U.S. Open Notebook: Best Racquet Smashes, "Beating Them Sexy" & More

We're at the halfway point of the 2015 U.S. Open, a good time to mark the most notable offbeat happenings on and off the courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.

STREET STYLING  LZ Granderson led an amusing ESPN spot in which U.S. Open fans sidled up to large prints of Serena Williams' slamming styles over the years and offered their critiques. "Beat Them Sexy" instantly became your loyal Spin keeper's new on-court strategy.

NO SWEAT!  You, too, could be the superfan who pats Rafael Nadal on the back and then takes that brief one-sided interaction to the next level.

BEST RACQUET SMASHES  The top abuse of axe on the men's side comes from Novak Djokovic, who took a crafty and different approach:

No one can top CoCo Vandeweghe in the women's game at this major event. Her repetition of message is some kind of admirable:

BEST LOCKER-ROOM DANCE Victoria Duval fell in qualifying this year, but she wins the top (not so) private dancer award.

TOP INTRUDER  Squirrels, man. Namely the one that interrupted the knock-down, drag-out doubles affairs between Jelena Jankovic and Aleksandra Krunic against Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova.

SALUTING BUD  Inimitable journalist Bud Collins found the media center at the U.S. Open named after him this week, a beyond-deserved tribute. "I'm lost for words," Collins said. "It's sacrilegious." Elsewhere in a *New York Times* write-up: "On Saturday, in the president's box at Arthur Ashe Stadium, he watched another Roger Federer ballet-in-sneakers performance and turned to Mike Lupica of The Daily News to say, 'Where else would you want to be right now?'"

"ARMCHAIR QUARTERBACK" AWARD Maria Sharapova had to bail on this final major of the season due to a leg injury, but she's throwing her hands up over the tournament's own tweeted treatment about Nadal.

BEST CELEBRITY TWEET  Take it away, Bette Midler.

DROP A BEAT (OR TWO)  Beats By Dre and Gatorade have unwittingly competing Serena commercials out now. Adweek serves up a comparison.

ICYMI: BEST & WORST DRESSED Check out New York's fashion aces and faults, respectively.

SIDE LINE: Vanessa Friedman notes for the *New York Times* how Serena's serpentine style matches a Miu Miu snake print on the runway.

AWAY FROM TENNIS  Meryl Streep, promoting her new Suffragette film about women's voting rights in Great Britain, said this to a room full of onlookers at the Telluride Film Festival: "I think that women of that generation felt that lack—they had it built into them. They felt lesser than; and it’s a very difficult thing to dislodge from your mind once it’s placed there. And the people who shake it off and realize that we are all human beings and equal—it doesn’t mean you all have the same upper body strength, because there isn’t a man in this audience who could out-lift Serena Williams."

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9. News tips gladly accepted. Serving tips kindly refused.