USO Men's draw

[Brinyi]

Wild cards

Former finalist Mark Philippoussis and seven young American men received wild cards for the U.S. Open on Thursday.

Philippoussis, a former top-10 player now ranked 112th, has entered only nine tour-level events in 2006 because of injuries. The 1998 U.S. Open and 2003 Wimbledon runner-up was given a wild card by the U.S. Tennis Association as part of a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia. The USTA will get to pick a man who will get a wild card at the 2007 Australian Open.

The other U.S. Open wild cards all went to U.S. players who are 20 or younger: Scoville Jenkins, Alex Kuznetsov, Wayne Odesnik, Sam Querrey, Phillip Simmonds, Ryan Sweeting and Donald Young.

The 17-year-old Young earned his invitation by winning a second consecutive USTA 18-and-under national championship last weekend. Jenkins won that title in 2004.

[janie]

Ryan Sweeting? I thought he was BAH?

[Brinyi]

I noticed he started being listed as a USian this summer. I'd accuse you of not reading my posts but I think you were on holiday.

[Dina]

hands up those that think Roddick will be in the bottom half of the draw

Becca

Have you been into vr.com lately? It's chaos all the mods have quit because Susan has said that she is closing the site down after the US Open an she wants them to subsidize it or sth, crazy sh@t

[janie]

Two Brazilian men already won today in Qs.
Main draw is out.

[R. Black]

Henman vs Rusedski and then plays against Fed.

Women's draw is interesting. Bottom half is weak, either Venus or Davenport could take advantage of it, depending of their form.

[Brinyi]

Already?

[molala]

Poo vs. Nadal, so much for the wildcard.

[shenaynay]

Amelie in a really nasty section. Got Ivanovic as her 4r seed, and Serena is in there.

Martina got Safina in the 4r, and a fairly easy draw. Should get to the QF out of that.

Sharapova-Krajicek 1r. I'm hoping for the slight chance of an upset there.

Golovin is the big winner of this year's draw... getting Nadia 3r, and crappy Myskina 4r. No excuses there. This is her chance to shine in a slam.

Demented-Penis possible 3rd round encounter. 30th seed, teehee. Otherwise, that quarter sucks.

Lindsay got Justine in the QF, so I'm happy.

[Maeby Fünke]

Or, we could start a womens draw thread.

[Maeby Fünke]

Anyway, Martina-Bepa 3r boo. Don't care about the rest.

[shenaynay]

willow said:

Or, we could start a womens draw thread.

Fuck, I didn't see.

Hackie's fault.

[Brinyi]

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Yeu-Tzuoo Wang TPE
Tim Henman GBR vs. Greg Rusedski GBR
Gilles Muller LUX vs. Vincent Spadea USA
Scoville Jenkins USA vs. Jonas Bjorkman SWE (29)
Gaston Gaudio ARG (21) vs. Andreas Seppi ITA
Sam Querrey USA vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber GER
Marc Gicquel FRA vs. Christophe Rochus BEL
Qualifier (George Bastl SUI) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP (16)

Tomas Berdych CZE (12) vs. Boris Pashanski SCG
Florian Mayer GER vs. Qualifier (Stefan Koubek AUT)
Qualifier (Juan Martin Del Potro ARG) vs. Qualifier (Alejandro Falla COL)
Igor Kunitsyn RUS vs. Dmitry Tursunov RUS (23)
Agustin Calleri ARG (28) vs. Carlos Moya ESP
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA vs. Qualifier (Joshua Goodall GBR)
Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS vs. Marcos Daniel BRA
Juan Monaco ARG vs. James Blake USA (5)

David Nalbandian ARG (4) vs. Michael Berrer GER
Robin Vik CZE vs. Marat Safin RUS
Guillermo Coria ARG vs. Ryan Sweeting USA
Olivier Patience FRA vs. Olivier Rochus BEL (26)
Robby Ginepri USA (18) vs. Julien Benneteau FRA
Paul Goldstein USA vs. Qualifier (Jesse Witten USA)
Wayne Odesnik USA vs. Raemon Sluiter NED
Alex Kuznetsov USA vs. Tommy Haas GER (14)

Fernando Gonzalez CHI (10) vs. Qualifier (Jiri Vanek CZE)
Jan Hajek CZE vs. Lukas Dlouhy CZE
Alessio Di Mauro ITA vs. Jurgen Melzer AUT
Qualifier (Robert Kendrick USA) vs. Andy Murray GBR (17)
Kristof Vliegen BEL (32) vs. Qualifier (Lukasz Kubot POL)
Potito Starace ITA vs. Qualifier (Noam Okun ISR)
Nicolas Mahut FRA vs. Rainer Schuettler GER
Ramon Delgado PAR vs. Nikolay Davydenko RUS (7)

Marcos Baghdatis CYP (8) vs. Alexander Waske GER
Andrei Pavel ROM vs. Andre Agassi USA
Qualifier (Benjamin Becker GER) vs. Filippo Volandri ITA
Thomas Johansson SWE vs. Sebastien Grosjean FRA (30)
Fernando Verdasco ESP (22) vs. Fabrice Santoro FRA
Mariano Zabaleta ARG vs. Qualifier (Thiago Alves BRA)
Qualifier (Kristian Pless DEN) vs. Alberto Martin ESP
Florent Serra FRA vs. Andy Roddick USA (9)

Lleyton Hewitt AUS (15) vs. Albert Montanes ESP
Kevin Kim USA vs. Jan Hernych CZE
Mardy Fish USA vs. Simon Greul GER
Donald Young USA vs. Novak Djokovic SCG (20)
Richard Gasquet FRA (25) vs. Phillip Simmonds USA
Gilles Simon FRA vs. Daniele Bracciali ITA
Qualifier (Marco Chiudinelli SUI) vs. Fernando Vicente ESP
Feliciano Lopez ESP vs. Ivan Ljubicic CRO (3)

Tommy Robredo ESP (6) vs. Flavio Saretta BRA
Hyung-Taik Lee KOR vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP
Ivo Karlovic CRO vs. Robin Soderling SWE
Stanislas Wawrinka SUI vs. Juan Ignacio Chela ARG (31)
Dominik Hrbaty SVK (19) vs. Mikhail Youzhny RUS
Nicolas Massu CHI vs. Davide Sanguinetti ITA
Oliver Marach AUT vs. Justin Gimelstob USA
Nicolas Almagro ESP vs. David Ferrer ESP (11)

Jarkko Nieminen FIN (13) vs. Xavier Malisse BEL
Bjorn Phau GER vs. Qualifier (Jeff Morrison USA)
Jiri Novak CZE vs. Arnaud Clement FRA
Paradorn Srichaphan THA vs. Jose Acasuso ARG (24)
Gael Monfils FRA (27) vs. Qualifier (Michael Russell USA)
Max Mirnyi BLR vs. Wesley Moodie RSA
Luis Horna PER vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP
Mark Philippoussis AUS vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

[janie]

Poor Henman. Same old nightmare.

[Brinyi]

/me thinks Odesnik should change his name to O'Desnik and play DC for Ireland.

[Maeby Fünke]

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Yeu-Tzuoo Wang TPE
Tim Henman GBR vs. Greg Rusedski GBR

[shenaynay]

Grrr... I hate Andre's draw. Pavel sucks now, he wins that. Then, Baghdatis, who you never know what you'll get. Ugh. He needs to go away.

[The Chloe]

dina said:

hands up those that think Roddick will be in the bottom half of the draw

Becca

Have you been into vr.com lately? It's chaos all the mods have quit because Susan has said that she is closing the site down after the US Open an she wants them to subsidize it or sth, crazy sh@t

Vierd.

[The Chloe]

I am looking forward to seeing Baggy end Andre's career.

[Grarliner]

Andre may not get by Pavel. He has not looked too good. Then again, this is his last tournament so he'll leave nothing in reserve. We'll see.

FERRERO TO THE SEMIS!

[shenaynay]

Pavel hasn't played on hardcourts since Miami. It's very unlikely he wins. He'll probably serve like 30 aces, though.

[Grarliner]

shenaynay said:

Pavel hasn't played on hardcourts since Miami. It's very unlikely he wins. He'll probably serve like 30 aces, though.

Andre lost to Kelly Stoppach though. Or someone like that.

[Brinyi]

Federer will win.
Forget Cincy -- I don't think Roj cares to spend a lot of time in Cincy. ;D

The second quarter is a big opportunity since Fat Dave is blowing so badly. I suspect the finalist could well be the winner of the Gorila-Scotsmope 3r tilt. That will be Gonzo, by the way. If not, maybe Davydenko. If not, maybe another stirring semifinal run by Ginepri? Nah.

Ljubicic has not been too convincing lately -- a good possibility for Gassy or Bagh to make the semis! Dark horses could be TJ or ... Agassi? Nah. I think it will be Ti-Rich.

Is Nadal vulnerable in the bottom quarter? I think maybe a Soderling, Malisse or Nieminen could be problematic for him. Still I see him in the semis. Where Gasquet finally shows Rafa what's what and moves on to become Federer's final victim in a replay of Toironto, woohoo.

[shenaynay]

Mindless draw thoughts:

Roger got an easy draw. There's nobody in that quarter who will challenge him. Sexy James is struggling. Berdman is overranked. Tursunov will blow at some point to not reach the QF. Rest are geezers and has-beens. Maiden Juanqui remains a has-been.

Fat Dave's quarter is much more fun. There's at least 6 players there with a realistic chance to make the SF out of that (Dave, Safin, Haas, Gorila, Mope BOO, King Kolya) . If Haas (not Haas-been. Haters.) can go a week without hurting himself, he's my pick. Kolya will at least make the 4r, which puts him back in the Top 5. FIGHTIN' KOLYA!

If Dickie Gasket can get by Ljubicic in the 3r, he's my pick to go to the finals. Yes, final match versus Roger. The rest of this, I'm ignoring... because Agassi/Roddick 4r is going to happen. And the hype machine will spontaneously combust.

Rafa should make the SF out of that. Got quite a nice draw with tons of clay courters. Fine players, but don't have the style that will trouble Rafa here. I think Poo is going to give him a really tough match, though. Rafa can be served off the court.

[Brinyi]

Thank you ersatz Chloe.

Oh, I forgot Roddick. I guess he is a threat in the 3Q too, but his Cincy run did not convince me he's back. So I'll stick with Ti-Rich.

[Brinyi]

brinyi said:

Federer will win.
Forget Cincy -- I don't think Roj cares to spend a lot of time in Cincy. ;D

Interesting you should say that, Brinyi, because...

"He wasn't trying to beat Andy Murray that day. He went there because he had to, and he played as though he went there because he had to."
-- M.Carillo

"That's absurd. I think what she said is a joke. I don't take it seriously."
-- R. Federer

"Mary is right, as usual."
-- Yi Brin

[Brinyi]

Qualifier (Juan Martin Del Potro ARG) vs. Qualifier (Alejandro Falla COL)
The match of the tournament!

[shenaynay]

Falla conquered a Top 5 player at Wimbledon!

[Brinyi]

shenaynay said:

Falla conquered a Top 5 player at Wimbledon!

Yes, and took a set off Chatschreiber!

[Brinyi]

A rubber match for Federer-Nadal?
Top two U.S. Open seeds could meet in third major final this year
COMMENTARY
By Bud Collins
MSNBC contributor

Strange things happen in tennis, particularly at the majors, and that adds to the intrigue of the game.

But the strangest thing that could occur at this year's U.S. Open would be a men's singles final without the defending champion, Roger Federer, and the player who has become his chief rival, Rafael Nadal.

These two met in the final at the French Open (Nadal won), and the final at Wimbledon (Federer won). So why not a rubber match in New York?

There hasn't been such a 1-2 punch in men's tennis -- two guys setting themselves apart from the field -- since Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi for the 1995 U.S. Open title.

Much has been made of Nadal having Federer's number. The world No. 1 is 1-4 this year against the Spaniard, and 62-1 against all other opponents.

When it comes to playing at majors, denying Federer titles is one monumental task for Nadal or anyone else. Going back to Wimbledon in 2003, Federer has won eight of the last 13 majors. He's made the finals of the last five.

Nadal is the king of clay, and Federer the ruler on grass so at the U.S. Open where the play will be on hard courts, the question arises over which of the two has the advantage?

Well, by the second weekend in September we should have the answer to that, but it's worth noting that the U.S. Open is the only major where Nadal hasn't been to at least the fourth round.

But also worth noting is that Nadal has won two of his three career hard court matches against Federer, including earlier this year at Dubai.

Of course if the top-seeded Federer and the second-seeded Nadal don't make it through six rounds and into another title showdown, the U.S. Open at the 28-year-old-but-newly-baptized Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will carry on.

For Americans the resurgence of ninth seeded Andy Roddick as the Cincinnati hard court champion raises hopes that Roddick is his old self again (he calls it his “new self”), and remember this: Roddick arrives at merely his 24th birthday on Aug. 30.

Might he pull a repeat of his 2003 U.S. Open title after unseemly losses to Joachim Johansson in 2004, and Gilles Muller in the opening round a year ago at this major?

Roddick is now being coached at least in part by Jimmy Connors -- someone who knows a little something about taking the U.S. Open and New York by storm. If Roddick learns same, look out.

Another American James Blake, a quarterfinalist last year ranked at No. 49 -- who beat Nadal in the third round -- is up to the No. 5 seed and is the only other realistic American hope.

It would be terrific if Blake could beat somebody in five sets, however, thus ridding himself of that hex (he's 0-9 in his career over the ultimate distance).

There is little chance that Andre Agassi can duplicate his magnificent 2005 U.S. Open performance as a finalist. He's got a tough draw, but here's an unabashed wish that he gives us a few last looks at brilliance before closing shop on a remarkable career.

Numerous guys with apple cart-tipping credentials shouldn't be overlooked.

Argentine David Nalbandian, seeded No. 4, was possibly one point from the 2003 U.S. Open title. He had a match point against Roddick in the semifinals, and could well have gone on past Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.

Croat Ivan Ljubicic, the No. 3 seed, and destroyer of two U.S. Davis Cup teams (2003, '05) should be difficult to handle.

Certainly one needs to look at a former U.S. Open champion even though he's slid to the No. 17 ranking -- that's 25-year-old Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, conqueror of Sampras in 2001.

And could the No. 8 seed, the jolly Greek Marcos Baghdatis, replicate his last hard court major?That was his charge over such as Roddick and Nalbandian to the Australian Open final where he bothered Federer for four sets.

Dangerous to is Chilean Fernando Gonzalez with his thundering groundies.

It's interesting that Brad Gilbert, who coached both Agassi and Roddick to U.S. Open titles, is now directing Scotsman Andy Murray, 19 in age and ranking. Could one so tender in age and experience pull off a stunner?

A nineteen-year-old Sampras did it in 1990.

Murray is one of the kids I'll be watching. Some others are 19-year-old Serb Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet, who recently turned 20 and is possessor of a win over Federer, and exciting careener Gael Monfils, starting this major at 19 and reaching age 20 on the first Friday.

Both Nadal and Federer should be well rested, having appeared in only two tournaments each (Toronto and Cincinnati) since Wimbledon.

Federer won Toronto, then lost to the kid Murray at Cincy. Nadal, re-accustoming himself to hard courts, lost to definite contender, Czech Tomas Berdych, and another revived 2003 finalist, countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Thus the promoters of those two tournaments didn't get the finals they wanted: Federer-Nadal collisions. But I can't see how Roger and Rafa won't hook up at Flushing Meadow, and I'm leaning to going with Nadal, who leads in the rivalry, (6-2).

Federer is the supreme variety show, Nadal the very mobile sledgehammer. Either way it goes, they are deliciously contrasting champions.

Federer, the Swiss who doesn't miss, could be the first three-straight champion since Ivan Lendl's 1985-'86-'87 run. It's a rarity.

John McEnroe ruled in 1979-'80-'81. But before that you'd have to go back to the 1920-'25 reign of Big Bill Tilden for a streak of some extraordinary substance.

You wouldn't have to dig quite so deeply to find the only Spanish victor at the U.S. Open -- 41 years ago when Manolo Santana stopped TV-voice-to-be Cliff Drysdale from South Africa in 1965.

Although Nadal, large and left-handed, bears no resemblance in game or physique to the deft and subtle Santana, he'll be determined to start his own U.S. Open streak.