!89217740 Mornin', everyone. I'm hitting the road for Maryland early, so this will be brief. In Indianapolis, Frankie Dancevic, the pride of Niagara Falls (the Canadian side) is in the semifinals, and looking to beat two of three Americans (his next opponent, Sam Querrey and, potentially, the winner of the other semi between Robby Ginepri and Wayne Odesnik) in order to bag his first ATP tour title. As much as I like Tire Boy (Dancevic), I'm grooving on this minor resurgence of American tennis - you've got to take what you can get, right?
Perhaps of greater note is the news that neither David Nalbandian nor Mario Ancic is entered in the U.S. Open. Nalbandian, in particular, will be missed (or not), given that he's gone deep in the tournament a number of times, and hard courts are his surface of choice. This is certainly going to make life easier for the Federers, Nadals, and Roddicks of this world.
It struck me today that this post-Wimbledon lull is lengthier and more. . . noticeable. . . than I remember it ever having been, which isn't' exactly great news for Kantarian's Folly, aka, the USO Series. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of having a serious run-up to major events. The Roland Garros Series (that's my name for it, even if it's roundly ignored by the powers that be) is the model in that regard. Granted, logistics and the calendar make it impossible to have a viable Australian Open Series, or Wimbledon Series, but everyone would benefit if the summer hard-court season in the US attracted the kind of attention the European spring circuit gets (among dedicated tennis fans, if not the general public).
Is this another sign of the decline of US tennis? Perhaps. But let's leave that topic for another day. Have a great weekend, everyone! Rosangel will be around tomorrow, and I'll see you all on Monday.
-- Pete