US Open is in full swing!

And now the post (all 3 of) you were waiting for! I am sure you were wondering why it comes so late - 3rd day into the tournament. The answer is that I was neither in the mood nor have I watched enough games to be able to say anything about it until now. And now that I saw a few matches and got myself sorted out I can finally yak about tennis ;-)

1. Cast. This year US Open features the best of the best. Check this out:
ATP: Agassi (this is his last career tournament), Federer, Nadal, Nalbandian, Davydenko, Baghdatis (who only plays well in Grand Slams for some reason, lol), Roddick, Safin et al, no major player absent.
Youngsters to watch out for: Andy Murray (who beat Federer recently and got scared of the fact, lol) and Gael Monfils (love the 'fro!).
Oldies to recon with: Henman, Agassi and Grosjean.
WTA: Mauresmo, Hardenne, Sharapova, Hingis (seeded 8th!), Davenport, Pierce et al. Notably absent is Kim Clijsters. I won't miss her.
Youngsters capable of major upsets: Radwanska, Azarenka (dispatched Myskina in 1st round, way to go!!), Vaidisova, Mirza.
Oldies who can do substantial damage: Pierce, S. Williams, Hingis.

2. Weather. Day 2 of the tournament was completely washed out, allowing only about 40 minutes play all in all. This of course caused havoc in the schedule and instead of getting a day on day off kind of routine everything is now squashed to catch up on the lost day. Fun fun fun!

3. Outfits. Woo hoo! White and blue are boring, boring, snore... This year it's all about red and black, and thumbs up to that. The outfits are fab. Especially Nike. Check out Sharapova and Nadal for the sexiest ever tennis clothes. Federer is true to his signature blue "airconditioned" shirt. No comment.

4. Challenges. These have got to be the most exciting news in the tennis world. Now if the players disagree with the line judge/umpire, they are allowed to watch the replay of the point on a huge screen - and make sure the decision was correct. It's not exactly new technology, it has been around for few (selected) tournaments, but I am still excited every time the player decides to challenge the call. It allows for more public interaction and interest. A player is allowed 2 challenges every set, losing them if the call was correct, carrying them on should the call be overruled by the replay. Players get one additional challenge in the tie break but they cannot carry them over to the next set.

5. Who I root for:
ATP: Baghdatis, Nadal, Agassi, Safin, Tursunov, Murray, Davydenko.
WTA: Sharapova, Ivanovic, Safina, Daniilidou, Schiavone.

6. Who will win? I have no idea. With this cast you can never be sure. Federer has a good chance to win this year again, unless Nadal stops him. Women? It would be too good to be true if Shara got the title. Hardenne and Mauresmo look pretty solid. I will come up with quarterfinalists after the next round. Watch this space!

7. Special note. Tursunov, the undisputed King of ATP blogs, has agreed to become a resident ATP blogger. Yay! Check it out for the most hilarious insider's view on the world of professional tennis.

Aren't you all excited I'll be talking tennis for the next couple of weeks?

;-)