Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Open Season


Damian and I are heading to Flushing Meadows today with grounds passes in hand. Yesterday's rain means we will be getting to see just about everyone we could dream of -- many marquee players will be forced to the outer courts -- so it couldn't have turned out better if we'd planned it that way. We've already seen two epic matches in the first two days. Maria Sharapova won a seesaw battle against No. 2 seed Simona Halep -- Damian is done with that one after blowing the French Open -- and Frances Tiafoe pushed Roger Federer to the limit, breaking back in the fifth set before losing his serve to end it all. As spectacular as Tiafoe was -- his backstory is heartwarming -- there's still part of me that has this weird feeling that if last night wasn't his chance to make his splash, when is? I know he's merely 19. And I know the days of Mats Wilander and Michael Chang are behind us. But Rafael Nadal was able to win at that age. And Federer is 36 and wasn't playing well having just returned from a back injury -- so why couldn't Tiafoe finish him off, during his "young and fearless with nothing to lose" phase of his career? My fear is that he has Halep Syndrome. I hope I'm wrong, though. Would love to see a lot more of this kid.


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