US Open Schedule Update:
The weather in the NYC area is suppose to clear
this afternoon. Provided it does, here's the sked:
Thursday day: Women's 4th RD, Men's 4th RD
Thursday night: Women's Quarters
Friday day: Men's Quarters
Friday night: Women's Semi's
Saturday day: Men's Semi's
Saturday night: Women's final
Sunday day: Men's Final
If rain washes Thursday out,
the above schedule will be bumped a day back meaning
a Monday final.
ATP
REVIEW/PREVIEW
In the only match completed early Thursday morning,
No. 4 seed Andy Roddick had a relatively easy
time with Xavier Malisse, putting down the Belgian
6-3, 6-4, 7-6(5), and raising his record against
the X-Man to 8-0. "It was tough conditions
-- the balls were huge, like watermelons -- it
was tough to get them to go anywhere," Roddick
said. "He started playing better...I kind
of lost concentration, started flying a few forehands.
But I'm ready to get into the second week. I want
to get this thing going." In the only other
match played, (12)Schalken led (8)Schuettler 5-1
in the first set when rain halted play. Today's
weather forecast calls for a full day of watching
pony-tailed juniors prancing around the player's
lounge, to the annoyance of main draw players.
On tap today is a backlog of
R16 matches in (3)Ferrero vs. T.Martin (JC leads
1-0, last year at the TMS-Miami) to finish, (6)Hewitt
vs. (11)Srichaphan (Hewitt leads 4-1) to finish,
(7)Moya vs. (22)El Aynaoui (Moya leads 2-0, with
a meeting in 2000 and 2002), (2)Federer vs. (13)Nalbandian
(The Argentine has won all four career meetings,
two last year, and two on hardcourt this year),
(8)Schuettler vs. (12)Schalken (Schalken leads
2-1, with a straight-set win this year at Wimbledon)
to finish, and (5)Coria vs. Bjorkman (first meeting)
to finish.
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The women got 10 minutes of play in Wednesday,
with top-seeded Kim Clijsters leading Amelie Mauresmo
3-0 when rain washed out the women's side. "It's
really difficult," Russian Anastasia Myskina
told the USA Network in an interview from the
player's lounge, with bags under her 22-year-old
eyes. "It seems like I never leave this building
for the last couple of days. I just want to sleep.
I'm really, really tired." No word of the
Tennis-X suggestion of simply advancing the highest
seeds to the semifinals, speeding up the natural
progression of things.
Scheduled for today are (1)Clijsters
vs. (5)Mauresmo (Clijsters leads head-to-head
3-2) to finish, (3)Davenport vs. (24)Suarez (the
American leads 5-0), (15)Sugiyama vs. (29)Schiavone
to finish (Schiavone leads head-to-head 1-0),
and (7)Myskina vs. Pierce to finish (Russian leads
head-to-head 2-1).
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND
BARBS
Anyone notice the only two men's players in the
quarterfinals thus far are American?...Sitting
around during rain delays doesn't bother the laid-back
"Beast" Max Mirnyi: "It’s
just good to sit around and do nothing sometimes
because our schedules are so demanding and busy.
I don’t mind. It’s a raining day. Nobody
can do anything about it. It’s good to have
a couple books, write a few e-mails and talk to
people."...Swede Jonas Bjorkman and
Zimbabwe's Wayne Black were among a group
of players and coaches passing the time during
the rain by playing Poker with Scrabble letters:
“The Swedes are winning, but they always
win. They cheat,” said Carl Neufeld, head
coach at Southern Methodist University...When
asked if he was as good at cards as he was at
tennis, Juan Carlos Ferrero looked bewildered,
unable to understand the question in English.
His hottie girlfriend came to the rescue, wagging
her finger back and forth and whispering, “Noooooo.”...The
USTA is feeling the pressure (as if they
haven't %&#*ed up enough at the Open this
year) from players voicing the need for a retractable
stadium roof, like that at the Australian Open...Jim
Courier turned down commentary duties for
ESPN, which wanted to lock him into an ESPN-only
contract (restricting him from doing other tournaments)
doing the first three slams. Courier told the
Globe and Mail that he makes an effort to home
school himself and keep up: "I read a lot.
I think by reading and travelling and being genuinely
interested in what people have to say, you can
learn. I don't feel like I missed out by not going
to college, let's put it that way."...Can
Andy Roddick's arm (he has been complaining of
tightness and pain) stand up to consecutive days
playing best-of-five matches during the rain-delayed
Open?...Guillermo Coria says he is functioning
at 80% capacity with his thigh injury...Coria
is the only player in the men's field who
has yet to lose his serve...Poll Redux:
59% of Tennis-X readers believe Kim Clijsters
is a deserving No. 1, while 29% don't, and 12%
don't give a rat...31% think Lleyton Hewitt is
most likely NOT to win the US Open, surprisingly
followed by 16% for Andy Roddick; Amelie Mauresmo
leads the women NOT likely to win with 22%, followed
by Lindsay Davenport with 14%...More people think
they will see Pete Sampras back on a tennis
court (39%) before seeing Lleyton Hewitt and Kim
Clijsters getting married (21%) before seeing
Martina Navratilova REALLY retiring (15%) before
seeing the Tennis Channel on their own TV (13%)
before Serena finishing a season undefeated (4%)
before Iraq holding a Tennis Masters Series event
(4%) and before Anna Kournikova winning a title
(3%)...Wait, we've just received an e-mail: "Dear
USTA: Get a clue"...The rain is expected
to clear Thursday afternoon through Sunday in
the NYC area...with the backlog, 106 matches (including
junior and senior events) were scheduled for Wednesday...John
McEnroe took to the court yesterday during a rain
delay to engage in New York City residents' favorite
pastime, having tennis balls fired at them...Johnny
Mac says the ATP Senior Tour is "on life
support."..."Who's naughty on this plane?
This guy!"...Johnny Mac hammering
the USTA on the air for erring in only keeping
two matches ready once the courts dried by Wednesday
night...14-year-old Michaela "Sister Of"
Krajicek is now No. 1 in the world and the
No. 2 seed in the girl's singles at the Open...Bob
and Mike Bryan passed the time in the player's
lounge Wednesday playing the game Battleship...Mary
Pierce was finding the player's lounge a little
taxing: "Yeah, reading, listening to music,
getting treatment on various little areas. Sometimes
it's kind of crazy with a lot of girls here."...Jennifer
Capriati says she isn't going to have Lindsay
Davenport over any time soon for a pajama party:
"Just, I mean, we have a mutual respect for
each other, I think. I mean, we've never been
like really close friends or best friends. I mean,
I don't think we ever will be. But, you know,
just we respect each other and that's it. We'll
say hi and talk, whatever."...The WTA
has beaten the ATP to the "clinch,"
yesterday announcing that three players have already
secured spots at the year-end championship in
Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Serena
Williams...Adrian Voinea, ranked No. 2
on the Tennis-X Men's Bottom 10 Rankings, has
a back injury and is doubtful for Romania's Davis
Cup World Group play-off against Ecuador later
this month...You can't buy a shirt with a picture
of Andy Roddick on it at the US Open, nice
marketing...The USTA finally got rid of
the indoor kid's "Smash Zone" so players
could use the three indoor practice courts.
