The Open

I am a lazy tennis fan. I love the game, and spent many afternoons as a kid watching with the family, but I rarely get very excited each season until the quarters of Wimbledon. My good friend Rhonda is an active tennis fan. Once the Australian Open begins, she is off and running, and thankfully keeps me updated on what is going on. If I can get it together, I sometimes catch a few matches of the French Open, but usually completely space until things get rolling at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.

The 2007 US Open has ended. It was a blast this year, even though Roger Federer wins again (will anyone ever beat this guy? Sheesh!). I was worried that after Andre Agassi retired last year, I wouldn't be as excited about tennis this year, but there are plenty of great tennis players out there, and there was lots of great tennis played at the Open. Tommy Haas, James Blake, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick showed up and played amazing, fun matches. There were some good ladies matches too (hmm, do you notice a bias towards cute boys here?).

Due to all the rain last year, and a very generous Cousin this year, I was able to go three times the first week. I finally got to see Venus and Nadal play (and Jim and I were stalked by a Praying Mantis during our visit to Ashe). Rhonda clued me in to Djokovic and Santoro, and we got to see both of them play the day we went. They both played matches later in the tournament that made me happy I had seen them in person. They are both very entertaining in their own ways.

This week at work I had a guy tell me he turned down free tickets to go to the Open because he wasn't really a tennis fan. I tell you all right now. If you have any appreciation for sports, and you get a chance to go, DO NOT TURN IT DOWN. The US Open is a celebration of the solo athlete, and makes us New Yorkers very proud. It is not a snooty, exclusive experience. The USTA has made it fairly accessible to just about everyone, and even if you end up in the nosebleeds in Ashe, or get grounds passes, you get to see lots of great tennis and experience a friendly and communal atmosphere. They even let the Day Session people stick around and watch the evening matches on the big screens. Trust me on this, there are all kinds who show up for the fun.

I very much missed my comrade in arms, Fran, during my visits to the Open this year. Fran, I hope you know how much I missed you this year. And hopefully, last year was not our last time trolling the grounds for the hottest, AHEM, I mean, the most talented players we can find. Two of our current favorites:

As Rhonda would say: America, F*** Yeah! (Hee!!)

Tooting of the horn...

I would like to publicly thank Amy over at Remote Access for asking me to do a recap of Jericho, episode One If By Land, and for liking my South Park Jack Bauer enough to post it on her 24 site, Blogs4Bauer. She is a big fan of television, and two of my favorite shows, 24 and Jericho.