The US Open this year has been terrific!
continuing from Round 4
This has been high quality tennis from the get go. Several matches stand out, but first let's get to some basics on the players~
Maria Sharapova opted out of this tournament after seeing the draw, and the lovely Canadian Eugenie Bouchard no sooner won her doubles match and then unfortunately slipped in the women's locker room and injured her head so she had to retire from her scheduled matches. She is doing better thank goodness.
Petra Kvitova has the best serve for a lefty, she angles the ball toss forward, she cocks the racquet far back, her slices are perfect! Every left handed player should take a page from Petra's book!
Serena Williams is going for a Calendar Grand Slam, this has not been accomplished since Steffi Graf in 1988. She is also vying to tie Stefffi Graf with a win here at the Open of 22 Grand Slam titles.
I love Simona Halep of Roumania. She stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and runs like the dickens for each and every ball. She had an epic match against Sabine Lisicki, 5 feet 10 inches tall and ultimately won to play in the semi-finals but lost that match to Flavia Pennetta of Italy. But back to the Lisicki match. So much went on ni that match. First Simona dominated, then Lisicki, each player was making errors and as one recovered the other failed, and somehow, Halep mustered the greatest energy when it was needed most. She is incredible. And only one inch taller than myself! It just goes to prove you do not have to be a giant to dominate in tennis. Simona is ranked number 2 in the world.
Another match is Roger Federer versus John Isner. John is 6 feet 8 inches tall, how do you defend against a giant, even if you are Roger Federer? Roger continued to play his game, chip and charge, aces to the wings and to the middle, hit low over the net so big John has to bend those knees. He barely ran to any balls but has a huge wing span to reach farther than most.
Novak Djokovic has quietly been sailing through this tournament, so naturally he is in teh finals. But not before he was gracious to cite to the crowd that his semi-final opponent Cilic ws wounded with an injured ankle, his match only lasted 90 minutes in three sets and Cilic was able to take 3 games. There is honor in this game, and Cilic showed the brave face of a warrior committed to his game and its players.
And of course there is the Serena Williams match against Roberta Vinci of Italy. First though, I will say the match that got her there, her victory over sister Venus Williams, yielded little tennis play, a few rallys, some net play and very short points. So here we are at the semi-final versus Roberta. What an amazing match! Variety, momentum swings, we all hoped and thought we knew Serena would win, but no cigar. The deciding factor in the third set yields much to be said on how a match is won and lost. Vinci and Serena have a long rally, then Vinci goes for it and hits a short angled shot to Serena's backhand with tons of topspin that skidded out of reach, and that is the key. Serena went for that ball anyway, she put all of her might into getting that ball, so much, but she could not get to it. Just one ball you say? Who cares, it is only one ball, right? Wrong. That ball took all her reserved energy away, so that even since she won that fourth game in the third set, with Vinci serving at her fifth game, Serena used all her reserve with nothing left, and Vinci wins her sixth game at love to take the semi-final and has earned her spot in the women's final on Saturday. Whew! At these high levels, each point matters, each use of energy matters. Congratulations to both players this was a powerful match worthy of showing how the game of tennis is played.
And again, Roger, Roger, Roger, we want you to win everything! He has won 17 grand slams and 5 US Opens. His semi-final is against Stan Wawrinka. Roger and Stan have a 16 ball rally, Stan nets the ball, and after that Stan's service game is weak and Roger gets the break. Happens again and Roger is serving for the match. Overall here, Roger gets to the net mostly every point, he is so versatile that Stan is nonplussed and clearly does not know how to handle Roger's play. Who ever said the net game is a dinosaur? Roger has brought back his own Jurassic park, he glides like a pteradactyl, he stalks like a raptor, he attacks like T Rex.
Extras
James Blake is all right after being allegedly muscled by the New York City police for mistaken identity, he is fine and this incident makes you wonder you are never safe even when you are waiting for friends in front of a luxury hotel.
Dominant age of the players in the quarter finals and semis? Over the age of 30!
The sneakers are bright! Lots of neon, is that how Roberta Vinci won? Was it those yellow sneakers?
The Finals
Two Italians! Roberta Vinci versus Flavia Pennetta. And, Novak Djokovic versus Roger Federer, the Greatest of All Time (the GOAT), his first US Open Final in 6 years!
Stay tuned for the finals at the US Open 2015. I will miss this tournament when it concludes on Sunday. So busy, I could not get to the US Open this year, but did have my ring side seat watching ESPN :)
For more on teh US OPEN 2015 up to Round 3, please see my US OPEN 2015!
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