It's a wrap. USO - and the Slams - over for another year. And what a year for Djoko. 10 titles - 3 Slams!! Amazing stuff. Read a tweet from him after the final saying he was going to be having lots of gluten and alcohol to celebrate. Quite right!!!!!Fans prob don't realise just how much detail goes into the preparation for this level of performance and most of it isn't much fun....
There's very few opportuniities to really unwind and let your hair down coz there's always another event round the corner. For Nole - and for Rafa, Roger and Andy, there's a Davis Cup tie this weekend. So limited time to chill before your back into the grind of preparation for playing again on Friday.
For Andy, another Slam semi in NY gives him his best year yet in terms of Slam performances and becomes one of just seven men in the Open Era to reach all four Slam semis in one year. When you consider that three of the others are the current top three, you realise just how incredibly strong mens tennis is right now. The others are Laver, Roche and Lendl.
Great to see Sam Stosur grabbing a title too. Serena was the clear favourite from the get-go and hadn't dropped a set en route to the final. Stosur had some long and close battles on the way, not least v Maria K, but she rolled through the final 62, 63. Some feat. Didn't see any of it coz I was on a flight but watched the Serena Strop yesterday. Saw she got fined $2k for it which is probably just the equivalent of a new piece of ear bling. Even Mike Bryan copped a $10k fine for "an off court incident" after the Bros first round dubs defeat.
Great to see Oli Golding pick up the boys title beating world no1 junior Jiri Vesely in three sets. I watched a bit of the semi between Edmund and Vesely and got collared by a Czech journo who crept up behind me and thrust a microphone in my face, asking me what I thought of the big leftie. He told me that Vesely modelled his game on Andy and what did I think of that? I looked at him as if he was off his trolley and resisted the temptation to laugh. "I don't see it sorry". The kids a leftie with a huge serve, not a great mover and limited backhand. Couldn't see any resemblence at all.
Golding's got a good serve and a big forehand, especially inside out. Will be interesting to watch how he progresses from here. I hear Leon's invited him to Glasgow to join the Davis Cuppers. Good move!
Wev had Hurricane Katia in Scotland. Wild, wet and windy. Put Irene in the shade for sure. Looking forward to the GB v Hungary match though someone said the Hungarian no1 had pulled out. Disappointing. I'm going to do the between match on-court fillers with some wee kids and that will be good fun. Also got a couple of buses from the Dunblane schools coming through on Friday. And the opening of the new courts at Paisley's Brodie Park on Saturday morning. All go....as usual.
See you at the weekend if your Glasgow-bound!!!
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