New Faces

Wow, Juan Martin Del Potro has now won 22 consecutive matches, only Rafa, with a winning streak of 32 is ahead of him in2008. He has passed countryman Guillermo Vilas streak of 19, and is the only player in the last 20 years outside of the top ten to hold a 22 match streak. His ranking in July was 65, and he came into the Open ranked 16.

How long can this last? Is there a chance for him to go all the way here? How crazy would that be?

I spent the late afternoon and most of the evening … actually all of the evening running between Louis Armstrong Stadium, where Kei Nishikori was playing and Grandstand for Del Potro and Simon. Crazy. Felt like I was in the twilight zone and the tennis was just going to go on forever. The Del Potro slug fest went on for three hours and 47 minutes, with a final score of 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Nishikori was almost as bad at three hours and 33 minutes. These were both daytime scheduled matches that finished in the 10 to 10:30 time frames. My social life is nil at this point, but I plan to make up for it next week.

Anyway, 19 years old Del Potro will meet Nishikori the 18 year old from Japan who until the start of this Open, had never won a Grand Slam match. Tonight he took out fourth seed David Ferrer in a marathon five setter. It was an amazing match where he out retrieved the “grinder”, a trait that Ferrer is famous for.

Sam Querrey the 6’6” twenty year old from Southern California, also had a big win today, defeating the fourteenth seed, 6’10” Ivo Karlovic. Since this was basically a lesson in big serving, it was not nearly as long and painful as either Del Potro or Nishikori. Karlovic served 24 aces, while Querrey served 20. Now that’s the kind of match I like. Three sets, quick and clean. It’s more challenging to get good photos when the points go so fast, but I’ll take that challenge over sitting on court for three and a half to four hour any day. Truth is, when matches go that long, it also becomes challenging to get interesting images. I mean, how many forehands and backhands can you shoot before going comatose?

Last but not least, is Croatia's raising star, big serving, Marin Cilic. Winning in New Haven the week before the Open brought his ranking to a career high of 24. This meant that this was the first year he entered the tournament as a seeded player. He lost in the first round of qualifying for the last two years, so has made a big jump in 2008. He’ll meet Djokovic tomorrow so I’m predicting that that is the last we’ll see of him this year, but of course you never know. Stranger things have happened.

Okay, that’s it for today. I’m catching the bus late as usual, I’m starving so will probably head for my favorite late nite eatery, the Coffee Shop on Union Square. This place serves really good Caipirinha, a great, but lethal cocktail popular in Brazil and good, but not great food until 4 AM on week days and 5:30 AM on weekends, so it’s an obvious choice after these long nights at the Open. The atmosphere is “downtown” casual but cool, and the crowd is young, hip and attractive. I usually drag in there feeling tired and whipped after a long day, but my spirits lift with the icey lime flavored drink and good vibe. The service can be dicey .. most of the servers are “actors” or “models”, but you can eat at the bar, so this is usually my choice.