US Open Qualifiers

A couple of days ago I took a trip out to Flushing Meadows for the qualifiers since I wasn't going to be around for the actual US Open this year. Although I watched some nice tennis the reality is that the best word to describe the tennis is just that, "nice." The players are all good but they aren't great and for them when they play in the qualifiers there can be more pressure than playing in the actual tournament. Think about the expenses: expense number one: plane ticket, expense number two: the hotel room, expense number three: food and so on. I am sure there are many more that I wouldn't even dream of because I have never had to. Therefore for many of these players if they lose in the first round it is like they have traveled and practiced for nothing.

However, while I was there I was able to catch a couple Americans play (I am tempted to write young but sadly I don't think many of them were). Only one of the four made it to the next round (Mike Russel) while the rest loss in tight set matches. The only other American that struck me as interesting was this kid, and I mean kid named Ryan Lipman. Lipman is only 18 years old and was given a wild card entry into the tournament. Although he didn't win I think he has a lot of potential. Unlike most players on tour Lipman wasn't afraid to serve and volley, which when he gets older and stronger can allow him to break onto tour. For now he just needs to go out there and practice and bulk up.

Besides watching some tennis I also saw Gael Monfils practice on the grand stand, man is he quick. Monfils did look a little shaky and I won't be entirely surprised if he doesn't do too well at the Open for two reasons. The first reason is that he just came off a wrist injury and the second is that he is a clay specialist. His game is made for the slow red clay not the quick hard courts which will make it harder for him to run down balls and wear his opponents down.

Overall it was pretty cool to get so close to the court and I was able to get some pretty good photos like the one above.