Tennis-X: News, Notes, Quotes and Barbs

The US Open final featuring Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt was the first meeting of multiple slam winners at the US Open since Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi...Svetlana Kuznetsova rises to a career-high No. 6 on the WTA Rankings...Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson after losing to Lleyton Hewitt: "If I could come into the net when I got some chances instead of staying back...But today my tactic was staying back and trying to outhit him from the baseline. I think if I could improve that game, I would raise my level a little bit more."...Tim Henman's pick before the final was Roger Federer: "It starts with his serve. I think it's so deceptive that he doesn't really serve particularly quickly in terms of miles per hour, but his variation, his placement is as good as any. You feel like you're just trying to get the ball back. And you put the ball back on the court and he's ready to start running you ragged with his forehand, which is so heavy. He's setting the standards for everyone right now. Lots of people just trying to catch up."...Roger Federer does not want to change a winning game. What would he improve?: "Well, right now there's not too much, you know (smiling). It's been working fine for me, the way I'm playing. Maybe if I improve on a thing, my whole game might change. Then it's not the same anymore."...CBS's Dick Enberg, you'd better hope the network execs don't read the Tennis-X discussion boards, you are getting flayed. Time to ease into tennis commentary retirement...How good a sport is Andy Roddick for filming the version of the American Express commercial when/if he loses at the Open? Funny stuff...Lleyton Hewitt had not beaten anyone inside the Top 20 on the ATP Rankings during his U.S. summer win streak...Lleyton Hewitt was the first man to reach the US Open without dropping a set in almost 15 years, since Jim Courier in 1991...Three US Open "gold badge" chair umpires were dismissed early from the tournament because of their involvement in a credential-forging scheme at the Athens Olympics, multiple sources told the New York Daily News on Saturday. And the early departures may have been one reason why Mariana Alves -- a lower-ranked, or "silver badge" official -- was assigned to the controversial Serena Williams-Jennifer Capriati quarterfinal...Pete Sampras has sold his Benedict Canyon home for $3 million, according to public records. In August 2003 the home was listed at $3.75 million. Pete had owned the house since 1998, two years before he married Bridgette Wilson...Wasn't USTA President Alan Schwartz a little scary with the mic in the post-match trophy presentations at the US Open? From blowing Svetlana Kuznetsova's name to giving stumbling commentaries on the matches during the trophy presentations, it's kind of like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know it's going to happen and there's nothing you can do about it. Let's keep the front-office suits in their luxury boxes and off the courts...In the locker room after the US Open win, Roger Federer spoke on the phone with Mats Wilander, the last man to win three slam titles in one year (1988)...Extra funk to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez, who have won three US Opens in a row, and 10 of the last 11 slam finals...After Svetlana Kuznetsova won the US Open title, and after doing her media, she hit the practice court: "After the match, you have to clean up your game. It doesn't matter if you win the title."...Margaret Court says players of her era would have been able to compete with today's players with the same super-technology: "I was probably the first woman to lift weights and do circuit training and to run the sand hills. Jack (Kramer) and I were saying earlier how beautiful the equipment is today. You just get such wonderful touch with it. I think if you'd like to put them out on a court with the rackets that we used, I think many of us would have fit into this time very well."...Is Amelie Mauresmo the best player in the world? Discuss. Charlie "Brick" Bricker of the South Florida Sun Sentinel weighs in: "You have a sense with (Kim) Clijsters, who has lost the year to wrist surgery, that she will one day win a Slam. She is, after all, only 23. You don't get that feeling with (Amelie) Mauresmo, who has shown time after time she doesn't have the goods to beat the best and, with the rise of the Russians, it will only get harder."...Sjeng Schalken has been suffering from glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis) since the Davis Cup tie against Canada. Repeated blood tests failed to detect the viral infection, so Schalken continued to play despite the constant fatigue. "I am happy they finally found the reason why I didn't recover and why I was slow on the court," Schalken said. "They recently found antibodies to the sickness of glandular fever. Hopefully I will be back in full fitness for 2005, but I have been advised by doctors to cut my schedule for the rest of the season."...Lleyton Hewitt has moved to No. 3, Tim Henman to No. 4, and Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson to No. 16 on the ATP Rankings after the US Open. No. 1 Roger Federer now has almost twice the rankings points as No. 2 Andy Roddick.