US Open Report 0831.Pub
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US OPEN REPORT August 31, 2006 Jerry Balsam My first visit to the 2006 US Open turned into a 12-hour day, and that was with a late start. As has become an annual tradition occa- sionally described in these pages (tennis- ontheline.com/us040901.htm), I was accom- panied by my young friend Gabriel. We waited nearly half an hour for a 7 train when we switched from the E at 74th Street, and then we stood in the security line for over half an hour at the South Gate of the National Tennis Center. (The line was even longer at the main entrance.) I’m not sure why it takes so much longer to examine the bags of US Open ticket-holders it does down the block at Shea Stadium, but the sight of people stand- ing in an endless, barely moving line is evi- dence that, at least in some ways, terror has won. The moral of the story for spectators: If Peer meditates. you can get in without carrying a bag, by all means do so (usopen.blogs.nytimes.com/? 5070&emc=eta1). You don’t see them slicing p=32). backhands, except for desperate gets. They are not frequent visitors to the net, either, but COURT 10 they can whack topspin groundstrokes all Shahar Peer (Israel) v. Martina Muller day. (Germany) By the time the third set was underway, When we finally got onto the grounds at the court was packed, both along the sides about 12:30 p.m., I went to Court 10, one of and in the section behind the court. We saw the two immediately next to the South Gate, Peer’s interesting habit, which must have while Gabriel went roaming to watch our old been ingrained by a sports psychologist if not pal Davide Sanguinetti play doubles. I arrived by her coach, Jose Higueras: between points, just in time to see Shahar Peer of Israel she turns her back to the court and closes her (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ws/ eyes for several seconds. The guess here is wtaq954.html) drop the second set of her sec- that she is visualizing the next point. In the ond-round match to Martina Muller of Ger- third set, visualization worked. Peer broke at many (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ws/ 30 in the 1-1 game and recovered from four wtam631.html). There are many breaks of break points to hold serve for 3-1. She con- serve in Peer’s match, and in the second set solidated her lead with a second break, abet- Muller won 50% of Peer’s service points, ted by two big backhands, for 4-1. Thereafter, breaking three times, while Peer won 46% of the players held serve, and Peer closed out a Muller’s, breaking twice. 6-1 5-7 6-2 win. Things would get more inter- Both players are devotees of what David esting for Peer on Friday, when she came Foster Wallace calls the power-baseline game back from 1-5 in the third set and fought off (www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/ five match points to upset Francesca playmagazine/20federer.html? Schiavone. Whether she’ll have similar suc- ex=1156651200&en=5fc4ca8264a47fa7&ei= cess against Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Round of 16 is questionable. Gasquet’s tactics might not have caught up with the maturation of his strokes. He tried COURT 10 several ill-advised drop shots. More signifi- Richard Gasquet (France) v. Gilles Simon cant, perhaps, he camps out way behind the (France) baseline, which blunts the effectiveness of his I stayed on Court 10 for the match be- shots and gives his opponents more time to tween countrymen Richard Gasquet recover. His game is beautiful to watch, and (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ his serve much stronger than when I’d seen atpg628.html) and Gilles Simon him in the juniors a few years ago, but — (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ even barring injury — he is not at the atpsd32.html). In the warm-up, one immedi- Federer-Nadal level. Then again, who is? ately noticed that Simon has a hitch on his Arthur Ashe Stadium volleys, taking too big a backswing, but a Rafael Nadal (Spain) v. Luis Horna (Peru) bigger serve than Gasquet. These observa- tions remained accurate till midway in the In the early rounds of the Open, my next first set, when Gasquet started cranking up stop, Ashe, is not exactly the place to be. The his serve to 130 mph. That’s not quite fair, is matches are not it? Gasquet moves effortlessly, has the best- terribly competi- looking backhand on the men’s tour, and is tive, and the also serving bombs? seats above the two tiers of lux- Simon seemed ury boxes are far impressed with removed from Gasquet’s game, too, the action. I paid and dropped the first a courtesy call on two sets with alacrity. Ashe, rejoining I moved on before Gabriel, to see Gasquet completed the conclusion of his 6-0 6-2 6-3 vic- Rafael Nadal’s Gabriel and Horna. tory. The futility of Simon’s efforts was underscored just after (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ he’d won his first Gasquet backhand. atpn409.html) four-set win over Luis Horna game, breaking (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ Gasquet’s serve in the atph390.html). Horna was brave and swung third game of the sec- away at everything, but Nadal is Nadal. The ond set. With Simon final score was 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-2. serving at 0-15, Gasquet popped a Grandstand string. He immediately Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v. Mardy Fish started slicing all his (US) groundstrokes just to I was at the Grandstand, one of the best keep the ball on the venues at the Open, for the entire match be- court. Eventually, tween Novak Djokovic (www.usopen.org/ Simon hit wide. Simon serve. en_US/bios/ms/atpd643.html) and Mardy Fish (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ 2 atpf339.html). Djok- and closed out the ovic is a great talent set in the ninth game who may rise to the with an ace. In the top levels of the game. fourth set, Djokovic He and Fish are both saved a break point good to watch, be- at 3-3 and limped cause they are not an- briefly after doing chored to the baseline. the splits in the tenth Fish in particular was game. At 6:25, three comfortable coming hours and five min- forward, concluding utes into the match 44 of the match’s 292 and just before the points at the net. But tiebreak, the lights Fish. Djokovic also was un- went on. Fish, look- afraid of the net, and Djokovic. ing for a fifth set, saw his hopes unravel when their appealing styles his forehand went long at 3-3 in the tiebreak. gave the match some variety. Djokovic followed the mini-break with his third consecutive ace to go to 5-3 and ex- There were no breaks of serve in the first tended to 6-3 when Fish could not return his set. The key point came with Fish serving at next serve. The serve returned to Fish, facing 4-5 in the tiebreak. His forehand half volley three match points. Djokovic needed only stood up enough for Djokovic to pass with a one, as Fish’s forehand volley caught the net. backhand down the line, and this mini-break The final score was 7-6(5) 6-4 3-6 7-6(3). In cost Fish the set. In the second set, with Fish all, Fish won more points than Djokovic, 148 serving at 2-2, deuce, Djokovic scored with a to 144. In the two tiebreaks, however, Djok- crosscourt backhand pass and then pocketed ovic won 14 points and Fish only 8. the break — the second and last of the match — when Fish netted a backhand. Djokovic Court 13 saved two break points in the next game for a Yoni Erlich/Andy Ram (Israel) v. Jesse Le- 4-2 lead. With Djokovic serving at 4-3, Fish vine/Sam Querrey (United States) reached 30-40, and the fans chanted: “Break, break, break.” Djokovic got back to deuce Jesse Levine (www.usopen.org/en_US/ with an outstanding backhand pass crosscourt bios/ms/atpl799.html) is nearly a foot shorter and saved another break point when a Fish than his partner, Sam Querrey forehand return of serve sailed long. With (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ms/ Djokovic serving for the set at 5-4 40-30, he atpq927.html), and yet the American team hit an unreturnable backhand down the line featured Levine, who is 30 years to the day that was called good. Fish protested vigor- my junior (www.juniortennis.com/ajt/ ously to the chair umpire, shouting and slam- playerinfo.php?player_id=49), serving first in ming his racquet, but the capacity to chal- each set. Maybe they like having Querrey’s lenge calls via replay is available for now wingspan at the net, though I must say that only in Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums. Levine serves fairly hard for a short fellow. Thus, Djokovic was up two sets. When I arrived at Court 13, Levine and Quer- rey were in the process of closing out the first Fish found life in the third set, breaking set against their seventh-seeded adversaries, for a 3-1 lead when Djokovic double faulted. Yoni Erlich (www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ He saved a break point in the seventh game ms/atpe152.html) and this year’s mixed dou- 3 bles champion at earlier in the day at the Peer-Muller match, Wimbledon, Andy was unbeknownst to me at this match, too.