US Open Tennis

[Jaxcat]

So far, just a few upsets. Sinner and Alcaraz are the odds-on favorites to make the finals on the men's side. On the women's side, Iga has played very well on fast surfaces of late and Sabalenka seems off her game a bit. Goff has become a head case with an immense amount of physical talent. There are times she can't underhand a serve into the box. Would love to Rybakina and/or Kalinskaya make a deep run but they have a tendency lately of losing to a lesser player early due to going for too much on too many shots (imo). The women's side appears to be more wide open than the men's, imo. Would not surprise me to see a 20+ ranked woman in the finals this year.

Watched quite a bit of Medvedev's match last night until it went into the 5th set (at 12:45 am). ATP Tour needs to fine/suspend him for his behavior last night. Facing a match point in the 3rd set, a courtside photographer mistakenly walked on the court between Med's opponent's 1st and 2nd serve. The umpire immediately made the right call - give the server 2 serves, playing the entire point over. Medvedev caused a huge scene, riled the crowd up who then catcalled his opponent (who'd done NOTHING wrong, btw). The 6+ minute delay changed the momentum as Medvedev won that game and 3rd and 4th sets. However, his opponent righted the ship and won in the 5th set. Inexcusable that Medvedev gets away with pretty obvious bad sportsmanship and almost pulls a win out after completely screwing up his opponent's momentum and head space. I used to like him. But his game is ridiculously passive and, now that he's acting like a complete a-hole on the court, I hope his precipitous drop in the rankings continues. No place in professional tennis for his behavior last night.

[wildcatdon]

Looking forward to watching Sinner, Monfils and Alcaraz. Love the majors.

[Pete Hogwallop]

Turned on Prime Time at the open to see - once again - a Williams sister playing on the main court. For far too many years now, the prime time slot has featured one of them. It's time to move on.

[Majoga]

I'm digging this ESPN Ultimate package. I can watch ANY match on demand.

Rooting for:

Shelton
Tiafoe

Navarro
Fernandez

[Pete Hogwallop]

I'm digging this ESPN Ultimate package. I can watch ANY match on demand.

Rooting for:

Shelton
Tiafoe

Navarro
Fernandez

Me too. Plus tons of other sports/games I never had access to with just YouTubeTV or Sling. It's really worth the $30/month.

[Majoga]

I watched the Medvedev incident. My read is 180 degrees opposite. I don't think that was the proper call at all. The whole crowd knew it too. Danil might have got it started, but he correctly called out some BS. He did try to stop it at least a couple of times. Then Bonzi, refused to start again until complete quiet - even though he was getting a free serve. That encouraged the crowd even more. Bonzi is at least as responsible as Danil was. In any case, I've seen far worse on the court many times. I don't think Danil has turned into some sort of a punk.

[Jaxcat]

I watched the Medvedev incident. My read is 180 degrees opposite. I don't think that was the proper call at all. The whole crowd knew it too. Danil might have got it started, but he correctly called out some BS. He did try to stop it at least a couple of times. Then Bonzi, refused to start again until complete quiet - even though he was getting a free serve. That encouraged the crowd even more. Bonzi is at least as responsible as Danil was. In any case, I've seen far worse on the court many times. I don't think Danil has turned into some sort of a punk.

Interesting. I thought the umpire's call was correct, although it isn't an automatic call. Definitely at the umpire's discretion. I don't believe for a second the umpire was out to 'get' Medvedev as it was basically the only questionable call I'd see up to that point. Medvedev could've been a sportsman and said, 'Play two' - I believe many, if not all, of the best players would have done so. Medvedev did purposely rile up the crowd, though, and verbally berated the umpire suggesting he was incompetent. When he thought it had gone on long enough he tried to quiet them but he started it in the first place. And, it's New York - they're not gonna quiet down. Bonzi could've short circuited the brouhaha if he'd just conceded the first serve and served the 2nd. I read where Bonzi didn't serve because he didn't believe he would be able to hear the ball coming off Medvedev's strings and, thus, not be able to determine the type of shot that was being hit. There is certainly blame to be shared, but, imo, Medvedev acted childishly and amateurish and deserves more of the blame than Bonzi. BTW, not the first tantrum he's thrown at the USO in just the last few years. As his ranking has fallen, he seems to be acting up a bit more. Just my observation.

[Majoga]

Interesting. I thought the umpire's call was correct, although it isn't an automatic call. Definitely at the umpire's discretion.

I find the whole thing bizzarre tbh. I'm by no means a Medvedev fanboy. Never focused on following his career or anything like that. But I always thought he was a good player and a decent sort of person. I just don't get the hate for the dude over this. Not saying that's you. It's just what I've found in the ether when I started looking into it. I'm wondering if there's something rotten about the dude that I've missed over the years.

I don't think the ump was after him personally either, but I don't know their history. I just think it was a horrible call as the first serve was clearly not interfered with. I believe that probably is what initially set off Danil and the crowd - that the call just didn't seem that it was in the interest of fairness and sportsmanship. Danil may well deserve some sort of fine or penalty for stopping play or something similar. I think that would be appropriate. But I don't think he deserves to be tossed into the rotten pile like a lot of folks are doing. This is a game between a couple of grown-ass men. There was zero play actually hindered as the ump stopped the play for about two seconds between serves. Men should not be so affected by such a thing. Both players could have handled it better. Bonzi could have made himself a star by walking over to the ump and saying "bad call, lets go with second serve" and then proceed to take care of business.

In any case, I think the incident demonstrates that the "hindrance" rule being cited is inadequate for this situation. You are absolutely correct that it is (or should be) the umps decision on how to apply it. This particular umpire failed miserably in my opinion.