The Temporary Armstrong Stadium

After 3 days at the US Open last week, an unexpected opportunity to go to Monday’s session came up and I took it.

The way the Open is structured now tickets are for either grounds passes, Ashe, Armstrong, or the (New) Grandstand. Grounds pass tickets do not get you into Ashe at all, and on the other courts it’s first-come-first-served access to the relatively few seats not sold as part of a ticket.

What this meant is that my ticket for Armstrong, bought before the order of play came out, gave me a chance to watch only second tier singles 4^th round matches; apologies to David Goffin, Andrey Rublev, Kaia Kanepi, Daria Kasatkina, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares (men’s doubles #1 seeds), and a few other players, but they’re not Rafa, Federer, Pliskova, Vandeweghe et al. The result: my choice of what to see required some planning which, in the end, worked out perfectly.

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Arriving at 10 AM, my first order of business was to go see who was on the practice courts. Venus Williams is already there with her coach, David Witt. I don’t recognize who she was hitting with, but they’re working her groundstrokes. Witt appears to be encouraging Williams to hit the ball, mostly her forehand, in more of an arc rather than in a flat line, especially when she moves around a backhand and goes inside/out. Plus, she was repeatedly moving to her left to hit inside/in forehands; getting ready to go to Kvitova’s backhand Tuesday night?

What’s the most impressive thing about Williams’ hitting?: How fast she can move out wide to either side, from a standstill, and yet manage to crack the ball. It happens in the blink of an eye: boom!, she’s there, and the ball goes back over the net with no hint of weakness.

They move on to hitting serves. Venus hits 20 or 30 dollies, the ball barely making it over the net, maybe 30 or 40 mph. Then she starts working her way up the intensity ladder, finally unloading on a bunch of serves. The WTA’s new effort to improve serving among women has taken note of how much time the Williams’ have put into their deliveries, and for good reason.

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The Bryans come out to the practice courts with their coach, David MacPherson. Bob and Mike, still the top-ranked American doubles team at 39 years old, go through all the drills you’d expect. One lightly played point between them morphs into one of their favorite drills, what they call the Romanian Davis Cup volley. Watch the video and be impressed. Super impressed.

MacPherson, along with another coach, begin serving to the twins from half court, with the four players playing two “points” simultaneously, points being played hitting crosscourt at the same time. It’s all about grooving small bits for them; hit a return, make one volley, repeat. They do the same thing with the Bryans serving, although the coaches often feed the “return” out of their hand, not counting on their own skill to consistently let them return the pros’ serves.

Bryan vs Bryan on the US Open practice courts

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The Junior Girls’ and Boys’ tournaments are played during the second week of the Grand Slam tournaments. I’d never seen them, and thought this a good chance to do so. The first match on Armstrong was a contest between unseeded men’s doubles teams, so I decided to forego that and set out to see the #1 seeds in both the girls’ and boy’s draws.

While on the topic of court scheduling and the Junior tournaments, here’s an idea I tweeted at the US Open (I’m @TennisSkip1515): start the junior matches at 10 AM instead of 11:00 AM, which is when the pros start. Spectators would get to spend time watching the up-and-comers of the game without missing any of the big girls and boys, and foreign visitors would get a chance to support the juniors form their home countries. Hell, let the juniors start at 9:30. They’re kids, right? They can wake up a little earlier. Plus spectators will get to see more tennis, and the vendors sell more coffee. Win/win/win.

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Whitney Osuigwe (USA) vs Margaryta Bilokin (Ukraine)

Osuigwe is the #1 seed. She won the 2017 French juniors and made the finals of the junior doubles at Wimbledon. She trains at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida (nee The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy), where her dad is a teaching pro, and turned 15 in April. (!)

Bilokin, on the other hand, hails from the Ukraine, where it must be much, much more difficult to pursue a tennis career right now. She had to play through the qualifying for the main draw juniors.

This match is played on the Grandstand. It’s empty, so I have no problems finding a seat. Before the match begins there’s a demonstration of the USTA’s NetGen program for kids 5-18 years old. (Now there’s a wide demographic.) Today we get to see little players. It’s cute and probably very effective.

Once Osuigwe and Bilokin start the differences between them are very evident. For one thing, the American is clearly not awed by the setting, while the Ukrainian is, if not nervous, then simply not as comfortable. She foot faults twice in the first game and double faults to lose it. It’s understandable; you feel for her.

Then there’s the matter of where each of them are as players. Bilokin is a good junior. Osuigwe resembles a mini-pro. She creates power with an ease that Bilokin just does not have, moves better, and snaps first serves regularly in the upper 90s and low 100s. Bilokin gets the same mph on her first, but it’s rarely in. (So, does it count?).

A questions occurs to me: do the juniors get to use Hawkeye? I find out later…..

Not surprisingly Bilokin doesn’t have enough to bother Osiugwe, however, and the #1 seed moves on.

Osuigwe defeats Bilokin 6/1 6/4

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Axel Geller (Argentina) vs Andrew Fenty (USA)

Fenty is down 2/5 and 0/40 when I take my seat on Court 17. This match resembles the Osuigwe/Bilokin contest in that Geller, the boys’ #1 seed, plays a game more reminiscent of an ATP pro than Fenty. No mistake about it, Fenty would be a top player at pretty much any club in the country (and then some); he serves in the 90s for second serves, 110+ for firsts, has a powerful forehand and backhand, volleys pretty well, has a sound drop shot (more later), and isn’t afraid to vary his game.

But Geller, who won the Junior Doubles at Wimbledon this year, hits his first in the high 120s (topping 130 once, as well), and hits the ball more assertively, more often, from more positions. It’s not as much Very Good Junior vs Semi Pro as the girl’s match, but the similarities are there.

My question about Hawkeye in the junior tourneys gets answered as Geller calls for a review of one of his serves. This only strengthens my opinion that not having Hawkeye on all the courts is both unfair and a stain on our sport. As top-ranked juniors continue to rise in the rankings they’ll get time on Hawkeye courts that lesser junior players won’t. Then, as pros, the marquee players are always on Hawkeye courts while the number 70s of the world aren’t. Not only should the same recourse to bad calls be available to all players at any one tournament, but all players should also have equal access to learning how to manage challenges.

This really should be fixed.

Fenty stays abreast of Geller through the second set, acquitting himself well. They both veer between looking like pros and looking like the juniors they are, but that’s not to say the tennis isn’t engaging and or that their competitive fires aren’t stoked. At 4/4 Fenty serves his way to 40/30, then hits a nervous double fault to go back to deuce. He’s broken, the close race comes to a not-unexpected stage, and Geller serves it out for the W.

Geller defeats Fenty 6/3 6/4

Notice the service clock; shades of things to come?

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As I make my way to Armstrong for Goffin/Rublev I stop briefly at Court 7 to see Sebastian Korda, the #8 seed. He’s the son of Petr Korda, who won the Australian in 1998. I always loved watching Korda Senior play and wanted to see his son; the father’s drug suspension didn’t especially put me off him. I always suspected the bone fracture in his foot was the cause of his taking nandrolone, either knowingly or unknowingly as he claimed. His physique was far too toothpick-like for him to be profiting from steroids. (I’m only slightly kidding.)

When I was let onto the court it was very apparent who was the Korda offspring: he’s right-handed, and without the spiky, Woodstock hair, but junior’s built just like dad.

Korda (USA) defeats Draper (UK) 6/2 6/2

Korda, Senior

Korda, Junior

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David Goffin (9) vs Andrey Rublev

For 2017 Armstrong is a temporary court as they build a new permanent stadium on the site of the old one. Unusual for America, the new stadium will keep the name of the old one – no new title sponsorship’s being sold here – and the history of the stadium is being respected, harkening back to both the 1964 World’s Fair and the New Orleans jazz great, Louis Armstrong.

Goffin was injured at the 2017 French Open when he ran to the back of the court, accidentally put his foot down on a rolled tarp by the fence, and severely twisted his ankle, forcing him to retire. He’s been on the comeback trail since then, his ranking more a reflection of his year to date than of his most recent results; he’s not won more than two rounds at a tournament since Roland Garros.

Rublev is generating buzz. He’s one of the ATP’s NextGen players, so I was interested in seeing him.

Is it harsh of me to say, “Eh?” From what I saw, perhaps a set and a half’s worth, I found Rublev to be rather, oh, generic. I saw no great weapons, including an absence of great movement that could be a weapon unto itself (think, Michael Chang). Having said that, I realize that “last ball in play wins the day”, and it’s not necessary to be either flashy or have a particularly outstanding physical weapon in order to record top shelf tennis results (see the opponent: David Goffin, or that other David, Ferrer). Don’t miss and you win, etc., etc, and Rublev does more than just “not miss”, but is he a leading contender for being the next big thing? I don’t see that on the horizon.

Goffin, meanwhile, is obviously still hampered by the injury to his left knee. My friend Graham is a chiropodist/podiatrist, and during the match I sent him a video of Goffin playing, including serves, and walking to and from his chair, to get Graham’s opinion of whether the Belgian was favoring his left leg or not. The verdict? Yes, definitely. With the caveat that Graham was “diagnosing” from thousands of miles away, it appeared to both of us that Goffin was unable (or uncomfortable) keeping any weight on his left leg, most notably at the end of his service motion and in moving to his right, which requires a strong first steps with the left leg. Many of Rublev’s shots to Goffin’s forehand side were not even chased down, and for Goffin, whose game depends so greatly on his wheels, this spells doom.

And so it did. Unfortunately his injury prevented the 9^th seed from advancing, while Rublev gets a date with Nadal.

Rublev defeats Goffin 7/5 7/6 6/3

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Dominic Thiem (6) vs Juan Martin del Potro (24)

By now you’ve read about this titanic, highly anticipated match, surely the greatest comeback I’ve ever witnessed. (In this regard I’m in good company: Darren Cahill said the same). I had gone to the Grandstand early, during the beginning of the preceding doubles match between the Bryans and Oliver Marach/Mate Pavich, looking to grab a good seat. Fat chance. The rest of the world had the same idea. The place was packed to the rafters and then some.

To say delPo looked terrible at the start of the contest is a grand understatement. My friend, Rollo Tomasi, seated in the lower level, texted me that the Argentinean looked like “he’s going to hurl.” The guy was suffering. No matter how well Thiem were to play, for him to win 2 sets against delPo in 63 minutes is not possible without a bunch of unforced errors from Argentina’s Davis Cup hero, and that’s just what was happening.

Because del Potro believes there are no scripts in sport, or probably life itself, what looked to be an anti epic, an almost embarrassing defeat of a great player who was ill, turned out to be a classic for the ages I’m reminded of Jimmy Connors who, when asked how he managed to hang in during a match when he was well down in the score, replied, “You never know what’s going to happen. The other guy could roll his ankle on the next point.” Juan Martin believes the same, and much, much more.

Two very scratchy sets of tennis by the Argentine could easily have turned into a retirement; “Sorry, I just can’t go on, I’m too sick.” Surely many players would have done so (I’m thinking of you, Nick Kyrgios). But del Potro is made of sterner stuff; is it respect for the game, for the ticket holders, because he refuses to give up? All of the above. We love del Potro for reasons Kyrgios doesn’t understand and might never appreciate.

With Thiem up 4/1 in the second my notes read, “hindsight will be 20/20 but I suspect this game will be the one that determines whether or not we have a match.” Boy was I wrong. Even though del Potro is driving his two-handed backhand more now than when he first returned to the tour, Thiem went on to win the second set.

The atmosphere was unbelievable. It was all Davis Cup for del Potro – the chants of “ole, ole, ole ole…” could be deafening – to the extent that if you thought it was a home tie played in Buenos Aires your mistake would be understandable. I may have heard one lonely Austrian supporter occasionally cough out a feeble, “C’mon Dominic!,” but that was about all the love Thiem got.

When delPo was down 2/5 I the 4^th set it was only hold/break/hold for the man from Tandil. Of course that’s easier said than done, but the climb back from such a deficit isn’t that rare, and so it proved in this case. Del Potro held for 3/5, got to 4/5 when he broke as Thiem served for the match at 5/3, and then faced two match points at 15/40, 5/6 on his own serve.

As the match had progressed more and more power flowed from the Argentine’s racquet. Down two match points he magically, heroically, stupendously fired two aces to bring the game to deuce. The place went wild.

All credit to Thiem. He didn’t collapse. He remembered he was two sets to the good, and still on serve. He kept going for his shots, many of which were amazing, especially a number of backhands he fired up the line for winners. Del Potro was going from strength to strength, however, and the pressure was starting to produce cracks in Thiem’s game. Receiving in the first game of the fifth set Thiem got to what Brad Gilbert’s called a “near break point”, up 15/30 against the Argentine’s serve, but couldn’t turn that into a full break and del Potro held to lead, 1/0. Later, serving at 2/3, Thiem double faulted to open the game, went down 0/40, but held on to win. The fissures were widening.

Serving at 4/5, still on serve, Thiem faced down a match point at ad/out when delPo made a backhand unforced error. There was to be no repeat. At deuce Del Potro unloaded on a forehand for a winner and then, confirmed by a Hawkeye review, Thiem double faulted at match point out.

Game, set, match Juan Martin del Potro, regardless of how unbelievable that outcome was just two hours earlier.

In the kind of conversation one has in the stands at matches, I met the woman next to me, Debbie. She told me about how she’d been at the Open in 1992 when Connors famously came back from two sets down to Patrick McEnroe, and then again when he beat Aaron Krickstein in the next round. She was there when Sampra threw up while playing Alex Corretja but hung on to win, too.

Monday night Debbie got another classic to add to her list. If I’m lucky I might, just might get to see one more the equal of this.

I doubt it.

How delPo made himself press on when all appeared lost is almost incomprehensible. The audacity of that kind of hope, of belief, of a will to drive forwards unsure of what will come to be, separates athletes like him from we mere mortals.

del Potro defeats Thiem 1/6 2/6 6/1 7/6 (1) 6/4

photo credit: zimbo.com

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As I rode the train back to Philadelphia I had my own hope: sitting for hours at that gargantuan match I’d missed dinner. Would the café car deliver a delicious meal? Nope. Not this time. In my case, hope lost out, but I didn’t care. My tennis cup ran over yesterday, and no third rate burger could possibly ruin it.