Yes, that's a great point. I can see why they were backing Agassi after the first two sets, but I was expecting them to switch once they got to the fifth set. Agassi had all the momentum and, from that point forward, James was clearly the underdog. They still seemed to be firmly behind Andre.

I think it's time to remind everyone that the semis and final are back to back. I'm not sure Andre can handle any of the people left with no day of rest. Sure he's fit, but he looked really tired when Pete beat him in 2001. That, coupled with the fact that I like Ginepri, means I'll be rooting for Robby in the semis. If he wins, I think he'll be the first American besides Sampras, Agassi, and Roddick to make a final since Todd Martin here in '99.

I can't wait until P-Mac officially names the Davis Cup team so I can rip whatever decision he makes. James and Robby play like this and one of them is going to be on the bench? Argh!


Best. Interview. Ever!

Been watching the interviews on ESPN News. James is such a good sport. I really feel bad for the guy. This was really his year. I think his momentum could have pushed him past Federer. Unfortunately, nothing was going to stop the crowd from rooting for Andre. (It really is strange to root against him).

On a shallower note, James is all kinds of hot with his hat on. With the facial hair, he kinda looks like Common.

I was rooting for him against Coria (partly because Coria reminds me too much of the kid from "Third Rock from the Sun" and it weirds me out, plus the contretemps with Massu was off-putting), but he is clearly third on my "Americans in the Quarterfinals" hierarchy. He's Blandy McBland to me, and I lurve me some Blake and Agassi.

Eh, Federer will probably win it anyway.

Can you imagine how queasy CBS will be if it's a Hewitt-Ginepri final?

I'm sorry, but I've been out of tennis for the last few years. What did Hewitt say? Did he say it to the media? Whatever he said, it's really classy that James wouldn't talk about it until he had talked to Hewitt.

After receiving what he thought was a bad call, he insinuated that the linesman cheated for Blake because they're both black. Ass. Now he knows they only employ blind linesmen. Heh.

Kind of OT - but Joseph Gordon-Levitt has actually turned into quite a good actor. His performance in Mysterious Skin was heartbreaking. He has grown up a lot since his Third Rock Days, End OT.


Well- I wonder if we will actually get some doubles tomorrow since there are only two singles matches. We can only hope.

Wasn't the poster talking about French Stewart as the one resembling Coria?

What was really great about Blake during all of that was that the media kept hounding him to badmouth Hewitt and he just wouldn't do it. He refused to comment until after he spoke to Hewitt and, after he accepted Hewitt's apology, he refused to let anyone in the press change his mind. I'm going to have to agree with John on this one and say it was very Arthur Ashe-like of him. Classy to the nth degree.

RE: pointracker from a while back. Turns out that everything--wind, shadows (?), etc. were affecting the outcome of what the cameras saw and the technology just wasn't reliable enough to use for this year.

Considering Hewitt is a complete dick and no one seems to care about Ginepri, CBS will probably be tempted to just re-air this match instead. Seriously, I missed the other men's quarterfinal and I've been watching The Open since I got home and ESPN since the end of the last match and I have yet to see a single clip of Ginepri's match. I know he's not Agassi or Blake but, dude, he's an American in the semi-finals! Not that I advocate the ridiculous coverage of only Americans but give the guy some props.

The poster said "kid" so I assumed they meant the youngest one- which would have been Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Plus he threw up on the court. I always find that endearing. Except if it's Sampras. Then it's just gross.

Have you joined the Andy Murray fan club? ;)

Darn- Blake really has had some tough losses at the USO.

Which is a shame because although there were plenty of lowlights (the games of all moonballs) there were some great highlights. Maybe the 2 am tennis on USA will show something.

Ha! I need a new Brit anyway now that Henman's down and out. Poor Tim.

Word. Remember that first-round match with Federer where he fought off something like 20 straight break points before finally losing the set?


Tim's not out yet. I have faith! He'll win Wimbledon like Goran finally did. All he needed was for Murray to come take some of the spotlight.

Even if his back heals I don't think he'll ever have a year like last year, unfortunately. But I'll try to keep the faith. He should try throwing up on the court.

They are. Thanks for the heads up.

Heh. No, there won't be another last year. I'm sure he'll trade 2 semis and a quarterfinal for one final (and especially a win). BTW, I edited my comment. Henman has 6 wins (and 4 losses) against Roger, but I think Hewitt has 7 (and 10). Nalbandian is sitting at 5 wins FWIW.

That was indeed who I was talking about. :-)

Long time lurker, first time poster. Love all your comments. I just got back from the Agassi/Blake match and the atmosphere was amazing. I love Blake but I love Agassi even more, so it was great to see him pull it out. This was my first time seeing the J-Block in person and I was expecting the drunk frat-boy antics I've seen on T.V. But they were not that bad at all. They cheered for Blake and even applauded a couple of Agassi winners. I think they seemed a bit subdued because they got outshouted by the rest of the crowd that increasingly became pro-Agassi.

OT-stopped by one of the hospitality tents and met Mary Jo Fernandez (extremely sweet). Also Bud Collins mentioned that Martina Navratilova has a farm in Florida and is extending an invitation to victims of Hurricane Katrina to relocate there -OT

Tell this to Patrick Rafter.

Actually I believe Blake has "found" his game and that fans of his can count on his playing at around this level for the remainder of his career, health permitting. Which means IMO he's now the number one American and hovering around #5 in the world. (This is all IMO of course.) I can easily see him making the semi's and/or finals at the AU, Wimbledon and the Open again over the next two years. This presumes no other major changes in the game, of course, which never happens. :-)

My point, though, is that I think James is here to stay at the top of the game.

Is there any kind soul who has the Federer interview on tape who would [small/sweet voice] send it to me? [/ssv] All expenses covered of course. Or could it be posted on the net somewhere?

Seems like I'm the only West coaster here. I purposely avoided the computer for the last three hours, hoping to catch the tape-delayed completion of the coverage at 12:35 am on CBS. But all I get are the highlights! WTF USA network? I am livid. From the highlights, it looked like a nailbiter. I am so mad at the USA network.

I'm west coast. I was very very annoyed that the match cut off when they said it wouldn't. Did this happen to people with cable and/or DirecTV? I have Dish and wondered if it was because the Dish feed comes from New York and maybe Cable has a different feed?

The same thing happened last night.

I'm glad Andre won *ducks*. I've been an Agassi fan since around '91. It makes me feel good to see him play since all the other guys I used to watch (Courier, Chang, Washington, Sampress) are gone.

I haven't seen Roddick play much. Is ge very emotional? He doesn't seem to be.

hammersmith, how tired are you today? I'm going to sleepwalk my way through the day today--and I watche in my pajamas. If you stayed until the end, you must have been one of the lucky ones who didn't have to take a train or a bus out of Manhattan.

Rainmaker and gadje (and any other west coasters), that truly sucks. There is no reason you should not have been able to see an entire match. A match running that late is something that happens at the US Open and was a contingency for which USA and CBS should have prepared.

I'm confused as to why you guys on the West Coast didn't get the whole Agassi/Blake match... if anything, it would be easier for you guys to get it. I'm in Central time and I went to bed when the fourth set was at 5-5. Woke up this morning and saw that Agassi won. Wow, way to pull it off.

I'm rooting for a Hewitt/Agassi final, with Hewitt winning. *ducks*

Another disappointment for the Mopey Giantess. I only saw the third set, but she looked poor. I was thinking, this is the #1 player in the world? I did feel bad for her, but hey, she just can't do it anymore. Is she going to lose the #1 ranking, since mmmmmMaria made it to the semis and she didn't? And did I hear the female commentator correctly, did she say that Lindsay is only going to play the first three months of next season?

Dementieva is a nice girl, but she's way outclassed, especially with that horrible second serve. How is she ranked #6 with that serve? She'd be so much better if she learned to serve.

Rooting for a Clijsters/Pierce final, with Clijsters winning.

Poor Robby gets no love. I'm happy for him and hope he plays a good match against Andre. I know a lot of people don't think he has a personality on-court but I think he is just low-key. I kinda like it. He just goes about his business. No C'mons. Minimal fist pumping.

ESPN story about the J-Block. I think my opinion of them has dropped after reading this.

From that article:

This writer has obviously never been too or even watched a Davis Cup match.

Transcript from P-Mac's presser about Davis Cup.

From many pages back:



I almost get a Paris Hilton vibe from her. That's bad, people.

Yeah, I think I'm going with the USTA on this one. And $1,750 for one session? Didn't it used to be $22,000 for the entire tournament? Well, I'm glad they make the corporations pay so much for those boxes--no tax burden on NY and the grounds are immaculate.

Aargh! Piss on Universal TV and CBS and their silly arguement which has rained pain and frustration down on all West Coast Dish and Direct Satellite users. They are cutting away on the West Coast Satellite because we get the East Coast USA feed and they cut away there too. Swell.
I don't watch CBS much anyway and will not go to any Universal films (as if?) for a long while.
Settle it boys because this is really aggravating.

As for the match? Wonderful stuff from Agassi coming back. Tennis on the computer? Highly overrated.

Yeah, but Federer was eight at the time. (™J-Mac)

I hit the snooze button in my sleep and woke up at 9am! I'm supposed to be at work at 9:30....yowzah! Coffee, anyone?

See, I'm hoping that after the disappointment wears off, Lindsay is able to take away some positives. She played, by far, her worst match in, well I was going to say years but I frankly don't remember the last time I saw Lindsay play that poorly. 56 unforced errors and 20'ish winners? And yet, despite that, she fought. She came back from a disasterous 6-1 opening set, and again, despite playing the worst tennis in possibly her career, held a match point at 6-5 in the thirdset tiebrake. Obviously, if she came that close to winning playing that poorly, she has to know that if she had been able to clean up her game and play anywhere near her level, she would have won pretty easily. All credit to Dimentieva, although I am still convinced her ball was out on match point. Lindsay even did her half/bunt of the ball she always does when the ball is out but no view from point-tracker.

Anyways, the point I'm making is that she should absolutely hate this match for her level of play and hate the disappointment that comes from it and the missed opportunity. But the idea that she can't play anymore? That she's not good enough to compete? That she should hang it up? I can't get behind that, and hopefully when the dust settles, neither will Lindsay. Girl played AWFUL and still had match point because she's good enough on most nights to play poorly and still find a way. Last night just wasn't one of those nights.

I have the same request. When did this air? I totally missed it! Aaaargh.

So I was rooting for Agassi when he was being spanked, and then I was rooting for Blake when he lost his edge, and then I went to bed. And now I'm completely disappointed that Blake lost.

Whoever said that it's time for Agassi to retire, I have to say I agree. It's like the young players don't get their due (nor the love) that they should get because Andre's around. Yes, I'm crazy, I know. I like Andre and all, but I'm kind of tired of him. [OT]I feel the same way about Michelle Kwan.[/OT]

And what the heck happened with Lindsay? I could only watch then tiebreaker, and I didn't like what I saw. She couldn't really move and it looked like her back was really stiff and she couldn't get down to hit the low balls well. Does anyone know if she re-injured herself?

But I like Dementieva. I think she's very pretty and sweet, and has some incredible killer legs. And her hair is gorgeous. And you gotta give props to someone who has such a liability in her game and still wins as often as she does (and often on the tightest of occasions!). I like her. I don't know who I'm rooting for in that semi. But in the other one? Go Kim!

ITA, alexias. I don't think this loss means it's over for Lindsay. But it was awful for me to watch that match. She looked so confused and miserable from the opening game.

As for Agassi/Blake, I'm torn. I couldn't stay up to see the whole thing, I fell asleep in the middle of the third set. I can't believe how Agassi must have fought his way out of that. Because he was playing poorly in the first two sets and Blake was just on fire. I don't know if I'm happy or not though. I don't think Blake could beat Federer (we all know he's in the final), but can Agassi? I don't think he can, IMO.

I know, poor guy. This article, appropriately titled "Ginepri Makes Open Semis... hello?", does a pretty good job of explaining why his success these past two weeks hasn't garnered much attention.

Seems like he has a pretty good attitude about it though judging from this quote:


And I know he seems bland but I thought he showed a little attitude in this answer to a question about what separates him from the top two or three players:

Completely agree. It was painful to watch. My friend Meg was watching it with me and she is not even a tennis fan. But when Lindsay finally had match point in the third, she got up off the floor (she was stretching) and bounced next to me and said, "This needs to end, because I can't take the emotional roller-coaster anymore!"

I understand Lindsay's confusion : ) I play competitively in a gay league here in Boston. Certainly, a completely different level than what we're talking about here, but last week I played one of the worst matches I can ever remember playing. You know how you have your bread and butter plays/shots, the ones you go to when everything else isn't working just to keep yourself in the game?

Missed every one of those too.

The week before? Just the opposite. Played on fire. So here I am in the semi-finals and my game deserts me on every level and it's the worst feeling to not be able to do anything right. I kept yelling to myself, "Where did my game go?"

So for me, I was having PTSD flashbacks watching Lindsay!

Well I'm on the West Coast (the O.C.) and we had coverage of the whole Andre/Blake match. It was on USA, they didn't switch to CBS which I think was just an East Coast thing. Don't know about the dish network stuff, I have Cox cable.

I had actually placed a bet on Blake but while watching the match found myself routing for Andre! Go figure.

I would love for Fat Daveed to give Roger a run for his money, but he will probably get slaughtered.

I am clearly rooting for Kim to pull this tournament out. I definitely want her to get a Slam under her belt.

Castallack: You and LT know of my undying love for Andre. Imagine my utter surprise when I figured out I was rooting for James? It was a very weird experience.

I am surprised by the Andre hate on this board today/last night. I am going to stop there because I think emotions were high because James' story (and his amazing play which should not be underrated) were so endearing.

She looked even worse in the first set. I wish that she would take a page from Agassi and stop getting so down on herself when the slightest thing goes wrong. I've seen so many matches of hers when she is playing well, and then she loses a crtical point, and her whole mood just changes in the blink of an eye.

I think very highly of James Blake, but I love Andre - he's such a fighter. Last night certainly proved that - he was geting spanked, and then he stuck with it and turned it around. He'll probably beat Ginepri, but I'm not sure he can beat Federer, unless Roger just plays an awful match (assuming, which I am, that Roger gets to the finals).

I really think people are overlooking Nalbandian. Yes, he's only had one win over Federer since he first won Wimbledon (here in '03), but he's still very dangerous. Federer can't serve like he's been doing this week or it's going to be a tight match. If Nalbandian is playing well, he's like a combination of Agassi (powerful groundstrokes/returns) and Hewitt (speed, tenacity). Neither of those two trouble Roger anymore, but Nalbandian just might. He surely won't be aced off the court as easily. I think Federer's going to win it, but he needs to treat it like a final, get off to a good start, and finish it quickly.

I don't think Lindsay should retire unless her sole reason for playing is to win another Slam. I just don't see that happening. It's eerily similar to Hingis's last years. All the top players were just too powerful for her and now they're just too fast for Lindsay. The increased depth means she's going to start facing top players in the quarters, so that's three tough matches to take it home.

While I agree that James Blake's story is compelling, the constant repetition of it actually caused me to root against him (not his fault, of course, but I'm fickle).
I swear that for the rest of my life my hand will automatically search for the mute button every time I hear a sentance beginning with "And to think that this time last year.."
Give it a rest, you idiot announcers.
Also, 35 is not OLD. It may be getting up there as far as athletes go, but there are many athletes in many sports who play well into their late 30's and do quite well.

Actually, I've diskliked Andre since he came on the scene 20+ years ago ... so having someone like Blake to root for as opposed to just rooting against Andre was just an added bonus. I won't bore you will all the things about Agassi that bug me but I would have been thrilled to see Blake beat him.

They're replaying Blake/Agassi on USA now. It's currently Blake serving at 5-4 in the fifth. I can't believe what a different player Agassi was at this point in the match. He just completely turned it around. That's mental toughness, experience, etc. Good job.

And as for age, in many sports, older is better. In my sport (endurance running), we don't peak until we're in our 30s. So there, Johnny Mac. I'd run circles around you!

Oh great, a repeat of his time when he was dating Minnie. I didn't like him and his cocky attitude then. I'm hoping his noise about learning from that time has matured him, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not ruling out David. 1) because, although I'll be rooting for Roger, I like Nalbandian and 2) as has been mentioned, Roger just hasn't brought his A game yet. I'm just really glad it is the first match because I'm tired.

You forgot

"he sees the ball so early."

Heh. I adore Andre and I'm happy he won last night but I never want to hear any of those again.

I had hoped it was that too. I mean, he's a classy guy, gives a lot of time and money to charity, and is well-liked on the tour. In watching the match again today I was struck by how he didn't scream, yelp, fall on his knees, or dance around the court while Blake was waiting to shake his hand at net like so many players do. He was serious until he had spoken with Blake and Blake was gathering his things before he celebrated. I think that just epitomizes class.

I understand some don't like him, but let's save that kind of hate for Hewitt.

On the Federer tip, I want to believe you guys that are giving Nalbandian a chance but it's more because I am just steeling myself for what may be painful to watch. But I really hope you all are right.



ETA: LT, are you watching? They're actually showing doubles and with Mirnyi!

Right now I'm "watching" on the computer (and, as JeanPoole said, watching on the computer is overrated) but I did figure they would have to show it since everything else is juniors so I tivo'ed it. Of course, it is a little nervewracking considering they had to break just to stay in the match.

Did anyone else notice that it looks like Ginepri is going to end up the ace leader of the tournament by the end? He is currently at 58 and no one ahead of him is still in the tournament with Karlovic at no. 1 with 62. Four aces? I think Ginepri will do that on Saturday (I'm not thinking about him beyond that).

Can you listen to US Open Radio? It’s not tv but it’s preferable to the scoreboard to me.

I tivoed today as well- thought they would show doubles and yea that they are.

I kept checking in with the match from time to time in the early going, but was with it from about 11:30 on. I am so sleepy this morning, and I also didn't realize I was rooting for Blake until he was serving for the match.

I haven't listened to the Fan in years, but Eye-an Eagle was one of the lowly update guys back then. I don't know who he blew to elevate himself to late night CBS TV, but he better have been good at it.

I found myself cheering for Blake too, against Andre (and I'm a big Andre fan). I usually ignore the silly melodramatic intangibles from the commentator booth, but Blake possessed something this year, an energy of the kind that could have elevated him to beat Federer. No one else has it. Ginepri? Ehhhh... Andre doesn't, but my fingers are crossed for him.

Thank you! That's what I'm doing now. Of course, the first thing I hear is them talking about the empty stadium and how the "big" matches are coming up later. ARGH! Loving doubles is like loving the dodo.