Weeks 35-36: US Open (men's main draw) - hard

steven · Tennis legend

Weeks 35-36: US Open (men's main draw) - hard

RJA · Hall of fame

Shouldn't really have two many difficulties making the QFs but Berdych is definitely the worse possible QF draw.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Nice until the quarters so can't complain, the draw is pretty fair to all the top players across the board. None of them have easy draws or nightmare ones for that matter.

Spectator · All-time great

As noted earlier, I cringe whenever I see Berdych in his draw. (Wawrinka no great joy on hard courts either, for that matter). SF also ghastly. Oh well, sometimes he seems to prefer it that way. And one never knows what will happen.

Spectator · All-time great

Nice pre-Open interview with Tennis.com. The video doesn't contain all the content that's in the transcript ... including mention of a new book. www.tennis.com/gear/2013/08/gearing-open/48842/

korriban · Challenger level

Is it normal to make a defending champion wait until 7pm on the Wednesday night of a tournament to play his first round match? This means that Andy would have to play 7 matches in 12 days to win, Rafa 7 matches in 14 days - furthermore, rain is forecast for this evening in NY, which means there is a chance Andy's match could be held over to Thursday!!!!

Every single year the NY scheduling is bizarre, and it continues to baffle.

Spectator · All-time great

Agreed. Pretty dreadful scheduling, particularly given that they've known from the beginning that rain was likely today.

Armchair · County player

I know they play the first round over three days, but why ? Is it just driven by ticket sales or TV scheduling?

A match played over 2 days because of a rain delay would be a real handicap.

philwrig · Hall of fame

The argument in the past has been that they don't have enough courts, which given they were playing doubles yesterday doesn't wash with me. At least it's a Monday finish this year.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
The argument in the past has been that they don't have enough courts, which given they were playing doubles yesterday doesn't wash with me. At least it's a Monday finish this year.

Weather permitting !!

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

I agree with the general frustration, especially as Wimbledon seems to schedule with the knowledge that rain delays are a high risk, ie the matches tend to be scheduled in pairs, eg Nadal would play first on one court whilst his potential next opponent played if not first on then definitely second on another court in the majority of cases. That doesn't seem to be the case at the US Open and they see, to be surprised by rain every year.

Having said that though I manage to block from my mind and forget how bad a job of scheduling they do each year so maybe I cant completely blame them for doing the same!!

I hope Andy does get on court today and when he does I expect he'll be pretty motivated to finish as quickly as possible so there is hope that he could give us a masterclass of a match...

-- Edited by imoen on Wednesday 28th of August 2013 08:38:02 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I have heard before that it was lack of courts that made the men's R1 always spread over Monday to Wednesday.

BUT they managed to complete 27 men's singles ties yesterday ( admittedly a few in progress from Monday ) along with the full 32 women's half and apparently 6 men's doubles. And they have lights.

So I am very unconvinced that they couldn't really play a full half of both men's and women's singles on each of Monday and Tuesday, weather permitting.

Anyway, the Wednesday scheduling has been going on as long as I can recall and I think they usually do hold back a pretty big player until the Wednesday, Andy this year. He did play in the first half last year and I think actually played on the opening Monday.

Anyone know how they decide which half goes first in both the men's and women's singles at the US Open ? At Wimbledon it's dictated by which half the champions are in since they open proceedings on Centre Court on the first Monday and Tuesday.

Andy will be scheduled to play Friday and Sunday so hopefully he does complete today !

indiana · Tennis legend

I can't remember when I was so relaxed about an Andy Slam.

I mean I want him to do well, indeed retain the thing, and I do think that he has a very good chance.

But after the Olympics, US Open and Wimbledon triumphs, I don't think I'd be as distraught about an unexpected loss as previously.

Hopefully Andy isn't feing similarly and that his competitive juices are in full working order !

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I don't know how true it is: but rumour has it that it is totally driven by the TV companies, who want the top American players (and failing them, Federer!) to be playing twice over the American holiday weekend.

daisy · County player

philwrig wrote:
The argument in the past has been that they don't have enough courts, which given they were playing doubles yesterday doesn't wash with me. At least it's a Monday finish this year.

They have a couple fewer courts than Wimbledon but, as another poster said, they have lights on several courts so can play until quite late in the evening on several and the stadium court(s) also feature night matches which the other slams tend not to do. So they've no practical need to spread R1 MS/LS over 3 days ... and could easily hold off starting the doubles until Wednesday or Thursday!

Also worth noting that Wimbledon tends to get things done in 13 days (no play on middle Sunday) whereas the USO currently needs 15!

Anyone know how they decide which half goes first in both the men's and women's singles at the US Open ?

It's based on which half of the draw features the top ranked US male/female player - in this case it was Isner for the men. So, his half played first ... and that is all geared up to trying to ensure that the top ranked US player features on the showcourt on Silly Saturday and Sunday. If you check back over the last 8/9 years you'll find that Andy Roddick's R3 was frequently the feature match on middle Saturday on Ashe. Same for the ladies.

It takes no account of, or respect for, the #1 player (unless Federer), reigning champion or anything else; just getting an American onto prime time TV and has been for a very long time!

As you might gather I'm fed up with the USO organisation/scheduling which is very poorly done IMHO.

R1: Llodra
R2: Hanescu / L Mayer
R3: (28) Mónaco / F Mayer / Klizan / Q Young
R4: (15) Almagro / (20) Seppi
QF: (5) Berdych / (9) Wawrinka
SF: (1) Djokovic / (6) del Potro
FI: (2) Nadal / (4) Ferrer / (7) Federer / (8) Gasquet

One or two seeds have already gone out ...

smile