Well... The Aussie Open is done; The French Open is done; And Wimby is done. I know it's still a few months away, and a few Master Series Tournaments are still up for grabs but still... I think it's about time we start our predictions and speculations for the US Open. Who do you think will win the US Open?

i still think it's roger federer. although it would also be great if andre can win one last slam before he considers retiring.

ala lance armstrong, storybook ending...

US Open 2005: Last Grand Slam of the Year
August 29 - September 11
www.usopen.org



2005 US Open Women's and Men's Singles Seeds

Women:
1. Lindsay Davenport, United States
2. Maria Sharapova, Russia
3. Amelie Mauresmo, France
4. Kim Clijsters, Belgium
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
6. Elena Dementieva, Russia
7. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium
8. Serena Williams, United States
9. Nadia Petrova, Russia
10. Venus Williams, United States
11. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland
12. Mary Pierce, France
13. Anastasia Myskina, Russia
14. Alicia Molik, Australia
15. Nathalie Dechy, France
16. Elena Bovina, Russia
17. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
18. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
19. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
20. Elena Likhovtseva, Russia
21. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
22. Dinara Safina, Russia
23. Silvia Farina Elia, Italy
24. Tatiana Golovin, France
25. Shinobu Asagoe, Japan
26. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
27. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic
28. Gisela Dulko, Argentina
29. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
30. Anna Chakvetadze, Russia
31. Ai Sugiyama, Japan
32. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany


Men:
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland
2. Rafael Nadal, Spain
3. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia
4. Andy Roddick, United States
5. Marat Safin, Russia
6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia
7. Andre Agassi, United States
8. Guillermo Coria, Argentina
9. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina
10. Mariano Puerta, Argentina
11. David Nalbandian, Argentina
12. Tim Henman, Great Britain
13. Richard Gasquet, France
14. Thomas Johansson, Sweden
15. Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia
16. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic
17. David Ferrer, Spain
18. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia
19. Tommy Robredo, Spain
20. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain
21. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile
22. Mario Ancic, Croatia
23. Jiri Novak, Czech Republic
24. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
25. Taylor Dent, United States
26. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
27. Olivier Rochus, Belgium
28. Greg Rusedski, Great Britain
29. Tommy Haas, Germany
30. Max Mirnyi, Belarus
31. Carlos Moya, Spain
32. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic

Did you guys saw this? I like the commercial that they had.

USTA Launches Multimillion Dollar "Reality Series"

US OPEN SERIES
“SUMMER’S HOTTEST REALITY SERIES”

PLAYER NICKNAMES

Men
Andre Agassi: “The Legend”
Mario Ancic: “Young Gun”
James Blake: “The Harvard Guy”
Bryan Brothers: “Double Feature”
Taylor Dent: “The Bomber”
Roger Federer: “The Boss”
Mardy Fish: “The Bachelor”
Tommy Haas: “The Stud”
Tim Henman: “The Good Guy”
Lleyton Hewitt: “The Rebel”
Nicolas Keifer: “The Gladiator”
Ivan Ljubicic: “The Terminator”
Carlos Moya: “The Hunk”
Rafael Nadal: “Boy Wonder”
David Nalbandian: “The Warrior”
Andy Roddick: “Rocket Man”
Marat Safin: “Mr. Unpredictable”
Paradorn Srichaphan: “The Diplomat”

Women
Elena Bovina: “The Challenger”
Kim Clijsters: “Miss Congeniality”
Lindsay Davenport: “Top Gun”
Elena Dementieva: “The Sweetheart”
Daniela Hantuchova: “The Cover Girl”
Justine Henin-Hardenne:
“The Comeback Kid”
Svetlana Kuznetsova: “The Contender”
Amelie Mauresmo: “The Artiste”
Alicia Molik: “The Girl Next Door”
Anastasia Myskina: “The Trailblazer”
Martina Navratilova: “The Icon”
Mary Pierce: “The Veteran”
Maria Sharapova: “The “It” Girl”
Serena Williams: “The Diva”
Venus Williams: “The Goddess”
Vera Zvonareva: “The Drama Queen”

Serena Williams advances, Kuznetsova out as play begins at U.S. Open. Kuznetsova became the first defending women's champion to lose in the first round Monday, falling 6-3, 6-2 to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.

Federer will cruise...like usual

but i'll still be rooting for lleyton

Oh damn.... Andy lost!!!

Yeah, this year seems to be so depressing. I'll just support the Spanish team. Viva!!! Tenis!!!

The Hewitt/Dent match was intense



Good thing hewitt won.

blake's really on a dream run. but now, whose run will continue? blake's or andre's? they're set to meet in the qtrs.

bottom line though, is that fed's gonna cruise through the whole shebang.

for the women, i'm rooting for these 3: davenport, clijsters, or pierce.

Agassi survives, eyes all-American quarterfinal duel. Andre Agassi was extended to five sets Monday, but the No. 7 seed won to earn a U.S. Open spot opposite James Blake.

awesome match between james blake and andre agassi.
another classic.

sorry guys.
but among the players left in the quarters,
i really think james blake has the possibility to be a dark horse and stop roger's run.
powerful forehand, good service, nice wheels.
suspect backhand and net game might have a workaround with the J-block in the stands and the new yawk crowd cheering for a hometown athlete.
plus he was the hottest guy not named roger on hardcourts

now, with the semis cast complete.
it is roger's title already ...
he owns both lleyton and andre especially with their style of play.
sorry ginepri ... i just dont think your game can withstand andre then roger.

of course, being the sentimental favorite ... i'm rooting for andre to get his 9th slam and stop roger's hardcourt winning streak.
and of course, i am appreciating the way roger plays tennis.
just downright beautiful.

ginepri and andre are spent. 3 and 2 consecutive 5 setters respectively. i don't know how either would fare in the final.

hewitt's also logged in a lot of mileage since he spent 5 sets each against dent and nieminen.

this is indeed roger's title. but if it were a movie and a happy ending is in store, it should be andre's title...

I think Ginepri has the best chance of beating Roger, for the simple reason that they haven't played each other that much. Roger reads his opponents very very well, and the more he plays each opponent, the more he extends his mastery over them (Cases in point: Roddick, Agassi and Hewitt). I think he and Ginepri have met only twice before, and the last meeting was quite tight (on serve in the 3rd set until Roger broke Ginepri while serving to stay in the match).

But I don't think Ginepri can beat Andre, he has simply been playing too much tennis over the last few days. Even though Andre won his last two matches in five sets, you'll be surprised to know that of the four semifinalists, he has spent the least amount of time on the court.

Andre and Hewitt's games unfortunately both play into Roger's strengths. But anything can happen, you know. It's looking like a dream run for Andre, ala Pete Sampras.

As for the women's, it should be Kim Clijsters. Especially after Mary Pierce's gamesmanship in the semis against Dementieva.

Dementieva was complaining that Mary Pierce (legally) took a lot of time for during her injury time out (12 mins). I tend to give Mary the benefit of the doubt. I don't think its games-manship on her part; Mary's pace in between points is consistently that measured and slow. Dementieva self-destructed, and Mary Pierce outhit Henin-Hardenne and Mauresmo. She deserves to be in the final.

That said, yes, it should be Kim Clijsters hoisting that trophy. But only because she's been the most dominant player in the hardcourt this season. Good for her.

pete sampras had a lot of help back in 2002.
a lot of help from andre.
because there was no way pete was going to defeat lleyton hewitt, the defending US Open champion.
andre took out lleyton in a tough match.
great conditioning couldn't allow andre to match pete's opening salvo which resulted in winning the first 2 sets.
pete got a welcome respite when the networks dictated to the USTA to postpone the start of the match from an afternoon to an evening session.
remember pete's conditioning has always been a weakness of his.
playing in the hot sun instead of the cool night means a disadvantage for pete.

there's nobody left who can give roger something to think about.
i just wish his opponent in the finals can at least make it a 4-set match.

Hewitt had at least 5 set points on the 2nd set against Roger but Roger came through on all of them and just blasted Hewiit in the tiebreak. If there's one thing positive abou it though was the fact that Lleyton actually seemed like he was in the game and was competing out there. Hopefully, he can build upon this and be in better shape the next time they meet.

Btw, i'd just like to say Andy Roddick is vastly over-rated. Im not hating but the only thing he has in his arsenal is his serve. Everything else is just average or below average.

andy is overrated.

the only top 10 player he's beaten all year is hewitt.

all his titles this year he won because he didn't face a seeded player.

if this keeps up, don't be surprised to see him plunge in the rankings next year. so far, he's covered it, but not for long... everybody knows how to read his serve now...

roger has now won 6 of the last 10 grand slams ...
mimicking dominance in the mold of tiger woods and annika sorenstam.

who's gonna step up to challenge him?

in the golfing world, everybody's still waiting.
what about in tennis?

it seems that only the young ones will challenge him now. we'll see next year

expect to see these teenagers give him a run for his money once their games fully develop

1. Rafael Nadal - once he hones his game on faster surfaces, watch out

2. Richard Gasquet - very talented and a natural striker. he's beaten fed once already. he just needs to improve his endurance

3. Scoville Jenkins - has the shots, but hardly saw him play yet

4. Thomas Berdych - has beaten fed last year and also nadal. if he becomes more consistent, he can pull through.

An even more alarming stat for Andy: He has only one win over a top 10 player in all his Grand Slam appearances. The lone win comes courtesy of Juan Carlos Ferrero, whom Andy defeated to win the US Open 2 years ago.

Roddick desperately needs a new coach. His backhands and court movement are terrible. But I don't see him slipping past the top 10 in rankings for as long as he is the 2nd best player in the world on grass.

As for the potential challengers to Roger, I think Tomas Berdych is the most promising of them all. He reminds me so much of Safin: tall, great serves and flat groundstrokes. He just needs to play more matches, and to be more consistent.

Gasquet is too slow to challenge Roger on a regular basis. The only surface where Gasquet has an advantage is clay, and Roger already beat him on clay this year.

Nadal's serve is a liability on fast courts. If he can't get enough free points on serve, he won't be winning a lot of matches with his exhausting type of play. Plus, he easily gets overpowered on hardcourts (very evident in the match against Blake), because he stands way behind the baseline. It seems that he still adopts the clay mentality on hardcourts.

I also like the game of Djokovic.

Federer!