U.S. Open Capsules: Player collapses on court at U.S. Open; Roddick, Oudin out
NEW YORK (AP) — The scene was simply scary: Victoria Azarenka, a 21-year-old on the rise in the WTA rankings, paused about a half-hour into her second-round match Wednesday at the U.S. Open, then staggered, stumbled and collapsed to the court.
Azarenka, seeded 10th in the Grand Slam tournament, rolled over to rest her head on her arm, and a trainer rushed over. Someone covered Azarenka's legs with a white towel. She retired from the match, eventually was helped into a wheelchair, her yellow visor askew atop her head, then taken to a hospital, where tests showed she had a mild concussion.
As a record-breaking summer suffocates New York, the temperature in Flushing Meadows headed into the 90s for a third consecutive day, and the mercury topped 100 degrees on court. But tournament referee Brian Early said Azarenka's problem did "not seem to be primarily a heat-related illness."
Indeed, Azarenka herself later revealed she fell in the gym while warming up before the match, banging her head and arm in the gym.
"I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy," said Azarenka, who is from Belarus but lives part of the year in Scottsdale, Ariz., with the family of NHL goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, someone she considers a mentor.
While that was the biggest news of the morning, there were surprises on the scoreboard throughout Day 3, including more than 12 hours later, when 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick bowed out in the second round with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to 44th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic at night.
Roddick had difficulty dealing with Tipsarevic's serve and go-for-broke groundstrokes, but also got into a lengthy argument with a lineswoman over a foot-fault call in the third set. Roddick asked the official which foot crossed the baseline, and she told him it was his right foot.
"That's impossible," Roddick snapped.
He continued berating the official between points, making a joke about "1-800-Rent-a-Ref."
A TV replay showed Roddick did commit a foot fault — but with his left foot.
No. 9 Roddick was joined on the sideline by two other seeded men, thanks to 18-year-old American qualifier Ryan Harrison's 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic, and Michael Llodra's 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4 upset of Wimbledon runner-up and No. 7-seeded Tomas Berdych.
Harrison, who is based in Bradenton, Fla., is the first U.S. male teen to beat a top-20 opponent at any Grand Slam tournament since a 19-year-old Roddick knocked off No. 11 Alex Corretja at the 2001 U.S. Open.
You don't have to go nearly as far back to find a female teen from the United States who pulled off that sort of upset, of course: Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga., was 17 a year ago when she reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals by beating two top-20 players.
Oudin's 2010 stay in New York was shorter: She lost in the second round Wednesday to No. 29 Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 7-5.
"Definitely disappointing," Oudin said. "I still have, hopefully, like, 10 more years in my career, hopefully 10 more U.S. Opens ahead of me. So I'll definitely be looking forward again to next year."
Among the seeded women bowing out was No. 21 Zheng Jie, overwhelmed 6-3, 6-0 by 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, who used to be ranked No. 1 but has tumbled to No. 40.
No. 13 Marion Bartoli, No. 28 Alisa Kleybanova and No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova also lost. Pironkova was ranked only 82nd in June, when she shocked Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, and they could have met in the third round in New York. But Pironkova bowed out in straight sets against qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, who gets to face Williams instead.
Williams, who counts the 2000 and 2001 U.S. Opens among her seven Grand Slam titles, struggled for a bit against 193rd-ranked qualifier Rebecca Marino of Canada before pulling out a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win.
Marino actually led 3-1 in the tiebreaker, before Williams took the next six straight points to steal the opening set.
"She started returning better, serving bombs. I think she definitely upped her level," Marino said. "I did notice at one point that she started to grunt pretty loudly. And it's like, 'Whoa, she's getting serious here.'"
Azarenka began wobbling early in her match against Gisela Dulko of Argentina, taking extra time between points and wincing occasionally, clearly in distress. Azarenka said she "started having trouble seeing and felt weak."
She is an up-and-comer on tour, part of a group of young players seen as potential future Grand Slam champions. Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova in the final of a hard-court tournament in California last month and pushed Serena Williams to three sets before losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January.
Against Serena Williams in the fourth round of the 2009 Australian Open, Azarenka stopped in the second set, dizzy and in tears, and blamed a virus.
Her frightening exit Wednesday caught everyone's attention. Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki wrote on Twitter: "Did anyone watch Vikas match?? I really hope she is ok!"
The match was halted with Azarenka trailing Dulko 5-1.
"It was terrible. It's not nice to see someone feeling bad, not nice to win a match this way. I hope she feels OK now," said Dulko, who walked around the net to check on the prone Azarenka. "I was worried for her."
Winners included No. 4-seeded Andy Murray, the 2008 runner-up, who said he wore a hat during a match for the first time in four or five years because of the heat; No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny; No. 14 Nicolas Almagro; No. 18 John Isner, best known for his all-sorts-of-records-smashing Wimbledon marathon victory that ended 70-68 in the fifth set; and No. 20 Sam Querrey, who beat NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn of Stanford 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in an all-American matchup.
At night, defending champion Kim Clijsters reached the third round by beating 201st-ranked qualifier Sally Peers of Australia 6-2, 6-1, before Roddick and Tipsarevic followed them into Arthur Ashe Stadium for a match that finished right around midnight.
Roddick upset by Tipsarevic in 2nd round of Open
NEW YORK (AP) — Andy Roddick found it infuriating that a lineswoman who called him for a foot fault was wrong about which of his shoes touched the line.
The 2003 U.S. Open champion had much bigger problems Wednesday night at Flushing Meadows, though, and bowed out in the second round with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to 44th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, whose go-for-broke style paid off with 66 winners.
"He played very high-risk and executed for four sets," said the ninth-seeded Roddick, whose exit leaves Roger Federer as the only past champion in the men's field. "I kept telling myself, 'You know, this has to have an expiration date on it.' Unfortunately, I needed another set for that."
Already trailing 5-2 in the third, Roddick wound up in an argument over a foot-fault call on a first serve. He turned to the official and asked, "What foot?"
When she told him it was his right foot, he replied, "That's impossible." Roddick then turned to chair umpire Enric Molina and, pointing first to his right foot, then his left, asked, "Has THIS foot gone in front of THAT foot ever in my career?"
Molina replied: "Not in my matches."
A TV replay showed Roddick did commit a foot fault — but with his left toes. And what really bothered Roddick, he said afterward, was that the official would not acknowledge that she was mistaken when she blamed his right foot for the ruling.
"I was just stupefied," he said.
Indeed, asked later what might have happened if the lineswoman said the call was made because his left sneaker was on the baseline, he replied: "There would have been no discussion."
But Roddick did berate the lineswoman — although without the threatening or colorful language that Serena Williams used when she launched a tirade at a line judge over a foot call at the end of her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters in last year's semifinals.
"Not once in my entire career does my right foot go in front of my left foot," Roddick said. "Not once. Ever."
He missed his second serve for a double-fault, then continued to harangue the official, at one point jokingly making a reference to "1-800-Rent-a-Ref."
"In hindsight, did I let it go too far?" Roddick said at his news conference, repeating a reporter's question. "Probably."
The lineswoman was not on court at the start of the fourth set, when Roddick was called twice more for foot faults. He did not put up a fight at all on those, and at his news conference made clear that he wasn't upset by the initial call — just the right-vs.-left issue.
"I just expect my umpires to know the left foot from the right foot," he said.
All in all, however, Roddick said the whole episode "had zero impact on the match."
No, it was Tipsarevic who determined the outcome with his terrific play. This is a guy who has a losing record in Grand Slam matches (23-26) and overall (130-133) yet is now 2-1 against Roddick, having beaten the American in the second round at Wimbledon in 2008, too.
Roddick carried out the game plan he wanted to Wednesday, limiting his own mistakes and keeping Tipsarevic on the move. But Tipsarevic served well, hitting 16 aces — only one fewer than the hard-hitting Roddick — and saved three of five break points he faced.
Plus, Tipsarevic repeatedly won lengthy rallies and found angles to rip down-the-line and cross-court winners.
"I didn't feel I played too risky," Tipsarevic said. "I was just playing good."
He never before had reached the third round at the U.S. Open, and now will play No. 17 Gael Monfils.
Roddick won his only Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows, and he also was the runner-up in 2006. This early exit follows a fourth-round loss for Roddick at Wimbledon and some poor results on the summer hard-court circuit, usually his best time of year. He revealed recently that he had a mild case of mononucleosis and said he did not come to New York feeling 100 percent ready.
Still, Roddick was not willing to make any excuses.
"We're not talking about it if I win a match," he said of his fitness level. "I'm not going to talk about it because I lost."
-- Howard Fendrich
Roddick gets upset by foot-fault call at Open
NEW YORK (AP) — Andy Roddick carried on a lengthy argument with a U.S. Open lineswoman over a foot-fault call Wednesday night — although it wasn't nearly the sort of tirade Serena Williams delivered a year ago, nor did it come at as crucial a moment.
The call was made while Roddick trailed in the third set of what would become a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.
Roddick asked the line judge which foot crossed the baseline, and she told him it was his right foot.
"That's impossible," Roddick snapped.
He continued berating the official between points, making a joke about "1-800-Rent-a-Ref."
A TV replay showed Roddick did commit a foot fault — but with his left foot. The lineswoman was not on court at the start of the fourth set.
Isner wins 1st-round match at U.S. Open in 3 sets
NEW YORK (AP) — You'd think, perhaps, that John Isner and Nicolas Mahut might be a tad tired of seeing each other after sharing a Wimbledon court for more than 11 hours spread over three days during their record-breaking match that ended with a 70-68 fifth set.
So see if you can guess which player the very first person Isner saw when he set foot in the U.S. Open locker room this week. Yes, of course: Mahut.
"We did the handshake, high-five thing. Sat and talked for about five minutes. And ever since then, I keep running into him in the locker room and we talk. I talk to his coaches. He talks to my coach," Isner said. "Obviously, we're definitely good friends now."
They met again and chatted briefly Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, before the 18th-seeded Isner went out and needed less than two hours to eliminate Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open.
"For my second-round match," Isner said with a knowing snicker, "I should be a little bit fresher than I was at Wimbledon."
Understandably, the 6-foot-9 American was too physically spent to put up a fight in his second match at the All England Club in June, when the final set alone lasted more than eight hours — long enough to break the record for longest match.
There were no such theatrics against Gil, in part because Isner did not face a single break point, although he only converted three of 19 that he earned.
Isner was playing for the first time since injuring his ankle in Cincinnati two weeks ago, and he said it held up fine, although it was painful at times.
During his postmatch, on-court interview, Isner was asked — of course — about his match against Mahut at the All England Club in June.
Ever since then, Isner has made clear that he appreciates having been a part of that match, yet hopes to one day be known for something else he accomplishes in tennis.
"It was a pretty historic match," he said Wednesday, "but ... I want to put it behind me."
Mahut failed to qualify for the singles tournament at Flushing Meadows, but he did enter the men's doubles event, losing earlier Wednesday. He said he chatted briefly with Isner before the American took to the court against Gil, who is ranked 87th and fell to 0-9 in Grand Slam action.
Isner and Mahut have stayed in touch, mostly via e-mail, since sharing Court 18 at Wimbledon for longer than any tennis players ever had during an official match.
"This is maybe a match we will talk about during the next 20 years," Mahut said Wednesday. "Maybe more."
While Isner took some time off to recover after Wimbledon, Mahut went ahead and played again right away, entering a grass-court tournament at Newport, R.I., something he now regrets. He wrenched his back at Newport and said he still isn't exactly sure what is wrong — but he knows that he can't play properly.
"My body just says, 'I don't want to play tennis anymore, so give me a rest, give me a break,'" Mahut said. "I just really wanted to play in the U.S. Open. The fact is, I was not ready."
He and partner Arnaud Clement lost in the first round of doubles to the fourth-seeded pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 6-1, 6-4.
Mahut said he was pulling for Isner to do well in the U.S. Open. A year ago, Isner upset 2003 champion Andy Roddick en route to reaching the fourth round.
"I hope he's going to be ready," Mahut said, before Isner faced Gil. "I cross my fingers for him."
-- Howard Fendrich
Clijsters moves on easily at U.S. Open
NEW YORK (AP) — The picture is hanging in the lounge room back home in Australia — Sally Peers, her face painted the green-and-yellow colors of her home country, smiling while Kim Clijsters leans down with her hands on the young girl's shoulders.
It was a thrill for Peers to meet her tennis hero back then, a dream come true to play her nine years later at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded Clijsters beat Peers, the 19-year-old qualifier, 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday, but this was one of those nights where it was hard to tell the winner from the loser.
"To be honest, I didn't want it to end," Peers said. "I really enjoyed the experience. It was a real big thrill. I was playing Kim Clijsters, the defending U.S. Open champion. It's not every day you get to play someone like that."
If Peers' career goes the way she hopes, she'll be playing people like Clijsters more often. As she learned during her 56-minute lesson in Arthur Ashe Stadium, she's got a ways to go to get to that level.
On this night, though, there was no shame in losing.
Clijsters, of course, is among the favorites, as she tries to become the first woman to repeat as U.S. Open champion since Venus Williams in 2001. So far at Flushing Meadows, she has barely been challenged — losing a total of eight games in two matches.
She figures that, given the circumstances, she didn't get Peers at her best. Clijsters remembers making Wimbledon as a qualifier in 1999, then finding herself walking onto Court 1 to play Steffi Graf, whose poster hung in Clijsters' room when the Belgian was a kid.
"I mean, there's absolutely nothing I remember about that match, but I remember walking next to her, admiring her head to toe," Clijsters said. "That's what I remember but it had nothing to do with tennis or how I was feeling. I was just overwhelmed by nerves."
Years from now, Peers will tell the same kind of story.
She got her picture taken with Clijsters during a Davis Cup match in Australia nine years ago, then the next year, stopped Clijsters at the Australian Open and asked her to sign it.
"To Sally, Love Kim," it says, above an autograph from Clijsters, who was ranked in the teens at the time, well before she retired to start a family, then unretired to come back and win last year's U.S. Open.
Like almost all Aussie sports stars, Peers is well-followed at home in Melbourne, where the match aired at 9 a.m.
"I thought I did OK," she said. "I thought I returned really well. This whole week has been really, really fun."
She'll make $31,000 for her making it through qualifying and into the second round at the U.S. Open — enough for a little shopping spree on Fifth Avenue.
Some things, though, she knows money cannot buy.
"This is probably a dream come true," Peers said. "When I was 10, if you'd told me I was going to play Kim Clijsters at Arthur Ashe Stadium, I'd have not believed you. To do that, it's really, like, 'Wow.'"
-- Eddie Pells
Melanie Oudin's U.S. Open run over after 2 rounds
NEW YORK (AP) — Melanie Oudin can show up at next year's U.S. Open back as the up-and-coming teenager just hoping to win some matches.
The darling of the 2009 Open acknowledged relief Wednesday after her run ended this time after only two rounds. Oudin's opponent was the one who was seeded, but the 18-year-old felt the pressure of the favorite in front of the big crowd of Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Oudin made 38 unforced errors in losing 6-2, 7-5 to 29th-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.
"I guess I'm a little tiny bit relieved now," she said. "I can kind of start over — I guess, like, start over from all the expectations from last year. And now I can just go out and hopefully do really well the rest of the year and keep working hard."
Oudin learned just how much life changes after a surprise run to last year's quarterfinals. She's still a bubbly teen from Marietta, Ga., with a word of inspiration written on her sneakers — "Believe" last year, "Courage" this year. But now everybody expected her to knock off highly ranked players.
"The second I got out there, I did feel really tight," she said of Wednesday's match.
"The crowd was really, really loud," Oudin added. "It was just a lot. The second I got out there, I guess it kind of overwhelmed me a little bit."
The 43rd-ranked Oudin didn't make it past the second round at any Grand Slam this year. She had also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2009.
But with experience comes perspective.
"I still have hopefully like 10 more years in my career, hopefully 10 more U.S. Opens ahead of me," she said.
Bondarenko, who advanced to at least the third round in the previous three majors this season, earned the victory with just four winners. Oudin had only nine.
"I just knew if she kept going with the mistakes, you wait for the next mistake and try to play without your own mistakes," Bondarenko said.
There's still much to build on as Oudin returns to tennis normalcy. She was ranked as high as 31st this year after coming into the 2009 Open at No. 70. She reached her first semifinal indoors in Paris in February.
"At least now coming into next year no one will really expect that much from me," Oudin said, "so I guess that's good."
-- Rachel Cohen
U.S. teen Harrison upsets 15th-seeded Ljubicic
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Harrison is certainly OK with having U.S. tennis fans look at him as the country's next potential star.
"Absolutely, I want to be that guy," the 18-year-old Harrison said, before adding this note of caution: "I have a ways to go."
If his latest match is any indication, he is on the right path. Harrison upset 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday, his first victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
"The biggest win of my career," said Harrison, who paused to sign autographs for fans in front-row seats before departing Court 11. "I've always believed in myself. I have always had confidence in myself, so obviously I'm extremely excited and really pleased with what happened."
Then, as if catching himself sounding too excited about one win, Harrison quickly noted that he was eager to get "back into my routines of the day off, and looking forward to trying to get ready for second round."
Already considered for some time to be one of the top young U.S. players, he's now the first American male teenager to beat a top-20 opponent at any Grand Slam tournament since a 19-year-old Andy Roddick knocked off No. 11 Alex Corretja at the 2001 U.S. Open.
Before that, you need to go all the way back to 1991, when a 19-year-old Michael Chang beat No. 17 John McEnroe in New York — although by then, Chang already was a Grand Slam champion, having won the 1989 French Open at 17.
"I'm really putting all the work in. I'm trying to stay open-minded with everyone who is giving me their opinion and really trying to listen as much as possible and take in as much as advice as I can," Harrison said.
One of the people who's given him some tips: Roddick, who won the 2003 U.S. Open. That was the last time a man from the United States won a Grand Slam title.
Harrison, based in Bradenton, Fla., is ranked 220th and so had to qualify for the U.S. Open. But Wednesday's victory is expected to allow him to crack the ATP's top 200 for the first time; he would be the youngest current member of that group in the rankings.
"He's definitely good; good player. I mean, he qualified here, which is, I think, great for him," Ljubicic said. "You know, not just to get wildcards left and right whenever he needs and (instead), really try to struggle through the quallies. That definitely helped him for today's match, as well."
Harrison made his Grand Slam debut in January at the Australian Open, losing in the first round.
Ljubicic was a French Open semifinalist in 2006 and reached a career-best ranking of No. 3 that year. But he's never been past the third round at Flushing Meadows and also lost in the first round in 2009.
Now Harrison will try to reach the third round by beating 36th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, who advanced Wednesday by eliminating Peter Luczak of Australia 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
"You always hear about ... you have a big win and there is a lull match in there that you don't play so well," Harrison said. "The entire focus from the time I get back to the hotel tonight till when I play again on Friday is going to be preparation for the second round."
-- Howard Fendrich
Berdych upset by Llodra in straight sets at Open
NEW YORK (AP) — Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych never found his rhythm against the rarity of the serve-and-volley style of Michael Llodra.
The seventh-seeded Berdych lost in straight sets in the first round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday. Llodra, ranked 35th and known more as a doubles player, won 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4.
"I don't even know if I played well or not," Berdych said.
Llodra played serve-and-volley on 78 points, winning 60 of them. The 30-year-old Frenchman had lost in 22 of his 36 first-round matches at Grand Slams.
"Today it was perfect because I served pretty good — not aces, but a lot of good first serves," Llodra said. "And my volley was unbelievable."
Berdych managed just three break points, converting none of them.
"I had no chance to play my tennis, and it's well done for him," Berdych said.
Berdych is the highest-seeded man to lose so far this year at Flushing Meadows. The 24-year-old from Czech Republic had been enjoying a breakthrough season at Grand Slam tournaments, reaching his first major semifinal at the French Open. He beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon before losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.
"I felt great this morning," Berdych said. "Even the heat, I didn't feel it."
Notebook: Venus Williams relieved to only play singles
NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams has an unhealthy love for doubles.
Had sister Serena entered the U.S. Open, she might have teamed with her even on a balky knee. But Serena Williams pulled out after surgery for cuts on her right foot. So Venus is getting some extra rest — and is through to the third round.
The third-seeded Williams beat 179th-ranked qualifier Rebecca Marino of Canada 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Wednesday. She hadn't played in two months when she arrived at the Open coming off a sprained left kneecap.
"I'm glad that I'm just in the singles," she said. "That way I have the opportunity to recover between rounds and to get ready to play the next one."
Williams is a seven-time Grand Slam champion — really, a 22-time winner if you count doubles with her sister and mixed doubles, a number she relishes hearing. She acknowledged after her first-round match that it would have been hard to skip doubles, especially after the sisters failed to win at Wimbledon this year.
She never had that option.
Now Williams can only chase the singles title at Flushing Meadows. She won't have to face Tsvetana Pironkova, who eliminated her at Wimbledon, in the third round. The No. 32-seeded Bulgarian was upset by qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg in straight sets Wednesday. Pironkova had defeated Williams in two of their previous three meetings, including a straight-set win in the Wimbledon quarterfinals June 29.
Williams was briefly in trouble Wednesday, when Marino went up 3-1 in the first-set tiebreaker. That brought out the 22-time major champion in Williams.
"I did notice at one point that she started to grunt pretty loudly," Marino said. "And it's like, 'Whoa, she's getting serious here.'"
RUDE WELCOME: Bradley Klahn stumbled upon a novel way to calm the nerves in your first Grand Slam match — though the other men would probably rather not emulate it.
The NCAA singles champion had come to the net against 20th-seeded Sam Querrey, and his fellow American shanked his attempt at a passing shot. Klahn was so surprised the ball was flying right at him that he wasn't able to get out of the way — and it struck him in a very sensitive location.
"It's not going to get much worse than getting hit right there in front of all the fans," Klahn said later, able to laugh about it afterward. "It definitely lightened the mood, I'd say."
The 20-year-old Klahn, who got in the U.S. Open with a wild card, won a set off Querrey before losing 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday.
"I felt bad because he's my buddy," Querrey said.
Klahn's solid showing, with some of his fraternity brothers boisterously cheering him on in Louis Armstrong Stadium, won't shake his determination to return to Stanford for his junior year. The economics major said his parents badly want him to get that Stanford degree.
COOL RUNNINGS: Dustin Brown posted a historic victory for Jamaican tennis Wednesday. He's still holding out hope he'll have the chance to represent his country some more.
Brown beat 92nd-ranked Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the opening round, the first win by a Jamaican man at a Grand Slam since 1974.
The 25-year-old Brown was born in Germany (his mother is German), but moved to Jamaica as a child (his father is Jamaican). He has expressed frustration with a lack of support from the Jamaican federation, even floating the idea of playing for Britain in Davis Cup because of a British grandparent on his father's side.
Tennis Jamaica elected banker Aubyn Hill as its new president Aug. 19, and Brown said he was open to hearing from the federation's new leadership.
First he has a second-round U.S. Open match to play. Brown will face his potential future British teammate, fourth-seeded Andy Murray.
Brown became the first Jamaican man to win a Grand Slam match since Richard Russell in the first round of the 1974 French Open. That was also the last time a Jamaican man even played in a major before Brown lost in the first round at Wimbledon this year.
Brown had a vocal cheering section Wednesday from New York's large Jamaican community, and he expects even more backers for his next match.
"I know the Jamaican guys are coming," he said. "They will be on my side. I don't know about anybody else."
USHERING IN: The USTA announced that its charitable arm, USTA Serves, will partner with music star Usher's New Look Foundation for the next three years to mentor youth to become leaders. The program will look to expand opportunities for service and tennis.
Usher conceded of his tennis skills: "I'm not that good myself."
-- Rachel Cohen
U.S. Open Glance
NEW YORK (AP) — A look at Wednesday's play at the $22.7 million U.S. Open tennis championships:
WEATHER: Mostly clear and hot. High of 95.
ATTENDANCE: Day: 35,302. Night: 23,771. Total: 59,073.
MEN'S SEEDED WINNERS: First Round: No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 14 Nicolas Almagro, No. 18 John Isner, No. 20 Sam Querrey, No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber. Second Round: No. 17 Gael Monfils.
MEN'S SEEDED LOSERS: No. 7 Tomas Berdych and No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic. Second Round: No. 9 Andy Roddick.
WOMEN'S SEEDED WINNERS: Second Round: No. 2 Kim Clijsters, No. 3 Venus Williams, No. 5 Sam Stosur, No. 6 Francesca Schiavone, No. 12 Elena Dementieva, No. 16 Shahar Peer, No. 19 Flavia Pennetta, No. 20 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 24 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 27 Petra Kvitova and No. 29 Alona Bondarenko.
WOMEN'S SEEDED LOSERS: No. 10 Victoria Azarenka, No. 13 Marion Bartoli, No. 21 Zheng Jie, No. 28 Alisa Kleybanova and No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova.
TOP PLAYERS ON COURT THURSDAY: Men, Second Round: No. 2 Roger Federer vs. Andreas Beck, No. 3 Novak Djokovic vs. Philipp Petzschner, No. 5 Robin Soderling vs. Taylor Dent, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko vs. Richard Gasquet. Women, Second Round: No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki vs. Chang Kai-chen, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic vs. Mirjana Lucic, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva vs. Sabine Lisicki, No. 14 Maria Sharapova vs. Iveta Benesova.
STAT OF THE DAY: Sally Peers managed to win just one point on second serves in her 6-2, 6-1 loss to No. 2 Kim Clijsters.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "You have to be switched on from the beginning of every tournament. All of the players play very, very well." — Andy Murray
WEDNESDAY ON TV (All Times EDT): Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (live), 11 p.m.-midnight (highlights); ESPN2, 1-7 p.m. (live), 7-11 p.m. (live)
ON THIS DATE: Sept. 2, 1991: On his 39th birthday, Jimmy Connors comes back after trailing 2-1 in sets and 2-5 in the fifth set to beat Aaron Krickstein in the fourth round. Connors would eventually reach the semifinals where he is beaten by Jim Courier.
Elsewhere
Tennis his way: John McEnroe starts academy
NEW YORK (AP) — John McEnroe wants a hand in reviving American tennis. He wants to do it his way.
Neither of these statements should come as a surprise to anyone who has followed McEnroe's career over the last four decades — either on the court or in "retirement," where he has remained every bit as fiery and unapologetic behind a microphone as he is with a tennis racquet in hand.
The day after the U.S. Open ends, McEnroe's new journey will begin in full — a journey with the ultimate goal of making sure the headline that appeared this summer is never seen again: "No American in top 10 for first time since rankings began in 1973."
On Sept. 13, the John McEnroe Tennis Academy will officially welcome its first class at the revamped, 20-court, $18-million tennis complex on Randall's Island — a strip of land between Manhattan and Queens that also houses Icahn Stadium, where Usain Bolt set his first world record.
It's not particularly easy to get to. Then again, almost anything worth doing in New York — McEnroe's hometown and the center of the tennis universe during the U.S. Open — involves some sacrifice. And besides, nothing about Johnny Mac's journey back into the languishing grass roots of his sport has been simple.
"Hopefully, I can jolt things and get things going here again," McEnroe said of his goal to revive tennis in New York and, by extension, in the United States. "Hopefully I can be a regular presence and hopefully Patrick and the USTA will support what I'm doing."
"Patrick" would be his youngest brother, the longtime Davis Cup captain who the U.S. Tennis Association hired two years ago to run an elite player development program that gets mixed reviews from tennis insiders. The McEnroes have similar goals, but different ideas of how to get there.
While Patrick McEnroe and the USTA enjoy the luxury of what his brother calls "unlimited money" — about $15 million a year for the development program — money that is sometimes used to filch players from the for-profit tennis academies, John McEnroe is starting from scratch. He's hoping to revive the youth tennis scene in New York and prove that, yes, it's still possible to build champions without sending them away to tennis camp and taking them out of their normal lives.
For a tennis prodigy, McEnroe enjoyed a relatively normal childhood. He grew up in the suburbs of New York, was schooled at Trinity on the Upper West Side, took tennis lessons at Port Washington Tennis Academy on Long Island under coach Harry Hopman — who never made tennis larger than life — then spent a year at Stanford before going pro full-time.
Now, he is putting his own time, his own money and bringing in the middle McEnroe brother — Mark, the lawyer — to an effort he hopes will produce plenty of college players, a handful of pros and maybe, just maybe, the next American tennis champion.
"That's our bet," Mark McEnroe said. "John thinks it's realistic that we can find a top-10 player."
The odd relationship between John and Patrick has been described, in some parts of the tennis world, as a rift. The brothers, seven years apart, say family is more important than tennis, but are on record as not always seeing eye to eye.
And indeed, there are differences. Most notably:
— John thinks it's possible to become a great tennis player the way he did it back in the day — by making the sport part of a typical American childhood that includes living at home, going to a school nearby, a few soccer games and friends. Patrick believes in more repetition and full-time commitment, the likes of which you see at the many academies-slash-boarding schools in Florida, Texas and California.
— John has a long, well-known history of wanting to team up with the USTA to put his name behind a development program. Patrick has questions about how long John could stick with the bureaucracy that comes with the USTA.
"There's probably some skepticism on Patrick's part, as we all have, is John really going to do this?" Mark McEnroe said. "John wanted to do something like he's doing here at the USTA and that wasn't available."
What John and Patrick can agree on is the pain they feel when they watch the sport they grew up in, starred in and made careers out of, get relegated to page 4 in the sports section on good days and completely out of the American consciousness for much of the time.
"Alarm bells have been going off for a while, but there's been enough success that it hasn't been a cacophony of noises," John McEnroe says, crediting the Williams sisters — who also didn't attend tennis academies and are known for taking long breaks from tennis — with the lion's share of American success over the past decade. "Clearly, there's a lot more that needs to be done and there's a great level of concern."
The concern is even greater during weeks like these, when, for instance, Nike holds a publicity function featuring its top stars and it trots out Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova — but only one active American, Serena Williams, who is out of this year's tournament because of an injury.
It grows when Andy Roddick, who moved back as the only American in the top 10 after his brief drop to No. 12, finds virtually no company around him. Sam Querry is at No. 22. Mardy Fish just moved up 15 spots to get to No. 21. John Isner is at No. 20 after moving up 35 spots from this time last year, but still needs a breakthrough to be known for more than his famous 70-68 fifth-set win at Wimbledon earlier this year.
And it grows when Gilad Bloom, the former touring pro who will run the day-to-day teaching operation at McEnroe's academy, points out startling stats such as these: In 1980, there were 41 American men ranked in the world's top 100. By 1996, that number had dropped to 13. Today, it's seven.
"It's not an aberration. It's a pattern. And the pattern is very clear," Bloom said.
McEnroe knows he can't arrest this slide all by himself. All he can hope is that his name — and the spark and fire it conjures — might inspire some young, athletic kid to pick up a tennis racquet instead of a basketball or football.
"The long-term project is, what would tennis look like if we had a Michael Jordan or a Terrell Owens or someone else like that get steered toward tennis when they were a kid?" Mark McEnroe said.
In the short term, John McEnroe and the company he's in partnership with, Sportime New York, are teaming with Nike to fund scholarships for the academy. While USTA programs are run on that so-called "unlimited money" that McEnroe rails about, most players at his academy pay tuition bills — ranging from $3,600 to $4,800 for 34 weeks of two-hour lessons — that help pay the bills. In the long-term, McEnroe is hoping for greater contributions from Nike or other corporate sponsors.
Among the promising students at McEnroe's academy is Alex Kovacevic, ranked 11th in the 12-and-under division in the East. He followed Bloom from his old school in the Bronx to Randall's Island. His parents don't want to put him in a full-time academy down in Florida or Texas.
"We want him to do the school thing," said his mother, Millie. "We want him to still play soccer, though he'll probably do that less seriously as time goes on."
Bloom has big plans for Alex — the kid they call "Little Federer" because of his smooth footwork and whippy topspin groundstrokes. He'd also like to get Alex's younger sister signed up.
John McEnroe will not be feeding balls to the kids. But it's his vision, even if it's not the exact same as the one his brother and the USTA have.
"It's awesome for tennis," Patrick McEnroe says. "We're both from New York. We both have tremendous pride in American tennis, but also a desire to help tennis in New York. I certainly see it as a total bonus that John has thrown himself into it. It's a total win-win."
-- Eddie Pells
Agassi heads nominees for Tennis Hall of Fame
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Andre Agassi leads the list of 2011 nominees for the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Owner of a career Grand Slam and an eight-time major champion, Agassi is the only nominee in the recent player category. He retired in 2006.
Also on the ballot, announced by the Hall on Wednesday: Thelma Coyne Long and Christine Truman Janes in the master player category, and Mike Davies and Fern Lee "Peachy" Kellmeyer in the contributor category.
The inductees will be announced early next year.
Australia's Long won 19 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles during a career from 1935-58. Britain's Janes won the 1959 French championships singles title.
