US Open Weekend

It’s been about 3 weeks since I got back to Iowa, and after my summer of travelling that was a long enough time spent in one place. So while the Women’s team played their first matches of the year I left town for some “continuing education.” Anyone who has checked out the blog in the past few days knows I spent the weekend at the US Open. And yes, I made it as awkward as possible

Yep nothing to see here

Since I’m in such a giving mood here, I’ll bestow on you 3 things I learned while in New York.

I Was Right (about Baghdatis)

It’s okay if you don’t read that part in parentheses. It’s should be enough for you to know that I was right. For those of you wanting a few more details than can be dispensed on a Twitter feed I’ll fill you in on the rest.

Last year I listed some of my favorite players to watch and Marcos Baghdatis was right at the top. While many people (maybe 2 or 3) were wondering if I had been sniffing glue when I wrote that, I knew that Baghdatis was always entertaining to watch. At the Open he got down 2 sets to none, but obviously realized I was there and need to be proven correct, so he staged a wildly entertaining comeback that culminated in a 4^th set tiebreaker. Of all the matches I watched, this one had the greatest atmosphere and crowd involvement. Much of this was due to Baghdatis who played off the crowd to will himself on in the 3^rd and 4^th sets. While he ultimately lost it was by far the most memorable match I saw. And if you don’t believe me (which probably means there’s something wrong with you) the daily publication of the Open said the match was, “by far the match of the tournament” after 3 rounds.

There are a lot of People at the Open

It’s no secret I’m not a big fan of crowds and people. Everybody knows they attract zombies, just watch World War Z and you’ll understand. Well the US Open is a veritable buffet of zombie lust because – and this may surprise you – there are a lot of people at the US Open and New York in general.

When you get off the subway you are surrounded by a whole throng of people all moving in herd-like fashion to… wherever we’re all going. It’s really unclear at first what is going on, so everyone just follows the people in front of them. It’s assumed we’re going to watch tennis, but we don’t know that, we don’t know. We could all be loading up into pens like cattle for the stockyards. We’re certainly moving with the same amount of intelligence. Every year over 700,000 people flock to the US Open. Go back and read that number again, I didn’t make a typing error. That is A LOT OF PEOPLE. 

Why are you all here?

There’s nothing quite like trying to navigate your way back to the subway and being carried along toward one of the stadiums by the rip current of people around you. You don’t know which stadium you’re going to, or who is playing in there – and neither does anyone else for that matter – but it’s impossible to fight so you just go right along with it. That’s how they keep people on the grounds. There must be a system of locks and levees that pour forth people whenever the higher-ups sense people want to leave. “Oh looks like people are trying to head out, lets open up valve number 12. They’ll flow right past the Polo store for some merchandise and end up flushing into the Grandstand.”

People are Stupid

All those people I just mentioned? They’re not the brightest. Now I’m not saying the people there are dumb with regards to their intelligence or that this even applies to the majority of people there. It’s just that I always seemed to be surrounded by people who had no idea what tennis even was. Perhaps these people are attracted to me like a fly towards a zapper.

Ohh look at the bright lights... BBZZZ. ZAP!

Whatever the case I always seemed to be surrounded by people who’s most repeated words were, “Okay so what just happened?”

It’s surprising that people would pay all this money to go see something of which they have no clue what is going on. I assume they sat by me because I have a natural attraction to ignorance. After watching Ferrer win the first set in the 3^rd round the family behind me remarked, “Okay where do you want to go next. This one’s over…Oh wait, what are they doing?” To this I quietly commented, they play 3 out of 5. And then to myself: why are you people trying to ruin my experience!

AGAIN, WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE!?

Perhaps I’m being difficult here, but it doesn’t seem to much to ask that when you go to the US Open you at least know something about tennis. If you don’t know anything, then go with someone who does!

Well I hoped you all had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend, and know have a little insight to all the fun that awaits at the magical land that is the US Open