I will be going on Tuesday to see some 1st round action. I will take pics and such. I know others are going as well, so you are free to also post whatever you have from attending.
Gilles Muller vs. Michal Przysiezny - It was the first time for me to see Michal play and he has a nice smooth game, but not a lot of weapons. For much of the match Gilles was dominating big time and of course holding with great ease. I did not see the last set and a half of this so not sure if Przysiezny got back into it through getting hot, Gilles sucking or a slight injury - or a combination of some of these. Przysiezny is a smaller guy with a nice one-hander.
Xavier Malisse vs. Ryan Sweeting - Both were playing similar games, Ryan just hits the ball a little harder. Xavier is more clever and has more finesse, and he can also whack the ball and take it on the rise. Both guys snapped a racket or two. Sweeting's game looks no different to me than when I saw him lose in the US Open in 2007...
James Blake vs. Taylor Dent - This was not a pretty match. Dent hit some nice forehand and backhand winners, but a ridiculous amount of double faults and shots long. Blake physically appeared sluggish with his movement - the knee I am assuming.
Igor Kunitsyn vs. Lukas Lacko - This was a fun match to watch. Igor was incredibly steady with lots of well-measured flat balls and solid play. Lukas was more up and down and goes for his shots a little bit more - Igor had some decent offense in this one though. I really thought early that Igor was going to win, but props to Lukas for hanging in there and he played the best tennis (not that Igor ever played bad) when it counted. What impressed me about both these guys is they have great attitudes and didn't bitch and moan about missing easy shots or a questionable call.
Dudi Sela vs. Donald Young - Dudi had ample opportunities to take the first set but he seemed to lack that killer instinct and he let Donald back into it. Late in the first Dudi had a terrible call made against him and he faded big time the rest of the match. The call seemed to affect him a lot and before you knew it Donald had too much momentum.
Hey jole I saw those same matches today. What were you wearing, maybe I saw you. I will have some reports and pics tomorrow. I did not see teh Malisse/Sweeting match, I watched the Ginepri?Lindahl match instead.
Lindahl/Ginepri: Very hot to watch this match. Lindahl hit his forehand with mega topspin but could also flatten it out when he went for winners rather nicely. His movement was surprisingly good and his serve was sneaky good. He surprised Ginepri several times with aces. Really he outplayed Ginepri in the 1st set, but Ginepri dug in deep and was able to scrap through, which seemed to deflate Lindahl.
Muller/Przysieszny: Muller was rocking the serve. Przysiezny could win nothing on the 1st serve. I believe Muller was at 100% 1st serve winning % midway through the 2nd set. Przyieszny was also a little on edge it seemed. He was a little mean to the ball kids and was also getting some coaching from his coach who because of the lack of fans was able to sit like a row from the court and speak Polish to him. Nothing serious that any other player dosen't do but it was there. I did not watch the 3rd set of this one
Young/Sela: Really proud of the Don in this one. He was far stronger menatlly in this match than Sela was. Sela had a bad call, but even before that Young was screwed on a call that made it 5-5 in the 1st set. I actually though "uh-oh" but Young responded well and won the set, did not let it get to him. Sela was a double faulting machine in the 2nd set and Young ran away with it. Sela was dreadful and Young gave him nothing. Young was for sure a crowd favorite, should put him on the stadium court next.
Dent/Blake: Like Jole said, this was a ugly match. Lots of double faulting, especially in critical moments. Blake never looked comfortable at all. Dent was whistling the serve and was able to back it up with some nice backhands down the line. Dent hit 147mph at one point on the serve. Great atmosphere for this match. Crowd was about 65-35 to Blake but Dent got a nice ovation after a good atmosphere.
Lacko/Kunitsyn: Saw the end of this match. Got there at 4-3 in the 3rd. Lacko was taking the ball very early and pushing Kunitsyn around but Igor was making a fight of it. Both players held easily to make it into a tie-break. I am glad Lacko won, clapped when he won. The crowd really didn't care about either player here but it was good tennis and nice to see up close on an outer court. I got Lacko to sign a white hat as well after the match.
Roddick/Fish vs Przysieszny/Gabashvilli: Fun match to watch. The crowd was really into it, packed house. Roddick wanted to get throuhg it quickly and him and Fish were heavy crowd favs. But Przysiezny did some behind the back shots to win a few fans. Good stuff here. Fish was serving bombs away, never gave the other duo a shot to win really.
non tennis stuff: I didn;t get any pictures of D.Younng because of a mis-communication with my dad. My and my brother got 2 burgers and 2 cokes. The cost was $26. And I would not bet my house on this but I am pretty sure that Jamie Lynn Spears was there.:scratch:
Jamie Lynn Spears? :lol: You should've taken a picture...but sounds like a fun day. Too bad the Blake/Dent match wasn't better, I was excited for that one
Thanks for the updates. Always prefer reading fan perspectives of matches
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