Sampras Goes Out in a Tearful Farewell; Rusedski Bumped, Henman Versus Roddick Tonight

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The US Open lost three men's seeds on Day One, with pumped-up qualifier Ramon Delgado of Paraguay outlasting (9)Grosjean 6-4 in the third, Fernando Verdasco handling (17)Robredo in straight sets, and (18)Mirnyi out in a stunner to two-time 2003 hardcourt title winner Nikolay Davydenko. Seven seeds advanced in (3)Ferrero (d. Vacek in four), (5)Coria (d. Puerta), (6)Hewitt (d. Hanescu), (16)Verkerk (d. Bogomolov, who retired in the fifth with cramps, carried off on a stretcher), (23)Ferreira (d. Miranda), and (31)Clement (d. Vahaly, coming from a set down to win in four). Unseeded Americans were 3-4 on the day with Todd Martin, Robby Ginepri, and Taylor Dent advancing, and Brit No. 2 and former Open runner-up Greg Rusedski went out in five sets to Gregory Carraz. "Well, I just -- I mean, I hadn't played a five-set match since my comeback, and the hardcourts are quite difficult," said Rusedski, who suddenly doesn't like playing on hardcourts? "I mean, just finding it tough to serve and volley on the hardcourts consistently. Just getting myself that test physically and, you know, it's expected with the two or three months that I've been back. This surface is pretty rough on the body. I still am in a building phase a little bit as well. Obviously, the grass and the clay are a lot easier on the body." The Brit tabloids don't want excuses Grinning Greg, they want results, you've been uninjured now for a couple months.

Inexplicably, Pete Sampras didn't call Rusedski up to the podium to share the moment during his retirement speech in Arthur Ashe Stadium last night. Bogomolov's above-mentioned cramping resulted in the youngster doing a faceplant on the court after hitting a serve and not getting up; after his coach came on the court for a moment, Verkerk started to complain to the chair umpire. "What if my coach comes on when I am serving?" said the French Open runner-up in his post-match conference. "Then I saw how bad he was...his whole family can come on the court. He was laying there, his eyes were all over the place, he looked really bad. It's always scary, but it's cramps. You get over cramps." Harsh stuff from the Dutchman-of-a-thousand-goofy-faces, who is now 2-6 since his Roland Garros effort.

Seeds on court today at the Open are (15)Gonzalez vs. Chang in the American's last match, (1)Agassi vs. Corretja (the Spaniard has won their last three hardcourt meetings), (4)Roddick vs. Henman in the featured late night match (Henman won their last meeting a few weeks back in Washington), (11)Srichaphan vs. Saulnier, (32)Spadea vs. Saretta, (14)Kuerten vs. Tursunov, (28)Kafelnikov vs. Vliegen, (25)Costa vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, (8)Schuettler vs. Arthurs in a serve and return match-up, (12)Schalken vs. Julien "It's Not" Boutter, (21)Mantilla vs. Ivo "I Beat Lleyton, But Who Hasn't?" Karlovic, (29)Lopez vs. Stepanek, (19)Calleri vs. Eschauer, and out on Court 18 by the hamburger stand, (33)Chela vs. Karanusic. "I know only too well how the expectations of fans and media can affect your game in big tournaments and it may end up working to my advantage," says Henman on the possibility of A-Rod choking on the big stage tonight. "I feel my game matches up well against his, as it proved recently in Washington. If I can execute my game plan and get a little luck then anything can happen. Matches like these are the reason I play tennis."

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The top ladies handed out four bagel sets in typical WTA "We're Deep!" Tour blow-out fashion on Day One at the US Open, with three low-rent seeds falling in (25)Daniilidou (l. to Casanova), (26)Krasnoroutskaya (l. to Barna), and Top 10 pretender (8)Rubin (l. in straights to Vento-Kabchi). "It was just really a bad match for me," Rubin said. "I had some chances obviously first and second set. Just didn't play with enough glue, didn't play with enough consistency, really didn't concentrate well enough. I wanted to be a little bit more consistent than I was today. Needed to be more aggressive. I really didn't come in much at all. I mean, overall it was just a poor match, considering what I know I need to go out and do to win." You need more glue Chanda, also try hitting your groundstrokes out in front rather than behind you, that's Baseline 101. (3)Davenport, with a bad foot to boot, dropped only one game to Els Callens, while seeds Mauresmo, Coetzer, and Petrova were also handing out New York bagel sets. Among the unseeded notables advancing were Americans Ashley Harkleroad (d. Douchevina for her first Open win) and Laura Granville (who made Ansley Cargill cry with a bagel second set), and Aussie upstart Alicia Molik (d. Kostanic) also moved into the second round.

Seeds on court Tuesday are (2)Henin-Hardenne vs. Kapros, (6)Capriati vs. Torrens Valero, (22)Dokic vs. Gagliardi, (31)Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson vs. Loit, (15)Sugiyama vs. Conchita Martinez "Not That Conchita" Granados, (10)Maleeva vs. Asagoe, (11)Dementieva vs. Vaskova, (20)Farina Elia vs. Salerni, (21)Pistolesi vs. Schaul, (16)Bovina vs. Cervanova, (7)Myskina vs. Nagyova, (32)Mikaelian vs. Weingartner, (30)Serna vs. Cho, (23)Dechy vs. Mattek, and out on Court 18 by the hamburger stand, (33)Srebotnik vs. Drake, and (29)Schiavone vs. Fislova.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
In USA Network's video clips celebrating Pete Sampras' career, how could they leave out Pete crying at the Australian Open against Jim Courier over his dying coach (and still winning the match), or puking at the Open against Alex Corretja (and still winning the match)? Careful USA, don't want to offend anyone, just make it a bland 14 slam highlights of Pete raising his arms, no best-of highlights, leave out the fantastic shots -- that's a "C-" effort from the USA Network trailer fellas, weak...What's up with Andre Agassi dissing Pete by SENDING IN A VIDEO for the ceremony? Too much effort to get over from the hotel Andre? That's hella-weak, you would still have gotten your eight hours Andre, but you missed showing respect (John McEnroe said it to Pete's face during the ceremony, "respect") for your greatest rival and perhaps the greatest to EVER play the game -- that was an unexpected slap in the face. Don't look for Pete to make the plane trip when you hang it up, he'll probably send in an eight-track audio tape...For all the tennis writers summing up Pete Sampras' career, mentioning a "game with no weaknesses," please recall that the backhand, especially the difficulty with balls up high, was pretty much the sole reason for never winning a French title...New this year at the Open are radiation detectors for fans coming through the turnstiles...Over the past weekend, Tim Henman mopped up Todd Martin 6-1 in a practice set...The BBC Sport webpage is relishing the US Open without many of the top American stars: "The U.S. television companies, so protective of their prime-time air space, are surely concerned that they may struggle to fill it with U.S. tennis players."...Only 53% of Brit tennis fans think Pete Sampras is the greatest player ever out of approximately 12,000 votes, according to Monday's BBC Sport poll...Mardy Fish just says no when it comes to jumping out of airplanes with Andy Roddick and his other U.S. buds: "Andy asked me to do it. James (Blake) asked me to do it, because James likes doing it too. I don't like putting my life in jeopardy any more than I have to, so I don't really feel like jumping out of an airplane is that big a deal to me. So I don't think you'll see me do it very often -— if ever."...Roger Federer on whether US Open fans are more knowledgeable than fans at other Slams: "I think the opposite, really. Not to criticize them, but like Wimbledon crowds and Australian crowds, they, to me, it seems they really come for the tennis. Here, the people come more just to enjoy the show." And the beer...Mardy Fish had the a-bit-scary "Fish Freaks" rooting him on from the stands yesterday, six fans who got together via the Internet and painted "Go Fish" on their chests (one letter for each guy): "We thought it would be great to show our support and spirit," Kristian Hansen, a Columbia student, told the AP. "It's a fun way to be loud and obnoxious. Tennis matches are usually boring and proper." Mardy came out to meet them following his post-match conference, with the nut-balls chanting "Fish! Fish! Fish!"...No night match send-off for Michael Chang tonight, ouch, nice one USTA.