Message To The US Open

Dear US Open,

First, let me congratulate you on another exciting US Open. Now that I got the obligatory nice sentence out of the way, let’s get down to business. I wrote you several years ago about your silly final set tie-breaker system. With Andy Roddick retiring after this year’s tournament, do you know the match I’ll remember him most? That would be the 2009 Wimbledon final where Roddick lost to Roger Federer 16-14 in the fifth set. What an amazing match that could never occur at your tournament. You have your reasons as to why you keep the final set tie-breaker unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments which is why I want you to consider changing the bracket for next year’s tournament. Let’s take a look at this year’s men's bracket, shall we?

If the higher seeds advance, the semi-finals will feature #1 Roger Federer vs. #3 Andy Murray and #2 Novak Djokovic vs. #4 David Ferrer. Now Ferrer is a very good player, but I’m sure that Djokovic would much rather face Ferrer than Murray. I don’t necessarily want Federer to win, but it seems unfair to me that he, as the #1 seed, should face the #3 seed in the semi-final. That is a huge disadvantage!

Now, US Open, I’m pretty sure that the other Grand Slam tournaments have similar brackets. Therefore, be different and seed arrange the bracket so that the semi-finals feature #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 like any other non-tennis tournament.

Sincerely,
Sean

P.S. For this suggestion, I'd be happy to accept tickets, airfare (or a train ticket from DC) and a hotel for next year's tournament.

Message to the USTA

Earlier today (depending on where you live – I think), Roger Federer defeated the 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. It sounds like it was an amazing match, which unfortunately I missed because I was asleep. Anyway, perhaps you noticed the final score of the fifth set: 10-8. There was so much drama, tension and energy on every point. I’m sure the crowd went crazy. However, this type of ending could never happen at the US Open. You see, as I mentioned in September, if the score is tied 6-6 at the end of the third set in a women’s match or fifth set in a men’s match, the winner is determined by a tie-breaker. What a terrible way to end a match! If anyone at the USTA, United States Tennis Association, is reading this, please change the US Open to follow the same format as the other three tennis majors. Thank you.

P.S. The fourth set of the Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis match airing live on ESPN2 is also amazing, especially since they are playing at 3:30 AM Melbourne time.

US Open Questions

Why did last night’s match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick start after 10:00 pm? It was almost 11:00 when Federer won the first set tie-break, which was also the same time I turned off the television to go to sleep.

Federer is, obviously, the #1 seed at the US Open; Roddick was the #5 seed. So why were they meeting in the quarterfinals? Shouldn’t the #1 seed face the #8 seed in the quarters with the #4 seed playing the #5 seed assuming that the top seeds advance? #1 should not face #5 until the semifinals.

Finally, will the US Open ever change its format so that the final set doesn’t end in a tie-breaker? This is one of my pet peeves in sports along with a shoot-out to end World Cup soccer matches. If it’s tied 6-6 in the third set in a women’s match or fifth set in a men’s match, they should keep going until someone wins by two games. If someone wins the final set 20-18, that just makes for exciting tennis. Just the other day, Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). I could be wrong but I don’t believe that Wimbledon, the French Open or the Australian Open end this way.

Tennis Uniforms

I watched a few hours of the US Open on Saturday and was really impressed with the young Americans John Isner and Donald Young. Isner took a set from Roger Federer, which is nearly impossible to do unless your name is Rafael Nadal. The 18 year-old Young also played very well in a tough four-set loss to Feliciano Lopez. It looks like there are finally some quality American players besides Andy Roddick and James Blake.

The one part of the matches that has bothered me is the fact that Isner, Young and Lopez all wore the same Nike shirt and shorts (check out the pictures below). It’s like they are all on the same high school tennis team and were required to wear these uniforms by team rules. Do the players have any say into this or are they just happy that Nike is provided them with the clothing? I guess they do have the option of wearing a hat or headband.