First, let me say that I am writing this while watching the Raiders-Patriots game, so if I seem a little distracted, it's only becau -- OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT PLAY?!
Anyway, I spent the day at the Open again, soaking in the boredom that seeps in around this time of the tournament, when the show courts are empty, or else filled with boys and girls singles matches.
The first match I took in was the Mixed Doubles final, a classic confrontation of East versus East. Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Mahesh Bhupathi (say it with me Boo-potty) of India prevailed in straight sets over Katarina Srebotnik (also Slovakia) and Nenad Zimonjic (from whatever 'SCG' stands for).
As I watched, nearly catatonic, from my seat along the bottom ring of Arthur Ashe Stadium, I made some notes:
Two cameramen in media area. They were the only people besides myself sitting in the media section to watch the match. As it turned out, they were just waiting for a break in play so they could take some pictures of fans waving for the big video screen at the top of the scoreboard. Then they moved on, and I was alone with my Srebotnik.
Start of match, maybe 5,000. In a stadium that seats 22,547, vast oceans of blue could be seen among the sporadic clusters of fans who actually felt like sitting through the mixed doubles snorefest. Maybe they just wanted to be early for the Hewitt match. Maybe they were sleeping.
Men serve to women??? I've seen mixed doubles on television before, but I'm not a tennis player, nor am I devout fan, so I have to say I wasn't quite sure about the rules for the game. I was surprised to discover that the men actually serve to the women (as well as the men) in mixed doubles, which seems a little ridiculous -- and, well, dangerous. I mean, I know these women are world-class athletes, but still -- you can't tell me there is a woman on the WTA tour hitting serves at 145 mph.
Surprisingly, though, the women fared quite well against their masculine counterparts, and seemed to do well when serving to the men. I gained a new respect for the female tennis player, if nothing else, from the whole experience.
What language do an Indian guy and a Slovakian girl communicate in? English, of course Bhupathi and Hantuchova could be heard speaking to each other in English, and several times during the course of the match, shouted "You!" at one another when deciding who should hit a particular shot. I could say more about how sad it is that no one in America cares much about other cultures, nor has much desire to learn much about other languages, but I think the role of Debby Downer has already been taken by Rachel Dratch. In any event, it's interesting to think about how much other people know about our culture, and how little we know about theirs.
Navratilova. This was a little note to myself to remember to tell you all about watching Martina Navratilova practice on Court 5. It was kinda cool. Actually, it wasn't really. Now I'm thinking about a shirt a college friend had that said "Martina Navratilova is really John Denver." Having seen Martina up close, I'm not entirely sure that isn't true.
High fives. One of the biggest annoyance of mixed doubles tennis. Is it really necessary for teammate to slap hands after every single point, win or lose?
No intensity, no rallies. That was me trying to make an analytical note about why doubles tennis is so boring. It's true. With four players on the court, it's really impossible to have a long rally, or any of the shotmaking that makes singles tennis so interesting, strategic, and dramatic.
Trophy presentation -- eh. I saw my first-ever tennis trophy presentation today. After the match, the USTA big shots strolled out onto the red carpet to award the mixed doubles trophy to Hantuchova and Bhupathi. It was, uh, riveting. All 400 people in attendance gave them a polite seated ovation.
Now, the mixed doubles match was not the only thing I watched yesterday. I also took in the Hewitt-Jarkko Nieminen men's quarterfinal match, which started at around 3:15.
Once again, I found it difficult to stay awake during the match, as the two played what was easily the dullest five-set match I have ever seen. Hewitt gave away the first set, Nieminen gave away the second, Hewitt gave away the third set, and Nieminen gave away the fourth and fifth. None of the sets was competitve, and the match was over in less than three hours.
I made only two notes from the whole match, which I won't repeat because I know my readers have a low tolerance for bullet points.
But in case anyone was wondering, the lights up at Arthur Ashe came up as soon as the shadows crossed the edge court -- at around 5:10 p.m. And apparently Nieminen doesn't know how to say "hand me a towel" in English. He kept wiping his hands on the walls at either end of the court.
All in all, it was better than a day behind my desk, but I spent most of the afternoon feeling grumpy over having slept through the Agassi-Blake match -- which as it happens is now being replayed on USA. Time to get that clicker working overtime... Enjoy the rest of the tournament!