US Open

There it is - the biggest tennis stadium in the world: the Arthur Ashe in Flushing Meadows, New York. On that day, there was a record 64000 spectators, including 20000 on the center court. Everything is well organised, including the arrival by metro. The staff is friendly and I surprisingly had the impression that there were less shops than at Roland Garros. The only annoying thing was the super long list of things that were forbidden to bring into the stadium, which included "no flags" and "no backpacks". This is America for you. So this time, I had to leave my Swiss flag at home.
It is a beautiful stadium. The night match is a great experience. Even placed a bit high up (we had to take an escalator to reach our seats), the view is clear - we could very well replace the "challenge" system with our own eyes. Still up there, there is a bit of cold wind. In the evening session, Murray easily beat Lopez, who did not seem much committed to his match. Maybe sweating is not part of his vocabulary. We had to admit that the women's match was a better contest.
The next day, the day session was even better. Great seats on smaller courts to watch Ferrero-Tipsarevic. Very intense rallies with good speed and a clever use of the angles.
Back on center court, Tsonga was battling against Fish, the top seeded American player. The crowd was supportive of the home favorite, but not as bluntly as in other countries. It surprises me that nobody brings flags in the stadium. And it cannot be said that it is because Americans are not patriotic - the presentation on the big screen of eight American soldiers sitting in a special box got a long standing ovation by the crowd.
The big name on that day was Serena Williams. Although she played against another ex-number 1, Ivanovic, she was clearly superior in all compartments of the game. Her serves were accurate, her ground strokes powerful and she was even moving surprisingly well...


Finally, a video of a nice rally between Ferrero and Tipsarevic. So nice to be so close to the players - who cares that we were not on our allocated seats... I should also manage to put a video of me hitting such a good backhand !