggest mis-match tomorrow. I don't give Montanes much of a chance.

US Open Day 6

At the start of the middle weekend, there were not a lot of upsets today. There were a few close matches, but only one that was really tight on each side of the draw. Mardy Fish beat French veteran Arnaud Clement in the fifth set, and Yanina Wickmayer beat Patty Schnyder in a third-set tiebreak. Beyond that, it was a good day, but perhaps not too stunning. It was extremely windy throughout the day, preventing a lot of players from putting their best tennis on display.

It's always interesting - as a grand slam progresses, less and less action is actually taking place in each round. On the other hand, each meeting has more and more importance for the competitors, and because of the seedings, you expect to get bigger clashes at these middle to later stages. So there is more potential for excitement, but if a match turns out to be a bit of a dud, there are fewer places to look for that excitement. Today, Arthur Ashe was stuffed full of straight-set victories. As I mentioned above, Mardy Fish and Yanina Wickmayer provided some excellent, well-fought, tight matches, but for the most part, things went mostly as expected. Jelena Jankovic was upset, but with how she had played in the first two rounds, that couldn't have come as much of a shock.

So let's go ahead and look to tomorrow's action, and see how things are shaping up. At least on paper, tomorrow looks to be a pretty spectacular middle Sunday.

The day starts off with Ana Ivanovic, former world number one and French Open champion, taking on defending champion Kim Clijsters. That's a pretty enticing first round match - it would be Ivanovic's biggest win in a long, long time, if she can pull off the upset. I'll admit that I'm not expecting it, but it could happen, if she could capture some of her old magic. After that, Venus Williams gets her first test, against Israeli Shahar Peer. Venus has looked great through three rounds thus far, but she hasn't really played anyone of consequence. This could be interesting.

After that, Nadal gets his first day match, and he gets the Frenchman Gilles Simon, who has a win over Nadal on hardcourts a couple years ago. He hasn't been at that level for a while, but he has been playing well this week. I'd like to see him back in the area of being seeded at these sorts of events, but I don't expect him to be able to handle Nadal's ball tomorrow.

In the night session, Youzhny gets Isner, an interesting match. Youzhny once made the semis here at the US Open, but it's Isner's home turf, and he is anxious to show everyone what he's made of. He needs to follow up last year's win over Roddick with another big win, and an upset over the Russian in an Arthur Ashe night match. Considering how much press he got at Wimbledon, he's going to have a lot of people rooting for him. And assuming his serve and ankle hold up, he could pull this one out.

And after that, we get Elena Dementieva against Sam Stosur, which really feels more like a semifinal than a fourth round. I don't know who's going to come out on top in that one, but it's almost certainly the most exciting women's matches I've seen on the schedule so far.

On the other courts, things are maybe not quite as rarefied, but still plenty exciting. Schiavone will try to maintain her stupendous form against Pavlyuchenkova. It will be interesting to see how far Schiavone can make it - she seems to be finally over her French Open hangover. And then Sam Querrey plays Nicolas Almagro, a match that will feature a ton of big-hitting and big serves - the winner will be determined by who can pull off their shots more frequently. And then Andy Murray gets Stan Wawrinka... I can hardly believe that's on Louis Armstrong. They played an amazing match at Wimbledon last year, and it may be Murray's first real test. Stan Wawrinka is a former top ten player, and certainly a step up from the level of play offered by Dustin Brown, no offense intended to the top Jamaican player of course.

And on the grandstand - the grandstand! - David Nalbandian takes on Fernando Verdasco, a match which I think could be an absolutely amazing match, even if it doesn't feature any really big-name players, from the perspective of your average US Open attendee. And the Stakhovsky takes on Feliciano Lopez and Robredo takes on Llodra. Those are not going to be star-studded matches, but they should be a lot of fun. Three of those four players are capable of frequently serving and volleying, with only Robredo usually staying on the baseline. This would be an excellent day to plant yourself courtside on the grandstand.

Ferrer also takes on Daniel Gimeno-Traver, but they put that on court 11 for a reason - Ferrer will dismantle his countryman, I assure you of that. That's the match I see tomorrow which has the lowest chance of being an exciting contest. The rest all have the potential to be classics.

US Open Day 5

It's a shame about Denis Istomin. The guy is playing the biggest match of his life - against the number one player in the world, Rafael Nadal, on one of the biggest stages in the tennis world - night match at Arthur Ashe stadium - and he plays the best point of the tournament, possibly the best point of his whole life, to go up 5-1 in the second set tiebreak, after getting thoroughly outplayed in the point. He switches sides pumped up and thrilled. And then he doesn't win another point in the breaker, dropping the set 7-5. That's got to hurt. All in all, it was a very strong performance from the top Uzbek player (he's actually 390 places higher than the next best player from his country) and I hope he'll be encouraged by how close he got, rather than disappointed by the fact that he just fell short. He's been making steady progress since he got a wildcard into the Australian Open in 2006 and got blitzed by Roger Federer in the first round. There's no reason he shouldn't find himself seeded for these sorts of tournaments in the not-too-distant future.

Speaking of players who should be encouraged by near misses, American teen Ryan Harrison missed out on three match points against Sergiy Stakhovsky in the fifth set tiebreak. The first two were on the Ukrainian players serve, but then the American had one point on his serve and - disappointingly - he double-faulted. Really, it shouldn't be a shock. He's just eighteen, he had never played a five set match before, and he surely had never had a crowd rooting for him like this one was. The nerves just got to him. It's totally understandable - all it says is that he's not ready to compete at these stages, for these sorts of stakes, yet. It's too much, too fast, and that's fine. He'll be back - I expect by this time next year, he'll be in the top hundred (or so) and won't have to fuss about not getting a wildcard and needing to qualify. But he has the potential to be the next big thing for U.S. men's tennis - he has the game for it, and it's an excitingly different style of tennis when compared to the other young Americans, big and tall guys bombing serves like Isner and Querrey. Harrison plays fast, smart, and powerful tennis, and I think he's got a ton of upside potential for the future.

That was really the dominant storyline from today's tennis by a pretty wide margin. The only other particularly noteworthy result I can find is Gilles Simon upsetting 29th seed Phillip Kohlschreiber, but Simon is a former top-ten player who loves this surface and is just getting his act together (and apparently, he just became a father!). It was always going to be a pick-em. This was a day when the favorites reigned supreme - on Arthur Ashe stadium, the losing player didn't even win one set in five matches. On Louis Armstrong, Chiudinelli won one set against Isner, but otherwise it was also a sweep.

The only other result of note is that Julien Benneteau hurt his left wrist so badly while trying to hit a double-handed backhand that he couldn't even toss the ball up to serve, and was forced to retire from his match, in the middle of a tiebreak. I've never seen that happen before, and it appears to be rare enough that the US Open website isn't prepared for that eventuality either, and can't figure out how to show the tiebreak score properly.

There weren't even any three-set matches on the women's side, today. That was quite a change from the way the week had been going up to this point.

But that should change in the next days. The real contenders are starting to run into each other as we reach the third round in the men's draw, and get ready for the fourth round on the women's side. Without further ado, let's start looking ahead to Saturday...

The Arthur Ashe schedule is particularly mouth-watering, I have to say. Jelena Jankovic, a former finalist here, was severely troubled by her first two opponents, and things presumably won't be getting any easier against Estonian 31st-seed Kaia Kanepi. Upset watch is on high alert for this match. After that, Maria Sharapova gets an American teen, the Melanie Oudin of this year - Beatrice "Tracy" Capra. Oudin actaully ousted Sharapova in last year's US Open, but that wasn't the same Maria. I don't expect her to go out in the same set of circumstances this year, but it will be fun to see what the American can do.

Federer gets Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, and the Fed is 4-0 against the Frenchman, but this is actually the toughest opposition that Fed has faced up to this point. Even though Mathieu is currently ranked outside the top hundred, he is the former world number 12 and a one-time top prospect for French tennis. But in four meetings, the Frenchman has only been able to win one set. I don't know how much Mathieu can muster for this one.

The night match, on the other hand, that's quite a different story. James Blake and Novak Djokovic are facing off, and the two have both played some of their best tennis at night matches in Arthur Ashe. This one could be a thriller. The best match of James's life is arguably the night match he ended up losing to Andre Agassi in 2005. He is eager to show that he's back, and that people who were sending him off into the sunset were doing so prematurely. But Djokovic, after escaping the first round in Houdini-like fashion and seeing the other top seeds in his section topple like dominoes, surely wants to remind everyone that he's still here, as well. This could be a statement match from either player. And I remember the night match Blake played against Del Potro earlier this year at the Aussie Open, and that was an absolutely brutal five-set thriller. There's no guarantee that's what we'll get tomorrow, but it's a possibility.

Speaking of forgotten contenders, after that we get former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova against Kirilenko, and that's another tough one. Could be some fireworks there, as well.

On the other courts, I'm excited about Soderling against Thiemo De Bakker - the young Dutch player is going to start making noise at some point in the future. Maybe not tomorrow, though. Mardy Fish takes on the French vet Arnaud Clement, who is still tough as nails despite being 32. Fish has been playing great, but that's a tricky opponent.

On grandstand, Monfils and Tipsarevic face off in the morning - expect some shotmaking in that match. Those guys are both really fun, exciting players to watch. I lean towards Monfils, but Tipsy played amazing ball against Roddick, and Monfils may give him just as many spinny, high-bouncing balls to take big cuts at. Melzer-Ferrero is another interesting match, as those guys are both vets, and they're playing for the dubious honor of getting Roger Federer in the next round. Who wants to lose on center court, gentlemen?

Gasquet and Nishikori are both in action as well, and while they both had stunning upsets in the last round, I wonder if they'll be able to follow it up with another win. Ryan Harrison couldn't quite pull it off, but maybe one or both of them can. I also like that Melanie Oudin and Ryan Harrison are playing mixed doubles together. Just try not to root for them, I dare you.

We're getting into the middle weekend now - Labor Day weekend, of course. A big time for the Open. Tons of fans on the grounds, juniors are getting underway, and the big-name clashes are starting to come in droves. For an Open that's already been pretty chock-full of action and surprises, it may only get more exciting from here. Or it could end up being like Wimbledon this year, which had an amazing first week but became fairly predictable in the second. Here's hoping otherwise.

US Open Day 4

As the second round of the tournament continued, the rash of upsets kept on going as well. That seems to have been the theme of this tournament, so far - at least, the story of the upsets runs parallel to the story of the incredible heat. I'm willing to bet that those two facts are related.

For example, the heat was for sure a factor in the match between Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori. It's a great match for Nishikori, who followed up his win two years ago over David Ferrer by ousting another seeded player. I don't know how well the Japanese 20-year old is going to be able to bounce back for his next match, because he must have been whipped. The match with Cilic lasted for just a shade under five hours, and in 95 degree heat, that is absolutely brutal. A tough loss for Cilic, who had a good run here last year, but has not been on his best form recently.

Another upset featured Richard Gasquet dominated Nikolay Davydenko. The Russian had looked great in his first round match, but Gasquet was playing the best tennis I've seen him play for a couple years. He was striking the ball beautifully, moving like Federer, and serving bombs. Davydenko just wasn't up for the challenge, amazingly. It'll be interesting to see if Gasquet can keep it up.

Tomaz Bellucci also lost, but he was facing big-serving South African Kevin Anderson, and that's a match that could have gone either way. Belluci lost it in a fifth-set tiebreaker, which is a situation that favors the six-foot-eight-inch player for sure. Bellucci is still maturing as a player, but he'll make a run here at some point in the future.

Ricardas Berankis, a twenty-year old from Lithuania, very nearly upset Jurgen Melzer - the former US Open junior champ was up a break in the fifth set, but he couldn't close it out, and lost it 7-5. Still, a very encouraging performance, and we haven't heard the last of him, either.

Speaking of close calls, Bethanie Mattek-Sands served for the match against Andrea Petkovic and had multiple match points, but just when she needed it, her first serve deserted her and she couldn't close it out. It was very nearly a big win, but the Americans did have something else to be excited about. Teenager Beatrice Capra upset Arevane Rezai - even though Melanie Oudin couldn't follow up last year's performance, we may have another U.S. teen breakout story for this year. Also on the women's side, Aggie Radwanska, the ninth seed, lost today to Chinese player Shuai Peng.

The other top players pretty much cruised. Wozniacki didn't even drop a game. Federer, Sharapova, Mardy Fish, Kuznetsova, Soderling, and Ferrero barely did. James Blake won too, as did Novak Djokovic. And they get to face each other in the next round! That could be a fun one. Jelena Jankovic also came through a tough match, just barely.

Tomorrow, we finish up the men's second round, and the women's third round starts off. That means that the seeds can start meeting, if they both made it that far. It happened a couple times.

The line-up on Ashe is pretty great - Dementieva plays Hantuchova, Clijsters plays Kvitova, and Andy Murray plays the exciting Jamaican Dustin Brown. I can't imagine Brown being able to do much against Murray, but it should be a fun match to watch, regardless. In the night session, Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal should have relatively easy going against their lower-ranked opponents. Istomin might be able to briefly challenge the world number one, but it would be a shocker if he even won a set.

There are three more Americans in action - Isner, Querrey, and Harrison, all of whom have winnable matches tomorrow. All three were strong in their first match, but they need to keep it up. Other matches to watch are are Ivanovic-Razzano, Schiavone-Bondarenko, and Peer-Pennetta on the women's side. On the men's side, check out Youzhny-Sela, Kohlschreiber-Simon, Ferrer-Becker, and Hanescu-Llodra. Benneteau-Robredo could be fun, too. This tournament is coming together nicely on the men's side, no question. I sort of hope that the rash of upsets takes a break tomorrow, because the third round matches we'll get on Sunday if things go by the seedings are going to be stellar. It would be a shame to spoil too many of them.

But no matter what, this is going to be a great weekend.

US Open Day 3

Well, up until this last match of the night, this was a pretty mild third day at the U.S. Open. Whereas yesterday, there were any number of incredibly tight matches and upsets, things had mostly been going to form, until this last match of the night session. But I'll get to that in a minute.

The day started with a very strange event, as Victoria Azarenka passed out on the grandstand court, some twenty five minutes into her match. It was assumed to be heat-related, but it turned out that she had fallen during her warm-up, and was ultimately diagnosed with a minor concussion. Here's hoping that she has a swift recovery and that it isn't anything more serious.

The other top ten seed to fall was Tomas Berdych on the men's side, who was just outplayed by Michael Llodra on the grandstand. The Wimbledon finalist - and one of the favorites to go deep into this tournament - out in the first round. The last time that happened was when Roddick lost to Gilles Muller in 2005.

Speaking of Roddick, Andy played some pretty poor tennis and showed some poor sportsmanship in his loss to Janko Tipsarevic. It was a stellar show of shot-making from Janko Tipsarevic, but Roddick did everything he could to allow the Serb to hit winner after winner, giving him medium-speed, high-spin balls that just sat up and asked to be blasted down the line. Even after he got riled up after being correctly called for a foot fault (despite being informed that it was called on the wrong foot) he still wasn't getting enough pace on his shots, and Tipsarevic took full advantage. Roddick looked listless for a big chunk of that match, and it seemed like the mono may have had something to do with it. But the American said it himself, that once he decided to show up, it didn't really matter how much he had in the tank, he was going to give it his all. It certainly wasn't enough today. At 28 years old and with the younger players in the game more and more able to handle his groundstrokes, it's really a shame to essentially lose a summer to a disease like mono. And that's assuming he can come back - Mario Ancic has pretty much been out of the game for the better part of four or five years, since he first came down with it. I hate to say it, but we may be witnessing the twilight of the American's career.

On the other side of her career trajectory, Melanie Oudin also lost today, but she maybe was just feeling the pressure of trying to repeat her magical run from last year. She was clearly feeling tight - she wasn't moving her feet, and she wasn't hitting through her shots. But when she was forgetting about the pressure, she was playing some good ball. And she's still only 18-years old, so she has plenty of time to adjust to being more than a Cinderella story.

In better news for the American fans, John Isner and Sam Querrey both won today. The bigger news for that side was that 18-year old Ryan Harrison beat 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic in his opening round match, the first time a U.S. teen beat a top-20 player since Roddick himself did it way back in 2001. But Donald Young and Jack Sock, two heralded young U.S. players, both lost pretty convincingly. All in all, a mixed bag for the U.S. side.

The other big upset of the day was Virginia Razzano beating out Marion Bartoli, but considering everything else that was going on, it's tough to pay too much heed to this loss, since Bartoli has always been and up-and-down player.

Tomorrow, we'll continue with second-round action - some appetizing match ups on offer, including Blake-Polansky, Davydenko-Gasquet, Nishikori-Cilic, and Melzer-Berankis. I wonder if things will continue to be as tense and upset-happy as they've been so far? We're only through one round on the men's side (plus two 2nd round matches) and one and a half rounds on the women's side, and we've already lost 18 of the 64 seeds. That's almost thirty percent! Pretty brutal stuff, out there.

US Open Day 2

Day 2 was completely, even weirdly packed with tight matches and upsets. We're still in the first round, here! It's expected that people should be cruising through their matches, as often as not. Well, that wasn't really the case today. I can go through pretty much every court and talk about at least one big upset or near miss.

On the main stage, the day session went about as long as it could have. Jelena Jankovic nearly lost to Romanian teen Simona Halep, who actually served for the match in the third set, but couldn't close it out. After that, Djokovic was down two sets to one, and a break in the fourth set, while clearly hurting from the heat. The sun started to set, the court cooled down, and Djokovic somehow managed to pull that match out in five. And then Jarmila Groth took the first set from Sharapova with some hard-hitting tennis before the former champ managed to come through. There were stretches where all of those players, who are contenders to go deep this fortnight, looked like they were down for the count.

The top seeds, who made up the night matches on Ashe, were never in quite the same dire straits. Nadal won in three sets against Teymuraz "Tsunami" Gabashvili, but the Russian held his own for about 30 games, which is no small accomplishment. But for a couple missed shots in the tiebreaks, that could have been a completely different match. Caroline Wozniacki breezed past her opponent, the current NCAA champ who has never played a pro match. Despite the fact that they're the same age, the gap in experience was vast.

Louis Armstrong had a trio of seeded players upset, shockingly. Marcos Baghdatis, who had a great summer and nearly won the U.S. Open series, fell in the fifth set to French vet Arnaud Clement. Disappointing for Marcos, who has never had a good tournament in New York. I find that odd, since the conditions aren't that much different than the Australian, where he made the final. After his loss, one of the flying Bondarenko sisters upset Na Li, the first of the top ten seeds to fall on either side. She was clearly troubled by the heat, which was the deciding factor in a lot of today's matches. Blake and Zvonareva both won, but then Nadia Petrova lost to the German Petkovic in a third-set tiebreak. Petrova's section of the draw is not especially strong, and I had her getting through to the quarters, so that was not a strong performance.

The Grandstand managed to avoid any actual upsets, but the first three matches were all damn close. Kuznetsova needed three sets to get past 39-year old Kimiko Date Krumm. After that, Mardy Fish has a bizarrely topsy-turvy match in which he needed five sets to win, but in the three sets he won, he dropped only a single game. And then Fabio Fognini nearly repeated his upset of Fernando Verdasco (the Italian won at Wimbledon in the first round) but Hot Sauce was too strong, getting past Fognini 6-3 in the fifth set. The less said about Coco Vandeweghe's subsequent one and love drubbing by Lisicki, the better.

The outside courts were maybe not quite as exciting as the main show courts, but they still had more than their fair share of shockers. Mirjana Lucic beat Alicia Molik, and while they're both veterans, Lucic has essentially been out of the top level of competition for seven years. Any win from here is an upset, but it's good to have her back. Tamira Paszek beat Lucie Safarova, and Peter Polansky beat Juan Monaco. David Nalbandian nearly went down the same way that Baghdatis did, but the Argentine managed to get past Rik De Voest in five sets. He probably could have won in four, if not for a net cord winner on set point during the tiebreak. Good for him for recovering from that setback.

On lucky court 13, two seeded players fell. Jeremy Chardy beat Ernests Gulbis, who was hating the temperature and playing in the heat of the early afternoon. If he can either find a way to beat the heat or get a favorable weather report during his two weeks here, he can do well at this tournament. As it stands, he was winless in the grand slams this year. On the plus side, there's no where to go but up. Radek Stepanek also lost on court 13, but considering his injuries of late and the quality of his first round opponent, I was not particularly surprised by this result.

Way out on court 15, Lourdes Dominguez Lino upset 30th seed Yaroslav Shvedova. I know what you're thinking - Shvedova really got a seed? Still, it's an upset. That's ten seeds out in the first round, and it's not even quite done yet! Pretty brutal, if you ask me.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, we'll conclude the first round on the men's side, and get the ball rolling on the second round. We have yet to see Andy Murray, Sam Querrey, John Isner, Almagro, or Wawrinka. They're all in action tomorrow, in addition to a trio of young Americans who each have a shot at an upset.

Jack Sock takes on Marco Chiudinelli - he's the least experienced of the three American young guns, but he also has the easiest opponent, arguably. I don't know enough about Sock's game to know if he's got a chance, which makes me think it's not terribly likely. Ryan Harrison gets Ivan Ljubicic, which is a pretty brutal first round draw, but we haven't heard much Ivan since he won the first hard-court Masters event earlier this year. It's a battle of youthful vim and vigor against age and experience. It would be a big upset for Harrison, no doubt. But he's got a shot. The most anticipated of these matches is going to be Donald Young against Gilles Simon, which is another tough one. Simon is a former top ten player who's hoping to get back to his former heights, and Young has yet to live up to his potential. This one could go either way, depending on which Simon shows up, and how Young can deal with the pressure. He's not getting any younger.

If you're looking for fun matches, check out Sela-Malisse on court 7, and definitely go to see Dustin Brown open the day on court 8. He's a ton of fun to watch, and he can play some great ball. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen that often and when it does it doesn't last for very long, but it's great to see if you can catch it. He's a tremendously fun player who I hope develops some much-needed consistency in the coming years. Also, watch for Stakhovsky-Luczak tomorrow. Stakhovsky is another player who needs to average out his performance from day to day. He won a tournament last week, but he did that the week before Wimbledon as well, and he lost in the first round there. In fact, he's only won a single Grand Slam match in his entire career.

Tomorrow's night matches are pretty exciting, as they feature Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick. Clijsters goes up against Australian teen Sally Peers, while Roddick gets the significantly more formidable challenge of facing Janko Tipsarevic, who bested him at Wimbledon in 2008 and pushed Federer to five sets at the Australian Open that year. Tipsy is a legitimate threat, particularly if Roddick is not feeling completely fresh. The conditions of a night match should suit Roddick, for this sort of a contest. It will be the first of many tests that the top American will have to pass if he hopes to make a run this year, considering how brutal he may find his section of the draw. Here's hoping it's a good one!

US Open Day 1

The first day of tennis at Flushing Meadows was a fine way to start us off - lots of exciting tennis, but not a lot of upsets to write home about. On both the men's and women's side, there were only a pair of upsets, both male vets who couldn't make it to the second round. Fernando Gonzalez had to retire against Brian Dabul, and while Lleyton Hewitt didn't actually throw in the towel, he surely faded pretty severely in the final set against Paul-Henri Mathieu. It's the first time that Hewitt's lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2003, when he fell to Ivo Karlovic as the defending champion.

Aside from that, the most notable loss of the day was last year's top seed on the women's side, Dinara Safina, who fought hard but couldn't quite hold it together against Daniela Hantuchova. Despite her disappointing performance here, I see promising signs in her game of late. She may never again ascend to the heights she was at last year at this time, but I can easily see her making it back into the top twenty, maybe ten.

Melanie Oudin really played well in her opening round, which was admittedly against a player of even less experience, but still, with all the pressure she had, I wasn't sure she could handle it. Credit to the teen. The other top players mostly cruised against undistinguished opponents, except for Robin Soderling, who was pushed hard by Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer (I know, 'who?') into a fifth set. But his experience saw him through in the end. Gael Monfils also needed a fifth set to beat American vet Robbie Kendrick. There was a questionable call in that match, but it didn't quite turn the tide in the end - the fact that Kendrick thought it went against him was what brought him down, in my opinion. The other two five setters of the day saw Jurgen Melzer get past Dmitry Tursunov (still hoping for his comeback!) and Albert Montanes over Przynsiezny, 6-0 in the fifth.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, we'll see Djokovic, Jankovic, Sharapova, Nadal and Wozniacki on Arthur Ashe. Not a bad line-up - there's an outside chance that Gabashvili could trouble Nadal, maybe a 20% chance of a close match. Djokovic-Troicki could be tight, but I don't give the junior Serb much of a chance of upsetting his countryman. Really, the matches on Armstrong and the Grandstand are much more exciting.

Baghdatis plays Clement, a French vet who has played some amazing matches of his career, but it's been a while since he's made much noise. Kateryna Bondarenko plays Na Li after that, followed by James Blake against Kristof Vliegen. Blake's going to have a ton of support, but that may not be enough for him. He seems like he's not fully recovered from his surgery, and he needs to be in top form considering his style of play. I hope he can win a couple of rounds, but it will be tough. Fish should have a better time with Jan Hajek, and Svetlana Kuznetsova should be able to handle the tricky Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm.

On the outside courts, there are some intriguing match-ups. This is Robbie Ginepri's favorite tournament, and he has a good chance against Argentine Eduardo Schwank. On court 7, watch for a potential (though unlikely) upset as Dolgopolov plays Ferrer. He's got a chance, but whether or not he wins tomorrow's match, you'll hear more from Dolgopolov in the future. Also, put an upset watch on Peter Polansky over Juan Monaco, and Julien Benneteau over Radek Stepanek.

I don't necessarily see another upset on Court 13, but the first match could be a cracker, between French Jeremy Chardy and Ernests Gulbis. I lean towards the seeded Latvian, but there could be an upset in the cards if Gulbis isn't at his best, because he can easily get frustrated and go off the boil.

There are certainly plenty of fun matches to keep an eye on tomorrow.

US Open Men's Draw Preview

Okay, and now for my look at the USO Men's draw. I'm the first to admit that I have more knowledge of tennis on the men's side, so I can look at the draw with more granular attention than I did on the women's side. Let me take a look at each eighth of the draw, to see the interesting match-ups and storylines to watch for over the next two weeks.

The top seed is Rafael Nadal, on a two-Grand Slam winning streak, and the undisputed number one in the world. However, Nadal has never made it past the semifinals here, and in all honesty, I don't think he will this time around, either. His draw is absolutely brutal. He opens against Teymuraz Gabashvili, and while that should be an easy match-up, it will all depend on how Nadal plays. If Nadal doesn't play aggressive and is satisfied with a lot of top-spin from behind the baseline, Gabashvili will eat that up. That was exactly how Roddick played him at the French Open, and the Russian demolished the high-bouncing, high-topspin groundstrokes with a vengeance. But I'll assume he gets past that match, and then potentially gets Uzbek Denis Istomin in the second round. The New Haven finalist may actually be Nadal's easiest opponent. Because after that, he could get Gilles Simon, who has beaten Rafa before. After that, he might get Feliciano Lopez or Ivan Ljubicic, both of whom have beaten him this year. He could also find himself facing Stakhovsky or Harrison, two untested but talented young players. And that's just to get to the quarterfinals! For Nadal to make smooth progress, the players who have the weapons to beat him are going to have to get beaten - if Kohlschreiber is his third round opponent, that works in the Spaniard's favor. I do think he'll make it through, but he could be tired enough by that point to fade just as the tournament enters its toughest stage. In this section, watch for Stakhovsky, who is unbelievably streaky, but has only won one match at a Grand Slam in his whole career, as well as U.S. teen Ryan Harrison, who opens against Ljubicic in one of the best 1st rounds of the tourney. Gilles Simon also gets Donald Young in the opener, and while I favor the Frenchman, the young Young could pull that off.

Pretty much no matter what, Nadal's opponent in the quarters is going to be somebody who can handle him on this surface. I see four players who have the potential to make it out of this part of the draw - the two top seeds are also Spaniards who do well on hard courts, Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer, who actually beat Nadal here three years ago. Verdasco, of course, played Nadal brutally tight at the Aussie Open in 2009. The other two seeds might even be tougher, though. The Argentine vet David Nalbandian still has the potential to play like a world-beater, and this is his first slam since his comeback. He's a former semifinalist here, and he could be the one who Nadal finds facing him in the quarters - that's bad news for Nadal, who has had trouble with Nalby in the past, despite their even head-to-head, both of Nadal's wins were scraped out by small margins, and Nalby ran away with both of his matches. The real wildcard here is the young Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who won his first tournament in the spring, had an amazing clay court run, and then was injured and essentially missed the French and Wimbledon. But he is so good that he could beat Nadal here. Other than those four guys, there aren't a lot of other guys to watch - but you may want to keep an eye on Dolgopolov and Chardy, who open against Ferrer and Gulbis. Beyond that, I like Jarkko Nieminen, but it's hard to think that his best days aren't behind him.

The next sectino of the draw belongs to Andy Murray, but it could be a tough run for him. This is his favorite tournament and the one he'd most want to win, but he'll have to get through some tough contenders to do it this year. His first couple rounds are cake - Dustin Brown is fun and flashy, but I don't see him troubling Andy. After that, though, things get tricky. His third round opponent will probably be Wawrinka, who has a new coach (Peter Lundgren) and has beaten Murray three times - and their last match at Wimbledon was a real nail-biter. After that, the Scot will probably get either Nicolas Almagro or Sam Querrey, both of whom are big-hitters who can trouble Andy if he gets too defensive. Sam even beat Murray earlier this year, and is just aching for a big win at a grand slam. I still like Murray's chances of making the quarters, but his road is going to be tough.

If Murray makes it to the quarters, though, I definitely like him finding his way through to the semis. The bottom eighth of the top half of the draw is not that strong, honestly. Two of the seeds may be hobbled by injury - Radek Stepanek just came off a long injury hiatus, and Isner rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago. Youzhny is a former semifinalist here, but since then hasn't made it past the second round, and he has a killer opening round against Kazakh Andrey Golubev. Tomas Berdych is the only real contender in this section, and he might still be hung over from his Wimbledon final loss. He's got a tough first round against Michael Llodra, too. Keep an eye on the Sela-Malisse match, as well, and see how well 17-year old Jack Sock can do against Marco Chiudinelli. I don't expect much, but if he can pull off a win, there may be more to his future than I had thought. I like Berdych getting through here, but a surprise quarterfinalist is probably just as likely.

The next section of the draw is by seeding Davydenko's, but it's really Roddick's. The Russian, despite playing brilliant tennis at the end of last year, hasn't really gotten his mojo back, and Roddick has a very strong record against him. Assuming that Roddick is really recovered from the mono he had - because if that's the case, all bets are off. Davydenko has a tough opener against American Michael Russell, and then he might get Richard Gasquet, followed by either Kevin Anderson or Thomaz Bellucci? That's just brutal. As for Roddick, I like his chances, even though his opponents could line up as a rogue's gallery of his past vanquishers - after an easy first round, he might get Tipsarevic, who beat him at Wimbledon in 2008, one of his career's lowest points (until this year...), and then Monfils, who beat him at the French Open in 2009, and then Gasquet, who beat him at Wimbledon in 2006. But honestly, none of these guys have been in top form recently. The biggest challenge for Roddick might be if he got South African Kevin Anderson in the round of 16, since he's the same type of player as John Isner, who beat him here last year. In any case, I like Roddick making the quarters, as long as he's healthy. Watch Tipsarevic's match against Olivier Rochus in the first round, as well as Anderson against Somdev Devvaramn. Both of those could be fun outside court viewing.

The next quarter of the draw is for the chance of (probably) playing Roddick in the quarterfinals, and I have to think that Roddick is thrilled to see Djokovic there. Except for an ugly match here in 2008, Roddick has pretty much dominated Djokovic in these conditions - that is, hot hardcourt quarterfinals. Of course, it's no guarantee that Djoker will get that far, because he has a tough section. After an opening match against compatriot Viktor Troicki, things get a bit easier for the Serb in the second round. But the third round might get tougher - James Blake is hoping to get back on his feet after a disappointing year, and he loves this tournament. I think Blake can get that far, but he would have to find some of the old magic to even come closer to beating Djokovic. The real danger comes from the other two seeds in the draw, a pair of great guys who are both experiencing career renaissances - Fish and Baghdatis. They started off the year playing great matches back to back in Sydney and Brisbane, and I would be shocked if they don't meet again in the third round. The other players in that little part of the draw who could make noise might be Ginepri and Clement, but I don't think so. Djokovic will get the winner of that match, and either way there could be an upset in the cards.

Moving on to Soderling's section of the draw - and it really is the Swede's section, since he doesn't have a lot of competition. Really, this is probably the weakest quarter of the draw. So Soderling could get Marin Cilic, who has been underperforming ever since making the Aussie Open semis, and Fernando Gonzalez, who is just back from an injury layoff and has only played one match since the French Open, or Albert Montanes, who has had 82% of his career match wins on clay. There are some floaters in this section, but nobody has proven themselves yet - somebody would have to go on a groundbreaking run. Taylor Dent is here, but his comeback has not quite been going to plan, and he got smoked by the Swede earlier this year at Roland Garros. Thiemo De Bakker is an interesting player to keep an eye on, but this isn't his favorite surface, yet. There are three young guns who I think have a very good chance of getting a couple wins - Carsten Ball, Milos Raonic (who play each other in the first round), and Kei Nishikori. The young Japanese player actually has a shot at upsetting Cilic, if he plays as well as he's capable. In any case, it won't matter, because Soderling's going to make the quarterfinals...

... where he's going to find Roger Federer. The final section of the draw is going to be a walk through the park for Fed, at least through to the quarters. This is despite having to potentially get through a pair of former world number ones. Fed's first two rounds are barely worth mentioning, and if he loses a set to either Dabul, Beck, or Berrer, then we'll really have to worry. After that, he could get Lleyton Hewitt, who may have beaten him recently in Halle, but that was something of a fluke - a weird letdown from the Fed, which we won't see here in the U.S. Open. And after that, he might get JC Ferrero, who (can you believe this?) is the only person in the draw who has a win against Federer at the U.S. Open. The other players who have done so are Andre Agassi, Max Mirnyi, and Juan Martin Del Potro. But Ferrero is not at his best on hardcourts anymore, and if he even makes it to Federer, he'll get smoked. Fed's through to a quarterfinal match-up with Soderling, which will at least be interesting. The other players to watch in this section are Jurgen Melzer and his first round opponent, Dmitry Tursunov, as well as Lithuanian teen and former junior champ Ricardas Berankis. But let's not kid ourselves, this section is all about Federer...

As for tomorrow's matches, it will be good to see what kind of form Federer and Roddick are in, but don't expect many upsets. Hewitt has a potentially tough match against PH Mathieu, but I still like Rusty in that one. Taylor Dent will be thrilled to be back on the grandstand, the site of one of his career's best wins last year against Ivan Navarro. Berankis plays Ryan Sweeting, and that could be an interesting match, and so could Melzer-Tursunov. Dmitry is an hilarious guy, and I hope to see him back in the tennis conversation, as he's been out for a while with injury. Look at Monfils-Kendrick, as well, and two young guns facing off on Court 13, Nishikori against Korolev.

There's lots of great tennis set to take place over the next fourteen days, and I am absolutely salivating at the prospect of it.

US Open Women's Draw Preview

The draw is out, the qualifiers have been placed, and everything is set for the tournament proper to begin. Let's take a look at how the draw shook out, shall we?

The first quarter belongs to surprising top seed Caroline Wozniacki, but it will be interesting to see how she fares under the pressure. She reached the final here last year, but hasn't it made it past a grand slam quarterfinal since then. And with Serena Williams' withdrawal, she become the top seed. And she won last week's tournament in New Haven, but had to play some tough matches to do it. Honestly, put together all of those factors with the issue of having a legitimately tough draw, and I don't know how far Sunshine is going to get this fortnight. Her first round is easy enough, against a 20-year old American wildcard, but after that, things get tougher. She could face Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round, and she'll likely get Maria Sharapova in the fourth round. Even if she gets past all that, her quarterfinal opponent is probably going to be either Na Li or Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sveta and Sharapova are the two toughest floaters in the draw, and for them to be in this quarter makes it tricky for Caroline. I honestly see either Sharapova or Kuznetsova getting out of this section, and I give the winner here a very good chance of winning the tournament. Beyond the players I mentioned, you have to watch out for Kimiko Date Krumm (Kuznetsova's first round opponent), Chakvetadze, who made the semifinals here in 2007. Also, Maria Kirilenko has the potential to make some noise, and would be more of a force if she wasn't in such a loaded section of the draw.

The second quarter of the draw has Jelena Jankovic as the top seeded player, and probably the favorite to make it out of this section. Her top competition is Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva, but the Russian has not been showing the best form beyond that one good run. And she has a tough second round against either Lisicki or Coco Vandeweghe. Other than Vera, the other contenders are in that section of the draw, like Aggie Radwanska and Nadia Petrova. I give Yanina Wickmayer an outside shot, but she has some tough competition. This section also has Patty Schnyder, who may be in the twilight of her career, but she still has six grand slam quarterfinals and one semifinal appearance under her belt. Also, keep an eye on the US contingent in this section. In addition to Vandeweghe, you'll find Jamie Hampton, Shelby Rogers, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. These players often are quiet in other tournaments, but the excitement of the U.S. Open inspires them, and they can pull off victories that are usually beyond their capabilities.

The third quarter has Venus Williams as its top seed, but it has some other tough seeds that she would have to get through, and she hasn't been able to play much lately. Francesca Schiavone may have peaked with her win at the French Open this year, so I don't know how far she'll be able to make it. Victoria Azarenka may be the actual favorite to make it out of this section, actually. The other Italian Flavia Pennetta is here as well, not to mention Israeli Shahar Peer and Indian Sania Mirza. There are two notable young players here as well - Michelle Larcher De Brito, who will make a lot of noise even if she loses in her first round (she's a grunter), and Melanie Oudin, who will probably not be able to live up to her dream run from last year. She has a pretty good first round, but she'll get Alona Bondarenko in the second round, and that's a step up for Melanie. She's had trouble dealing with the expectations all year, and things are only going to be worse here. I expect that the quarterfinal will be Azarenka-Williams, and that should be a good match.

The last quarter is also pretty stacked, with defending champion (and owner of a 14-match winning streak) Kim Clijsters as the second seed. She has - I have to say - a pretty soft draw to get through to the round of 16, where she'll probably face either Marion Bartoli or Ana Ivanovic. Honestly, the opposite eighth of the draw is the one with so many of the tough players. Dementieva, Stosur, Safina, and Kleybonova - that's a tough set of players to be in such a tight space. I see Dementieva beating Safina in the 3rd round, Stosur beating Dementieva in the 4th, and Clijsters beating Stosur in the quarterfinals. It will be interesting to see who gets Kimmy at that stage, but I think she's the surefire favorite to make it through to the semis

For tomorrow's schedule, we get to see if Oudin can open the day on Arthur Ashe stadium, and what sort of form Venus is in. Dinara Safina gets Daniela Hantuchova, but if the former world number one is actually healthy, she can win that match. Although a lot of her collapse was mental last year at this time, it also had a lot to do with injury, which only becomes clear as you look at her retirements in retrospect. Ivanovic plays Makarova, and you can bet that people will be rooting for her almost as much as they'll be rooting for Oudin. Keep an eye on Sania Mirza against Larcher De Brito on court seven, since you'll be able to hear it all around the grounds.

I'll work on my men's draw preview after this - I should get it done just in time for play to start!

New Haven and US Open qualifying wrap-up

First of all, looking back at the week's tournament in New Haven, I have to say ... it's a pretty disappointing week for a tournament that's in danger of losing its title sponsor. The women's tournament was, uncharacteristically, much more interesting than the men's. Only one of the top eight seeds even made the quarterfinals on the men's side, and Baghdatis fell to Sergiy Stakhovsky, who - to his credit - went on to win the tournament.

Stakhovsky is an odd player. He's won two titles this year, but aside from those two title runs, he's never won more than two matches at one tournament. He's lost in his first match at ten tournaments this year. He's definitely hot and cold. The other players who made deep runs at this tournament are all solid pros, but none of them have any recognition in the U.S. I can assure you that the tournament organizers were not hoping for a Stakhovsky-Istomin final, though it was good tennis.

The women's side had more identifiable players in the last rounds - and Caroline Wozniacki ended up taking the title for a third year in a row, just before she heads to New York as the top seed. She played six sets in the final and semis against two tough Russians, and she may run out of steam at the U.S. Open. She does like to play a lot of matches, but combine the stress of her being the top seed with trying to live up to her final run from last year, and that may be enough to cause the great Dane to waver.

The U.S. Open draws are now out, qualifying is complete and those players have been placed in the draw. I'll look at the men's and women's draws tomorrow, but I'll do a quick analysis of how the quallies went, since I find them more interesting than most, I think.

First of all - I am thriled that Jack Sock, the 17-year old American from the Midwest, was given a wildcard into the main draw. But I really think that may have been better spent being given to Nicolas Mahut - the Frenchman fell in the third round of qualifying against a veteran Brazilian player. Honestly, Mahut would have gotten the tournament a lot more attention, even if he had lost his first match, than another American teen. Sock has the potential to be a great player in the future, but he's probably not going to win a round here. This is a dropped ball by the USTA, as far as I'm concerned.

Also, Ryan Harrison is another American teen who has won a handful of ATP-level matches already. He doesn't have a stellar record, but he's 4-9, which isn't too shabby for an 18-year old. But he didn't get a wildcard, either, and he fought his way through three rounds of qualifying. This may not be his time, but Harrison will be an American star in the next four or five years. I could easily see him making top 50, maybe even top 20. He's a dynamic character, too - reports I've read say that his third match was the most exciting of the qualifying tournament. He gave his shirt to a fan at the end of it. Keep an eye on Harrison.

A couple more players to keep eyes on - Lithuanian player Ricardas Berankis, who just turned 20, made it through qualifying as well. He won the U.S. Open juniors in 2007, so he knows the grounds here. The 2006 Junior champ, Dusan Lojda, also made it through qualifying. A couple more young guns who made it through are Japanese player Kei Nishikori and Canadian Milos Raonic, who I've been a fan of ever since I saw him lose a tight match to Fernando Gonzalez at the Canadian masters event a couple years ago.

There are also some more veteran players who came through qualifying, like Croatian Ivan Dodig, Frenchman Marc Gicquel, American Robbie Kendrick, and South African Rik de Voest. These guys could easily put together a good couple of matches here, and the players who come through qualifying have the advantage of having more familiarity with the court conditions than their early-round opponents, and they usually manage to stage an upset or two.

On the women's side, I'll admit that I'm less familiar with more of the players who made it through quallies, but it's good to see Sania Mirza and Michelle Larcher de Brito get through - they're both fun players. Larcher de Brito in particular is a polarizing figure, one of the loudest grunters you'll ever see on the court.

There are some young players who made it through on the women's side, as well. American Irini Falconi, Canadian Rebecca Marino (there actually were a ton of Canadians getting through quallies), and Aussie Sally Peers. All of them were born in 1990. We're getting to the point where the up-and-coming tennis players were born in the 90's, as the results of this year's qualifying tournaments indicates.

Tomorrow - more in-depth looks at the main draws.

New Haven Round of 16 and US Open Quallies

Things are a bit tough in New Haven for the US faithful. Donald Young and Taylor Dent both lost today, after winning the first set. Disappointing for both - and James Blake was unable to finish his match, due to rain. So if he wants to progress, he'll need to beat Dolgopolov and Troicki (in all likelihood, as the Serb is on the verge of victory against Nieminen) in one day. That's a tough ask for a player on the comeback trail.

And two of the three American players on the women's side - Melanie Oudin and Varvara Lepchenko - lost in the first round, as well. Only Bethanie Mattek-Sands won her first match, so she's the last American standing on the women's side. And she gets Nadia Petrova next round. Oof.

It's worth noting that the women's draw is much stronger than the men's, despite their tournament being smaller. Four of the top ten players are here - or at least, they were. World number seven Francesca Schiavone is already out, losing in the first round to ... Dinara Safina? Can that be right? Maybe Safina is going to come back; I really hope to see her do well again, because she is a great player to watch when she's not breaking down. I'm surprised to see Wozniacki playing here, since she just won the tournament in Canada last week and has a lot of points to defend from her finals showing at last year's U.S. Open.

Speaking of the U.S. Open, qualifying is just underway, and I'm starting to get excited. I'll give you some of the highlights I can see from the qualifying draw as it's laid out, so far:

Unfortunately for the Japanese fans, two of the four Japanese players in the draw play each other in the first round, Go Soeda and Yuichi Sugita. Tatsumi Ito has already won his first round, but the Japanese player with the most upside (despite being the number two player from his country) is yet to play. Kei Nishikori, who made the fourth round of the Open in 2008, opens against Chilean Paul Capdeville. While Nishikori hasn't had a great year at the top level, he's won three challenger tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing back in the top 100.

The only players I know who have already lost are thirteenth seed from Austria Martin Fischer, and Australian Chris Guccione. Fischer lost to Swiss vet Martin Lammer, while the Gooch lost to Bobby Reynolds. Ivo Minar also lost to Frank Dancevic, but we're early on. A bunch of the other recognizable players are going to be gone before this thing ends.

On that subject, though, there aren't that many former big name guys toiling their way through the quallies, this year. Usually, there's a couple top-30 players whose ages are just about topping 30 as well, who are trying to get their rankings back into more respectable territory. I'm not seeing too many - if any - of those guys, this year. Stefan Koubek may be the only one I can spot.

I do see a bunch of young guns, though. Some teenagers and a bunch of guys in the 20-22 year old range. It's been a while since we've seen a real breakthrough from one of the younger guys on tour, so it's always good to keep an eye out for it on this stage. In addition to Nishikori, watch for Ryan Harrison, Ricardas Berankis, Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic, Filip Krajinovic, Chase Buchanan, Jerzy Janowicz, and Brydan Klein. None of them over 20 - and that's not counting the wildcards, which all went to US teens (except one, see below), but I'm not expecting too much from those guys. We'll see if a couple of the guys I listed above can make some noise. It's always good to see new faces in the mix - I'm surprised not to see Gianni Mina in the qualifying, but maybe he's playing the juniors tournament again this year.

The other wildcard went to American Blake Strode, who played through the US Open wildcard tournament, just to get this wildcard, where he has to win another three rounds before he even gets into the main draw. Ouch. He doesn't have the best draw, either - it starts off okay, but to get into the Open, he's going to have to beat either top seed Marcel Ilhan (the best Turkish tennis player ever) or Australian hope Bernard Tomic. Tennis is not a forgiving sport by any means. Best of luck to Blake, though.

I'm hoping to see Josselin Ouanna make it through. The tournament definitely needs him, as Tsonga has (I think) withdrawn due to knee problems. Ouanna may not be the genuine article, but he's the next best thing, and he had a good run here last year. He's another player I want to see do well on a more consistent basis. He's lots of fun to watch, when he's on.

I'll admit, I'm disappointed to see Nicolas Mahut in the qualifying draw. The USTA really should have given him a wildcard directly into the tournament, after his accomplishment over the summer. There's no doubt that he did a lot more for tennis's popularity by playing that match than anyone who actually received a wildcard this year. On the plus side, he won't have to play any more marathon matches, thanks to the fifth (or third, in qualifying) set tiebreaker at this major.

My last note is about the American player and frequent tweeter Amer Delic, who is making his return to pro tennis in the USO quallies after a layoff of more than a year. I've been looking forward to seeing him back on the tennis court for a long time, so I hope he has a good run this year. It's got to be tough to come back after so long away, but he has the right attitude. I'm wishing him luck, too.

Comeback of the Decade!

Despite an unfortunate incident that marred her semifinal (more on that later), Kim Clijsters has completed the most unlikely of comeback tours. In her two warm-up tournaments, she notched wins Bartoli, Schnyder, Azarenka, and Kuznetsova, top 20 players all. She lost to Jelena Jankovic in her first tournament back and Dinara Safina in the second. That was a pretty impressive lead up, but still - I don't think anyone really expected this.

Kimmie notched wins over five seeds on her way to the championship, which is almost as many as she could have faced (six is the maximum, but Kristen Flipkens beat Anabel Medina Garrigues, the 20th seed) including both Williams sisters. Clijsters had beaten both of them in the same tournament once before, at the 2002 end of year championships in Los Angeles. Of course, Venus retired during that match, so there's technically an asterisk there, just like there may be for this match against Serena.

In addition to the sisters Williams, Clijsters beat Bartoli again (seeded 14th), Na Li (18) in the Quarters, and Wozniacki (9) in the final. She only dropped two sets: the first against Bartoli and the second, in a bagel, to Venus. Since she had last played the U.S. Open in 2005, when she won, she has now won her last 14 matches at Flushing Meadows.

Her achievement is stunning, almost unimaginable in any other sport. But it is difficult to say how much of her accomplishment stems from her own talent and effort, and how much is owed to the unusually weak mettle of the players at the top of the women's game, at this particular point in time. Was it a triumph for Kim? Or an indictment of the rest of the talent at the top of the game?

Kim's biggest spoilers when she was in the previous era of her game are either not around to trouble her (Justine Henin, Jennifer Capriati) or no longer at the tops of their games (Sharapova, Mauresmo). And the players who have risen to take their places have proven themselves to be inconsistent. The Serbs, Jankovic and Ivanovic, both made it to number one in the world (Ana even won a slam) but haven't been able to follow it up. The less said about Dinara Safina, the better. Svetlana Kuznetsova frequently beats herself on the court. Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki (the two youngest players in the top ten) have shown promise, but Wozniacki's relatively easy run to the final is the best actual result. Perhaps the field really is weaker?

Then again, let's look at Kim. Back when she was playing regularly, she was one of the best. She was expected to win more than the one major she had managed. She had made 12 semifinals or better in the last 19 majors of the first stage of her career. Those aren't quite Federer numbers, but it shows her consistency and talent. It was her own mental fragility that kept her from making the breakthrough that had been expected of her for years - that and her countrywoman Justine Henin's better play in the big matches.

The other aspect of the first stage of Clijster's career that bears mentioning is how frequently she discussed her post-tennis plans. Even as a teenager, dating Lleyton Hewitt (Kimmie might be the only player on the WTA tour not to have dated Radek Stepanek) she talked about how much she was looking forward to getting married and starting a family. That was why she retired, while she was still in the top five.

In order to do that, she must have been unsatisfied with tennis. Professional tennis is a demanding lifestyle, especially when you're a top player. If you're making it to the semis or finals more often than not, you're playing every day in every week that you have a tournament. It's psychically draining, and it can be tough to keep up with the grind.

It seems to me that Kim is in a much better mental state than she was in 2006, and it's because she got her non-tennis life in order. It's exactly where she wants it to be. She has a loving husband and a beautiful child. Of course, that's not what every tennis player (male or female) wants, but it's definitely what she wanted.

I think that a lot of the top players that she's dealing with now are in the same place, mentally, that Kim was before she "retired." They're very talented, physically fit, but their heads aren't in the right place, so it's tougher to string together points, games, and matches. While Serena and Venus had some trouble in this particular tournament, they have been better in the big matches than the other players over the course of the past few years, and that's because they've done a better job of managing their on-court lives with what they do off the court.

In the end, Kim's comeback is not an indictment of the talent of the top players on tour, but it doesn't say good things about the mental states of their games. The other players at the top of the game need to learn how to manage their tennis lives without sacrificing every else. Kim demonstrates how strong you can be on the court, even when shaking off two years' worth of rust, when you're happy off the court as well.

U.S. Open - Day Five

I saw some good tennis today, which turned out to be a day of big matches. Six five-setters out of sixteen matches. Ferrero and Cilic came back from two sets to love to win, against Petzschner and Levine. Istomin-Lapentti and Dent-Navarro both went to fifth set tiebreaks.

But there weren't a lot of matches that were big draws, and it was tough to get a good seat. Also, it's tough to sit through a long match by yourself, especially after a long week of tennis. So I bounced around a lot, checking out bits and pieces of a variety of matches. When I could get a seat, that is. I ended up checking out a bit earlier than usual, so I could keep up with the matches I wanted to see on TV, since they were so ridiculously swamped on the stands. Turns out that may not have been the best decision, because that Dent match was something I would never have expected, but I regret missing out on.

Fortunately, my family is coming in tonight so we can enjoy some tennis tomorrow, which should be fun. We're probably going to hang out in Louis Armstrong, I think, since the tennis on the outer grounds is really starting to get sparse. Basically, I'll be anywhere to see the Verdasco-Haas match.

Tomorrow's schedule is weird, but not in a way that affects me. It turns out that the Tennis Channel has the night session during the first weekend and CBS has the day matches, so here's the lineup for Saturday: Day Session - Roddick, Federer, Sharapova. Night Session - Blake, Safina.

This is not such a big deal, except for the fact that I have tickets to Sunday's night session, and I'm going to (almost certainly) miss out on Murray-Dent and Clijsters-Venus. Any weeknight, those two matches would have been the marquee matches and would have taken place under the lights. However, the tournament organizers are not stupid enough to send those matches out to the relatively sparse subscriber base of the Tennis Channel, rather than the behemoth that is CBS.

On Sunday, they're probably going to put both Williamses and Murray on during the day, and then put Nadal-Almagro and ... Zvonareva-Pennetta on during the night session? I won't lie, if that happens, I'm going to be really upset. When you buy a night session ticket to the U.S. Open, you're expecting the best matches of the day.

We'll see tomorrow, when Sunday's schedule is posted, but suffice it to say that I'm not thrilled at the prospect.

Day four at the U.S. Open

Another day done. I managed to stick to my game plan pretty tightly, this time. I watched the entirety of Safina's match, as well as Kuznetsova's. Kuzzie's was not very exciting, because she was so clearly dominant the whole time. Safina, on the other hand, started out brutally bad, and then got intermittently better. She began the match with two double faults, served for the first set and was broken, then double faulted on set point in the tiebreak. And then she served two more double faults to start the second set - I saw her serve seven faults in a row. That's just... oof.

But when she was on, she was hitting some great balls - heavy and deep, and hard to handle. I can see how she got to number one in the world, and based on what I heard about her first round match, she seemed to be more on top of her game and her mental state (15 double faults aside) today. Which is good to hear! I hope she pulls herself together, because she is actually a really good player when she's not driving herself insane.

It was a fun to match to watch, because after she shook off the worst of the rust (when the crowd was stunned into silence), everyone was really pulling for her. Every rally that didn't end in an unforced error would be rewarded with riotous applause. Safina played pretty clean, with 36 winners and 38 unforced errors. Compare that to 19 and 48 in her last match, and it's definitely an improvement.

I saw Djokovic, too. He looked so, so solid against Carsten Ball. I left after the second set, when it was clear that the Aussie couldn't do anything to Novak. Every part of his game is good, but what's interesting to me is that he doesn't really have a defining aspect to his game. The other top players are 'the best' at something. They're good (or at least pretty good) at every part of the game, but they've got a clearly defined strength. Djokovic is just solid in every aspect of the game, but he doesn't really have anything that defines him.

He used to be a jokester, but his light-hearted ways haven't appeared on-court in a while. Really, the thing he's most known for these days is retiring due to exhaustion or getting nervous before big matches. I'm not sure what he should do about it, but it's interesting to me. I wonder how he'll deal with the expectations at this tournament.

I also watched some of the Querrey-Kim match, but there wasn't too much to see. Both of the players were just about even on winners to errors, big serving, not a lot of long points. I'm surprised not to have seen more from Kim before, because his game looked pretty strong. Nice serve, great backhand, but he's been around forever and not done much. Well, this is a good time to go on a hot streak, but it's just a shame when you run into the hottest player on tour this summer.

I saw a bit of Youzhny, who was looking great while I watched him, but then he went on to lose to Chiudinelli (who?). I also got to see Ljubicic in doubles for a few games, and a bit of Isner in the third set. But I mostly watched matches on Louis Armstrong. It's getting tougher to move around the grounds, since there are fewer matches that are really drawing people out there, and you have to set up a lot earlier for a seat.

This is going to make tomorrow really tough, where there isn't a particular court where I definitely want to spend my time. I do want to see Del Potro and Jurgen Melzer, but I've seen Almagro and Ginepri before. And I would like to see Clijsters, though that match may get moved to Ashe, and I have tickets to the night session on Sunday, which is looking very likely to be a Venus Williams-Kimmie Clijsters match.

Tsonga and Nieminen are on the grandstand, and so's Azarenka and Taylor Dent... but Ferrer-Acasuso are on Court 4, and Berdych-Zeballos are on Court 7. And Court 11 has Cilic-Levine, Bellucci-Simon (could be great), and Monfils-Beck. And Ferrero starts the day on Court 13, which then has Ouanna-Gonzalez, later.

This is going to be tough.