Hey Everyone. While sitting in front of a giant air-conditioner in our apartment in New York City the other night, reviewing some of my recent conversations with Pete Sampras, I was forced to laugh out loud when I came across these comments:
It's funny, but it seems to me that the US hard court circuit, and US Open Series, really does unfold in this leisurely, somnolent, summery way. The dog days arrive at just about the same time as the tournaments, and that kind of takes the edge off things. During the clay-court season, I always get the sense that everything is building toward the French Open in a linear, electric way. By contrast, the US hard court season really does seem more like a road trip that's kind of fun for its own sake, and not nearly as tied to the ultimate destination of New York. It's sort of like National Lampoon's ATP Summer Vacation. Maybe it's because Cincinnati and Indianapolis are a more different from New York than Hamburg or Rome are from Paris.
Can't you just picture Andy Roddick , shirtless, pedaling a spider bike with a banana seat and a baseball card clothespinned to the front fork, toward the a stadium shimmering in the heat, across a long, empty stretch of tract homes and fields?
As much of a fixture as the Legg Mason tournament is, I don't really get into the swing of the hard court season until the big Canadian nationals and Cincinnati tournament. This is a mistake and an injustice, I know. For the record the site of the Legg Mason, the William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Center (man, couldn't they have come up with something just a little less evocative of a tight sphincter muscle?) is a great little venue, and surrounding Rock Creek Park will help any visitor understand that Washington D.C. is really a city built precariously on a steamy marsh.
This will be your OT post for Saturday folks, feel free to discuss the Acura Classic, Sopot and any other WTA or ATP event here as well.