Our man Sam Querrey will make his debut for the U.S. Davis Cup team against Spain next week, replacing James Blake, who had played in every Davis Cup tie for the United States since 2005 and helped the team to its first title in 12 years last December. US Davis Cup Captain, Patrick McEnroe, said James was tired and mentally exhausted from the season and needed a break, so they met his request and replaced him with Querrey.

What an awesome opportunity for Querrey, first he got to represent the US at the Olympics and now for the Davis Cup Team.

Querrey is having a breakthrough season in just his second full year as a pro.  He won his first ATP title in March and defeated then No. 9 Richard Gasquet and former French Open champion Carlos Moya on red clay en route to the quarterfinals in Monte Carlo.  This summer, Querrey made his Olympic debut in Beijing and had his best finish at a major, reaching the Round of 16 at the US Open. 

Querrey will be  the first rookie on the U.S. team since Robby Ginepri made his debut in the 2004 First Round.  Congrats Sam!

...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.

 

The Olympus US Open Series bus made its final stop of the year at the US Open in Fleshing Meadows, N.Y. Congratulations to Rafael Nadal for becoming the 2008 Olympus US Open Series Champion. It wasn’t long ago that the Olympus US Open Series kicked off in Indianapolis when the Olympus bus made its first official stop at the 2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly July 14 – 20. Just a few months back Gilles Simon captured the Indy crown and went on to defeat then ranked #1 in the world Roger Federer a  week later.Hats off to all the athletes who competed in this year’s US Open Series and I look forward to catching you at the 2009 Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly which will take place July 18 – 26.

I know I should be writing about men's tennis and the Indianapolis Tennis Championships but I feel I should devote some space to Serena Williams.  It seems you either love her or hate her.  How can any sports fan or general fan not be able to applaud her performance at the US Open?

After five years and one month, Serena is now the number 1 ranked women's professional tennis player in the world.  She beat Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 to take the US Open crown.  What an achievement.  Not only did she win a major, the major tennis tournament in the world but she moved into the number 1 ranking.

She has gone the longest period between the top ranking by any player since the early 70s.  I don't care if you aren't a tennis fan, you have to applaud her unbelievable effort and perservance to comeback and take the US Open crown and ascend to the #1 ranking.

Go Serena!!!

Since I'm still in the dumps about my recent US Open picks, I not going to recount last night's tennis match.  Roddick was not mentally prepared.  Hats off to the Williams sisters, though.  That has to be a tough stage to be playing your sister on the national stage for a semi-final spot at the US Open.  The greatest tennis event in the world!

I want to grip about the Indianapolis Star's coverage of the US Open.  I am a faithful reading of the Sports page every morning before work.  This morning, I was excited to read about last night's mens tennis match, todays matches and other general comments from the US Open.  Yes, the largest standalone sporting event in the world!  I expected the Colts to get the front page and the US Open to be on the inside of the front page.

I read through the Colts, high school football, NFL, baseball, transactions/AP info and then finally found the US Open information.  How can this huge event on the sports calendar be regulated to the back page - especially when the Indianapolis Tennis Championships feeds into the US Open.  There is a men's professional tennis tournament in Indianapolis - there are fans of tennis in Indianapolis.  How can the US Open, generating $200 million in revenue, be slammed to the bag page?

In further investigation, I decided to check out www.indystar.com for the lastest US Open news.  After much searching, I found a blurb about US Open highlights under the National News section-at the bottom and fifth on the list.  It even appears after a story about Marion Jones being released from prison early.  Game, Set and Match - how can tennis compete with a convict being released from prison early.

Sorry for the delay in the updating, I am just recovering from my very first visit to the US Open! After playing tennis for 10 years, it was a dream come true to see the greatest event in tennis! It will be a memory I will never forget, stepping foot on the grounds that have shaped tennis to what is today and seeing the future of tennis firsthand. It is a priviledge to be part of the Olympus US Open Series, and to see history made...40 years of US Open Era!

Sidenote from last night's match: I am glad to see Djokovic stand up for himself. I don't think it was intentional to toast the crowd, but rather he was caught up in the press and trying to balance the pressure! I vote him to win the whole tournament regardless of what poeple are staying!

Congrats Bryan Brothers on another great victory!

    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.
 

As of week ending Sunday, August 31, Yankee Stadium has been removed from the number one position after a 10 week stent. Over the weekend the Arthur Ashe Stadium home to the U.S. Open became the top among exclusive venues. The rankings are developed by TicketNews.com.  Important factors that determine the power score for these rankings include: total ticket sales for a venue, and total ticket sales within the category. Below are the most recent ranks of venues.

Top Venues
Week Ending 08/31/2008
    Venue                                   Score
1 Arthur Ashe Stadium Tickets     4.59
2 Madison Square Garden Tickets    2.71
3 Yankee Stadium Tickets     2.63
4 Texas Stadium Tickets     2.54
5 Gershwin Theatre Tickets     1.93
6 Caesars Palace Colosseum Tickets    1.89
7 Giants Stadium Tickets     1.86
8 Wrigley Field Tickets     1.58
9 Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center Tickets  1.43
10 Fenway Park Tickets      1.42
11 Virginia/August Wilson Theatre, New York Tickets  1.37
12 Heinz Field Tickets      1.31
13 Dolphin Stadium Tickets    1.14
14 Ohio Stadium Tickets     1.06
15 Lincoln Financial Field Tickets    1.02
16 Qwest Field Tickets      0.84
17 Ralph Wilson Stadium Tickets    0.83
18 Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium Tickets  0.83
19 Gillette Stadium Tickets     0.83
20 Lucas Oil Stadium Tickets    0.81

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...

 

    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.

Yes, the granddaddy of them all begins today in Flushing Meadow.  The US Open takes center stage in the tennis world.  I would argue that it is the premier Men's Professional Tennis Tournament in the world.

We love to watch how 'our' tennis players from the Indianapolis Tennis Championships go on to do in NY. 

I decided to go out on a limb and choose by quarterfinalists for this year's US Open.

Here goes:

Nadal
Blake
Simon
Lopez
Roddick
Moya
Tursunov
Federer

Nobody would blame me for choosing Nadal and Federer.  I think 99% of the population would pick one of them to win the whole thing.  Blake had a great Olympics and is playing well on the hardcourts.  An Indy favorite, Andy Roddick should also do well.  Going out further on a limb, I'm going to choose none other than Gilles Simon to make the finals.

Professional tennis hits the radio airwaves.  RadioTennis.com is one of the lastest and greatest things to hit professional tennis.  Although we were not able broadcast matches on RadioTennis.com at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly this year, it remains a great concept.

RadioTennis.com provides live streaming audio play-by-play of professional and top level tennis from around the world, via the Internet.  The best part - it is absolutely free!

So get into professional tennis!  Check out RadioTennis.com

The grandest stage in men's tennis is almost set.  The first three rounds of the qualifying tournament for the USTA granddaddy event are over.  The professional tennis players have been in New York battling for 16 spots into the US Open for several days.  Before the final round begins in Flushing Meadows, I thought I would choose my picks.

My picks:
Bjorn Phau
Giovanni Lapentti - brother Nicholas won the RCA Championships several yrs ago
Robert Smeets - love the last name
Robert Kendrick - a US player who recently competed in Indy
Brian Dabul - Da bulls, Da bulls
Thiago Alves
Ryler De Heart - another US player
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi - played in Indianapolis this year and was great
Flavio Cipolla - have to root for a guy with the first name of Flavio
Thierry Ascione
Rik de Voest
Paul Capdeville - played well in the Indianapolis Tennis Tournament
Kevin Kim
Alex Kuznetsov - an upcoming American
Gille Muller
Stephane Bohli

    We anxiously await the announcing of the US Open draws, which were not on the website as of about 5 minutes ago. Hopefully the USTA ends the suspense soon. 
    In the meantime, enjoy The Juice's random video clips of Andre Agassi. Andre was a four-time finalist and two-time Champion ('94,'99) in Flushing Meadows. He belongs in a small, yet elite group of players who are icons in men's tennis. Andre single-handedly changed the landscape of professional tennis in the early nineties. His image, style, and boldness were equaled only by his game.






This one's 17 seconds long..but worth it anyway

An Olympic Gold Medal and a #1 ranking on the world...not a bad week at all.

Way to go Rafa...You're King of the World!

Final results from Beijing:

 Men's Tennis Singles
 
Gold Medal match
Nadal (ESP) def. Gonzalez (CHI) 6-3 7-6(2) 6-3

Bronze Medal match
Djokovic (SRB) def. Blake (USA) 6-3 7-6(4)

 Men's Tennis Doubles

Gold medal match
Federer/Wawrinka (SUI)   6 6 6(4) 6
Aspelin/Johannson(SWE) 3 4 7    3

Bronze medal match
Bryan/Bryan (USA)    3 6 6
Clement/Llodra (FRA) 6 3 4

 Women's Tennis Singles

Gold medal match
Dementieva (RUS) def. Safina (RUS) 3-9 7-5 6-3

Bronze medal match
Zvonareva (RUS) def. Na (CHN) 6-0 7-5

 Women's Tennis Doubles

Gold medal match
Williams/Williams (USA)  6 6
Garrigues/Virginia (ESP)  2 0

Bronze medal match
Zi/Jie (CHN)                              6 6
Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR)  2 2

And there you have it...Congratulations to the winners for doing their Countries proud.

In other tennis news:

 Juan Martin Del Potro makes it four for the year as he takes the title at the Legg Mason Classic in Washington DC. His win over Viktor Troicki gives him some serious momentum heading into New York.Del Potro also moved into the #15 spot in the ATP Men's rankings.

 Pilot Pen Tennis takes center stage in New Haven this week.The final stop before New York for the Olympus US Open Series always puts on a great show with some of the best in both Men's and Women's pro tennis.

 
And on deck....The US Open.We at The Juice are getting geared up for our favorite of all the Grand Slams as we speak.Can Federer make it five? Can Nadal or Djokovic make it one? Will Jerry Seinfeld be there? Man, I hope so...he's funny.