Tennis

Del Potro pulled out the win!

Andy Murray's down 1 set to 2 against Verdasco and he is not looking good. He looks like he might keel over at any moment. They just had their heat break too. Verdasco definitely looks like he's got more gas in the tank.

I have noticed the last few years that Rafa is getting kind of thin up there. I don't think he will shave it all. I think he will just let it happen. HAven't heard about a transplant rumor. Interesting. 

I did notice not a lot of people but maybe the heat has to do with that? 

And Kerber got knocked out yesterday.

Del Potro with the win!

Can't wait for the semis. I love Nadal but will be cheering for Del Potro. I also like Nishikori. I would love a final between those two.

I agree, I don't want same old same old. Del Potro winning would be such a great "comeback", though his has really been good, a GS is a GS. And Nishikori winning, wow would be fantastic. 

I think Osaka could be a big surprise, you just never know. I would like Serena to win because she would break the record at 24 and I do think she is the greatest female tennis player of all time, but if Osaka wins good for her. 

It was a tumultuous end, but Serena handled it gracefully giving credit to Osaka for a game well played. Poor young girl didn't know what to do on the podium given the crowd boos. Thank goodness Serena spoke first to calm everyone. Serena's manager did admit to giving a hand signal (that was called) but whether Serena even saw it is open to question. If she didn't see it she was well within rights to yell at the umpire that she isn't a cheater. Then her emotions took over and she broke her racket slamming it into the court - strike two and a point lost. Then she took her argument back to the umpire upon which he took away a game. At that point, the brass of the US Open came out to the umpire chair to hear what was going on. Both Serena and the umpire stated their cases. The game continued and Serena slammed her way through the next game, but lost the set. She hugged Osaka tight and that was that.

Patrick Mouratoglou is Serena's longtime coach, not her manager. He has admitted to coaching her, but a) it was not clear from the video that she even saw him (his hands were pretty low) and b) this is so common in tennis that many are calling for a change in the rules. Osaka's coach was seen doing it during the match too. I was watching Chris McKendry, Chris Evert and Mary Jo Fernandez talking about it yesterday and discussing whether or not they should just relax the coaching rules. Since everyone does it from the players' box, why not just make it legal? There's a big difference between that and having the coach down on the court, which IMO, is a bad idea. Changing the rules about coaching from the box would just acknowledge what everyone already knows is happening.

I've felt for a while that maybe Serena and Patrick were not a great fit any more, especially since she had Olympia. They've been together for a long time (at least in tennis), so maybe it's time for Serena to make a change.

This isn't the first time Ramos has had a run-in with a player. IIRC, this is the official that Nadal had issues with and swore he'd make sure Ramos never called another of his matches. He's also had issues with Kyrgios and Nole, among others. He's issued warnings, but no matter what those men said to him, you know what never happened? Yep, a game penalty. I'd hope that USTA officials would take a closer look at the situation and Ramos' behavior.

Many, including Andy Roddick and Billie Jean King are coming to Serena's defense on Twitter. Meanwhile, she was fined $17K for code violations.

Regardless of what happened, Osaka outplayed Serena and deserved the win. It sucks that her first Grand Slam win was marred by this controversy. I was glad Serena did what she could to calm the crowd, but Ramos owes both ladies an apology.

Looking forward to the mens final today. GO Del Potro!

Here’s an article giving some more background on Carlos Ramos and his history of problems with other players:
www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/09/carlos-ramos-serena-williams-tennis-umpire-us-open?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

When it was two sets to none, I turned off the match. I did not want to see Del Potro lose and I just knew it was going to be over fast.

I wasn't home for the men's match - I had my own tennis match to play which took a long time. I got home at 7 and turned on ESPN to see if they were still playing. I was surprised they still were, and figured it must be in the fourth or fifth set. I was really surprised to see they were still in the third. They must have played some LONG games!

In the 80's, Anne White wore a bodysuit and was asked to change.

some of the outfits the players wear now would never have flown 20 years ago.

Andy Murray is retiring. Very sad to see him go but I don't blame him for not wanting to play when he is in pain. I do hope he can make it til Wimbledon and go out on center court.