BSR

Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim reported that Donald Young never realized his potential because he simply refused to work. The USTA paid one of the top coaches in the business to work with Young (Wertheim didn't disclose the name), but this coach quit within a couple of weeks because Young simply wasn't willing to put in the work necessary to become a top player. Tiafoe does put in the hard work but has yet to see the results he's hoping for (current rank #50, career high #29). None of the American Next Gen has. Taylor Fritz won the boys title at the US Open, and Tommy Paul won the boys title at Roland Garros, yet neither has broken into the top 20. I can see Reilly Opelka in the top 20, but not the top 10. Mal Washington is selling real estate in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Only 3 upsets on the women's side ... Maria Sakkari over Petra Kvitova isn't that surprising since Kvitova, from a small town in the Czech Republic, has never felt comfortable in loud, bustling NYC. As much as Naomi Osaka has struggled lately, no one was expecting 18yo #73 Leylah Fernandez to beat her. Osaka announced she will take an indefinite leave of absence from professional tennis because she isn't happy when she wins (just relieved) yet is very sad when she loses. Hopefully she gets the help she needs during her time off. The biggest upset of all was Shelby Roger's over #1 Ash Barty. Most shocking is that Barty served for the match twice yet lost in a 3rd-set tiebreaker. Hey, number one's are human too. Not an upset because #17 Kerber on paper was supposed to beat #66 Sloane Stephens, but Sloane was looking so good in the first 2 rounds. Apparently weighing on Sloane's mind were ~2,000 truly vile attacks she got via social media -- racist, misogynist death threats. I wouldn't be surprised if all 2,000 were from the same person. Apparently plenty of players get death threats, mostly from gamblers who lost more than they could afford to lose because they bet big on a certain player who ends up losing. Now that the gambler is (literally) facing homelessness, they go berserk & take out all their anger on the poor player. Hopefully Sloane gets help from the WTA and law enforcement to deal with this. It sounds like it was the first time this happened to her, and she was really shaken.

Upsets reign at the US Open! First the men's side ... Jenson Brooksby (ranked #99) beat #25 Aslan Karatsev, but this is an upset only on paper. Brooksby has been having a great summer (Newport final, DC semi) whereas Karatsev has slumped (3 wins, 7 losses) since Rome (beat Medvedev) and Belgrade (beat Novak!). Another only-on-paper upset is Lloyd Harris over Denis Shapovalov. Again, Harris is having a career-best year whereas Shapo hasn't won a match since that Wimbledon semi, plus Harris beat Shapo in March. Frances Tiafoe over Andrey Rublev qualifies as an upset, although not a hugely surprising one. Rublev, despite his #7 ranking, has never done well at the Slams whereas Tiafoe loves playing at home (by "home" I mean in the US). After losing heartbreaking five-setters at the USO to Isner, Roger, and Zverev, Frances finally wins a five-setter against Rublev. The biggest upset was #55 Carlos Alcaraz over #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas still seems haunted by losing the Roland Garros final after leading 2 sets to love, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting this. Carlos played his heart out and played the match of his young life. Darren Cahill said that when he was looking for a coach for Simona Halep, he asked Juan Carlos Ferrero if he'd be interested. Ferrero said he'd love to except that he was working with a 15yo who was really good. Well, Ferrero has an eye for talent because his now 18yo player is in the 4th round of the US Open.

NFL commentator Gregg Rosenthal has an interesting hobby: amateur tennis analyst. With a buddy, he has a YouTube channel where they talk tennis, and he's a bigger fan of women's tennis than men's. Anyway, don't ask me for his source, but on today's video he claimed that Sloane Stephen's average forehand speed is the highest of all the players who have played on Ashe, including Djokovic, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, and Zverev -- yowza! In a wide-open women's field, that is a strong argument for why Stephen's has a chance to win the title. Argument against: she has the draw from Hell. Kerber in the next round, Osaka after that, and that's just to get to the quarters.

So how was it that play continued on Arthur Ashe without interruption?

And through it all, play continued on Arthur Ashe uninterrupted. If a stadium cost $200 million to build, I think it should be playable in anything & everything short of a Category 5 hurricane. Flooding caused the tragedy of a number of deaths in the area, but flooding did not cause play stoppage in Louis Armstrong. A design flaw did.

I was wondering how one man, even at 6'5" & 300 pounds of muscle, could overpower two able-bodied men without a firearm, which is not mentioned in the original story.

Well, Stephens has about as good a chance as any because the women's field is so wide open. She is 1 of 11 Slam champions still in the women's draw. In contrast, since Marin Cilic and Andy Murray lost in the 1st round (not that either one had a shot at the title), Novak is the only Slam champion left on the men's side. PS: not US Open-related but not worthy of its own thread, the 9/13/21 rankings (first after conclusion of the USO) will be the first time since April 25, 2005 that Rafa is out of the top 10. Despite his many injuries, Rafa managed to stay in the top 10 for more than 16 years -- simply jaw-dropping.

The USTA spent $200 million to build Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was supposed to be a 2nd retractable-roof stadium playable in all conditions. But tonight, while play continued uninterrupted on Arthur Ashe, Armstrong was flooded, and needless to say the match was stopped. Anderson & Schwartzman did resume their match, but in Ashe and after 11pm because they had to wait for the scheduled Ashe matches to finish. Uh, what exactly did the USTA spend $200 million for??

Frankie Avalon was one of my earliest celebrity crushes. I remember one of the local stations used to run "Beach Week" featuring all the Frankie & Annette beach movies ... ah, Frankie in a swimsuit. Here is an 18yo Frankie Avalon singing "Venus" on American Bandstand. Also, check out how young Dick Clark is in the clip, LOL.

I've lost track of the number of posts from board members who paid up front, the escort "forgot something in his car," and the client is left with blue balls and an empty wallet.

When Spaniards speak Spanish or English? I actually find the Castilian accent in Spanish kinda boring, too monotone. And I've found that Spaniards often have poor English pronunciation, something that I think is unique to Spain because I don't notice those from other Spanish-speaking countries struggling with English pronunciation. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. Spain's president Pedro Sanchez has beautiful English pronunciation, and I think his accent is sexy as hell, maybe because I think he's sexy as hell. You can hear his sexy accent in the video below. It cracks me up that he slips and says "San Francisco" with a lisped "c."

Gilles Simon was forced to withdraw from the US Open because of a positive Covid test. Get this, though, his coach tested positive for Covid, not Gilles. Despite his own negative test, Gilles still has to withdraw because he's not vaccinated. According to the chatter on men's tennis forum, if he were vaxxed, he would be allowed to remain. Yikes, I'm pretty sure Novak is not vaccinated. He's never said one way or the other but has expressed doubt about the safety of the vaccine. Mind you, I disagree with the rule. If a player tests negative, vaxxed or not, he should be allowed to play. But I don't make the rules, the USTA does, and the players all knew the rules going into the tournament. If Novak gets the boot because one of his team (2 coaches and 1 physio) tests positive, the disappointment will be like his disastrous Olympics times a zillion. Edited to add: there's some debate over on MTF whether a vaccinated player who tests negative but whose coach tests positive would get expelled or not. It sounds like whether you're vaxxed or not, you get the boot even if you test negative. Doesn't sound fair, but them's the rules.

"they are not going to look at you at all" I can deal with. It's the screams of horror that I'm worried about.

Lobster? Foie gras? Pffft, I obviously won't be needing nutritional substinence if it's my last meal. So give me an hour, well OK two since it's the end, to munch on Max Whitlock's ass.

I don't think the US Open is placing many if any restrictions on players, in stark contrast to the strict "bubbles" at other tournaments. Remember when Musetti was booted from the Canadian Masters for picking up takeout a block from the players hotel? With that kind of freedom and given the density of NYC, you have to think other players will inevitably contract the virus. Whether the Covid-positive show symptoms or not, it's automatic ejection from the tournament. Oh gawd, as a die-hard Novak fan, I'll be crushed if his Grand Slam bid is thwarted by a positive Covid test.

I didn't know that Venus had been dealing with an injury, but I fully expected Serena's withdrawal, as did pretty much every tennis fan. Even when a player doesn't enter tune-ups prior to a Slam, you usually hear something about workouts or practice sessions, that is, if they're healthy. For example with Novak, who cited "multiple injuries" when he pulled out of his mixed dubs bronze medal match, there were sightings with video of Novak on the Adriatic coast, then on the beach in Marbella, and now on the practice courts in NYC. Apparently he's in great spirits and appears to be 100% recovered from all physical ailments. But with Serena, it was complete radio silence. And whaddya know.

Have you heard anything about Serena's injury? It looked like she pulled a hamstring at Wimbledon, and as I recall from my days as a baseball fan, hamstring pulls can take a surprisingly long time to heal. Since she didn't enter any tune-up events prior to the USO, I have to wonder about her fitness.

This video of a baby seal introduced to water for the first time will melt your heart. https://twitter.com/buitengebieden_/status/1430027294412791810?s=20

I've heard that the booster shot is exactly the same as the first two shots. Are they planning to modify it to deal with the delta variant, or is that not necessary? The flu vaccine changes every year. At some point, I have to think that they'll change the Covid vaccine as well.

Thanks to all the withdrawals, Andy Murray got direct entry into the USO main draw, but I'm giving Sir Andy about as much of a chance as Cilic of winning another title at Flushing Meadows. With so many Slam champs out with injury (Roger, Rafa, Wawrinka, del Potro, Thiem), only three Slam champs (Novak, Murray, Cilic) are in the men's draw. In contrast, 15 Slam champs are in the women's draw.

I love watching two men dance tango, whether it's erotic or just a couple of bros (like the old days). Here's a couple of gents dancing tango on the sidewalk. Note the lifts, where the shorter one looks utterly weightless.

https://twitter.com/JustForFansSite/status/1428430713708290048?s=20

We were all waiting for the other shoe to drop ... Rafa announced via Twitter that he is withdrawing from the US Open & will not play for the rest of 2021. What so many were eagerly anticipating, a showdown between the three 20-Slam living legends, has fizzled with both Roger & Rafa out. Now Novak alone has to fend off the Next Gen.

It didn't require any sleuthing. I know the actor because he starred in one of my favorite series. I know what his body looks like because he's not shy about showing it off. Like I said, he has a nice body, but it's not the one in that photo.