Tennis

[jon abbey]

breakthrough or fluke by Murray or somewhere in between? I'd say the last, at least the final was three out of five sets and not two out of three like all the other rounds.

[crawjo]

I thought Federer looked a little bit sluggish. I think the result was more about his poor play than anything else.

[billygomberg]

I didn't see the match but am extraordinarily surprised not so much by the result (good for Murray, finally) but by the scoreline (wtf Roger Federer). this really was a once-in-a-lifetime type of win for him, so hooray. the hope would be this is indicative of better results in big matches to come?

[billygomberg]

Djokovic made a decent stand in the 2nd set, but oooof Federer with the 1st set bagel...he's looking ready to roll over all of Queens in a week.

[billygomberg]

standing around in torrential rain for two hours, barely one hour into match play, was a lot of fun yesterday.

edit: what kind of garbage sentence is that. I went to the Open yesterday. it rained. oy.

[crawjo]

Tsonga loses and Roddick says he's going to retire after this tournament. I think Roddick would have 3-5 Grand Slams if he had played in any era other than this one. Federer just had his number on grass and hard court, though Roddick almost cracked him in 2009.

[billygomberg]

Tsonga loses and Roddick says he's going to retire after this tournament. I think Roddick would have 3-5 Grand Slams if he had played in any era other than this one. Federer just had his number on grass and hard court, though Roddick almost cracked him in 2009.

if Roddick was maybe 3 years older there would have been a solid rivalry b/w him and Lleyton Hewitt (it may not have been particularly pleasant, given their attitudes, but there would have been good tennis) - but yeah, the reality is he ran right into the Federer era.

Tsonga looked like garbage yesterday, but not worse than Venus Williams, who was pretty awful against Kerber in the night session (where Federer played his match half-asleep and still took three sets in about 1.5 hrs).

[jon abbey]

one of the best sets you'll ever see from Djokovic and Del Potro in the second set, something like 90 points and 90 minutes long, capped by a ridiculous point to give Novak a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker and a two set lead soon after.

so it's Murray/Berdych and Djokovic/Ferrer, amazing how unsexy those matchups are considering all four players are in the top six seeds (so top seven including Nadal).

[billygomberg]

one of the best sets you'll ever see from Djokovic and Del Potro in the second set, something like 90 points and 90 minutes long, capped by a ridiculous point to give Novak a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker and a two set lead soon after.

so it's Murray/Berdych and Djokovic/Ferrer, amazing how unsexy those matchups are considering all four players are in the top six seeds (so top seven including Nadal).

yesterday in general was one of the best days of tennis I caught all year. The last set of Tipsarevic/Ferrer is worth a replay. The 2nd set of Del Potro/Djokovic was just brutal, intense 90 minutes (took Del Potro almost 20 minutes to hold serve for the tiebreak).

[crawjo]

Once again the US Open men's final will be on a Monday. Kind of interested to see if Ferrer can close out the first set against Djokovic and get to a final, as that would guarantee us a first time major champion. I would also be amused if Murray managed to win a major title without having to defeat Federer, Nadal, or Novak.

I was also kind of pulling for Berdych today. I kind of feel for those second-tier players (and arguably Murray himself is second tier) who have never won a Major, a group which would also include Ferrer and Tsonga.

[mono tony]

murray-berdych was spectacular to watch w/all of the cloud movement overhead and general chaos. casual tennis watcher here, the last few days have been excellent. pulling for ferrer, as djokovic is just super-human

[jon abbey]

ridiculous to not let Ferrer/Djokovic play on a second court at the same time as Murray/Berdych, I can't overstate what a ridiculous and unfair decision this was.

[billygomberg]

ridiculous to not let Ferrer/Djokovic play on a second court at the same time as Murray/Berdych, I can't overstate what a ridiculous and unfair decision this was.

Mary Jo Fernandez spoke w/some tournament official about this afterward and his response was basically "we didn't consider that" - which goes to show just how boneheaded these people are.

[jon abbey]

they didn't want to violate their TV deal (even though they've definitely done it in the last few years before under similar conditions), fucking absurd.

Murray couldn't have gotten more gifts this tournament:

no Nadal
Tsonga goes out early (Murray would have seen him in the quarters)
Berdych takes out Federer (Murray's semi matchup)
the close to unplayable conditions yesterday STRONGLY favored Murray's quickness over Berdych's power
now he'll get an extra day rest for the final

[jon abbey]

Djokovic restoring order so far today, just demolishing Ferrer 6-1, 6-4, 3-0.

[billygomberg]

best women's final in years. first 3-set final at the US Open since '95.

[Enforcer]

Murray!

[billygomberg]

Murray!

gotta give to the scot - he played and played and played for it tonight. classic effort from both guys, consistently amazing rallies.

[crawjo]

I think Djokovic ran out of steam in that fifth set. Very happy for Murray; he's definitely paid his dues getting beaten up by the Big 3 over the last few years and deserves this win.

[crawjo]

Jon must have been really busy with Amplify not to be doing his annual reports from late night in Melbourne. Still only up to the third round. Seems like a huge break for Djokovic that Nadal didn't play here and thus put Murray and Federer against each other in a potential semi.