Author: Oberon
Thursday August 24th, 2017 - Less humidity but still scorching sun today at the US Open as the second round matches of the Qualifying Tournament were played. Lots of distractions - mainly from people gabbing courtside during play ('straight' men are by far the worst chatterboxes) - and unpleasant encounters with staff made me wonder why I continue to trek out there year after year. Well, I love tennis, that's why.
Today my first match was between Vincent Millot and Tatsuma Ito. As on Tuesday, Ito began rather sluggishly but today he was unable to turn things around, and Millot won in straight sets.
I then went to have a look at a Women's match: former world #2 Vera Zvonareva (above) was playing American Jamie Loeb. Zvonareva was trying for a comeback after a career beset by injuries and which included time off to have a baby. Today she looked to be in great shape and played with rugged determination and fine skill. Each player took a set - the scores were really close - and in the third, Zvonareva saved a couple of match points before Loeb was able to prevail. The crowd was overwhelmingly favoring the American; in fact I am not sure that many of them even knew who Zvonareva was, nor her history. It was great seeing her play again, and I hope she sticks with it.
The best time I had this week at the Open was watching the match between Go Soeda (above) and Marco Chiudinelli. I found a seat all by my lonesome high up in the gallery where a refreshing breeze periodically swept over me. Go was on fire and played the best tennis I have ever seen from him.
Go Soeda's matches have been some of my happiest memories of past US Opens; win or lose, he always plays a beautiful game. He is among the players who, over the years, have made me see the excitement of the Qualifying matches and who have drawn me there annually, choosing the Qualies over the far more crowded and expensive main draw.
Today, Go allowed Marco Chuiudinelli very little room for error. The Swiss player could not get his foot in the door against his Japanese opponent's good serving and well-placed shots. The match flew by and Go, cheered on by the crowd, was soon basking in his victory.
More photos of Go Soeda from today:
Above: Go signing autographs...
...and meeting his fans.
Nicolas Mahut (above), a mainstay on the international tennis stage since turning pro in 2000, was today facing up-and-comer Ramakumar Ramanathan of India. Like Leonardo Mayer, who played a great match here on Tuesday, Mahut has slipped down the rankings just far enough that he has to qualify this time around.
Mahut had vociferous support from the crowd and, although Ramamathan pulled off some impressive shots - and took the second set in a tie-breaker - the Frenchman held on for the win.
Mahut's young son was courtside for the match and kept calling out "Allez, papa!". It was charming, at least for the first one hundred times.
I was just heading towards the exit to catch the train when a beautiful breeze kicked up. I stopped randomly at the nearest court and watched a bit of the match between Frank Dancevic and Stephane Robert.
I recalled an incident from 2 or 3 years ago when Dancevic had an on-court meltdown over what he thought was a bad line-call. It happened again today - though as a less hysterical level - just during the few minutes I was watching. Chill, man. Everyone gets bad calls. Marco Chiudinelli thought he'd been deprived of a legitimate point during his match with Go Soeda earlier today and held up play as he unloaded on the chair umpire. What good did it do? Just keep playing and try to win, instead of whining.
My plan had been to stay on til the last matches of the day; I wanted to see Lukas Lacko and Duckhee Lee in action. But you've heard the phrase "twice-baked potato"...and that was how I was beginning to feel.
Heading home.
~ Oberon