By Heidi Kim, TW Contributing Writer
I am the Typhoid Mary of five-setters, TW. Or so it felt for a while on Tuesday at the Open, when I popped into Andreas Seppi vs. Hyung-Taik Lee (he of the heroic five-set victory over Andy Murray last year) on Court 13 for a couple of sets. It later went to five, with Seppi pulling through over a Lee with a colossal knee brace on his right leg.
After roasting on Court 13 for a while, I bought a US Open cap and zipped over to Armstrong, running into Snoo Foo and settling in nicely for the last three sets of Tommy Haas vs. Richard Gasquet. Without any disrespect intended towards Seppi/Lee, the quality of the shotmaking in this match was an astounding change from the previous match I'd been watching. For the first time, I really understood the Federer comparisons, as Gasquet does seem to skim the ball back so beautifully and yet with such speed and placement. Haas was striking well, too, though I'd still say that this is yet another example of Gasquet being unable to win when he should have. The crowd was decidedly for Haas, including a bank of about six guys near me who were first doing a weird yippy chant, then "The Haas is on fire," and finally howling for Tommy when he changed his shirt. The words, "Yeah, baby, take it off!" were prominently featured. My "Allez Richard!" was not nearly as effective.
One $10 crepe later, I met up with Siva and his lovely wife and we caught the last of Jessica Moore-Melanie Oudin on Court 10 (two small blonde players, both battling it out quite valiantly with Moore coming through in 2). That was just the setup for Sebastien Grosjean and Paul-Henri Mathieu. Here, I felt, the crowd was decidedly for Mathieu, but I was all for Grosjean, whose tenacity I've admired in the past. He played wisely here, often just choosing to loop the ball back at Mathieu and wait for him to send it into the net. Which he did, frequently, and to his own growing irritation. Mathieu in 4, but I was over in Ashe watching Venus by then.
This was my first time at the night sessions, and thank you, James Blake, for making sure that I got my money's worth on the first night. Quick rundown: parade of champions was very nice, with BJK, Johnny Mac, and Federer probably getting the biggest applause for their entrances, but no question that when the faces flashed up on the screen for the intro, Federer got the most -- which actually surprised me. Crowd was slightly for Coco Vanderweghe in the Jankovic match, which I could only think is because Jankovic's fame isn't yet big enough to trump even an unknown American. Blake-Young, well, I won't retread except to say that Young played very well, Blake was uneven as all get-out, with his first serve still in Beijing, and the crowd was more for Young by the end. The J-Block got booed a couple of times and quieted down a bit -- yelling and clapping, but no chanting.
The night session on Tuesday was also fun, with another unsuspenseful women's match and then my first time watching Federer play live. I was able to sit with Tari and her friends for that match, and we enjoyed yelling for Fed. You can see the muscles in his back when he bends over to return serve all the way from the top of Ashe, which is just "inhuman," I said; "so hot," said Tari's friend.
All in all, yet another wonderful trip to the Open. I hope you all get to experience it someday; it really is a lot of fun, and the weather this year cooperated. I was freezing in Ashe on the first night, but the second day was less windy and I had my sunburn to heat me up. I got glimpses of Pete here and there; he's often running about making video for the website these days, as you all probably know.
US Open reports aside, this is, as usual, the off-topic thread. Please try to keep the match call threads clear and come here to chat.
And, as ever, email me photos, especially if you have any Open photos you'd like to share.