ATP
US Open Week 1 in review
HOW MUCH? Yes, it’s New York, the Big Apple for the US Open 2023. And Big prices.
Van Leeuwen ice cream, a bespoke organic New York speciality, doesn’t come cheap.
$9.50 US for one scoop!
The ice cream vendor was overheard saying he was selling about 50,000 scoops a day!
That’s a chilling $475,000 per day!!
Ben Van Leeuwen stared the business in 2008 with brother Peter and friend Laura O’Neill.
They claim their success is down to only the best natural ingredients.
At almost ten bucks a scoop it needs to be.
But it’s not just ice cream where the cash registers are merrily clicking away.
A Grey Goose vodka cocktail will set you back $22.00.
A glass of sparkling wine $19.00 and food?
Chicken Caesar wrap: $14.00. The same for as tuna sandwich.
Popcorn doesn’t come cheap either – $8.50 for a small tub. Add a coke, that’ll be another $7.50.
And the obsession with bottled water never ends – $6.50 for a 500ml bottle that would cost about $2.00 in a local supermarket.
But, it’s New York, where everything, including prices, is BIG.
THE USTA continues with its bizarre middle of the night match schedule that has seen many arenas half empty.
Novak Djokovic’s late night win last week ended at almost 2am, as did other matches.
With so many empty seats and no public transport at that late hour, is there another reason for witching hour tennis?
Late night TV viewing in Los Angeles perhaps. Certainly not in London or Paris -m or early morning in Australia where fans have already jumped on the commuter train for work.
To date, no one at the US Open has given a logical reason and it would appear, no one seems to care about player health welfare and recovery.
DANIIL Medvedev delivered some hilarious remarks when a doctor came on court to check his medical timeout in New York.
After losing the third set to Christopher O’Connell, Medvedev requested the medical timeout.
The doctor asked Medvedev if he had any symptoms. Medvedev responded: “Yeah. I lost the set. Give me whatever you gave him”.
Medvedev was also in hot water continuing his long-running feud with the New York crowd.
With crowd behind Aussie Chris O’Connell, Medvedev yelled: “Can you shut up guys?”.
Red rag to a bull… the crowd intensified their support for O’Connell.
ITALIAN Matteo Berrettini sent fans into shock after a horror fall during his match against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech on Friday, badly twisting his ankle and screaming in agony on the court.
Berrettini was trailing in the second set at the time of incident and took no further part in the match, retiring injured.
He was surrounded by ball kids forming a protective shield with umbrellas as medics tried to comfort him, but he was is agony and could be heard mumbling, “oh no”.
Later, vision emerged of him in a wheelchair with his head in his hands.
DID you know… The last time Novak Djokovic won a match at the US Open after being down 0-2 sets was 2011.
SHOT of the week:
World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz again showcased his talent defeating Britain’s Daniel Evans in the round of 32 clash 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday.
AUSSIE wildcard Rinky Hijikata had an amazing run through the US Open draw, resisting a fightback from China’s Zhizhen Zhang to win 6-3, 6-3, 4-6 6-3.
The win secured the 22-year-old a fourth-round date with Frances Tiafoe tomorrow and a payday of $US284,000.
THE 2023 US Open was hit with a mystery illness that has affected more than one player, but Ons Jabeur is not among them.
The Tunisian was thought to be part of a mass infection, but only has flu, according to reports.
Emil Ruusuvuori pulled out of the tournament because of “sickness”, and Dominic Thiem and Christopher Eubanks are also affected during their matches.
Thiem retired midway through his second-round clash against Ben Shelton and Eubanks was visibly struggling during his match against Benjamin Bonzi.
Jabeur cleared up her issues after her win over Linda Noskova.
“Actually my stomach is fine. It’s not the stomach. I think I got a flu or something,” she said.
“I know some other players got stomach issues. Not me, thankfully.”
PICTURE OF THE WEEK:
Britain’s Andy Murray still has his wedding ring neatly looped into the laces of his shoe.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
-
Berlin4 weeks agoSabalenka finds her “little tiger” to fend off Czech challenge
-
Top Story3 weeks agoRaducanu takes a kicking as injury-boot drama flares
-
Adelaide International4 weeks agoEx-Wimbledon champion slammed with anti-doping ban
-
ATP4 weeks agoDe Minaur ambushed by Queen’s outsider Nakashima
-
Berlin4 weeks agoEala stuns Rybakina in Berlin blitz
-
ATP4 weeks agoFritz squeezes Sascha to book first-time Halle final
-
ATP4 weeks agoBadosa unloads on ex-tennis boyfriend Tsitsipas
-
Top Story3 weeks agoRaducanu withdraws on eve of Wimbledon