US Open 2018

Gotham Gator

Registered
Donor
Feb 9, 2015
13,617
28,417
353
58
Bronxville, NY
Anyone else enjoy some time out at the King Tennis Center?

I went on Monday with the boy and am heading back again with Dr. Mrs. G. on Friday.

Also, if anyone knows how to buy a good craft beer at the Open, you will be my eternal friend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Schwallacus
Anyone else enjoy some time out at the King Tennis Center?

I went on Monday with the boy and am heading back again with Dr. Mrs. G. on Friday.

Also, if anyone knows how to buy a good craft beer at the Open, you will be my eternal friend.

Every time I go, I think there should be a soccer stadium next door. Goddamn special interest groups.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mgarbowski
Every time I go, I think there should be a soccer stadium next door. Goddamn special interest groups.
My son and I were gazing longingly at the acres of flat asphalt parking next to Citi Field. He had me explain to him again why so much parkland is blacktopped and why the Mets control what happens to it. (No, Michael Bloomberg, it doesn't make any fucking sense.)
 
Anyway, back to tennis. I am heading back tomorrow for the day session. I really enjoy wandering the outer courts in the first week. On Monday, I got to watch Jack Sock, Kevin Anderson, Andy Murray, Taylor Fritz and others - very close up. Great seats.

Unusually, there are also very good early matchups. Venus was matched against another former champ in the first round, and Stan Wawrinka (unseeded after an injury) was able to beat #8 Grigor Dimitrov.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ulrich
I more felt bad for the poor girl who won and faced a crowd of boos by the awful fans. So much so she tried to hide her tears under her hat and then under her towel. She then followed up by apologizing for winning!
This entirely.

Above all else, I think everyone can agree that Osaka is a great talent and seems like a solid person. She deserved so much better out of a final against her idol and a first major trophy than what unfolded. And the worst was the US Open crowd and their post match behavior. Serena has had amazing moments on that court, but maybe none better than when she admonished the crowd to stop booing and start celebrating for Osaka. Total class.
 
I totally agree with you that an unofficial warning would have been best. Her coach made his admission after the match, not during, so it wasn’t provable during play - it was simply assuming Serena was seeing the gestures. Her coach also also said that the other coach was making hand gestures the entire match too - he said all coaches make gestures.

The point is that the Umpire cannot definitively prove that Serena saw the gestures - the coach is sitting behind others which blocked the view based on the positioning of seats, so it’s debatable if the player can see anything and Serena has said she didn’t cheat, whereas the chair Umpire is in an elevated position making it easier for him to see spectators behind others. For all the umpire knew, or could prove, her coach could have just been explaining strategy to the people next to him - essentially reasonable doubt. A warning to Serena would have allowed her to tell her coach to stop whatever he was doing without assigning blame

You (and everyone else) should check out Martina Navratilova's piece in today's NY Times. Among other things, she reminds everyone that the violation is against the coach. It doesn't matter if Serena didn't see anything.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/martina-navratilova-serena-williams-us-open.html
 
You (and everyone else) should check out Martina Navratilova's piece in today's NY Times. Among other things, she reminds everyone that the violation is against the coach. It doesn't matter if Serena didn't see anything.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/martina-navratilova-serena-williams-us-open.html
The NY Times had some good stuff on this recently. First, a nice break down of what all happened.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/serena-osaka-us-open-penalty.html

Then, a further analysis on the referee, which I think is very important. Especially considering the claims against him, it's good to know more context about him. While some of those claims may be fair in a broader conversation about tennis (I honestly can't and won't speak to this because I frankly don't follow tennis enough to provide any valid input), I'm not completely certain that applies here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/tennis/serena-williams-umpire-carlos-ramos-us-open.html

Regarding the coaching, I won't get too much into it, but the more I watch the video of it, the less I feel bad about it being called for a 1st infraction. (
)

He motions once, and then again. And then nods his head as if to acknowledge that they were on the same page. On another sports forum I frequent, some posters there were mentioning that it was likely occurring beforehand and Ramos kept an eye out for it, and then issued the first violation.

I think there is a fair argument though that perhaps he could have issued a soft warning at first. But everything after the first violation is given is on Serena.