By Heidi Kim, TW Contributing Writer
Hey TWibe! A lot of business here today. I attended the US Open draw ceremony this morning with Pete and got to enjoy the insane draw methodology in person. As the names are drawn and called, you can barely keep up with which number seed is going on which number line. There was a bit of a kerfluffle in the men’s draw, when the last seed left did not match the last coin in the trophy (held by two cute kids). By looking at the photographer’s reel, they were able to retrace their steps and coins and find out which player had been accidentally skipped, filling in the empty lines in order. Luckily, since they do them in sets, we didn’t have to retrace the entire draw. Yours truly got to draw a coin placing Marin Cilic in his current slot. I don’t know if I did him any favors.
The ceremony itself was enjoyable, with a retrospective video showing many of the champions. As you may know. opening ceremony will feature 40 years of champions in the 40 years of the Open Era, with all except for the late Arthur Ashe scheduled to be present. (I look forward to that! I’ll be there that night.) Virginia Wade was at the draw and told us that she won $6,000 as the champ. Arlen Kantarian pointed out with a chuckle that this year’s US Open Series winners, Nadal and Safina, will be going for $2.5 million. Jim Courier and Katrina Adams were on hand to comment on the draw; as you know, the top half of the women’s draw is quite heavy, with the Williams sisters in the same quarter, which is probably the big story. Since commenting on the draw is probably in Your Call threads, I won’t get into any more of their analysis here. Photos when I get a chance to upload.
Next, more US Open business. If you are planning to attend the Open, please email me so that I can compile a list. If you already have, thanks. We’ll hope to arrange get-togethers on days with critical mass, so please indicate which days if you haven’t already.
A reminder about the Talk About Tennis tailgate from regular poster GV Girl: