What a Racket!
New York City held its share of the Tennis Grand Slams in late August. It came after the Melbourne, Australia, Paris, France, and London, England tournaments. New York’s share came during the September 11, 2001 memorial services. The tournament’s presence confirms NYC as one of the major urban centers of the world.
Tennis players from around the planet came to try their luck and skill at surviving the luck of the draw in Flushing Meadows. There were about 100 invitees and 16 or so qualifiers. The qualifying round pitted young and upcoming players against each other to enter the group.
The qualifying round is free to those who want to attend. It is characterized by huge, muscular, blond women with long names hitting the tennis ball with gusto. Recently, tiny Asian women have entered and won. It is a fun atmosphere, and thousands of New Yorkers attended. The qualifiers are soon eaten up by the long time professionals with too much power and savvy.
This year, rain interrupted the scheduling. In my opinion, NYC is overdue for a rain-dome. The other major grand slam cities have domes; why doesn’t New York?
The Williams sisters dominated in the women’s tournament this year. Venus won a match and then bowed out due to an autoimmune disease. Serena muscled out the competition and finally lost to Australia’s Samantha Stosur.
The men’s semi-finals came down to the top four seeds as finalists: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. The Federer-Djokovic match was a classic tennis encounter, with Federer poised to win and Djokovic pulling through. The final match was played on Monday, Sept. 12 due to rain delays.
It was a wonderful time for NYC and the thousands who enjoyed the festivities. “Serve ‘em up!”
