Go Home Already: Shouts and Murmurs
Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
Crowd favorite Andy Roddick had little trouble with Benjamin Becker last night, cruising to a straight set victory (6-3, 6-2) in his first match of the tournament. After an extended break since his defeat to Roger Federer in the Wimbeldon final, Roddick was far from the top of his service game, landing only 58 percent of his firsts and routinely hitting in the one hundred and teens -- though at one point he did hit 145 mph on the radar gun. But his arching, powerful forehand and ability to paint the lines was more than enough for a victory in a tight 55 minutes. Speaking of his first match in four weeks, Roddick said that his "movement felt real good. I felt that I had decent control over spins and placement and good ball control." He acknowledged the large stadium court crowd -- organizers announced a sold-out evening -- who rewarded him with thunderous applause that only grew louder when the emcee acknowledged his performance at Wimbledon last month.
With Wednesday's main event unsurprisingly a cakewalk for the tournament's top seed, the evening's side court matches provided nail-biting volleys, marathon games, and packed bleachers filled with at times raucous fans right on top of the action. It's an atmosphere only really achievable on the smaller courts and at American tourneys where excessive screaming can be (and is) part of the action.
A small but vocal group of Dudi Sela supporters rallied for their favorite Israeli, with shirtless highschoolers continuously shouting the little Hebrew they knew to the encouragement of their man and the amusement and irritation of most everyone else around them, probably including Sela. (One wonders too how many times a player can have "kadima, kadima" -- translated as "forward" -- shouted at them by 16-year-olds or told you have the heart of a lion before it loses effectiveness.) Lleyton Hewitt, the former world #1 who also is a crowd favorite in the States, relied on his composure and strong baseline play in a see-saw of a match to finish off Sela, and his fans, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
On a neighboring court, Wayne Odesnik was pummeled 6-2 in his opening set with Igor Andreev, and dropped three games in a row in set number two -- that is, before winning the next four games to take the set 7-5. Down 5-4 in the decisive third set and serving, Andreev fought off three match points, and both players took turns arguing close calls with the umpire in a taut final game. When Odesnik finally prevailed after five deuces, supporters, with no barrier in the way, streamed on to the court and embraced the young American they had helped will on to victory. In a similarly riveting late-night match, fans braving the approaching midnight hour saw John Isner come back from one set down to win two tiebreaks and the match against number 3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tonight's schedule offers a couple of compelling matches, again led by Roddick, who meets fellow American Sam Querrey, an emerging 21-year-old coming off a win in last week's L.A. Open. "We do a lot of the same things," said Roddick when asked about his next opponent. "He obviously plays very big. He's a big guy. He's in form having won last week in L.A. It's certainly not going to be easy for me."
That match will follow Hewitt's first major challenge, a date with last year's champ and current world #6 Juan Carlos del Potro. Organizers are expecting another sold out evening, but tickets are currently still available at the box office with no convenience charge, through Ticketmaster, or via Craig. Rain is possible this afternoon (something to consider with matches scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.), though the forecast calls for a dry evening.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Harsh words for the Israelis, considering your reporter obviously knows little about tennis other than how to cut and paste the tourney notes. Hewitt rolls? No, he had a tough three-setter and took out a seed.
BTW, "Kadima" means "Let's Go!" in Hebrew. I'm pretty sure the Israelis knew WTF they were saying.
Unlike you.
No harsh words for the Israelis. The kids in front of me were high schoolers from Montgomery County. If he was Israeli, I think he probably could have changed things up a little with the Hebrew. And the screaming--of the boy from Montgomery County--was too much, IMHO. "Colorful" spectating sets the U.S. Open and these other tourneys apart from Wimbledon, etc. But screaming after every point, with little variation, gets a bit grating.
ummm on a serious note.
Roddick, what's with the butt ugly shirt?
Let me set the record straight here...I am the crazy fan who was cheering on Dudi Sela, the first D (the craziest one). I will start by giving credit where credit is due: I do not know hebrew. You got me. I am Israeli, and I am jewish, but I have lived in this country all my life, and did not pay enough attention in Sunday school to learn the language. I will admit that I could have used more variety. If Sela comes back next year, which I am confident of, I will definitely try to keep things fresh.
Secondly, I love the people who love my passion, and I love the people who hate my passion. One woman said to me in a disgusted face, "you are crazy." I responded, "I'm an animal." One little kid flipped me off. On the other side of the coin, a little kid could be heard yelling kadima like my friends and I, and after the match, several people asked to take pictures with us, and plenty of grown men and women told us how they appreciated and approved of our passion.
I highly doubt Dudi was irritated with us, ok, me. After the match, Dudi came out of the players locker room and was very friendly with me and all of my friends. He asked me personally if I was coming back to watch the matches played today. He appreciated our passion, and gladly took pictures with us afterwards.
I am passionate about Dudi Sela for many reasons. There is of course, his Israeli heritage, but it's not just that. Dudi is generously listed at 5'9, and doesn't have nearly the physical gifts most highly ranked players on the ATP tour possess. He fights every point, for every ball, and is an easy to like player and guy. My passion is something many fans, especially tennis fans don't understand. Whenever I am watching a match at the Legg Mason, I constantly feel like there is too dull an atmosphere at a professional sporting event. My friends and I went out and did something that doesn't happen too often at tennis matches, and I believe most fans enjoyed it, and I think it helped Dudi.
Also, in last year's Legg Mason, when Sela played Del Potro, he was crushed by Del Potro in the first set 6-0. After he started holding his serve, a few Israelis and I really pulled behind him, and by the end of the second set when Dudi had won, Del Potro had a staredown with me. I had never cheered anything negatively against him, but I appreciate the acknowledgement of my effectiveness, just like this here.
Lastly, I am not from Montgomery County. Unfortunatley. I live in Northern Virginia, as do all of my friends. I don't know what made you guys think I was from MoCo.
I enjoyed match very, very much. I genuinely feel we helped Dudi in his efforts to move on, redundancy aside. The match itself was awesome. Both players both played very well, and it was a close hard fought match, hardly a "roll." The fans who sat by me actually were friendly and engaging, and I enjoyed chatting them up as well in between the action as well. I hope everyone enjoyed the match too.