Mornin'. A quick housekeeping note: Those of you who want to kick back with a few drinks tonight are welcome to join us (meaning, whomever. . .) tonight at the Dublin House, an old-fashioned, old-school Irish bar on 79th St., just off Broadway, starting at 9 pm. Many readers and friends of this blog have a lot going on this weekend, including tickets for tonight's night session, so we're not sure how many folks will show up, but twenty-plus people RSVP'd at the recent Deuce Club post to say they'll at least try to make it. I'll certainly be there, but not until after the first match of the evening session.
The schedule at the US Open this morning is nicely front-loaded: Ana Ivanovic vs. Kim Clijsters to kick things off on Arthur Ashe, and Sam Querrey vs. Nicolas Almagro second on Louis Armstrong. I'm stuck at the computer until later in the day, which is frustrating, because Almagro vs. Querrey has all the earmarks, to me, of a bellweather match for the American.
But I will get out there in time to shoot a video this afternoon with Nick Bollettieri, and to catch the John Isner vs. Mikhail Youzhny match. Isner doesn't quite as tough an assignment as his pal, Querrey, but he's certainly going to have to step up his game from his last match, when Marco Chuidinelli, a guy who doesn't have much with which to hurt an opponent, provided all the pushback Isner could want.
Granted, Friday was an odd, even eerie day -- overcast, but so bright that it hurt your eyes, and stiflingly humid. It was not a good day to be either watching or playing tennis, because it invited torpor, and Long John clearly was in the grip of something you might call Isneritis. This player can be casual to a flaw, and he nearly let the match get away from him. He'll certainly have to be more animated, aggressive and focused today.
Isner's reliance on his serve can be a liability for him. It takes a fair amount of concentrated energy to hit a good serve, but not nearly the same amount as it does to keep on your toes, make a penetrating return (of the serve or your opponent's return), and take charge of a point off the next return. But it's going to be clear and cool today, especially by the time Isner takes the court at 7 P.M., so the ambient conditions will work for him. I just hope he'll recognize that it's time to get it on.
Anyway, feel free to comment on today's action here. See some of you tonight.
-- Pete