Arena The Official ATP Discussion Thread - now discussing the U.S. Open

another kind of amazing thing is that in the last five years there have been five different u.s. open winners.

 

One thing that I always find rather brutal about tennis more than any other sport is how, because of the point-game-set-match structure, no lead is safe, on the one hand, while a comeback requires not only catching up, but then continuing the push, without affording an opportunity to recover. And that's true not just for the pros, but anyone who plays.

 

I'm happy for Murray. He deserved this one.

 

There were a lot of really tired people in the office this morning...

 

First time since 2003 that all GS tourneys were won by different male competitors. Totally legitimizes the notion that a "Big Four" rule men's tennis.

 

Nadal's a big question mark. He turned 26 in June, missed Wimbledon, Olympics and the U.S. Open. It would be great if he could play for another four years. That's 16 more grand slam titles through the summer of his 30th birthday. If his knee problems are bad enough, he could consider scaling back his schedule and focusing on his clay court record for the rest of his career.

 

nadal played wimbledon. though it's where his injury concerns began, as he was upset in the second round. i could see him playing four more years, though i doubt this year's u.s. open will be the last major that he misses.

also we've now had four consecutive first time winners of the u.s. open. that's happened one other time in the open era, from 88-91 when wilander, becker, sampras, and edberg each won their first open.

 

dammit. that guy just can't stay healthy.

 

Man, Rafa can't catch a break. Must be a nasty bug.