New York is renowned as a
sleepless city. Never is that trademark more appropriate
than during the U.S. Open, when the tennis elite trades
strokes and strategy from the earliest hours of daybreak
through to sweltering summer afternoons and into explosive
evening matches beneath the towering night lights of the
USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens.
Those night matches, in
particular, imbue the final major event of the calendar year
with its suspense and fire. An urban crowd of passionate,
extremely knowledgeable tennis fans hum harmoniously with
the buzz of the electrical lighting system, their hunger for
finest sport lying as thick as sweat on the brows of the
players gliding across blue and green cement below. Tennis
is existential on New York nights: every palpitation of the
racquet is as essential as a heartbeat; each passing of the
tiny yellow ball across the net flows dependent as inhale to
exhale.
By the second night of the 2005
U.S. Open, the action on Arthur Ashe Stadium was already
frayed and sputtering dangerously like exposed electrical
wire. Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick, America’s best hope for a
championship run, was stunningly dismissed in straight sets
by Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller. The loss was profound and
ironic. Roddick is the only elite player amongst the
current generation of young Americans that has succeeded the
Sampras era and he was the heavy focus of an advertising
campaign that provided a fictional, seemingly humorous look
into the plight of “losing his mojo.” Fiction became an
unfortunate reality all too quickly in the wake of three
consecutive tiebreak sets. With the home tournament barely
underway, Roddick’s loss ripped a fissure through the event
and the outlook for American tennis was dismal at best.
Still, as the sun rose on the next day of competition,
American tennis had plenty of mojo in store for its fans as
the lost generation of American men’s tennis began to emerge
from Andy Roddick’s shadow.
James Blake played his way into
fine form this summer, winning the second title of his
career before pummeling his way into the third round in
Queens. There he collided with the reigning French Open
champion, second-ranked Rafael Nadal. Matching Rafael’s
speed step-for-step, James Blake was spectacular in
balancing the most confident shot making of his career with
patient point construction. He blasted forehands and
shrewdly attacked the net to force Nadal off the baseline
and into vulnerable, defensive positions. Blake eliminated
Nadal with surprising ease in four sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3,
6-1. The victory was the highlight of a truly heart-warming
run by Blake. Not only has James long been one of the most
well-liked men on the ATP Tour – handsome, professional,
well-spoken, and kind – but he was returning from a
disastrous 2004 in which he survived a career-threatening
neck injury, a virus that left half his face paralyzed, and
the death of his father. Blake carried the poise of
newfound perspective into the quarterfinals where he would
challenge Andre Agassi not only for a spot in the final
four, but quite notably for the role of sentimental favorite
as well.
Agassi, 35 and appearing in his
20th consecutive U.S. Open, also has a deep sense of
perspective and appreciation for the crucial moments that
produce world-class tennis. Blake started strongly and
looked to be a lock to make his first ever Slam semifinal,
but was ultimately denied by Agassi’s veteran experience and
unsurpassed understanding of the game. Agassi won an
enthralling contest by the slimmest of margins, escaping in
the decisive fifth-set tiebreaker where he was forced to use
all his guile to overcome an early 3-0 Blake lead and
advance with a 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) heart-stopping
win.
In the semifinals, Agassi was
opposed by another young American stepping out from the mire
of mediocrity. Robby Ginepri had avenged the Americans’
loss with a devastating defeat of Roddick-conqueror Muller
and used that victory as a springboard to survive dramatic
match after match en route to the penultimate round,
dismissing the likes of eight-seed Guillermo Coria and
former world number two Tommy Haas in the process. Like
James Blake before him, Robby Ginepri did not fold when
faced with the living legend Agassi. Andre was forced to
manage and deny Ginepri’s baseline attack and surf the
tumultuous crest of shifting momentum in yet another
five-set thriller, again proving too savvy for his younger
compatriot. Agassi eliminated Ginepri 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6,
6-3 to complete a monumental run to the title bout an
astounding fifteen years after his first appearance in the
US Open final in 1990. He was now the oldest Grand Slam
finalist in thirty-one years.
Agassi faced top-ranked and
defending champion Roger Federer for the title. Federer did
not play his finest tennis in advancing to the championship
round, but nevertheless cut through his half of the draw
like a hot knife through butter. Along the way, he provided
plenty of tennis genius and spectacle himself – including a
thrilling match against French veteran Fabrice Santoro that
electrified the late night New York crowd in the second
round. With seemingly all of New York squarely in Agassi’s
corner, Federer denied any hopes of a storybook ending.
The men split the first two sets
of their match and provided moments of tennis thunder in a
third set dogfight that ended with Federer claiming the lead
via tiebreak. Ultimately, however, Federer was too much for
the entire field at this year’s US Open, eliminating Agassi
and claiming the crown with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1 win.
Federer continues to make history, becoming the only man in
the Open Era to claim Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back
in two consecutive years. Moreover, he unequivocally stated
to men’s field that he is still the dominant force in the
game, despite feistier challengers and a couple of losses in
major events this year.
So intriguing was the men’s
event at this year’s U.S. Open that the boys even managed to
upstage the women on the fashion front. Runway talk was not
centered around Maria Sharapova’s lovely pale
blue-and-yellow ensemble or the Williams sisters’ various
baubles, but rather the visual assault that was Dominic
Hrbaty’s pink and navy blue top with holes cut out to expose
the shoulder blades. Tennis hasn’t seen anything that ugly
since Pam Shriver’s forehand.
The women’s event was relatively
formful and boring, quite honestly, especially during the
early going. The biggest upset was defending champion
Kuznetsova’s exit in the first round, but the loss came as a
surprise to no one given Svetlana’s recent form. The
Williams sisters faced off in the fourth round and the
sloppy affair reminded fans everywhere why their years of
dominance produced some of the worst played Grand Slam
finals in recent memory. Venus advanced in that match-up to
meet Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals. Williams started
off strongly, taking the first set and leading by 4-2 in the
second before Kim found her game. Clijsters picked up the
offense to compliment her ever-stellar defense, running down
Venus’s shots until the opportunity to attack presented
itself. Kim was able to surmount the hurdle that the
Williams sisters have presented in majors for the first
time, taking Venus out of the tournament in three sets.
The victory would prove to be a
watershed moment for Kim Clijsters. Safely into the
semifinals and past the Williams sisters, it seemed that
fate had finally smiled upon her. Clijsters was emancipated
from the self-doubt that has historically plagued her in
major matches on the world’s preeminent hardcourt stage,
defeating a stubborn Maria Sharapova in the semis and
demolishing the resurgent Mary Pierce in the final to claim
her first career Grand Slam championship. Ranked as low as
134 in March of this year, Kim is now number three in the
world with no sign of stopping until she reclaims the top
spot. Tennis could not ask for a more popular, more affable
champion than Kim Clijsters. Overshadowed by the raucous
men’s event, Clijsters gently claimed the place she has long
deserved among the best players in women’s tennis.
The 2005 US Open provided two
weeks of outstanding competition and personal triumph, once
again living up to its billing as the toughest tournament in
tennis. There were unexpected highs, like Davide
Sanguinetti’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6) 7-6 (5) defeat of
Paradorn Srichaphan in the third round – the best match of
the tournament – and unexpected lows, like the blatant abuse
of injury time out rules at crucial points in several men’s
and women’s matches. Still, as Federer and Clijsters walked
away with their respective titles, New York City no doubt
enjoyed a rare and well-earned rest.
Wyman Meers is a writer living
in New York. He is
Gaga4Gaby on the Outsports Discussion Board.
