Federer, Mauresmo, Serena Lead Day One at US Open
Posted on August 30, 2004
Grand Slam tennis moves from the genteel, all-whites, strawberry-and-creme-bow-to-the-royals civility of Wimbledon to the car honking, hot dog stand smoke-screening, plane buzzing, drunken night-crowd screaming allure of Flushing Meadows today with the start of the 2004 US Open.
The onus will be on defending champion and fan favorite Andy Roddick, who remains at No. 2 on the ATP Rankings but well behind "rival" Roger Federer, who has won seven of their eight encounters.
Federer will be attempting to bounce back from his Olympic hiccup, and despite just finishing a whirlwind media tour in New York the week prior to the Open, still finds decidedly himself under the radar in the City That Never Sleeps.
"Occasionally I get surprised, someone will say hello," Federer said. "I feel like in America, especially in New York, people are so busy, running after their thing, so I don't get recognized very often."
Lleyton Hewitt is a contender again after taking much of last year off in a fight with the ATP/world, and to prepare for Australia's year-end Davis Cup final on grass, but the Aussie has stormed back after voicing his intention to regain the No. 1 spot.
"Last year I really didn't play much," said Hewitt after winning the Long Island title Sunday, his second consecutive tournament win after Washington the previous week. "This year I have just tried to hit a lot more balls. There's nothing better than that winning feeling going into a grand slam. I feel like my game is coming together nicely but, at the US Open, it's really about finding a way to win."
Don't discount another former No. 1 and US Open winner in Andre Agassi, who looked like he might be done for the year with a hip injury but then beats almost half the Top 10 en route to the Masters Series-Cincinnati title (See: Fans Wait to See Which Agassi Shows at US Open http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2004-08-28/c.php)
On the women's side, gold medal winner Justine Henin-Hardenne is the clear favorite, with a tossed-salad group behind her including the mentally-shaky Amelie Mauresmo, the bum-knee question mark Serena Williams, the fire-less Venus Williams, hot-and-cold Russians Maria Sharapova and Anastasia Myskina, and American veterans Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati. Par usual, check in around the third-fourth round when the seeds start to meet and the real tennis on the women's side will begin.
On court Monday on the men's side are (1)Federer vs. A.Costa, Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri vs. (6)Agassi, (3)Moya vs. Brian "The Butcher, the" Baker, (26)Mardy "Silver" Fish vs. Ferrer, Todd "Let's Play Five" Martin vs. (31)Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro, Mahut vs. (19)Kiefer, El Aynaoui vs. (21)Dent, (9)Gaudio vs. Juan "The Principality" Monaco, Kucera vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, Andreev vs. Fernando "Pepper Sauce" Verdasco, Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian vs. Alex Corretja, Nieminen vs. (16)Pavel, Tipsarevic vs. former NCAA champ Amer Delic, Elsner vs. Thomas "Tommy the J." Johansson, Olivier "The Roach" Rochus vs. (27)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, "You Say" Potito Starace vs. Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp, "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. Cyril Saulnier, Florian "Oscar" Mayer vs. Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta, Tabara vs. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Mathieu vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. Golmard, Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis vs. Olivier "Mucus" Mutis, Bogdanovic vs. Calatrava, and (25)Novak vs. Stepanek.
Day one on the women's side are Irvin vs. (2)Mauresmo, (8)Jennifer "JenJen" Capriati vs. Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova, Kleinova vs. (3)Serena, (6)Elena "The Second Serve Diagnosis is" Dementieva vs. Dinara "Little Sis" Safina in an all-Russian, Ashley vs. (12)Sugiyama, Bartoli vs. (32)Shaughnessy, (31)Vento-Kabchi vs. C.Martinez, Nagyova vs. (10)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva, (18)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem vs. Kostanic, (30)Golovin vs. Barna, (15)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder vs. Vinci, (16)Schiavone vs. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova, Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta vs. (22)Magdalena "Call Me Maggie" Maleeva, Perry vs. Foretz, Drake vs. Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna, Garbin vs. Santangelo in an all-Italian, Lee-Waters vs. Schaul, Tanasugarn vs. Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, Cohen-Aloro vs. (17)Molik, Dokic vs. (28)Dechy, Morigami vs. Gagliardi, Daniela "The Former Walking Stick" Hantuchova vs. Pin, Jamea "Action" Jackson vs. Black, former NCAA champ Liu vs. Vakulenko, (23)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. Casanova, Rita "Ain't It" Grande vs. Linetskaya, Beltrame vs. Martina "Nurse, Hand Me a" Sucha, Callens vs. Groenefeld, Douchevina vs. Kapros, Hopkins vs. Schruff, Benesova vs. Mattek, and Haynes vs. Perebiynis.
Hewitt Wins Fourth Title of 2004 at ATP Long Island
Former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt is slowly making progress on his warning at the beginning of the year to return to the top spot on the ATP Rankings, on Sunday at Long Island spanking Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna 6-3, 6-1 to win his fourth title of the year.
"I knew it was going to be a tough match today, even if the score didn't suggest it," Hewitt said. "You have to give a lot of respect for Luis, the way he got to the final, but I played well. I felt like I was right on top of him from the start, and I was not under much pressure on my serve, which is always a good sign."
Horna appeared a bit sluggish, coming off a long semifinal encounter with two-time defending Strong Island champion Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan.
"I wasn't nervous, but I was very tired," Horna said. "I couldn't find a rhythm and the movement I wanted to today.
"The first few games were tough. I realized to win a point would be very difficult."
Hewitt threw down 12 aces in the contest for his second consecutive title after Washington, and third consecutive final beginning at the Masters Series-Cincinnati.
In the doubles final, unseeded Frenchmen Dupuis/Llodra rolled (3)Allegro/Kohlmann 6-2, 6-4, their first title this year as a team.
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Mashona "Little Sis" Washington gives much of the credit for her newfound success after nine years on tour to her coach, Lillian Rios, and the Westside Tennis Club in Houston where the Masters Cup is held. "That's my second home," Washington told the Houston Chronicle. "The McIngvales (owners Jim "Mattress Mac" and Linda) have been wonderful to me."...USA Network will roll out commentators and analysts John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Jim Courier, Bill Macatee, Ted Robinson, Michael Barkann, and Al Trautwig for their two weeks of US Open coverage...Didn't Andre Agassi look hilariously like he just woke up when the cameras first hit him during the Arthur Ashe Kid's Day coverage, groggily rubbing his eyes and head?...If Donald Young's game is anything like his performance during the Skills Challenge on Arthur Ashe Kid's Day, hitting every basket-fed forehand in the net, he's going to need a sports psychologist when he finally hits big on tour...How hilariously bad was ditzy blonde co-host JoAnna Garcia during Arthur Ashe Kid's Day? When you don't know a lot about tennis, it's always good to fill any white space by shouting "Awesome!" Best moment: during the Skills Challenger, James Blake only hits four targets off the backhand side, spraying backhands long and wide, and Garcia enthusiastically posits "Thanks James, that really rocked!" Blake, who was wearing a mike, could be heard to embarrassingly mutter, "Heh Heh, I don't know..."...Today at 10:10am, New York dignitaries, including former NYC Mayor David N. Dinkins and players competing in the 2004 US Open will board a New York City Subway Centennial train with cars from the 1940s, '50s and '60s on the MTA Subway IRT 7 line at Grand Central Station en route to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to mark the official open of the Open...Hey CBS's Patrick McEnroe, during your draw previews during the Arthur Ashe Kid's Day telecast, why the World Wrestling Federation-type jacked-up emotion? Normal speaking voice please, you're not making us any more excited. Normal voice works, panicky-excited voice sounds weird...Really hot temperatures at the Open Sunday, watch out for the next couple days if rain doesn't blow in mid-week as forecast...The Wimbledon movie was previewed Sunday evening in Time Square in New York City, featuring the films stars and some tour players in attendance...Nice CBS Arthur Ashe Kid's Day into on television, running the opener, then a commercial, then the opener again, were the interns at the boards?...Do the math yourself, we've misplaced the calculator, but we figure that if Justine Henin-Hardenne doesn't reach the quarters at the US Open, Amelie Mauresmo will ascend to No. 1 for the first time if she has even a middling result -- check it. Something like that. The WTA staff on-site are pretty clueless, obviously since you haven't officially heard anything about it yet in the media. Either that, or we will have egg on the face. More to come...The Europeans are hot under the collar concerning Olympic tennis press coverage, evidenced by Tennis-X discussion board poster CM: "I'm disappointed that Tennis-X isn't calling on the real reason for Dent and Fish's problems at the Olympics -- both have real attitude issues, and in fact, Fish was quite the ***hole in the final, evincing an unsupportable demeanor that made Massu's effort look Olympian. Excuses offered up for both Americans may pass in AP articles, but hopefully not here."