Grand Slam

First off, can anyone explain who trains the ball-people at the US Open? It's certainly not the same group who trains the Wimbledon ball-fetchers. Goodness could they were all over the place. Despite the interesting patterns run across the court by the ball-people, the tennis was great!


It was chilly in the nose-bleed section at Arthur Ashe Stadium last night. Yet the tennis was hot. My god that's cheezy reporter like speak. Nevertheless true. I figured... going to see women's quarter-final matches, start time of 7:30 pm, all in all everything should be wrapped up by 11:00 pm and I'd be home in bed by midnight. Was I wrong! Who thought that each match would go to a third set.

Sharapova vs. Petrova was fun. Amazing start by Sharapova which ended up petering out by the 5th game, and lasted through the 2nd set, but what a come back in the 3rd set. Seems that my hot chocolate run at the start of the 3rd set (which by the way ended up as a large cup of tea because not one of the four vendors I approached had hot chocolate) lit a fire under Maria's tush and while I was out she dominated three consecutive games in the last set. By the time Maria and Nadia finished up it was after 10:00pm. As you all know, practically my bed time.


The view from above while lacked detail and a sense of oneness with the play - I did get to see everything. To the left is a picture of the Sharapova/Petrova match.


Well as you all can assume, since the first match didn't end until after 10:00 pm the second one didn't start until nearly half-past. Which brings me to another question... why does the Open permit such late starting games? I realize that unlike Wimbledon the Open allows for night play with the use of artificial light. But is it really necessary to have matches go into the wee hours of the morning. I guess I find that a bit unfair to both players and spectators.


By the time the Clijsters/V. Williams match got under way I was that much closer to sleeping. In fact while I was awake, alert, and enjoying the play, I could have easily gone to sleep. I think Venus might have been right there with me because after the first set, she seemed to be begging for a nap. The play was progressively getting more frustrating and Venus lost interest. Didn't stay for the 3rd set and opted to head home at 12:10 and after reading the recap this morning that was certainly a good move. My goodness, Clijsters really put it Williams knocking her out 6-1.


If you all haven't guessed where all this tennis talk is going vis-à-vis Australia, here are a couple of hints... Melbourne and January 2006. That's right! The antepodean Grand Slam known as the Australian Open. I am so excited about going to the Oz Open. Hopefully I make it down there and then when I return I can boast that I've seen 3 Grand Slams in 3 countries. This being similar to my goal of seeing an opera in every major opera house around the world; of course I've only got 3 houses under my belt... but I have time.