US OPEN 2012 WRAP-UP

 

For the fifth year in a row, the men’s final had to be played on the Monday following the Sunday that it was supposed to be on! That was fine with me because the bad weather at the tourney gave me time to catch-up on the matches I had missed. (Except that horrible Dish Network messed-up several times again! Thank goodness for the Tennis Channel that played the matches much later, after I had already found-out that Dish hadn’t recorded what I had set it to on ESPN2!)

So, now the 2012 US Open is in the rear-view mirror, and I get to finally wrap it up for you. And put the misery of world #1 Roger Federer going out in the quarterfinals, and Serena Williams coming back in the third set of the final to win, behind me. This was far from a fun-filled tournament for me.

But some of the last few men’s matches made it worth my while, including the truly amazing final. Two of those quarterfinals were wonderful; they were actually two of the best matches any of us have ever seen. And the way that Roger handled the loss made me love him even more. So, here are what I hope are my final few thoughts on this year’s US Open, happily for all of us! This time, I’m going in order of what I witnessed after my previous column on the topic, (which you can read here: www.itsnotaboutme.tv/news/2012/09/05/sportskarens-musings-us-open-2012-first-week-thoughts.)

–Roger Federer is just the best sport ever. And the most honest player. I still can’t believe he was able to speak so well in the post-match press conference after such a horrible loss.

–The Yanko Tipsarevic-David Ferrer quarterfinal was a beaut! Best one I’ve ever seen. I never knew what was going to happen at all for the entire five sets. And I really didn’t want either one of those guys to lose. With each point, my opinion of who would win changed! I was riveted to the court. By the fifth set tiebreak, I was literally on the edge of my seat. While I watched most of the other matches, I also did crosswords, or surfed the web, but this one I paid close attention to. I sometimes record specific great points for me to have for posterity, but as it went along, I realized I was recording entire games and sets! For a match where I like both guys, this was great. And intense. Again, I don’t know where they find that grit and determination. Kudos to both. And also for being considered overall good guys.

–I couldn’t imagine how the Novak Djokovic-Juan Del Potro quarterfinal could possibly live up to that other one, but it almost did. It didn’t go as long, and wasn’t as competitive score-wise, but the play and points contested also kept me glued to the television.

–When my young friend Ronnie used to stay with us in the summer, I’d talk him to sleep by having him picture the tennis ball going back and forth over the blue courts that we saw at UCLA. And now I’ve noticed that that very scenario has been working it’s magic on my ability to stay awake while watching these riveting long-rally-points matches. OMG!

–Martina Navratilova and Lindsey Davenport are the best commentators to listen to. They’re the most honest, too. And they tell us who the nicest players are, although most of us can already probably tell that from watching them on-court and off. I really love Martina.

–The umpire in Serena Williams’ semi-final did something against her opponent, Italian Sara Errani, we think to get on Serena’s good side because she’s afraid that Serena may threaten her, too. (Like she did to two of the other female umps from this tourney in the past.) She wouldn’t let Sara challenge a call even though the words were out of the girl’s mouth the second it was called. The rotten ump told her she had “waited too long!” Even the announcers were appalled!

Then the same woman, Marija Cicak, did something even worse in the final! She called a ball out that clearly wasn’t, and then made Victoria Azarenka, Serena’s opponent this time, re-play the point, rather than just awarding it to her. Then Cicak stated it was because the linesman called it out. But Vika protested, “It was a late call!” The woman answered, “Not that late.” That late??? That’s admitting that it was, indeed, late, and that Azarenka deserved the point! But, again, I think she was scared of Serena. Especially when the bad sport had earlier in the match stared down a linesman who called a foot fault on her. But he was too big for Serena to bully like the little women she always does that to. [Note: I know this whole paragraph is awful syntax, but I’m sure you don’t want to take the time to read all the exact details of that particular scenario.)

–And props to CBS for airing, during the women’s final, the thuggish behavior of Serena Williams in her previous two years at this tournament. They even mentioned that she had threatened the lines-woman! Kudos to them for reminding everyone what she’s really like.

–Of course, I’m sad that Serena won, but Vika did herself proud, especially in the face of the creepy announcers chuckling at the beginning about how she didn’t have a chance in the final. She almost won it, too, which would have been wonderful. At least she stays #1. And, I assume, won a lot of fans with her performance. Now, if she’d only stop that horrible yelling every time she hits the ball! (So many of the females do, but she’s one of the worst in that category. Too bad, because she’s so likable otherwise.)

–I’m shocked by how few fans say “thank you” for autographs! And they have to be so aggressive to get one!

–I hate that the players have to kiss the crowd’s butts during every on-court interview. They know they’ll be reviled forever if they don’t.

–Now, to the men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, which has tied for the best one I’ve ever seen; it was right up there with the Federer win over Andy Roddick in the 2009 Wimbledon final. And my guy won both times!

At first, it didn’t feel like a final. The stadium was almost empty at the beginning, and the gusting wind was messing everything up. There was no energy from anyone; not from the players, nor their boxes, the crowd, the umpire, not even from the lackadaisical commentators.

But everybody perked-up near the end of the first set, when it went into a tiebreak. And when Murray took it, everyone started paying real attention.

At times, the wind made the players look like Marcel Marceau! (You know—walking against the wind.)

And, it was the worst time for shadows!

Each point became fascinating.

Just as I had with the Tipsarevic-Ferrer quarter (see above,) I noticed I was recording the whole thing! And that was fine with me. (Even though by the time I’m old enough to sit around and watch said recordings, I’m sure that DVDs will be no more!)

In the wild wind, and the could-not-be-easy back-to-back-days schedule, these guys were putting out the supreme effort.

I swear that Andy Murray was becoming a man before my eyes. Physically. Seriously. His face became different and manly. And dare I say, even a tad handsome? But really just a tad.

And I’m thrilled that this guy has finally won a major. I think many, many fans share that sentiment. I’m just glad it wasn’t against Roger.

And selfishly, I wanted him to win because now Roger has a better chance of ending the year as #1, and being named Player of the Year, which would be truly amazing. If Novak had won, he would have received that honor for sure.

–If John McEnroe leaves the “t” out out of “mental” one more time, that’s what I’m going to go! (Mental, not “menal” as he pronounces it.)

–And lastly, here’s a personal story of this week-end. So here I was on Sunday, feeling pretty bad for myself because someone I had thought was one of my best buds had just hurt my feelings worse than even I knew before that week-end, and I was having big trouble rising above it. [Note: I’ve been working on a column about “friends” for awhile, so I’ll publish that one down the road a piece.] I figured I’d have trouble sleeping again for the fourth night in a row over what I was feeling. And then poor Victoria Azarenka served for the championship and got broken by Serena. And then messed-up on her serve to even the match and go into a third set tiebreak. And Serena won, which made a lot of us sick, not just Victoria. And then my sadness totally shifted over to Vika. (I’ve told you that I’m an Empath!)

I kept picturing what trouble she would have sleeping that night, and it reminded me that we each have our cross to bear. Granted, her coming in second in an amazingly-played tennis tournament, and me being hurt, no matter how badly, by a supposed good friend, are nothing compared to what so many people go through on a daily basis. But worrying about how Vika was feeling took my mind off my own problem for the evening. And brought back just a touch of my milk of human kindness that had definitely soured with the recent snubs and lies. Because of what I had been going through, I vowed once and for all to stop being such a sap and helping people. I promised myself that I was done in that category. But that oath to myself was making me even sadder because I hate when someone’s bad behavior makes me want to alter my good behavior. And I didn’t want to stop being me, and become selfish. That would make me feel even worse.

So, Victoria’s loss just may be someone else’s gain! And then it would have been worth it. (But I still feel awful for her.)