2016 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York, USA

[don_budge]

2016 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York, USA

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/us-open/560/draws

Is it already here? The U. S. Open looming as the New York Skyline. There is just one problem...no Roger Federer in the house.

[stotty]

I see Djokovic has Jerzy in the first round. Not an easy match if Jerzy is in any kind of form. He's the sort of player that Djokovic wouldn't want to play. That said, I am not sure what happened to Jerzy. He had a good year then simply seemed to fade away. Did he get injured or something?

Stotty

[klacr]

This US Open is going to be interesting. Djokovic and Murray it will come down to. Whoever wins it can lay claim to having the best season. Djokovic with an aussie open and french open crown, Andy with Wimbledon and Olympics and in his current form, a good shot at us open. USTA will showcase its new roof and some uninterrupted tennis. Good luck to all competitors but more importantly, a speedy recovery to Federer and Berdych.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The Jolly Green Argentine...

This US Open is going to be interesting. Djokovic and Murray it will come down to. Whoever wins it can lay claim to having the best season. Djokovic with an aussie open and french open crown, Andy with Wimbledon and Olympics and in his current form, a good shot at us open. USTA will showcase its new roof and some uninterrupted tennis. Good luck to all competitors but more importantly, a speedy recovery to Federer and Berdych.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I wonder if Juan Martin Del Potro might have an impact here. The U. S. Open is one of the greatest of all sporting events.

[klacr]

The Jolly Green Argentine...



I wonder if Juan Martin Del Potro might have an impact here. The U. S. Open is one of the greatest of all sporting events.

I hope so. Berdych is out. Federer is out. Let me push all my support in Del Potro's corner. Well, not all of it, still have some support to share with Feliciano Lopez.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Outsiders...Insiders. New York, New York...skyscrapers and everything! Just like I pictured it...

I hope so. Berdych is out. Federer is out. Let me push all my support in Del Potro's corner. Well, not all of it, still have some support to share with Feliciano Lopez.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Right. With Roger Federer out and aging I might add it is time to start looking forwards. What have we got? As you mentioned in your other post it is Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray that are looming large. But on the other hand we have a couple of characters that have each won the U. S. Open before that could emerge as a couple of real dark horses. Dark and swarthy thouroghbreds.. Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic.

I think that the U. S. Open is absolutely the best sporting event in the world from the spectator's point of view and this tournament is going to be another great, great contest. It's too bad that Roger Federer is not there but it is slowly sinking in with me that this is the natural way of all things. All things must pass. Lets's see how things develop here...it's good to have another two week tennis tournament to focus on. It's a relief in many ways.

There are all kinds of possible scenarios...permutations and combinations...but one potential match caught my eye. If both Nick Kyrgios and Florian Mayer with their first round matches they will face each other in the bottom half of the draw. This could be interesting. Florian is a great counterpuncher and Kyrgios when he is on is impressive as well as annoying.

This is a tournament where the "dog fight" factor comes heavily into play. It's a tough contest on the hard courts on the "mean streets" of New York. It's a bit dog eat dog in the Big Apple. It's a different mentality.

[don_budge]

The Amazing Mr. Monfils and Milos Raonic...

Gael Monfils and Milos Raonic are slated to meet each other in the round of sixteen...God willing. Here are a couple of other "outsiders" who have been showing a taste for the fight as of late.

[stotty]

I got a flash new Internet radio. Anyone know what station in America covers the US Open?

Stotty

[klacr]

I got a flash new Internet radio. Anyone know what station in America covers the US Open?

Stotty

I just go on the USOpen.org website. Live streaming video on the match courts.

ESPN televises it in America

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

2016 U. S. Open...after the first round. The Top Half of the Draw.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/us-open/560/draws

After the first round some of the debris is removed from the playing field and things are a bit easier to see. The view is not so cluttered with interesting first round matches that may or may not have upset written on them. Realistically...there are only a select few players that will have an outside chance of reaching the quarterfinals barring some act of God.

As it looks now there is nobody that stands between Novak Djokovic and his quarterfinal berth. That being said it looks to me as if Novak is starting to show a bit of wear...just a tad of fraying around the edges. That upset loss to Sam Querry at Wimbledon may or may not have been injury assisted as there is now some evidence and talk of a wrist injury. But Novak is a cagey competitor and he has been known to do a bit of "shuck and jive" when it comes to playing up injuries or even his physical state during a match. Fake right...go left.

In the quarter below it would appear that the berth is Marin Cilic's to lose. He has Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Jack Sock in his way along with his next round opponent...Segiy Stakhovsky. Sock has already been seriously tested by young and upcoming Taylor Fritz in a five set match. Somehow I have a hard time taking Tsonga too seriously as somehow he has a penchant of disappearing in Slams when he should.

The third quarterfinal berth appears to belong to Fafa Nadal. Unless Lucas Pouille can summon some kind of magic that as of this far hasn't been present in his game I don't recognize a name in this quarter that should seriously threaten Nadal.

It gets a bit more interesting in the fourth quarter of the top half. Here we have a couple of players that I mentioned in an earlier post as being "outsider" capable of making a splash. "The Amazing Mr. Monfils" and Milos Raonic. Look to see these two to meet in the round of sixteen and I am going to give Gael Monfils a little nudge this year. It is high time that he fully realizes the amazing potential he has in that amazing body of his. If ever there was a body designed to play tennis it is Monfils. I have to question some of his technique and subsequently his tactical acumen but at the end of the day this guy is just simple "Amazing". Talented as can be and sometimes equally undisciplined. But that appears to have changed...he seems quite focused. For such a loose cannon. Raonic on the other hand has split ways with another original "tennis enigma"...the great John McEnroe. That fit never caught my fancy...McEnroe is much too interesting for the nonplussed Raonic. He never appears to get overly excited but he has a nose for some of these big trophies now. He relies too heavily on the serve though...that makes him just a tad hard to buy into.

[stotty]

Yes Gail is quite something isn't he. For me, he's perhaps the biggest underachiever of the modern game....so fast... so athletic...so talented. However, I've always thought he doesn't seem to have much between his ears, and he falls back on his incredible speed to defend at times when he might be better to attack. Monfils should have been better by now...he could still be.

I heard recently that Djokovic has been caught having an affair and has succeeded in taking out an injunction to stop further news of it being printed in the press. His tennis been out of sorts recently and his relationship has been rocky for a while. Silly boy. It's all bound to put the mockers on his greatness.

Stotty

[bottle]

Deepika Padukone? Or should I say Deep Something-or-other?

[don_budge]

Boris coaching?

I heard recently that Djokovic has been caught having an affair and has succeeded in taking out an injunction to stop further news of it being printed in the press. His tennis been out of sorts recently and his relationship has been rocky for a while. Silly boy. It's all bound to put the mockers on his greatness.

Stotty

Strange...he and the wife just had a baby not too long ago. I hadn't heard any rumors but t guess Boris must be coaching him in his personal life as well. Boris was reputedly a bit of a cad as well. Not that all men are not. Ladies and Germs...that's how somebody started to address an audience once.

It's hard to imagine how much of that stuff might be thrown at these guys. I often wondered about Roger Federer...his image is so squeaky clean. His wife is decent looking but there have to be some real lookers trying to lead Roger astray. It's hard to imagine being in the sneakers of these guys.

But this is one thing that can really get into a tennis player's head...girl problems. Nothing like romance on the rocks to take you out of your game. Especially if you are in the spotlight and under the magnifying glass.

[bottle]

In my case I just couldn't play well. Oh, sorry, this is not supposed to be a confessional. But my game did start to come back a little when a Hungarian teaching pro fixed me up with a bunch of retired auto workers from Detroit before I ever heard of Detroit, all doubles players.

"What in the world are you doing in Budapest?" they asked. "It's a pretty tough place, you know."

"A girl," I said.

"Say no more then. Well, that's the long and short of it."

[stotty]

Boris coaching?



Strange...he and the wife just had a baby not too long ago. I hadn't heard any rumors but t guess Boris must be coaching him in his personal life as well. Boris was reputedly a bit of a cad as well. Not that all men are not. Ladies and Germs...that's how somebody started to address an audience once.

It's hard to imagine how much of that stuff might be thrown at these guys. I often wondered about Roger Federer...his image is so squeaky clean. His wife is decent looking but there have to be some real lookers trying to lead Roger astray. It's hard to imagine being in the sneakers of these guys.

But this is one thing that can really get into a tennis player's head...girl problems. Nothing like romance on the rocks to take you out of your game. Especially if you are in the spotlight and under the magnifying glass.

Hard to understand, isn't it? Why would Novak risk what he has? Risk a woman, yes, but risk losing your child - crazy. What was it Oscar Wilde said?...."I can resist anything but temptation"...or something like that.

Roger's position is slightly unusual also. He's clearly very close to his wife, but she is on the domestic rather than sexy side. Usually someone in Roger's position would opt for a sexy type...a trophy wife.

I think if I were in their sneakers I would keep my options open until my career was coming to a close. You can have it all so why not play the field.

The trouble with life is that there are so many beautiful women and so little time. -- John Barrymore

Stotty