The players I want to win the US Open tennis tournament never do. Or at least they haven't in a long time. On the men's side, the last time the player I was rooting for actually won was Andy Roddick in 2003. Before that, you'd have to go back to the late 90's when Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter put a nice string together. On the women's side, you'd have to go back to 1997 when Martina Hingis beat Venus Williams for the title. This year, I was hoping that James Blake might have a break through and I had hopes that Martina Hingis might find her old form. Neither instance happened. And as you know by now (if you really care), Roger Federer won his fourth US Open in a row and Justine Henin won her second US Open title.
I'm not a huge fan of Federer. I think he's a bit full of himself, but at the same time he has a deep appreciation for the history of the game and I find that to be refreshing. I'm not a big fan of Henin either, especially after what she did at the Australian Open a couple of years ago. But she is the best player in the world on the women's side right now and she's fun to watch. She strikes the ball so cleanly and her backhand is beautiful.
This tournament had so many great matches, mostly on the men's side. The Novak Djokovic vs. Radek Stepanek match in the second round was thrilling. So was the James Blake vs. Fabrice Santoro match that also took place in the second round. The James Blake vs. Tommy Haas fourth round match went to a fifth set tie breaker. What more could you ask for? Even the final between Djokovic and Federer was a good one, even though it was straight sets. Djokovic had Federer on the ropes in the first two sets and he should have won the first one.
I'm always a little bummed on the Monday after the tournament ends. But the year in between tournaments always rolls by quickly. And I should take a little solace in knowing that I can finally get some sleep. Some of those early round matches lasted until nearly 1:00 AM. So, this is the end of the tennis talk for a while. Thanks for allowing me to indulge myself this past two weeks.
