James Blake hits an ace, and on his next serve, match point,
crushes the return of serve with a forehand winner, putting a
definitive end to a rally that Lukas Lacko managed to carry through
the third set and the first two games of the fourth. During that
rally the 24-year old Slovene found reserves of strength and
shrewdness that were not in evidence in the first two sets and it
even seemed he might use finesse against Blake’s superior power,
probing against the lower-ranked American’s troubled backhand and
getting shots past him at the net. He did not have enough of
whatever he needed, and the 32-year old Blake gets the critical
points as they go down the stretch, in particular several at which
Lacko has the ad.
James Blake, a New York-born Floridian, is one of the more
popular American players and he had the crowd with him at Louis
Armstrong Stadium as the U.S. Open got underway yesterday at
Flushing Meadows, Queens. It is the last grand slam tournament of
the 2012 season, the most extravagant, probably the most popular,
in the etymological sense of the word; the first day brought out a
huge audience, filling the stands at the storied stadia, Arthur
Ashe, Armstrong, Grandstand — the latter the scene of a strong
first round performance by Jack Sock, the tennis world’s most
famous Nebraskan after Andy Roddick and an up-and-coming hope of
American tennis. Sock easily put away Germany’s Florian Mayer, with
a flurry of aces and service winners that left the German shaking
his head, but also with some deft and elegant play at the net that
assured him control of the match’s dynamic.
Sock’s partner in last year’s mixed doubles victory here,
Melanie Oudin, was less impressive, overwhelmed in two sets by
Lucie Safarova, a left-handed, strong-hitting player from Brno,
Czech Rep. It did look like the day was going to the big hitters,
but in the most anticipated event on the women’s side of the
tournament, the clash between the Ice Queen of Siberia, Florida’s
own Maria Sharapova, and the elegant and haughtily beautiful Magyar
Melinda Czink, it was primarily a match of placement and movement.
Miss Sharapova’s service, often a question mark, was effective and
consistent, and she placed three times as many winners as Miss
Czink, whose grace could not completely cover the strain of playing
on the main stage at the mighty U.S. Open, in the world’s greatest
city.
New Yorkers support their tennis extravaganzas, as they support
their big leagues ball clubs (the Mets play next door to the Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center, which is the official name of the
complex here) and indeed everything else that emanates from the
city that Alexander Hamilton did so much to make great — a point
of history that the Grand Old Party, convened in Tampa, would do
well to remember this week. New York, gateway to freedom for people
from almost everywhere, is suffused with a municipal patriotism
that serves it well. Shrugging off a rain delay of over two hours,
the show goes on as boisterously and gruffly as ever. The mayor is
here tonight to welcome the great tournament and the thousands of
fans — according to reports, but I must say I have not spotted
him; admittedly he is of small stature — and the Star Spangled
Banner is sung by the lovely Jordin Sparks before the start of the
evening session (featuring Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer) and if
the New York National Guard regimental band is not here maybe it is
because they are otherwise engaged; they surely would be
welcome.
However, to get back to this matter of the luck of the draw and
the tough first round bracket positions, being up against the best
on the very first day is the inevitable fate of those who are not
the best. It would have been fine if Miss Czink drawn at least a
couple of easier rounds, giving this unjustly little known player a
chance to become better known to American fans. By contrast, Donald
Young, who was in the same spot a few hours later facing Roger
Federer, is known as a player perennially showing promise. This
year has been disappointing, but he snapped a long losing streak
only a week or two ago at one of the last Masters in the U.S.
season at Winston-Salem, so it must have been galling to have to
start over again so quickly by being dealt the world’s number one,
and the number one seed at the Open.
Well, life goes on; and you must consider that Donald Young is
only 23 (Federer is 31) and he is among the 128 best male tennis
players in the world, if you use the criterion of being invited to
the U.S. Open. Teen Victoria Duval, still another gift of
immigration to American greatness (her parents are Haitian M.D.’s),
gave Kim Clijsters, who has announced this is her last hurrah, a
lively fight on many points, but finally succumbed to the
three-time U.S. Open champion’s experience and toughness. Or Go
Soeda, of Kanagawa, Japan: he gave Mardy Fish a real scare in the
second set of their match, which the American gritted out in
three.
There will be a few days, a week actually, to sort out the very
best from the very good, and there will be fine tennis along the
way and disappointments and exhilarations in equal measure as each
round cuts the field in half with slices of yellow balls bouncing
and skidding over neat blue surfaces of exact, and exactly similar,
dimensions. In the meantime it is well to think of how fortunate we
are in having in the same week the peak of the sport’s season and
the peak of the pre-campaign in our great quadrennial exercise in
democracy. New York and Tampa, great and vital and pulsing centers
of who we are as a nation, what a pleasant and invigorating
accident of scheduling.
As many win as lose until there is only one left, that is the
iron and meritocratic law of a tennis tournament. I suppose we
would like to say the same thing about our political process, but
of course politics is an inexact science and you do not have the
same objective criteria of success. It makes perfect sense for
Australia’s Samantha Stosur, who is the defending champion here, to
easily win her first round match against Petra Martic of Croatia,
also at Arthur Ashe Stadium, early in the day, just as it made
sense for Andy Murray to win in three sets whose scores (6-2, 6-4,
6-1) make them look easier than they were, over Russia’s Alex
Bogomolov. Murray dominated, with twice as many winners than
Bogomolov, but observers got the impression several times that he
was going into one his notorious self-imposed mental derailings —
actually, it is much fairer to say that it was, rather, Bogomolov
who put up a good fight and played some brilliant points. Sure,
tennis is mental and you are up against yourself as well as your
opponent, but you have to give him credit, always. That is
sportsmanship.
This is something that no one seems able to do in the political
sphere. I fail to see why, in a democracy, we cannot grant to the
other side a measure of respect and even the ultimate respect of
saying they have a point. It seems to me that was the attitude that
characterized, for example, the disagreements between Abraham
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. In the end they supported each other;
Douglas never doubted that saving the Union was more important than
being president. Well now, I know I should not mix great and
profound historical themes with sports coverage, and I know, too,
that gentlemanly behavior on the playing fields is often honored
more in the breach; but you know what I mean.
Well, it was a fine start, Roger Federer finished the day with a
fine display of form and power while Donald Young was a brave
competitor and a good loser. Rain and all, the tournament rolls;
and it will be a great week for America, showing how welcoming and
freewheeling we are, in the world of sports and in the realm of
ideas for government, it is a week to say to the world, Look at us,
we’re getting it on!
