# U.S. Open \[TENNIS\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476 "2011-08-29T06:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/21 "2011-08-30T17:32:33Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > The kid who sang the “New York” homage at the Opening ceremony last night (which was oddly held AFTER an entire day of play) creeped me out. Was Beyonce not available? [Greyson Chance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyson_Chance) was very creepy looking. I am pop culture challenged and I have never heard of this kid, I actually thought he was blind at first when he was singing the Alicia Keys, Jayz _New York_ song. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/22 "2011-08-30T17:56:50Z")
Kimiko Date-Krumm (age 40) lost a tough match 7-6, 7-6. Most of the seeded players are doing fine, but Mikhail Youzhny (men’s #16 seed) is down two sets to Ernests Gulbis, who decided to show up to this tournament. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/23 "2011-08-30T19:01:11Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Kimiko Date-Krumm (age 40) lost a tough match 7-6, 7-6. Most of the seeded players are doing fine, but Mikhail Youzhny (men’s #16 seed) is down two sets to Ernests Gulbis, who decided to show up to this tournament. Where did Youzhny go? He’s ranking will go down after this. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/24 "2011-08-30T19:13:13Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Where did Youzhny go? He’s ranking will go down after this. I forgot he made the semifinals last year. Ouch, he’s going to go way down. He came into the open ranked #15 with 1,955 points, and he’s going to lose more than a third of those. You get 10 points for losing in the first round and 720 for losing in the semis. It seems like that would put him somewhere around 33 in the world. He’s barely over .500 this year. Maybe time is just catching up with him. Djokovic is cruising right now. Schiavone won the first set of her match, but her opponent is on the verge of closing out the second set 6-1. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/25 "2011-08-30T20:48:24Z")
Vedasco is on his way to 2-sets-to-1 lead on Niminen. Does anyone know if Jarah’s in his box? BTW, the SI Swimsuit grudge match would be a semi-final (Verdasco v. Roddick) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/26 "2011-08-30T22:00:48Z")
Simona Halep of Romania just beat Na Li in straight sets, 2 and 5. That’s the Wimbledon and French Open champions both out in the first round. I wonder if that’s ever happened before - the winners of the last two majors both losing in the first round. And the Australian Open champ (Clijsters) isn’t here because she’s injured. I was going to say this bodes very well for Serena, but maybe I should wait and see how she does tonight. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/27 "2011-08-30T22:05:09Z")
Djoko through on a retirement from quali Nyland. Nadal on the night session. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/28 "2011-08-31T02:30:32Z")
A round of applause for Andrey Golubev. Nadal beat him in straight sets, but he was competitive the whole time and he had chances to win both the second and third set. In fact he absolutely should have won at least the second set - he had seven set points. He got tight in some places and Nadal is Nadal, although his game was not up to snuff. The McEnroes said Golubev suffered through a 17-match losing streak earlier this year, so to go from that to really pushing Nadal - serving for both the second and third sets, having a two-break lead in the second - that’s impressive. Here’s hoping it leads to some good things for Golubev. Nadal won 6-3, 7-6 (1), 7-5. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/29 "2011-08-31T16:45:49Z")
Madison Keys won the first set against Safarova (#27), but just dropped serve to lose set two. Keys is the youngest player in the tournament (16) and the lowest ranked (455), although that’ll change since she’s already won her first round match. She’s also one of the youngest players to ever win a match at the Open, and she had not played a main draw match in a major before. She looked a little nervous late in the set, so I hope she can keep her nerve in the third. Before anybody makes a comparison to Melanie Oudin, I’ll say that Keys is 5’10," which is four inches taller than Oudin - so she’s not trying to hang in there against players who can blow her off the court. Oudin lost in the first round again and people are kind of giving up on her at this point. Some other young American women won their first matches: Christina McHale will play Bartoli (#8) next, and Coco Vandeweghe will get Stosur (#9). Both those matches are later today. And this morning I got myself a day pass for Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/30 "2011-08-31T17:37:11Z")
Keys lost 6-4 in the third. She was up a break and serving at 4-3, but when she dropped her serve she seemed to get disappointed and kind of faded. She may have been tired but I think it was mostly mental. I just saw that Robin Soderling (#6) pulled out of the tournament. He’s missed time with a wrist injury but said that’s fine and that he had stomach pain and a headache starting last night. He hadn’t played his first round match yet, so he’s replaced by a lucky loser. He reached the quarterfinals in New York last year. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/31 "2011-08-31T20:15:15Z")
Venus Williams withdraws from the US Open. Devvarman gave Murray a bit of match, first set anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/32 "2011-08-31T20:36:59Z")
McHale upset Bartoli in straight sets. That’s a huge win for her. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/33 "2011-08-31T20:55:24Z")
Did the Bryan brothers just lose? Yeesh. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/34 "2011-08-31T21:36:54Z")
I’ve been following McHale for a few months. The girl has got serious game. I made a point of watching her play both doubles and singles when she was in Cincinnati. When she’s on, I believe she can beat anyone on the WTA, including Serena, who is undoubtedly being distracted by all the media attention. I saw McHale take out Wokniacki so it didn’t surprise me at all to see her beat Bartoli. Side note: In Cincinnati, I sat below Bartoli’s dad. She had a running conversation with him, so it was a very entertaining match. Bartoli is one odd duck, but I like her. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have much of a chance of winning against these heavy hitters with her two-handed backhand AND forehand. She’s just not quick enough to cover that match ground and have time to turn her shoulder for those unconventional swings. Bummer about Venus. I don’t think she had a prayer anyway given how seldom she’s played this year, but I like her so much more than I like Serena. Bummer about the Bryan Brothers. There goes any chance of getting television coverage of men’s doubles! The dude playing against Nadal, whose name I’ll slaughter if I attempt, had incredible pace. Just remarkable. Kudos to Nadal for sticking with it and not getting flustered. I kept coaching him to hit the ball deeper and to quit giving him pace, but did he listen to me? No. Nadal’s uncle Toni completely cracks me up. “He playing bad today. His confidence is low.” I like the No Spin Zone. Murray looks great. Someone should take the microphone away from Brad Gilbert because his interviews just turn out so awkward. Murray handled his stupid questions well, though. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/35 "2011-08-31T22:03:21Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I’ve been following McHale for a few months. The girl has got serious game. I made a point of watching her play both doubles and singles when she was in Cincinnati. When she’s on, I believe she can beat anyone on the WTA, including Serena, who is undoubtedly being distracted by all the media attention. I saw McHale take out Wokniacki so it didn’t surprise me at all to see her beat Bartoli. Beating Wozniacki is a far cry from beating a healthy Serena - she kicked butt last night - but I was very impressed. McHale seemed to have no doubt that she could beat Bartoli. [I saw her play Sharapova two years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11519828&highlight=mchale#post11519828) and it’s always interesting to look back on a young player as he or she starts to put it all together. Stosur beat Coco Vandeweghe, but maybe the future of American women’s tennis after the Williams sisters isn’t so bleak after all. (Even if we continue pretending Sharapova is Russian.) And on that note, it sucks that Venus had to withdraw. She has an immune system disorder. It’s not clear to me if it’s a permanent thing or a real threat to her career, and given her injury problems lately her career seems to be winding down anyway. But she sounded like she wants to keep playing, so I hope she can come back after some R&R. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/36 "2011-09-01T02:31:52Z")
If baseball can tell me the speed of every pitch on my TV screen, why can’t Tennis tell giving me a display on the speed of every serve. Roddick is nailing the ball and I am squinting on my 46" HD to see the display on the court. Its not like it would take up much more room on the screen than match status that stays on the screen at all time. Is there any player that sweats more than Roddick? It is coming down in buckets off his head. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/37 "2011-09-01T03:26:57Z")
I can do without the camera on a cable that pans over the court on changeovers and the end of match. It gives me a touch of dizziness every time they do it. I really don’t see what value that camera adds to their coverage other than a toy. It might be a little interesting if they could use in mid-point but that is unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/38 "2011-09-01T03:29:08Z")
Yeah, I’ve never liked that camera. You see it more in football and basketball than in tennis, but I don’t think it adds anything. Especially since it’s moving and you don’t have enough time to watch the details. Anyway that was an unimpressive effort from Roddick. A lot of the time it felt like he was waiting for Russell to lose. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/39 "2011-09-01T03:44:38Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > If baseball can tell me the speed of every pitch on my TV screen, why can’t Tennis tell giving me a display on the speed of every serve. Roddick is nailing the ball and I am squinting on my 46" HD to see the display on the court. Its not like it would take up much more room on the screen than match status that stays on the screen at all time. > . Yeah, I have no idea why they don’t. Isn’t it displayed right there in the stadium? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476/40 "2011-09-01T03:48:38Z")
Venus has been diagnosed with Sjrogen’s Syndrome. not sure if this link will work with the swedish letters: [Sjögren syndrome - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sj%C3%B6gren's_syndrome) . You can google it if it doesn’t. Another thing that bugs me: When there is a full compliment of linesmen, the middle guy right behind the server gets into position (hands on knee with focus) as if he is going to make the call. It is not going to be his call, it is the call of the linesman behind the returner. (Maybe it is just to keep him awake) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-open-tennis/594476.md?page=3)