Us Open day 1 - Highlights

Youzhny d. Mathieu 26 75 62 60
The 2006 Us Open semifinal Michael Youzhny defeated for the 5th time in 6 h2hs Paul-Henri Mathieu in the Psycho Match of the Day. At 2-5, with 10 errors and 3 winners, the Russian launched his racquet against the bench before a solid PHM (4 aces and 6 points to the net in 7 attempts in the first set) closed 62. But the Russian broke immediately in the second and caused some decisive regrets in the French saving two break points and go leading 42. The 10th game could become the key moment of the match. Youzhny, leading 54, committed three double faults handing the game to PHM, who, in the next one, gave back the courtesy. Youzhny with an astonishing winning backhand went 65 and sealed the set 75. Since then the match had no history. Youzhny won 26 75 62 60 with 49 winners and showing an increaing consintency from the back and to the net (20 points). Too many errors, 41, instead affected the French transforming only 53% of points with his first serve. Definitely not enough.

Federer d. Britton 61 63 75
Understandably moved, last year's junior Us Open runner-up devin Britton lost the first set 61 in just 18 minutes. But the rest of the match wasn't a stroll in the park for the number 1 anyway. Devin, n.1370 (so twice lower than Chris Eaton when he shocked the world not only for his Vauxhall with duck-taped rearview mirror but for his victory over Boris Pashanski at Wimbledon), notwithstanding an often uncontrollable forehand, showed glimpses of aggressive returns and smooth net-play leaving good impressions about his future. Even more, he broke twice King Roger. Firstly to go up 3-1 in the second: he played the best game, probably, of his life. breaking to love with two surpsising forehand cross-court winner.

But emotion wasn't a good company and he lost immediately his serve, and the set, because of a streak of 12 points to love for Roger, profiting from an inopportune double fault from Devin in the ninth game and clinching the set in 29 minutes with twi stinging returns.

Britton wanted to make his dream last more than is possible and mixing courage and inconscience, started serving well, mixing them up to good effect, and sometimes seemed unbeatable at the net; but he suffered when he had to stoop. His dream culminated in the break to 4-3 when he forced Federer on the back foot and into a series of mistakes, as the netted backhand giving Britton the game. But he wasted his chance: in the next game he saw a forehand volley fly long and mishit a forehand to 4-4. Federer never looked back, and sealed the success with a crosscourt forehand.


Definitely, even if he was given a bit of scare, above all in the third, Britton seemed too inconsistent to sustain a threat, but he showed to be more than a sparring partners and to have encouraging skills for his future career.

Isner d. Hanescu 61 76 76
Hanescu was bewildered for a set and a half. Lost the first 6-1, he was broken to 1-2 in the second after a sloppy and unfortunate game: Isner missed a sitter on the first point after getting a fortunate net cord, then Hanescu serves a double, and missed a volley on the break point, conquered by the American with a forehand approach shot. But a shocking smash by Isner who went long gave Hanescu a key break at 3-3 and the set was decided by a dramatic tiebreak. Hanescu dashed 4-1 and went 5-2 after an easy shot netted by the American. But a double fault and a series of not converted set points restored the score at 6-6. The Romanian failed another set point on his serve and a net cord gave the American one at 9-8. Nothing. Another chance for Hanescu (at 10-9) but this time he hit long. He went 11-10 up, but Isner saved the setpoint with an overpowering forehand bouncing on the line and finally sealed the tiebreak 16-14. In the third they went with serve until a second tiebreaker.

And Hanescu conquered, as he did last time, the first point against serve, but Isner took it straight back with a nice pass. Isner flight 6-3 up, but hanescu with a net approach and a good serve reduced the arrears to 5-6. But Isner closed at the first attempt. In the second round he could face Andy Roddick for a revenge of the recent highly contested Washington semifinal.

Blake d. Hidalgo 61 64 75
Easy success for James Blake, playing just after the ceremony in honour of Andre Agassi. A bit more of a practice session for the American, afflicted by a series of light injuries during the season. After an easy first set, they went on with serve until 4-4, then Blake broke at his sixth opportunity after forcing the Spaniard to deuce with a thunderous forehand down the line which the Spaniard can only slice into the net; another error by the long-blond haired Spaniard handed Blake the second set.

Hidalgo tried to play at higher standards than usual, but cracked down to 3-4. A bit of performance anxiety, probably, affected Blake who squandered a forehand long to lose the advantage to 5-5. It was the swan song for Hidalgo, though, blown away by Blake's power and conviction. A rasping forehand winner followed by a precise shot into the corner gave Blake the possibility to serve for the match. And he easily hold to come through to a second round against Olivier Rochus.

In the night session easy and largely predictable wins in straights sets for Andy Roddick (61 64 62 to the Bjorn Phau) and "Rusty" Hewitt, 60 63 63 to Alves.

Mario Ancic to leave tennis?

Last July, Mario Ancic hired in the law office of Mary Turudic, sister of the famous Croatian judge Ivana Turudica, in Zagreb and recently he's seen in the building of Commercial Court. Ancic is working as an intern, and his working hours turns on increasing doubts about his return to professional tennis.

The gangly 6-5 passed a brief but extremely intense lustre in top tier tournaments, revealing himself in 2002 when, as a wildcard, he upset Roger Federer, then with a reputation of rising star after his success on Pete Sampras the year before. Ancic remained the last to defeat the Swiss at the Championships until the dramatic 2008 final.



Ancic grew to be known as "Baby Goran", a quite odd nickname because he definitely also grew an inch taller than Goran Ivanisevic, the national hero, the first to establish Split as the natural habitat for tall and nationalistic serve-and-volleyers. Mario and Goran are no strangers. Mario was one ballboy in a Davis Cup tie to his predecessor and he practised with Goran from the age of 10. He's right-handed, contrarily from his hero, but picked several movements and gestures from his mentor.

The semifinal at the All England Club in 2004 and the decisive contribute to Croatian title in 2005 Davis Cup in hostile surroundings (in Slovakia Ancic clinched the maiden victory winning the decisive rubber against Michal Mertinak in straight sets) now seem like a distant memory.

When everything was going great, when he was in great shape, in fact, destiny put him down with mononucleosis and a shoulder injury that nearly ended his career in 2007. For the Croat with thunderous serve and outstanding wingspan, it became necessary a change of perspective.

""When I was diagnosed, I knew it was going to take long to recover the first time, and I knew there would be a lot of these side effects because tennis is the No. 1 individual sport in terms of being physically demanding," Ancic said. "I can't hide. I just have to move on and every time it happens, try to come back stronger mentally and physically, to fight against this like I do on the tennis court. But I hope this is the last time".

Supported by a series of letter of people affected with mono, Ancic found an unusual, for a sportsman, way to channel his energy during the forced stop. He graduated in law from the University of Split with a thesis about tennis and the ATP organization. "I'm very proud of that; it took a lot of work. I show tennis from a little bit of a different perspective. In my research, I understood more things that were going on behind the scenes. [The ATP] was great for me. They gave me documents. They were not afraid that anything goes public. I talked about the players' medical care, the pension fund that kicks off after the career, the structure, the membership, how it works. Being out of tennis, it was a huge help to be focused on something else" he said in an interview to ESPN in March, when he addressed a sports law class at the Harvard Law School.

Ancic, down to n.136, tried to come back to top level. He reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2008 and was about to head towards the Beijing Olympics. But a relapse came at the wrong time. Having lost in an opening-round at the Canada Masters and having skipped Cincinnati Masters, as the fatigue intensified and the weight loss mounted, to about 15 pounds in total, Mario withdrew from Beijing and later from the Us Open.

His agent, IMG's Olivier van Lindonk, said he is a consummate professional who, not surprisingly given his academic interests, "is always closely involved with finalizing and approving his deals. He is a client that is aware of all the details in his contracts and likes to 'keep me sharp". And hasn't had any problem in finding an answer to the question every athlete ask himself after the last day of his career: what will I do next?

Good luck, Mario.

The triumph of patchwork tennis

With a creative fusion of different styles Andy Murray has interrupted the duopoly Federer-Nadal becoming the first player different from them, when both present, to occupy one of the first two spots in a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon 2005.


Multiplicity in unity. Andy Murray is the paradigm of a new tennistic poliphony, of a gestaltic synthesis of different influences and characters, styles and spurs generating an ensemble divergent and probably better in quality and quantity from the mechanical sum of the parts. He's a natural born showman, he speaks to his public with grimaces and snarls, with sulks and outbursts. He's genuine and spontaneous, on- and out-courts, and as a youngsters faced the inconveniences of journalistic misunderstandings.

In 2006, after a match during the Auckland tournament, he said that with seven breaks out of 12 games in the first set he and his opponent were serving like women. He said that jokingly, but many British tabloids' back pages wrote he was sexist.

He's a showman converted to the idea that theatres, and not the prosaic tennis courts are the ideal place to host a show. Andy has developed and brought on the threshold of perfection an hybrid style sacrificing talent for success, sacrifing a bit of beauty in the name of profit without erasing aesthetics from the horizon of his game. He's the most precise symbol of what we could define "patchwork tennis".

His rounded strokes have a Spanish perfume (probable inheritance of his Barcelonian period of practice) even if they are as far from the pronounced lob of the first generation of Spanish players as from the heavy 5,000 rpm rotations by Rafa Nadal. Murray's tennis is varied but sure, he paints a seducing and confusing spiderweb forcing even the most navigated to lost themselves in it. Among half-volley passing-shots and his trademark dropshot, Murray entangles for his displayed capability to mould his temper to better pursue his destiny, his cause, his goal.

In the perennial fight between es and ego, between a stubborn and rebellion-prone nature on one side and and the desire-need to be a good boy, at least on court, to live up with the expectations of an entire nation who wants him to be the new Fred Perry (or at least the last, in order of time, of the new Fred Perrys), responsibility won. Murray is an anti-hero, like the Swede, protagonist of "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth; like him he transformed into a professional success a two-faced personality, sharpened during the years.

He feels tennis, more than simply play it, preserving from his youth a sharp tactical and strategical instinct. At 11 years old he and his twin Jamie went to the European Badminton championships at Kelvin Hall. He seemed not to pay attention to a match involving the then n.1 in Europe, and suddenly asked his mother if they could go away, with a set remaining. He had already realized how to beat the n.1: play high on his backhand corner, and close the point with a drop shot. A scheme that gave him many satisfactions in his career as a pro.

A career inspired and governed by the omnipresent mother Judy, who didn't begrudge harsh critics about his son's game but strictly direct a Barnum of coaches, trainers and psychologists hired to channel Murray's instinct and talent. And whereas Brad Gilbert, the most expensive coach in the world at £750,000 a year, failed, Miles MacLagan, an ex journeyman professionist and anonymous tennis players (his best ranking was n.172), triumphed. This Zambian-born Scottish man, known because he guided Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett to become the couple n.4 in the doubles ranking, is "the quiet man" who discovered the secret of success.

Sponsored by (what else?) Judy Murray, Miles Maclagan initially seemed destined to a relationvery similar to the Mats Wilander-Marat Safin connection. Instead, although the premises were the same (mercurial player and calm coach), the result is very different from the few-months long Russian-Sweden experience.

Since 2007, MacLagan shaped a true champion, meant to answer to the yet unsolved existential questions accomunating every tennis fan throughout the Uk: How long can a nation fail in his dreams for? How long can a nation bet on the wrong horse (see Tim Henman) being constantly disappointed because of lack of timing (i.e. start of Federer-era) or "performance anxiety" (i.e. 2003 Wimbledon quarterfinal lost to Sebastien Grosjean)?

Hoping to see Andy Murray lifting up the trophy in front of the Royal Box British fans forgive him even his anti-English speaking before the 2006 World Cup in Germany ("I could support everyone but England"). So the revelation of his Metternichian belief that Great Britain is no more than a geographical entity passed away without touching or mark his deep link with the community of fans; the same who never forgived Rusedski, who won less than Murray, his Canadian origins.

Last year comeback against Richard "Lionheart" Gasquet and this year sweated and unusually nocturnal exploit against Wawrinka made him surrounded by an epic light, also if last year he surrendered lifting the proverbial white flag against Nadal and some months ago he was defeated by an inswinging performance anxiety more than an extraordinary Andy Roddick who went a backhand volley-far from winning the Championships.

His consistent results on every surface, the recent triumph in Montreal has confirmed that the Scotster is on the right way, and indicates that numbers and hutilitarism have their own reasons that aesthetics doesn't know; and the first subdued the last. Because no-one take to the field to play violino.

I Am Sam

Profile of Sam Querrey, the 2009 Us Open Series winner

When he turned professional in 2006, Sam Querrey certainly didn't believe that in three years he would have been capable of winning the Us Open Series, entering in the top-30 and starting the last seasonal Grand Slam tournament as a seeded player. But all theese dreams made real. The laid-back Californian guy, talented as a junior player but not enough skilled to be defined as "The Next", as Americans too often label promising youngsters, finishing sometimes to ruin their future, as with Donald Young, is extremely improved during the last year.

The 6-6's serve remains his preferred weapon (with 86% of service games won) but his backhand is better and his more aggressive returns are opening him new opportunities. Speed will surely never be his atout, but even his stamina and movement on the court are gaining efficacity. "I'm smarter on the court now and making better decision", said Querrey after his resounding victory over Andy Roddick at the Cincinnati Masters 1000. A particular meaningful success for Sam, who always suffered playing against guy whom he's grown and practised with: Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and James Blake. In fact, he was 1-9 in the h2hs before beating the Nebraska-born Wimbledon finalist.



"He's gotten a lot faster," Roddick said after that match. "He's moving a lot better. He's not playing himself out of points quite as much. He's got a better sense of when to pull the trigger and when to stay in points"

Also Patrick McEnroe his aware of his tactical qualities. Prior to the 2008 semifinal with Spain, when Querrey debuted in Davis Cup as a substitute for James Blake losing to Rafa Nadal, the team captain was used him as a practice partner from 2005. “He understands how to play,” the Davis Cup captain said then. “There is a difference between knowing how to hit a ball and knowing how to play tennis. He knows how to play tennis”.

Nowe he hopes to repeat the astonishing Juan Martin Del Potro's winning streak that revealed to the world the value of the Argentinian. But Querrey hasn't decent results at Grand Slam level, his best being the fourth round finish in Flushing Meadows last year, without counting the quarterfinals in the 2005 junior tournaments at the Us Open and the Roland Garros.

Far from being the same dreamer who once entered on court with a gaping hole in his sneaker, Querrey maintain an entertained and relaxed mood that accomunates him with another American big server, John Isner. Since his decision to play professionally, Querrey is followed throughout the world by a group of his former Thousand Oaks High School mates, who noisily cheered during the Us Open last year. It was easy to identify themselves because they had Samurai written on his chest. Samurai is also Querrey's nickname, and the reference to Japanese guards hide an interesting and curious link with the Californian guy: translating from Japanese into English, in fact, it means "to serve", that's the principal Querrey's specialty.

Besides, his consistency in groundstrokes make him an atypical American player, not so necessarily offensive and not so reluctant to play on the clay. Last year, in fact, he became a factor at the Montecarlo masters, defeating the top-10s Carlos Moya and Richard Gasquet and resulting the first "stars and striped" player to reach the quarterfinals in five years there.

Querrey received also the stigmate of real player by Andre Agassi after a period of practice with him, but never lost his image of simple and nice guy. He lived in Thousand Oaks, with his parents and his younger sister, Helen, and maintained a storied 1974 Volkswagen van. His grandfather, Jacque Cohen traveled to Europe with his grandmother, Nelda, to get a Bug in 1969 and each of his parents had one of it before married. The first car they bought as a couple was a VW Rabbit convertible in 1984. was his grandfather Ed to buy Sam the 1974 van, when he was old enough to gain his driving licence; Sam wanted it painted in Electric Blue with a white roof. The van has a peculiarity: The odometer has been forever stuck on 61,000 miles.

Probably less than the ones necessary to Sam Querrey to arrive being a big tennis player and build credibility. Us Open could be his rendez-vous with the Fate, the possible turning-point for an ascendant career. The beginning of a beautiful friendship with the rarefied air to breathe in the top positions.

Four lessons we learn in Cincinnati

1-God bless Father Roger
The Swiss champion didn’t seem too much diverted by his one-month old twin daughters not to win his 16th Masters series title (in 25 finals), only one less than Andre Agassi, leader of this particular ranking. The surgical demolition of a slightly absentminded Murray and of Novak Djokovic are important signs of health, even more meaninngful with six days remaining from the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, where he could face his nemesis Rafa Nadal, before the final after four years.

2-Can Andy repeat last year final in Flushing Meadows?
Probably, yes. He’s deservedly number 2, the first different from Rafa and Roger to occupy one of the firt two ranking position after Lleyton Hewitt, and on hard courts he’s on his preferred habitat. But the lack of killer instinct he showed in the second set against Federer, when the benefits of his throwback tennis were cancelled by a series of errors in the key points, culminated in the final double fault, left a shadow of doubt. In Cincinnati he revealed his talent to the world years ago when, far from the top-10, defeated the Swiss in straight sets. Now his winning streak of five matches against the number 1 abruptly stopped. In his preferred Slam, where he 12 months ago he conquered the first final in a major, he will have to handle to increasing expectations, as at Wimbledon. And everyone knows how it ended there.

3-Suspended judgement about Rafa
A Masters Series semifinal after months of forced inactivity would be a bright result for anyone else but not for Rafa Nadal. The Mallorcan left a disappointing impression in the first set against Novak Djokovic and only his proverbial pride and fighting istinct sustained him in the second avoiding a more outstanding exit. He’s not on his surface, that’s true, but the lack of dinamicity, the decreasing efficacity of his most dangerous weapon could oblige him to almost superhuman efforts to defend the points conquered with the semifinal reached last year.

4-Novak bites the dust...again
The limbic season of the Serb seem not to have an end. He’s quite good, plays quite well, but this isn’t enough for the player considered an year ago the most dangerous rival for Roger and Rafa. But the racquet change (definitely a mistake), and a crack in self-confidence, exacerbated after the dramatic semifinal in Montecarlo against the Mallorcan, made his game become excessively passive and defensive. His bright display of strokes against Nadal was a swan song before a one-sided final. An year ago, in Cincinnati, he surrendered to Murray. This time against Roger Federer. But his attitude was the same, and the absence of tactical and technical relevant progress are convincing many that his Australian triumph and the Us Open final reached 2 years ago will remain the brightest stars in a left undone career.