Alright, getting the US Open thread started just in time. (I don't think Wimbledon is the correct thread for this.) I know Federer lost in a zillion matches, but honestly it will mean very little when it comes to this big competition. A big highlight is, this will be Andre Agassi's last major. So I'm sure lots of people will be watching Andre's matches. I hope he plays many rounds and has a great tournament. From TV coverage in USA perspective, a lot of this tournament will be in HD. Look to Universal HD for opening round coverage starting Monday, in 1080i. I'm assuming NBC will show all later rounds in HD. Let me go verify that.
an excellent way to start off the tournament. bravo to andre! i even got a little misty-eyed when it showed agassi welling up before match point. i can't wait for what should be a fantastic match on thursday with baghdatis.
Coverage on Universal-HD rules!! I wish we could have seen French Open and Wimbledon in HD. I love watching tennis in HD.
agassi does it again! and baghdatis made a lot of new fans tonight - with his play, and especially with his classy comments after the match.
Andy Murray just destroyed Alessio Di Mauro 6-0 6-1 6-1. He's gonna be one of the best when he improves his fitness and finds more consistancy. I've also noticed that Baghdatis is a classy player and a classy guy as well, great personality for the game.
I was sorry to see Baghdatis go out, I really liked him at Wimbledon. Pretty sly that he had to play last tournament Agassi. Always thought he would go out. Great match though. Federer beat Henman pretty easily. And Murray beat his guy easily which was good to see. Its funny seeing John Macenrow (spelling) doing the interviews after the some of the matches.
It was great that Agassi beat Baghdatis in the end. But it was very disappointing to see Baghdatis suffer so much physically and lose. His fighting spirit was incredible!! If he was fully fit, I'm sure it would have been Agassi's last match of his professional career.
What was the deal with injuries and treatment? I didn't quite understand what the commentators were talking about when Bhagdatis could get treatment for his quad cramps.
If I understand it correctly, it is possible to get injury treatment after a game or set is over, not in the middle of a game? It doesn't make a lot of sense though. Injuries by definition are unpredictable and almost always happen in the middle of a game.
Tennis players are men unlike footballers Rain again today!!! I never remember it raining much before at the US open. Whats his first name?
Baghdatis is definitely a man. He earned tons of respect from me after that great spirit and sportsmanship on Thursday night.
i'm pretty sure you can get treatment during a game. the problem was that you can't get treatment for the same injury twice and interrupt a game. he had already had a visit from the trainer earlier, and he had to wait until the game was over to see him again. i believe it's supposed to prevent players from taking "injury timeouts" when all they're really trying to do is take time to kill the momentum.
Agassi was a great player and I seriously started crying when I saw him like that. On the other hand I was happy for my German boy Benjamin Becker.
Becker vs Roddick at moment, first set Andy. Anyone see the Murray match. Gonzalaz went nuts, what a sore loser. Murray Safin quater final maybe!! Its crazy how much Gilbert has improved Murray, even though Murray always had the potential Gilbert really has brought it out, great coach.
Hewitt v. Gasquet now.....Hewitt up by a set but Gasquet is looking lively. Great energy by both players....Gasquet of course is only 20 and still improving. Strangely enough, Hewitt plays so much better outside his native Australia.
I don't know... bar the 2004 final he's always failed pretty miserably at the Australian Open, but he's also won 7 of his 25 titles here (including the 2001 Masters Cup). Must be the pressure... it got to Rafter too. It's almost 30 years since we had an Australian champion. Hewitt being Australian is anguish. He's an excellent tennis player, but goddamn it, actually liking him is a lot of hard work.
I would have appreciated Tiger Woods' presence at the US Open Final if it weren't for his ignorant comments bashing soccer as a non-physical sport. It's off-topic to tennis really. But I'm actually debating if I should bother with Ryder Cup this year anymore after his ignorant comments. It's very unfortunate, because I used to enjoy Ryder Cup golf on its sporting merit. It's a shame when well respected sports people make ignorant comments about other sports. I sure hope Federer doesn't make the same mistake like Tiger mouthing off about soccer. I know Boris Becker and Michael Schumacher have been great soccer fans. In fact both wanted to be soccer players at some stage in their childhood. Similarly, I'm sure Roger Federer is more enlightened about soccer than Tiger Woods. Also see: Federer better than Woods Tiger Woods is a Roger Federer fan And Roger Federer may follow Tiger Woods on the major circuit or the Master's to give him hell.
Roger Federer is a big FC Basel fan... What a great year it has been for Federer. Can't wait to see him again at the Dubai Open next year.
Federer was outstanding last night, Roddick through everything at him he could, and played some superb stuff in the middle sets too but Roger was just too strong. It's not as if his domination is boring either, he's fantastic to watch. As for the Tiger Woods thing, I wouldn't read too much into his comments. Soccer is treated very differently in the States compared to somewhere like Scotland. I'll never understand 'soccer moms' or anything like that. It's easy for ignorance to grow around soccer if these are the stereotypes surrounding it. I'd just ignore it, although you could always cheer on the Euros and be on the winning side