The 2008 US Open tennis tournament starts today and I'm stoked. I try to plan my work schedule around this event every year and I've done a decent job of doing it this year.
Unfortunately this is the last time the event will be televised on the USA network. ESPN won the rights to the event starting next year. The USA network began carrying the US Open back in 1984 – the year I graduated from high school. I don't remember what year I started watching it, but I remember the 1990 Open, so it had to be late 80s.
I love the USA network coverage for so many reasons. First, the US Open is the main event on the network each night, so if it is 11:00 PM in New York and a great match is still going on, USA stays with the coverage. I'm guessing that ESPN won't be so quick to stay with the matches, given the way they have handled the first three majors this year.
During the French Open, ESPN cut away for the evening during a third set in match in the late rounds. That didn't make me happy. Besides, I love the commentators on USA. Not so much on ESPN. Sounds like John McEnroe will make the transition to ESPN next year, so at least that's something.
At least USA network has it for one more year. I'll enjoy it while I can.
One match I'll be paying attention to is Fabrice Santoro vs. Andy Roddick in the first round. Fabrice is one of my favorite players (for reasons I wrote about here) and last I heard, he plans to retire at the end of the 2008 season. I'll really miss watching him play.
One of the first things I looked at when I printed the men's draw this year was whether James Blake had a chance to play Fernando Gonzalez. They just played each other at the Olympics and Blake was quite unhappy with Gonzalez. (You can read more about it here if you are interested.) Unfortunately, they are in opposite halves of the draw so the only way they could play each other would be in the finals--unlikely, but what a final it would be.
This is the first time since his rise to the top that Roger Federer will not be seeded number one. Rafael Nadal took that away from him earlier this year and the tennis world seems to be holding their breath in hopes of a final similar to what we saw at Wimbledon between these two players. I'm not convinced that either one of them will make it to the final. Roger isn't playing his best tennis and Rafa has never looked good on the hard courts.
Personally, I'm rooting for James Blake, Andy Roddick, and Mardy Fish, but I have a feeling that Novak Djokovic is going to break through and win it all.
On the women's side, I'm pulling for Ana Ivanovic and I think she's going to win it. She'll have to contend with one or both Williams' sisters to get through to the finals, but I think she's capable. I wouldn't be surprised to see her play Jelena Jankovic in the finals and Ana just has too much game for Jankovic to overcome (Ivanovic is 7-1 in her career against Jankovic).
If I'm a little slow answering email or in writing posts over the next two weeks, you'll know why.
So, who are you rooting for? What are your predictions?
