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

Armchair · County player

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

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Please has anyone got a link for a stream

Armchair · County player

I'm taking my meds and off to bed , a real shame not to have to been able to follow this match with the attention it deserved.
I loved Stan's path through the tournament shame he couldn't make this hurdle.

indiana · Tennis legend

John Lloyd surpasses even himself on Radio 5 Live.

OK, I know time taken between points irritates many ( some more than others ! )

They were discussing umpires sometimes giving warnings, but very rarely going the next step and giving point penalties, especially against top players. Fair point, then..

John Lloyd said that he would effectively take the umpire out of it. He would have a clock counting down at the back of the court. This would "involve the crowd" and they could "count down"

OK. Rafa, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, yeah !

philwrig · Hall of fame

Very high standard of tennis at times in the final, but Nole committed too many UEs just at the wrong time otherwise it would probably have gone to five.
Here's a good example of the standard :

tennis.si.com/2013/09/09/video-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-us-open-54-shot-rally/

SMC1809 · All-time great

Novak served 2 DFs in the next game and was broken (to love I think).

philwrig · Hall of fame

SMC1809 wrote:
Novak served 2 DFs in the next game and was broken (to love I think).

Yes he was a little bit cream crackered.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, Novak was indeed a bit cream crackered after that 54 shot rally and break ( was at the time just the 2nd time Rafa had been broken in the tournament ).

He did go 40-0 down sharpish on his serve next game, though pulled it back ( I'm pretty sure to 30 ) before being broken.

Spectator · All-time great

Two things that may be of interest. Article from New York Times (via a tweet) that indicates that in six of seven celebrity rating categories, US audiences rank Mr Murray highest among the "Big Four" straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/and-the-winner-of-the-big-four-popularity-contest-is-murray/

And a lovely piece on Mr Wawrinka: blog.rts.ch/ml/ (the blog post "On a tous en nous quelque chose de Wawrinka")

steven · Tennis legend

Thanks for those. I don't really get the first one, I must admit, though it seems to suggest Andy is pretty popular in America and perhaps understood a bit more there than he is by many people here. I wonder if the fact he is a fellow-English speaker also helps him score highly there.

The Wawrinka piece is a good read. Having been no. 2 to Fed for so long must be pretty tiresome, not so much in itself but because he must get asked about Fed in press so much - presumably they are just as bad at focusing on only one player as our media are.

I also see from the last sentence in the Wawrinka piece that we aren't the only country that likes to have a gentle dig at our no. 1 about being selective over when he plays Davis Cup wink

john · Top national player

Spectator wrote:
Two things that may be of interest. Article from New York Times (via a tweet) that indicates that in six of seven celebrity rating categories, US audiences rank Mr Murray highest among the "Big Four" straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/and-the-winner-of-the-big-four-popularity-contest-is-murray/

And a lovely piece on Mr Wawrinka: blog.rts.ch/ml/ (the blog post "On a tous en nous quelque chose de Wawrinka")

Lovely piece? Rubbish imo, can't understand a word of it wink

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Use Google translate and you will at least get a laugh.

Spectator · All-time great

Indeed you will! Thanks for that, Madeline, I gave it a go and had a good bit of amusement. Particularly liked the portrait of Mr Wawrinka as "a kind and eternal second knife" ... though in fairness to Google, idioms are a pain.

With apologies for posting another link to an article in a foreign tongue - but on the thesis that some might find it interesting - Laura Pous Tió, who is from Catalonia, has been given a hard time for playing under the Spanish flag in Fed Cup while also engaging with the Catalan independence movement. She's responded with an interesting discussion of why she makes the choices she does: www.puntodebreak.com/2013/09/19/carta-de-una-tenista-catalana. Interesting to read in parallel to the English/Scottish/British debates.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Fascinating and I wasn't aware of LPT's stance. Cheers for that, Espectador.