US Open Tennis Championships 2013 | CONCRETE JUNGLE

[Blingo]

SO IT BEGINS

[Y2J Paguro]

E QUESTA????

Spoiler:

Ricordiamo che la finale maschile si giocherà il lunedì e quella femminile la domenica.
Americani rompicazzo.

[Blingo]

Minchia, io devo fare nottata e questo già pensa alla finale che si giocherà tra due settimane da oggi
Piuttosto, si accettano scommesse su quanto pioverà a New York!
E comunque, questo è l'anno di Perdych.

[CM_Best]

Raw o Federer?

Questo è il problema.

[Blingo]

Raw o Federer?

Questo è il problema.

Piuttosto, io devo beccare la partita di Tomic. Voglio vedere in che condizioni si presenta a questo Slam, dato che a Wimbledon avevo detto che era un exploit isolato e non vorrei che adesso decida di smentirmi.

[CM_Best]

Ok, Raw.

Spoiler:

[Blingo]

Giustamente, per non smentirmi del tutto, Tomic fa in vantaggio 5-0 nel primo set, poi subisce un parziale di 3 game consecutivi da parte di Ramos e solo allora chiude il set per 63.
Certo che l'australiano quando vuole c'ha una mano... dettaglio che non fa altro che risaltare la sua fessaggine acuta.

PS: ma gli spagnoli c'hanno l'urlo omologato? Se mi facessero sentire con gli occhi bendati una partita di Ramos e una di Robredo, non riuscirei a distinguerle.

EDIT: un altro

BLAKE TO RETIRE AFTER 2013 US OPEN
Fifteen years after playing his first professional match, longtime American star and fan favorite James Blake announced the 2013 US Open will be his final tournament.

There were many times James Blake’s future in tennis were uncertain, even at times seemingly unlikely he would live a normal life, let alone be a successful professional athlete.

From severe scoliosis that required him to wear a back brace 18 hours a day as a young teenager, to a broken neck and facial paralysis as an adult to knee injuries and the personal hardship of his father’s early death from cancer, Blake has had much to overcome. But he came through it all, climbing as high as No. 1 in the collegiate ranks and No. 4 in the world as a professional, becoming a Davis Cup champion and establishing himself as one of the game’s nicest people and great humanitarians.

Now, 15 years after his first professional match and about to begin his 13th US Open, Blake is calling it a (wonderful) career. He officially announced his retirement from professional tennis Monday, effective at the conclusion of the 2013 US Open. Currently ranked No. 100, he plays his opening match against Ivo Karlovic.

Flushing Meadows is a fitting finale for the hometown hero, who was born in nearby Yonkers, N.Y., grew up in Fairfield, Conn., and started playing tennis with his older brother Thomas in the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program in Upper Manhattan, being inspired to play the game when the great Arthur Ashe spoke there.

He has been a fan favorite at the US Open for years, with his famous "J-Block" of fans always there to cheer him on. Moreover, Blake has played many of his most memorable matches in Flushing Meadows, where he twice reached the quarterfinals, in 2005 and 2006. Few fans could forget his fifth-set tiebreak loss in nearly three hours to 35-year-old Andre Agassi in the 2005 quarterfinals under the lights, an instant classic that Blake described at the time by saying, “It couldn’t have been more fun to lose.”

The US Open was Blake’s most successful Grand Slam, but he also reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 Australian Open and four times reached the fourth round in Melbourne. He also won the 2008 Olympic bronze medal in Beijing.

Known for his power, speed and his amazing forehand, Blake won 10 singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour, as well as the 2007 Davis Cup title with the U.S., a team of which he was a stalwart member for many years, along with Andy Roddick and Bob and Mike Bryan. Before turning professional, he played two seasons at Harvard University (1998-99) and was the No. 1-ranked NCAA player, advancing to the 1999 NCAA singles final. He began working his way up the ATP rankings the next few seasons, cracking the Top 25 in 2003 for the first time.

His rise up the rankings, however, was curtailed in 2004. During a practice session in May 2004 in Rome with fellow American Robby Ginepri, Blake had a fluke accident, slipping on the clay and colliding with the net post, which resulted in broken vertebrae in his neck that kept him off the tour until July. Shortly after returning to action, he came down with Zoster, a medical condition that affected his vision and hearing and caused him to suffer temporary paralysis on one side of his face. The same month he lost his father, Thomas Blake, after a battle with stomach cancer. He chronicled his struggles and journey back in his New York Times best-selling book, "Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life."

Since his father’s death, Blake has been dedicated to raising money for cancer research, establishing the Thomas Blake Sr. Memorial Research Fund to support research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York and holding annual charity events for years that have raised more than $3 million.

Blake had his best career season in 2006, when he won five titles, tied for the second-most on the ATP Tour behind Roger Federer. That same year he broke into the Top 10 for the first time, becoming the first African-American man to crack the Top 10 since the legendary Ashe and reaching his career-high ranking of No. 4.

Age and knee injuries slowed Blake in recent years, with a knee injury costing him significant time in 2010, when he finished the year ranked outside the Top 100 for the first time. But Blake came back to the game he loved, working his way back into the game playing Challengers. He competed on the ATP Tour for most of 2012 and 2013, during which time he got married, to Emily Snider, and had his first child, a daughter Riley.

And now, after 15 years of memories, Blake has decided this was the perfect time to say goodbye.

[Blingo]

Tomic invece non si smentisce: è al quinto set contro Ramos con un break di vantaggio, ma è andato sotto 1-2 e un break nel quarto. Quando capirà, sarà troppo tardi: papino violento non vale un'intera carriera (specie perché è una testa di minchia).

Bellissima vittoria di Venus Williams, invece, contro una Flipkens obiettivamente spenta, specie dopo aver sprecato 8 break point ad inizio secondo set. La maggiore delle sorelle Williams perfeziona il suo record agli US Open, che vanta una striscia di 15 vittorie consecutive in 15 partecipazioni al primo turno. Contentissimo di rivederla a buoni livelli, specie nel torneo di casa.

Tra poco cominciano Rafael Nadal e Ryan Harrison!

[CM_Best]

Prevedo un massacro pure io.

Il contro smash di Nadal.

[Blingo]

Il primo set sembra ormai scivolare via dalle mani di Harrison, ma lascia una traccia assai positiva che va colta (incredibilmente) dal lato tattico: Ryan sta giocando esattamente come dovrebbe giocare contro Rafael Nadal. Aggressivo, sempre a rete quando può, spinge e impedisce a Rafa di prendere il tempo sullo scambio e, soprattutto, di aggirare il rovescio col il drittone in top spin.

Molto meglio di quanto potessi immaginare!

[CM_Best]

Praticamente quasi finito il primo set.
Harrison sta osando parecchio, si sta esponendo per tutti gli scambi, anche se non sempre le sue smorzate/volè vanno a segno.
Mi aspettavo peggio, incontro abbastanza equilibrato.

[Mannu]

Finalmente, non vedevo l'ora.

Comunque guarderò Roger, a Raw morissero

Oh comunque niente male Harrison.

[Blingo]

Un saluto al vacanziero Mannu

Molto Ryan sì, al di là del primo game che poteva evitare di perdere (e sicuramente gli avrebbe permesso di tirare per le lunghe questo primo set), ha interpretato ottimamente la partita e lo ha fatto fino all'ultimo punto del primo set. Non escludo che abbia avuto una chiacchieratina con Andy Roddick prima del match.

[Blingo]

Ecco, però in questo game in cui Harrison concede il secondo break della partita, si vede tutta la differenza tra un giocatore come Harrison e Rafael Nadal: sul 15-30, Harrison si trova una risposta di Nadal comoda comoda sul dritto, colpisce la palla con tutta la forza che ha... e la rimanda di là al centro del campo.

Se Nadal avesse avuto la stessa palla sul dritto, Harrison subito dopo sarebbe finito in braccio ad un giudice di linea.

Intanto la pioggia interrompe il gioco.

[Y2J Paguro]

Tornato adesso, riassuntino veloce di quanto successo?