Indy Tennis Juice is your place for tournament updates, tennis and sports commentary, and the musings of yours truly.

fresh squeezed....and with pulp

The lovely ladies of the WTA, fresh from passing out flowers at the airport, took a moment to pose for this photo at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.

 

In related news, Serena Williams withdrew form the WTA Championships with an apparent strained stomach muscle. When a reporter suggested that she should have continued to play anyway, she had this to say:

 
"I should make you work out ... for like 22 years and make you have a severe stomach strain, and then tell you to play for the sponsors," she said. "You should try it."

The reporter responded by saying " A simple NO would have sufficed".The reporter then attempted to top her claim of working out for 22 years by promptly dropping to the ground and doing one-armed push-ups until he collapsed from exhaustion.

 
And finally, In last night's Broncos/Browns game, Brandon Marshall attempted to pull a white and black glove out of his pants and display it as a show of support for President-Elect Obama. Teammate Brandon Stokely quickly stopped him in an effort to avoid a very costly 15 yard penalty. Stokely was later seen on the bench waiving a Neiman-Marcus bag in the air as a show of support for Sarah Palin. Man, that joke took forever.

Have a great weekend and get back to work, Rae.

Gilles Simon, fresh from a run to the finals of the Madrid Masters Event, has earned himself a career-high ranking of #10 in the ATP's men's tennis rankings. Gilles is the 2008 Indianapolis Champion, where he was ranked #22 this summer.Simon also took home titles this year in Casablanca and Bucharest.

Simon lost to Andy Murray in the Madrid final, but not before defeating World #1 Rafael Nadal in the semis and notching winds over Ivo Karlovic, Robby Ginepri, James Blake, and Igor Andreev.

I've been a big fan of Simon this year and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I had the chance to speak briefly with him in July here in Indy and he was a class act. He's young and energetic, but humble and aware of his place in the game right now.The sky truly is the limit for him and I look for him to contest for a top five spot very soon.

The rest of the top ten looks like this:

1. Nadal- Duh..
2. Federer
3. Djokovic
4. A. Murray
5. Ferrer
6. Davydenko
7. Roddick
8. Nalbandian
9. Del Potro
10. Simon

Today was supposed to be one of those great sports days for me. You know the kind that I'm talking about..you favorite teams win big games over the weekend and you come to work monday with the feeling that finally, and perhaps only for a day, things are going your way. This was supposed to be my day today, but NO!!! And do you know why? Because I am a fan of the following three franchises:

Colts
Cowboys
Redsox

Man, today was going to really be a jolly affair. I was looking forward to it. Really was. The Sox overcame a 1-3 deficit to take the Rays to a seventh and deciding game in the ALCS, The Colts had a very realistic chance of leaving Green Bay with a win, and the Cowboys faced the lowly and happless St. Louis Rams.
 What happened, you ask? Well, let's start by saying that if you are asking this, did you spend your Sunday in a craft store or something?

 
First, My Dallas Cowboys were completely manhandled in St. Louis by a Rams team that has suddenly won two in a row but is still ter.ri.ble..I'll spare you the recital of statistics to support my argument. Trust me, this was ugly early. I love the excuses that are thrown around for why the Cowboys can't win all of a sudden: Adam Jones (Jerry Jones got what he deserved for that one and I REFUSE to call him "Pacman"), Tony Romo's pinky, the banged-up secondary,Felix Jones, blah blah blah. You know why they aren't winning? They have no heart. They have no killer instinct. That team is a rudderless ship, just out there turning in circles. There are 7 or 8 Pro Bowlers on that team and you'd never know it by their play. They can't protect the quarterback on offense and they can't stop the run on defense. This is one of the greatest compilations of natural talent I've ever seen
with one of the most lackluster coaching staffs in the league. Wade Phillips and his "Aw-shucks" outlook on everything, coupled with Jason Garrett's completely inept offensive game planning are more than my blood pressure can take. 
 
Jerry- Do your fans a favor. Pay Bill Cowher whatever he wants, no matter the price. Name the new stadium after him if that's what it takes. Just hire him. Then let him clean house.  

 And then the Colts took the field 3 hours later.They should have stayed on the bus.The Colts continued this season's trend of inconsistent and sloppy play, and this time it cost them big. Twelve penalties for 100 yards, 75 yards rushing, 229 yards passing, 5-for 15 on third down, and 2 interceptions returned for touchdowns. The stupid penalties for basic lack of execution were aggravating eneough, especially for this team that has been SO disciplined over the span of the Dungy regime. Green Bay had an almost identical offensive day in terms of stats (302 yards of offense, 2 offensive touchdowns), but The Packers defense stepped on the Colts' neck early and didn't let up. 

 Last week's mangling of the Ravens was heralded as The Colts triumphant return to form, but it's clear to me that it was just an average team beating a below average team. The loss drops Indy to 3-3 on the year and a full 3 games behind the Titans, who they face next week on monday night, followed by New England and Pittsburgh.This season might get a lot worse before it gets a little better.
 
  
And now for baseball...

 let's not deny the fact that Matt Garza pitched a fantastic game for the Rays last night. He dominated the Red Sox in every sense of the word after hanging that fastball up and in for Pedroia in the first inning. Jon Lester pitched well for the sox, scattering 6 hits and allowing 3 runs, which on most days for Boston is good enough for the win. Unfortunately, when a team leaves 8 men on base and the bottom third of their lineup just can't hit the ball, they lose.  The top of the batting order,minus David Ortiz, could not continue to make up for the lack of hitting from the bottom of the order. Ellsbury, Kotsay, Lowrie, Ortiz, and Varitek all struggled over the series. It's a little sad to say (at least for me), but I believe Jason Varitek has played his last game in a Red Sox uniform. But I give credit to the Rays for playing to their strengths- good pitching and great defense. The offensive explosion in the middle of the series was a nice touch,too.

 But, I'm moving on..considering the injury problems, the Manny problem, and the level of competition from a SOLID American League, coming within one game of the World Series aint so bad.I think the Red Sox nation will move on as well...to boo-hooing over the stinking Patiots!!Man, I love it!!!

 Oh yeah..and Andy Murray won the Madrid Masters Seried event yesterday, defeating 2008 Indy Champion Gilles Simon in straight sets. Murray played very well, defeating the Rog on his way to the championship. Simon knocked of Rafa Nadal on saturday to earn his spot in the final. I like this kid more and more each time I see him play. He has an enormous future ahead of him.

 See? Something good did happen this weekend!

First of all-my apologies to all the Tampa Bay Rays fans out there. The twelve of you will have to wait a little longer(maybe) for the maiden voyage to the World Series. The 34 inning batting practice finally came to an end last night as the Red Sox came back from down 7 runs to win the game in the bottom of the ninth on a J.D. Drew single. The following professionally made video montage sums it up best:



 

Cheer up, though...the odds are still in your team's favor with a 3-2 advantage going back home and with Shields going tomorrow night against the suddenly-not-so-good Josh Beckett, but if the Sox do happen to get back in this thing, you can look back at a few things last night, namely David Ortiz' 2-run homer that may have shifted momentum back Boston's way. Anyway, if things don't work out, don't feel too bad- YOU LIVE ON THE OCEAN!! Things can't be that rough, can they?
Plus, I think Wilfred Brimley is throwing out the first pitch saturday night, but most of the Tampa Residents will be in bed by then.

 

Also, since I'm talking playoffs- Hey, TBS- enough already with the promos for "Frank TV". At first, I thought "Hey,this guy could be kind of funny" but 6 months and 3000 commercials later, I pretty much would rather watch "The Hills". Over and over and over and over again.

And now for some tennis:

THIS JUST IN: Andy Murray shaves, beats Monfils in Madrid. Job well done on both.
 
 Also in Madrid- Gilles Simon rallied from down match point to defeat a determined Robby Ginepri and Ivo karlovic suprised Novak Djokovic. He was hiding around a corner waiting for Novak to walk around it and then jumped out and was like "waaarrhh!!! ha ha I really got you that time, Novak" and Djokovic was all like " aw, man...whatever, no you didn't!." Then Karlovic beat him 7-6 7-6.
 
 In other Madrid news, Roger Federer defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals and will face the now clean shaven Murray in the semis. Now let's see what can be done about Nadal's underwear problem as the ATP's "Brave New World of Hygiene" continues its mission to clean up the game.

zzzzing!

All for now. It's friday-know what time it is?

    Rodger Federer will participate in AMS Madrid, which begins next week. This comes contrary to earlier rumors that he may take the remainder of the year off to rest for next season. Personally, I think his day job was interfering with his fantasy football team.

In other news:

 The Phillies defeated the Dodgers in game 1 of the NL Championship series. When reached for comment, Manny Ramirez summed up the night with this: " Derrrr...take that Boston! I mean, uhh..Oh, wait..we lost? Seriously? Where was I? I must have completely blacked out today. That was weird."

 The Red Sox open up their bid for a second consectutive World Series berth tonight on the road against the Tamps Bay Rays in that abandoned airplane hangar they call home. First pitch is at 8:37 pm, which won't interfere with the average Florida resident's daily routine of a 4:00 dinner followed by 3 hours of "matlock" re-runs.

                                                                



                                            


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In racing news, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick were involved in a scuffle earlier this week after Harvick took exception to a nasty note that Edwards left him after Harvick...well, who really cares anyway? A NASCAR official close to the situation released this statement:

 

Daggummit! I said, I said Dat Edwards boy and that Harvick fella dun gone and git themselves in a daggone pickle downderr and dat sumgun gone yee-haa! rightderr and that boy dunsaid whoo-hoo rightbackatchya!!! Now dat dang ol' busdriver done put dat feller in one of them doggone headlocks and said "pipe down little rascal and gitonouttahere, ya hear me??" and I dun said 'nuff 'bout that, hear me?

Police were called to a Dallas hotel early wednesday morning after Adam "Pac Man" Jones was involved in an altercation with one of his bodyguards in one of the hotel's bathrooms. Upon hearing this news, the residents of Dallas let out a collective "Dagnabbit...we dun got had again!"

You've been great...I'm out.

    That's right, boys and girls..My how we're progressing around here. For all you Facebook users out there, you can now visit The Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly on facebook.com. Just keyword seach us and the magic of social networking will be at your fingertips. Logon and visit us and we promise that you won't have to be friends with this guy...

    I haven't blogged in over a week, which leaves me bitter and dissapointed in myself. I try to stay on topic of tennis most of the time, but frankly, I couldn't get motivated to talk about the long march uphill for the U.S Davis Cup squad once my US Open hangover wore off. 
     Having had a chance to reflect on the loss to Spain, I honestly don't think that this was a winneable tie anyway, but I do think, and perhaps more importantly, it was pivotal in the advancement of our Davis Cup team for the forseeable future. If Sam Querrey is the next star in the U.S. stable, which I believe he is, then it was time to get him in the fold and let him gain valuable experience. Injuries to James Blake and Bob Bryan forced the United States team out of its gameplan, but the time was now to take inventory of what we had and what we may need. 
     I'm not an expert on the Davis Cup, but as a professional tennis fan, I will say that I was extremely impressed with Sam's efforts against Nadal in the first rubber. He brought his usual composure into a match in Rafa's backyard and on his favored surface and with a rowdy crowd that was in his corner the whole way and still managed to steal a set from him in the meantime. 
     Sam can walk away from the experience with a great amount of confidence and Pat McEnroe can breathe easy knowing he has a guy that can play.That has to count for something.

    The reigning US Open Doubles Champs and current World #1 Doubles team will have a slightly different look two days from now as Bob Bryan will sit out this weekend's Davis Cup tie with Spain due to a shoulder injury. US Open quarterfinalist and all-around awesome guy Mardy Fish will step in in Bob's absence. Mardy was not on the original U.S. team, but has been serving as a hitting partner with the singles players.

    When reached for comment, Mike Bryan was quoted as saying " It'll be nice playing with Mardy for a change. I mean, sure, I love Bob and everything, but we're around each other like 20 hours a day or something. We live together, too."
Mardy Fish offered the following regarding the new pairing: " Yeah....which one are you again?Oh, right, Mike! Gotta remember that. Mike, Mike, Mike."

    This weekend's tilt will be a challenge for Team USA, already working Sam Querrey into the mix after James Blake withdrew from the competition. USA faces off with Spain in Madrid, on clay, and featuring a young upstart named Rafael Nadal. This weekend's contest, along with Argentina vs. Russia should provide us Racquetheads with some outstanding professional tennis matches.
    
    Complete information regarding both Davis Cup Semis available here

Not much to comment on this morning, so have at it! Leave your caption in the comment section below. I'll even get it started for you.



"Santoro warned me about this"
"See, man..I told you I could use the force!"
"Dude, are you seeing this? It's like a little, tiny sun just floating there...aww, man I'm freaking out." 

...well guess what? you were wrong.

    I'm supposed to win every slam, every year..right? Well, I didn't. Apparently there ARE other talented players out there who, on occasion, win tournaments.
Does that make me old, irrelevant..finished?

    Apparently the throngs of tennisfolk that were waiting to pen my eulogy will have to wait a little longer. I'm not done yet. And I won't be for awhile.

    Yeah, Australia was a letdown...try going to work with Mono sometime.I've had better times, but I did it anyway.

    Roland Garros was disappointing, but I was good enough to make the final. Rafa's pretty good on dirt, if you haven't noticed.

    Remember that Wimbledon final? Greatest match ever? I played in it.That could have gone either way on any given day, but that day was Rafa's....

    
    But I'm the King of New York. Have been for five straight years.Traffic stops when I cross the street and even Donald Trump asks for my autograph. It's an A-List affair anytime I step into Arthur Ashe Stadium. Quick..think of a celebrity..yeah, they've seen me play. They may not have paid for the ticket, but they weren't asked to attend either.

I'm probably not done yet this year. Madrid, Paris, Shanghai? It's on.

 

    In case you didn't see the Novak Djokovic's post-match tirade..er,interview last night..here it is in it's entirety.

    I've always liked Novak quite a lot, not only for his obvious skill on the court, but also for his charisma and unique personality. However, last night was disappointing. There's a good read on it over on Fanhouse (a favorite of The Juice). Novak later backed off his original comments, but unfortunately you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. I'm not sure what kind of reaction Novak was expecting from the crowd, but I'll bet it wasn't this.

    Last night's match was shaping up to be one of those magic events that have taken place so many times at the open..until the fourth set with Roddick up 5-3. All the pieces were there..Djokovic dominating the first two sets, going a perfect 4 for 4 in break chances. Roddick battling back in a brilliant third set that had Novak on the ropes and looking for some quick answers.That was until late in the afore mentioned fourth set when the wheels fell off for Roddick. Djokovic seized the chance to work his way back onto the set, eventually winning the tiebreak.

    I'll give Novak his due credit, albeit for a shaky third set, he was confident in his game plan and was precise in his shot selection while forcing Roddick to play out of his comfort zone.

For Djokovic, it's on to the semis for a rematch of last year's final versus Roger Federer. The winner gets either Rafa Nadal or Andy Murray in the final.

Professional Tennis On Tap today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:

The Brothers Bryan vs. Dlouhy/Paes for the Men's Tennis Doubles Championships- Currently 4 all in the second set with the Bryans taking the first set 7-6

Women's Semifinals

Dementieva vs. Jankovic- Soon after the doubles match

Followed by

S. Williams vs. Safina

p.s.- There's rain in the forecast all weekend in NY, tomorrow may be interesting. I don't know about you, but having to play both finals on sunday wouldn't be so bad.
 

I'm amazed by the simplicity of this game.....bring me a tray of your finest meats and cheeses!




    Well..what I thought yesterday would be a great match really wasn't much of a match at all, now was it? 

     Last night in New York, Andy Roddick needed a paltry 87 minutes to dispatch of 11th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez. You really don't have to work your way down the stat sheet very far to figure this one out- Roddick only committed 8 unforced errors compared to Gonzalez' 33. Gonzalez complemented this with 6 double faults. Roddick compiled an impressive 1st serve winning percentage of 93% compared to Fernando's 60%.  
 
    For most of the match it looked as though Gonzalez was completely confused by and uncomfortable with the pace of the match, particularly when Andy was on serve. If fatigue was a factor, and it looked like it was, Roddick certainly capitalized on it as he got out in front of his opponent early and never let up. Roddick also did a nice job of going to the net on several occassions to come up with some brilliant passing shots. Gonzalez was slow to counteract Roddick's superior quickness.
 
I think Andy has a very realistic chance to win the whole thing and my reasons are these:

- Roddick is obviouly intent on leaving it all on the court and while that often leads a player to play wreckless and sloppy, Andy has looked crisp, polished, and very focused on the match in front of him

- He faces Djokovic in the quartefinals and Federer most likely in the Semis if all goes well. Both have appeared exhausted at times and have struggled throughout the draw. Call it fatigue, tough opponents, or lack of focus but while they've both just come off of brutal 5-set matches, Andy's getting through his business in 90 minutes. Roddick has yet to have a match go five sets and has been pushed to a fourth set only once. Getting through your opponents quickly and getting adequate rest are critical at this point in a tournament.

- provided Andy gets through the next two rounds and into the finals, Nadal is his most likely opponent, although either Murray or Del Potro will present a serious challenge. In theory if he's made it this far, then why can't he win it all? Roddick's 2-for-5 head to head with Rafa, which isn't exactly astounding, but put this in baseball terms and Roddick's batting .400 (which is astounding).

I still think Andy's corner of the draw is the most difficult, as his has proven to be so far, but it might be time to think realistically about seeing Andy hoist the hardware this sunday.

Anyway, on to the rest of it...

Professional Tennis Matches On tap for today:

Dinara Safina vs. Flavia Pennetta-just underway

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Andy Murray- should be a great match between two great players. Apparently these two are not fond of each other.

Tonight's Primetime Action:

War of the Williams' (my term)- Venus vs. Serena in what can only be desribed as the most important sporting event in the history professional tennis....and maybe  the world.

Followed by:

Rafael Nadal vs. Mardy Fish- on a side note, the Fish Tank is still riding high after the pounding they inflicted on the J-Block. Hopefully tonight they're focused, energized, and not drowned out by the 20,000 people that showed up to root for Nadal.
That's it for now..you've been great.

    So the US Open quarterfinal matchups will be set by the end of the day, and the one question on everyone's mind is...where did Mardy Fish come from? You could answer that with "Edina, Minnesota", but that's not really what I'm asking.
 Seriously, and with no disrespect to Mardy himself, but did anyone think that he would make it to the US Open quarterfinals, considering he's never made it out of the second round in any of his previous seven attempts?
 I thought the loss in the New Haven final the previous week (which he was good enought to have won) would have slowed his momentum, but Mardy has played out of his mind. His win over Blake this weekend was one of the most lopsided men's tennis matches I've seen in awhile. He then easily defeated a surging Gael Monfils yesterday in straight sets.

 Up next? a young upstart by the name of Nadal. Gooood luck with that.

 On tap still for today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:

Novak Djokovic vs. Tommy Robredo- currently in progress. Robredo took the first set, but is down 0-3 in the second.

Followed by:

Roger Federer vs. Igor Andreev

Nikolay Davydenko squares off against Gilles Muller on Armstrong any time now.

Tonight's Primtime Entertainment:

Jelena Jankovic vs. Sybille Bammer

followed by:

Andy Roddick vs. Fernando Gonzalez

 Roddick's road to the finals from here out is brutal. Provided he wins tonight against Gonzalez (which he should) he still has to contend with either Robredo or Djokovic in the quarters, followed by presumably either Davydenko or Federer.Not easy by any means.Bringing Pat McEnroe on as a coach is looking like a really good move so far, which Pat's brother is doing a great job of pointing out each match...about every 6 minutes or so. Patty Mac has done an outstanding job coaching the U.S. Davis Cup Team and has built a tremendous relationship with Roddick, so we'll see where this goes.

More to come later...

Best of Luck to you, Marcus. We'll miss you around here!!

-From all of us

 

    First off, if you didn't watch the Roddick/Santoro match last night, you really missed something special. Let's just say that both backwalls in Arthur Ashe Stadium took a beating.Roddick easily defeated The Magician in straight sets 6-2 6-2 6-2. Santoro is one of the craftiest professional tennis players around, but was unable to withstand a constant barrage of Roddick serves.

 Lindsay Davenport was also impressive as she defeated Alisa Kleybanova 7-5 6-3. Lindsay did a noce job in foiling Kleybanova's game stategy, which was to hit every..single..shot.. at Davenport as hard as possible. Linsday moves on to meet 12th seed Marion Bartoli in the third round.

 Other notable results from day 3

 Novak Djokovic advances to the third round with a win over Arnaud Clement in straight sets. Novak rolled his left ankle pretty good, but with the help of a professional tennis trainer and 90 feet of athletic tape, he was able to finish the match. Keep an eye on this as the week progresses.

Nikolay Davydenko won in straight sets over Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Robby Ginepri beat fellow American Amer Delic. Wild Card Sam Warburg defeated Janko Tipsarevic, who retired in the 2nd set.Dmitri Tursonov beat Eduardo Schwank in 4 sets. This happened somewhere in the middle of them seeing who could smash the most racquets on court

Jelena Jankovic outlasted Sofia Arvidsson to advance to the third round. Jankovic looked shaky at best. Elena Dementieva advanced over Pauline Parmentier 6-2 6-1.

Patty Schnyder, Caroline Wozniaki, and 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova were also winners.

Complete men's and women's day 3 results here.

Notable matches on tap for today

Men

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Thomaz Belluci
David Nalbandian vs.Andrey Golubev
Andy Murray vs. Michael Llodra
Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Wayne Odesnik (currently 5-5 2nd set with Wawrinka taking the first set)
Sam Querrey vs. Nicolas Devilder
Ivo Karlovic vs. Florent Serra
Gael Monfils vs. Evgeny Korolev

Women

Dinara Safina def. Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3
Venus Williams vs. Rossana De Los Rios
Ana Ivanovic vs. Julie Coin

Tonight's primetime action-coming to you live from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Serena Williams vs. Elena Vesnia

Rafa Nadal vs. Ryler De Heart

 

And to think he was clocked at 147 mph earlier in the match. I think Andy's ready to play.  

    Well, I had a hunch yesterday about both Sam Querrey and Tommy Haas pulling off upsets in day one and it's refreshing to see that something went right for me, especially after the fiasco that was my golf game yesterday afternoon.

     Querrey needed a mere 87 minutes to dispatch of Tomas Berdych in straight sets while Haas was taken the distance by 12th seed Richard Gasquet before emerging the victor. Querrey faces  Frenchman Nicolas Devilder in the second round while Haas will have to contend with Gilles Muller.

     In other upset news (upsetting news?) Women's 11 seed Daniela Hantuchova lost in straight sets to Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4 6-2. The resurgent Nicolas Kiefer exits a bit early at the hands of Ivo Minar.

Other notable men's winners from day 2:

Marat Safin
Roger Federer
Mardy Fish
Tommy Robredo
Ivo Karlovic
Fernando Verdasco

And for the Ladies:

Ana Ivanovic
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Dinara Safina
Amelie Mauresmo
Nadia Petrova
Nicole Vaidisova
 
Complete results available here

On tap for today:

Men

Novak Djokovic looks to finish just one day better than he did last year, but has to get through Arnaud Clement first.
Nikolay Davydenko takes on Dudi Sela at 11:00 while 2005 King of Indianapolis Tennis Robby Ginepri and Amer Delic take court a little later on today. Nicholas Amalgro faces off with 2006 Indy Championships Finalist Frank Dancevic on court six.

And once again for the Ladies:

5th seed Elena Dementieva squares off against Pauline Permentier. 2nd seeded Jelena Jankovic, Patty Schnyder, and Svetlana Kuznetzova all see action today as well.

Tonight's primetime entertainment:

Lindsay Davenport vs. Alisa Kleybanova- Hopefully Davenport's knee hold up as she begins what is likely her final run in new York.

Andy Roddick vs. Fabrice Santoro- Roddick begins his trek through a difficult quarter of the draw against The Magician, who will throw everything, including the kitchen sink, in Andy's direction in hopes of upsetting the 8 seed.

That's all for now..have a happy wednesday

 

    
    In day one action at the US Open, James Blake survived a scare from American Donald Young before finally winning in 5 sets 6-1 3-6 6-1 4-6 6-4. Blake definitely looked fatigued after a great run at the Olympics, but took adavantage of 2 overturned calls in the final set to regain his momentum and close out the match. Young showed signs that's he learning how to become a professional tennis player, but an overturned call followed by a double-fault on serve at 4-4 in the fifth set helped seal the deal for Blake.

 Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round with a victory over Bjorn Phau 7-6(4) 6-3 7-6(4). Rafa admitted to being tired and a little off his game, but was able to hold off his opponent nonetheless. Rafa at 70% or so is still a nightmare for anyone, although Phau deserves some credit for keeping it close throughout the three sets.

 It will be interesting to see what impact the Olympics will have on the players who participated, especially since two of the marquis Olympians in the men's draw definitely were not at their best yesterday. Roger Federer holds court at Artur Ashe Stadium tonight, so we'll see if he's shaken off the jetlag yet.

Other notable day 1 winners from the men's draw were David Ferrer, Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray,Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, David Nalbandian. Get complete day 1 results here.

Top seeds in action today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:
Roger Federer vs. Maximo Gonzalez
Tommy Robredo vs. Mischa Zverev
Tomas Berdych vs. Sam Querrey
Richard Gasquet vs. Tommy Haas

    Haas and Querrey are the underdog in their respective matches, but don't be suprised if one or both survive to see the second round. Querrey's game is defintely suited for the hard court and Haas has a Safin-esque way of playing lights-out in big matches. Haas has also made the quarterfinals in New York in three of the past four years.