Don: Have you seen the footage? It’s painful to watch. Doesn’t one of the sisters have an autoimmune condition, or something similar?
Medication.
Whatever you may think of her as a person, she’s an exceptional competitor. It’s not like her to mail it in, and she didn’t just mail it in here- she looked weak and unsteady on her feet.
It really is. I could believe it was something like the flu because she looked barely conscious, but I could believe it was a medication thing, too. From what I saw I think it’s unfair to suggest she’s just being flaky, which some people have done.
Venus has an autoimmune condition called Sjogren’s Syndrome. If Serena has it, this is the first the world has heard of it.
Would kinda surprise me if Serena didn’t have the condition. Might it run in families?
Tracy Austin, who commentates for the BBC, said it (the Serena incident) was the strangest 15 minutes she had ever witnessed on a tennis court, and I agree. I believe it’s some sort of viral illness. The real question is not whether she was faking (she defnitely wasn’t, in my view) but why her sister and doctor allowed her anywhere near a court in that state. I mean, I don’t think it’s done her any lasting damage, but why even let it happen? The only explanation I can think of is that Serena was so determined not to give up that she insisted they let her try.
I’m no fan of Serena’s but I don’t think she deserves to be maligned for this.
Anyway, back to the actual tennis - caught some of the men’s veteran invitation doubles the other day, always the best entertainment in tennis when Mansour Bahrami is playing. He must be one of the oldest guys out there, but his tennis (particularly his reflexes and the spin he can get on the ball) is absolutely incredible. He’s not just a joker, you almost get the impression that he could still compete in mixed doubles on the tour if he really wanted to. Hope I get to see another match of his before the week is out, I believe he and Henri Leconte are sweeping all before them.
I seem to remember predicting at the start of the year that Fed could win Wimbledon and then retire. While I’m less sure about the retirement part (surely he’d want to at least play in the US Open), he is one match away from achieving the most important part, albeit a match likely to be far tougher than everything he has faced so far. Perhaps that’s what he needs though - he should be just a bit fresher than Djokovic, and that could be enough to give him the edge.
I’ve probably said this before, but while Djokovic seems like a great guy, I just don’t like his style of tennis, impressive as it is. Far too defensive for my liking. Murray and Nadal slip into that too sometimes, but with Djokovic I think that’s the only way he really knows how to play. Great match in prospect tomorrow.
Ah, let’s see how the ladies’ final is going.
Oh, it’s over. Blow out. How dull.
Kvitova wins easily, 6-3 and 6-0. She could have bageled her entirely.
I love that the players leave and wait for the roof to close before the ceremony. How awkward.
Total dismantling. Kvitova played flawlessly, really; she executed correctly on almost every shot. Her approach couldn’t have been better. I doubt any woman in the world could have beaten her, and Bouchard wasn’t even up to giving her a run for her money. In giving up just 3 games, Kvitova just pulled off the most lopsided ladies’ final since Graf beat Seles 6-2, 6-1 in 1992.
For all Bouchard was the talk of the tournament, she isn’t ready to play at the level Kvitova brought today.
Well, that was unfortunate . Hoping for a better mens final.
Good for Kvitova. She made Bouchard look like an amateur. Felt bad for the audience who spent more time waiting for the roof to close than watching tennis.
Oh, and I hated Chris Evert’s dress. And I wish she’d focus on the players in front of her, instead of constantly recalling her own career.
Re Serena: I’m hoping it’s a virus and not something neurological. I’m not her biggest fan, but I don’t wish her ill will.
I hope this time Kvitova can sustain this level of play. She played bombs-away tennis when she won Wimbledon in 2011 and then she just faded. She hadn’t made a major final since then, and last year her best result was the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She said she struggled with the attention and I hope she has a handle on that now. She’s only 24 and she can definitely compete with the Sharapovas and Azarenkas of the world - not to mention Serena because who knows what’s up with her. And Bouchard will be back. She’s made a very fast climb toward the top and I think she’ll be able to make the last step sooner or later.
To check in on the doubles: Vinci and Errani won, so they now have a career Slam. The Bryan Brothers lost to Sock and Pospisil, who were playing their very first tournament together. That’s crazy.
Whoever is doing the next James Bond movie, they ought to be signing Boris Becker to be the evil super villain. They don’t even have to apply makeup.
What a shockingly amazing match. If Fed wins, this place will go nuts. And I’m just talking about my house!
Djokovic will be kicking himself if he loses this match, having a championship point…then lost five games in a row!
Djokovic pulls it off.
WOW!
Amazing stuff.
One American did win a championship, as did a Canadian. Jack Sock won the men’s doubles finals along with Vasek Pospisil.
The kicker?
They beat the Bryan brothers. 
I watched the women’s final but not the men’s, though I did catch the first 3 sets on replay (too tired to stay up and watch the rest, as I knew the result and it wasn’t the one I wanted - shame, as the fourth set sounds quite special). Kvitova was mighty impressive, it wasn’t as if Bouchard played badly, she was just overwhelmed by Kvitova’s power. As has been said, I doubt anyone in the women’s game could have held a candle to Kvitova on that form.
Apparently Federer is 10/1 to win the US Open, which seems like attractive odds. But do I really believe he’ll do it? Probably not, I’d say fair odds are more like 7/1 (Djokovic is, rightly, the 7/4 favourite). It’s amazing how he adapts his game between sliding around on clay, to sliding around (but a bit less) on grass, to the grippy hard court surfaces. Let’s hope he doesn’t forget one day and turn an ankle.
Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish wanted to play doublesat the US Open but cannot because of some WADA protocols.
Federer just won Cincinnati. Nice.