2014 US Open

[klacr]

Great, convincing win for Cilic! Great to see a flat hitter win. Very calm guy.

Amen.

Good to see Cilic, whose foundations were set by legendary coach Bob Brett, succeed at the highest level. He's not brash, soft spoken and humble. Had a chance to meet him a few years ago in Delray Beach and was very impressed.

When I visited the US Open this year on Day 1 I headed straight to the practice courts. The first two players I spotted hitting on separate courts were Nishikori and Cilic. It's fitting that they were the last two I saw while watching the open. Credit to both men for an excellent week. Glad Cilic won. Not sure how many more chances he'll have. I think Nishikori will have many more opportunities as he is younger and will continue to improve.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Great, convincing win for Cilic! Great to see a flat hitter win. Very calm guy.

[gzhpcu]

Great win for Kei! He reminds me of a modern day Chang! His victory over Djokovic reminded me somewhat of Chang's victory over Lendel in Paris. He compensates his lack of height by incredible foot speed, and what a great backhand longline!

Marin too played exceptionally well against Roger. Great serving and very flat hitting with good length. Here too you can see Ivanisivec.

Have no idea who will win the final, but it is great to see two talented players with different styles clash in the final!

[klacr]

If Cilic played Federer that well, and he beats Nishikori in the finals on Monday, I don't mind that he beat Berdych. Hell, the way Cilic played today, I'm happy Berdych was able to get more than a game against him. Holy crap, Cilic played well. Goran has him primed for grand slam stardom. In The Zone!!!

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[lobndropshot]

The kid has guts...
Wow!

[gzhpcu]

What an incredible win for Federer! Monfils had two matchballs! I really thought it was curtains for Roger!

Sorry for you Kyle, that Cilic beat Berdych. Cilic was serving incredibly well.


And... Martina Hingis reaches the woman's doubles final...

[gzhpcu]

What I like is that Nishikori, just like Federer goes to the net to shorten points. He also volleys well. I hope this will be a future trend in tennis, ie to shorten points when the opportunity arises by a quick net attack.

[stotty]

Nishkori

I saw much of the Nishkori v Wawrinka match. He has lots of great qualities Nishkori but perhaps his finest quality is that he's relentless. He just doesn't go away. His decision making at key times is questionable but otherwise I see him knocking on the door of the top four. Strange serve...love to see high speed footage of that.

I love to watch Stan play but his high risk game is costly at times.

[gzhpcu]

Great win for Nishikori. A real roller coaster of a match, particularly in the last two tiebreaks. Each time Wawrinka was ahead and Nishikori caught up, made it once. Wawrinka has a great backhand, but Nishikori has a lot more variation and also does net forays like Federer...

[klacr]

Something magical about Berdych this tournament. Confidence is a dangerously beneficial thing, especially if you have the game of Berdych. I watched him practice on Day 1 of the Open and caught his attention. He looked up in the stands and saw me, wearing my H&M Tomas Berdych signature shirt...

http://www.hm.com/us/product/26821?a...rticle=26821-A

The usually stoic/robotic Berdych broke character. He chuckled to himself, shook his head at my eagerness of showing him and the absurdity that a grown man would wear another grown man's signature as a fashion statement. After the smile and laugh, he looked down into the court to try to regain his composure and focus for his practice with Gasquet. But I think the image of me, the big bald guy in the stands pointing wildly at Berdych's bright orange signature on my chest with a sort of euphoria and desperation made some of the stress and pressures of a grand slam and a disappointing American hard court season fade away as he realized he is beloved and people do believe in him and therefore he needs to believe in himself.

Or he's just been playing well this week and is now in the quarters. Nice story though isn't it?

And for those of you asking, the answer is no! I have no plans to get a Tomas Berdych tattoo....yet!

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Federer beats Agut in straight sets, and he went 50 times to the net, making the point 36 times! Federer keeps getting better and better at the net as he gains self- confidence there!

Berdych played impressively against Thiem, Kyle's man keeps marching on...

[tennis_chiro]

Top Eight make it to the Quarters!?

I think it is interesting that you can make a good argument that the best 8 players made it to the quarterfinals on the men's side. Three of the top 4 seeds are there. Cilic beat Simon who beat Ferrer with a little help from the heat. Nishikori knocked out Raonic and Monfils knocked out Dimitrov. Nishikori and Cilic are the only members of the 25 and under club at 24 and 25; in fact, Murray and Djokovic are the next two youngest at 27. Granted, Nadal is missing, but he is also 28 years old.

I don't think you can make the same statement about the women's draw. Part of that is 2/3 vs 3/5; actually, a lot of it.

don

[klacr]

Match ended at nearly 2:30am this morning. Crazy battle. Wonder how Nishikori will recover in his next match. That has always been the rub on him. Talented but body made out of balsa wood. Always a tweak or nagging injury.

I hope he stays healthy and gives the top 5 a run for their money. It would be a huge boost for Japanese tennis to see his results improve even more.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Nishikori beat Raonic in an epic battle! Nice to see Nishikori doing well...

[gzhpcu]

Belinda Bencic is the youngest quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows since Martina Hingis, also from Switzerland, who was 16 in 1997. Funny too that, Hingis is a mentor to Bencic, who is coached by Hingis' mother, Melanie Molitor.

Looks like the Swiss really produce good players...