p.s. US Open 2009

I've been a bit busy the past 3 weeks (with work, with bugging/harassing PLDT customer service about my suddenly non-existent phone and internet connection, and finally, with watching out for crazy ass Ondoy), so I haven't been able to write about the semifinal and final matches of the US Open... and if you kept up with it, there were some crazy matches there.

After 3 weeks, I've finally been able to catch up with work (I think), my phone and net has finally been fixed (after 1 whole week, DAMN YOU PLDT!), and Ondoy and his evil stepbrother Pepeng have gone away, so I think this might be a good time to catch up...

On the men's side, Juan Martin Del Potro wins his first grand slam in sensational manner, beating 5-time US Open champ and world #1 Roger Federer in 5 sets, 3–6, 7–6 (7–5), 4–6, 7–6 (7–4), 6–2. JMDP previously defeated #2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in straight sets, 6–2, 6–2, 6–2. That was really huge result for the (then) 20 year-old Argentine. He joins Roger, Rafa and Novak as the recent Grand Slam winners, and puts himself firmly in contention for the grand slams next year (I'm putting Murray out of that circle until he bucks the trend and actually wins one.)

Congratulations JMDP!

Anyway, while DelPo won that tournament, I have post this, since it's definitely one for the Hall of Fame Career highlight reels:

On the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki got to her first grand slam final by beating Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-3. That's a great result for Caroline, who's always been on the brink of a grand slam breakthrough the past two years. Unfortunately for her though, she ran into a more formidable Belgian, Kim Clijsters. If at the start of the year, someone said that Kim would win a grand slam in 2009, I think even Kim would've laughed at that person's face... But after playing in only 2 other WTA tournaments this year, Kim mounted an amazing career comeback by winning her second grand slam title, becoming the first non-ranked player to win the US Open, and the first mother to win a grand slam since 1980.

2005 and 2009 US Open Champ Kim Clijsters with daughter Jada

Kim did it by beating Venus in the fourth round and Serena in the semis too.

Speaking of Serena, it wasn't just the semifinal match that she lost...

Totally lost her mind too.

Before the semis start...

Just a quick review of the results just before the semifinal matches start... (it's been raining here in Manila the whole day and looks like it's been raining in NY too, the Kim-Serena semifinal match has been delayed by rain.)

On the men's side, Andy Murray followed the other Andy in an early exit, losing to the 16th seed Croatian Marin Cilic. Though Murray has had good results the past months (and even overtook Rafa for the #2 ranking), he hasn't been playing his best tennis (in the matches I've seen him play, at least). Losing to Cilic in straight sets in the 4th round might be a sign that he's not coping well with the "Can he win a Grand Slam"/"He's #2 over Rafa" pressure, or it might just spur him on to lift his game to match Roger and Rafa in the Grand Slams. The bottom line for him though is 0 Grand Slams for 2009.

But you know what the best news here is? We won't have to see this face while watching the US Open Men's Final:

/cheapshot

Cilic went on to lose to JMDP (who is my pick as the finalist who'll play Roger in the final) in the quarters. Roger will face Novak Djokovic in the first semis, while JMDP is still waiting for Rafa and Fernando Gonzales' match to finish (suspended last night due to rain.) Rafa's knee injury has flared up again, so Gonzo might sneak that one in...

For the women's draw, the news has been all about Melanie Oudin's huge run (with a little bit of Kim's great comeback sandwiched in the news). She beat 4 Russians to get to the quarters (former Junior #1 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, 3-time Grand Slam champ and Screaming Shriekster extraordinaire Maria Sharapova, and former #3 and current top 10 player Nadia Petrova.) Unfortunately for her, current French Open champ

Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to #9 Caroline Wozniacki, and Oudin's tennis powers apprently doesn't work out as well versus blonde Danish tennis players. Caroline won their quarterfinal match easily, 6-2, 6-2.

I've been waiting for Caroline to get a big grand slam result since last year, but she would usually lose in the 3rd or 4th rounds, to the point that I was starting to think she won't make it and the Azarenka really was this year's teen queen... But now Caroline has made the semis (Azarenka's best was a QF at the French Open and Wimbledon), and has a pretty good chance to reach the finals. She'll be facing the other surprise of the tournament, unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. With Dinara and Jelena getting the upset axe, Yanina sneaked in to the semis playing big, aggressive tennis. It's great to see another Belgian coming up the ranks, a year after Justine retired. And speaking of Belgians, Kim Clijsters' comeback is officially a success. She beat Venus Williams in the 4th round 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 and will now be up against Venus' little younger sister, Serena for a place in the final. I want Kim to win, if only to spur Justine Henin to make a comeback of her own, but this match (and the whole tournament) will probably go to Serena.

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I'm using Google Chrome right now instead of Firefox... And while I'm liking some of it's features, I don't think it can handle the US Open website too well. The browser hangs a lot, especially when I open the Live Scores page. Boooooo Google Chrome!

US Open Men's Draw, Update #1

While the women's field has been decimated, there are no such upsets on the Men's side. No teen-aged sensation to talk about either (I think that spot may be reserved for Grigor Dimitrov next year...) All the top 16 male players made it to the 3rd round, the first time in Open-era history, and in the Round of 16, the 14 of the top 16 made it.

The only two casualties? #9 Frenchman Gilles Simon, who had to retire in his 3rd round match vs former #1 (and former King of Clay before a guy named Rafael Nadal came around) Juan Carlos Ferrero. JCF was a finalist here a few years ago, so it's not like he's a pushover on the hard courts. Too bad for Gilles, who was in a bit of a slump during the clay season... he was starting to get good results again, the knee injury came at a really bad time for him.

The other casualty is #5 Andy Roddick, who got served out of the court by the unseeded 6'9'' giant John Isner in another heart-breaking (for Roddick) scoreline of 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5)

The only match I saw Roger play so far was the first one, against 18yo American Devin Britton. He played well enough there, but according to some reports I read, he didn't seem to be as precise in his match against Hewitt. Same thing with Rafa, I only saw his first round match. He easily dumped the just-returning-from-my-coccaine-ban Richard "Reeshard" Gasquet and I was really impressed with his shots and his movement. It didn't seem like he came from injury at all. It will be interesting to see if Roger can hang on to his good pre-US Open form, and if Rafa can keep his body injury-free even while playing 5-set hardcourt matches.

Dark horses? Last year's US Open runner-up Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. Murray didn't play well Wimbledon, where the hometown pressure may have been a factor. This time he doesn't have as much pressure to win, so he might be able to pull this off. On the other hand, JMPD doesn't have to deal with much pressure. In fact, not much attention has been given to him since most of the contender spotlight still falls among the top 4. That may be good for him (I predicted that he'll go all the way to the finals... so he better not screw this up, at least for my sake.)


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US Open Women's Draw, Update #1

Ok, so far half of the players I picked to make the quarters in the women's draw have already lost. Olats. Including Elena Dementieva who I was rooting for to win it all... Booooo!!! The silver lining is it was 17-year old Melanie Oudin who beat her.

It's a silver lining to me because Oudin actually has a nice, thinking game (and not the brainless baseline ball-bashing style that makes the WTA Tour so booorrrriiing to watch.) She also reminds me a lot of Martina Hingis and Justine Henin, she's like a 17 year-old hybrid of the two (ok, ok, with less talent and less firepower than Hingis and Henin, but hey, she's got time to improve on that.) And also, she's got a hot fraternal twin watching her matches from the stands. (edit: wait, that hot girl isn't her twin sister, says this article)

Maybe Melanie just happens to play really well against tall, blonde, pretty Russians, because she followed her win over Elena with another win in the 3rd round against Maria Sharapova (who was serving awfully... 21 double faults in the match!) Their match lasted for almost 3 hours, but I only got to see the second half of the last set. Masha was really serving badly, but when her serve landed in, her groundstrokes looked as big as ever. Melanie did what she did against Elena, which was hit the ball deep and find the angles at the right moments. She was really able to control the rallies despite not having the same power that Shazza has. She also had great footwork, which was a good advantage to have over the taller-by-8-inches Shriekapova. (yes, I collect Maria Sharapova nicknames)

#1 Dinara Safina is also out, after barely surviving against Australian teenager Olivia Rogowska in the first round, and barely surviving again in the 2nd round, she finally fell to 19-yo Czech Petra Kvitova in the 3rd round. Last year's runner-up, Jelena Jankovic has also been booted out by Kazakh (by way of Russia) Yaroslava Shvedova, who could really pass for Scarlett Johansson's athletic sister. This year's tall blonde teen phenom, Victoria Azarenka, also fizzled after some good Grand Slam results earlier this year, losing in the 3rd round to the Italian Francesca "Sapakan Tayo sa Kanto" Schiavone.

In other, non-upset related news, Kim, Venus and Serena are all still in it, and Flavia Pennetta is ripping through the draw. She's lost just 6 games in 3 matches (though that didn't help Dinara at the French Open...) Caroline Wozniacki is also still in it, and she faces Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the quarters. If she doesn't choke, she's got a good chance to reach the finals. Interestingly enough, I think Melanie Oudin will be her biggest obstacle there.

And, in other, weird news: one of Yanina Wickmayer, Gisela Dulko, Kateryna Bondarenko and Petra Kvitova will reach the semis. This is not a prediction, this is an actual fact. A WTF how-the-hell-did-that-happen fact.

Lastly, and more importantly, Daniela Hantuchova is in the 4th round! Woohoo! She'll face Serena next, where she'll most likely lose, but I'm just glad that Daniela looks to be getting back her form and is getting to the 2nd week of the Grand Slams.


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I've got no balls.

Dammit! The US Open starts in less than 30 minutes and there's no live coverage on my TV! Just got a text message from Ronnie that it's being covered by Balls, and my cable doesn't carry that channel. Bad trip! Now I'm just gonna have to content myself with watching live streamings from a 3x3 inch box on my laptop.

Oh well.Here are my predictions, starting off with the women:

Quarterfinals:
(1)Dinara Safina (RUS) vs (5)Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
(4)Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs (9)Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
(8)Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs Kim Clijsters (BEL)
(10) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) vs (2) Serena Williams (USA)

Semis:
(5)Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs (4)Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Kim Clijsters (BEL) vs (2)Serena Williams (USA)

Final:
(4)Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs (2)Serena Williams (USA)

Champ: (2)Serena Williams (USA) (although I'm rooting for Elena to finally win her first Grand Slam)

and the men:

Quarterfinals:
(1)Roger Federer (SUI) vs (8)Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
(4)Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs (5)Andy Roddick (USA)
(7)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs (3)Rafael Nadal (ESP)
(6)Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG) vs (2)Andy Murray (GBR)
*look at that, the top 8 reaches the final 8! Although I have a feeling (22)Sam Querrey (USA) might beat Davydenko, and I'm also giving (20)Tommy Haas (GER) a fighting chance vs Roddick.

Semis:
(1)Roger Federer (SUI) vs (5)Andy Roddick (USA)
(7)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs (6)Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)

Final:
(1)Roger Federer (SUI) vs (6)Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)

Champ: (1)Roger Federer (SUI)

So I'm predicting another Fed/Serena win, just like last year's US Open, and just like this year's Wimbledon. Hey, history and talent is on their side.



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13th and 9th

The best thing about Roger Federer winning the 2008 US Open yesterday was that fact that I didn't expect him to actually win it. Don't get me wrong, I was hoping for him to win the year's final Grand Slam. But with Fed's game seemingly off this year and with his closest rivals Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all stepping up their hard court games, it looked like an uphill battle for Federer when the tournament started.

Fed's year thus far was disappointing, by his high standards. Any other player would be extremely satisfied to reach two Grand Slam finals and one semifinal in single year. Not so much for Federer, who has been winning 2-3 Grand Slams each season for the past 4 years. He's already lost 12 matches this year, in contrast to his '04-'07 seasons, where he only lost 6, 4, 5 and 9 matches respectively (playing ~80-90 matches a year). Included in those 12 losses were his stinging loss to Nadal in Paris and again in London. And with his descent from #1 to #2 in the rankings, it was obvious that he wasn't the invincible Federer that I rooted for the past few years.

But enough of the statistics. Because Federer is more than just that. Federer picked up the pieces of his game and built it up again in New York, like the master that he is. He kept Djokovic at bay in the semis, and swept past Murray in the final 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 to win his 5th consecutive US Open, and his 13th Grand Slam title overall.

Federer had a lot of doubters, saying that he has lost his touch, and that his best tennis is behind him, and his chase for Sampras' record 14 Grand Slams is over. Over the past two weeks in New York, he proved that he hasn't, and it isn't, and the chase is still on. That's what real champions do. There shouldn't have been any doubt about that.

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On the women's side, Serena Williams was going for her 9th Grand Slam title against Jelena Jankovic, who was going for her 1st. The top ranking was also at stake in the women's final, where both women were looking to take the #1 ranking from Ana Ivanovic (Serena was #1 for 57 weeks way back in 2002-2003, while JJ held the #1 ranking last Aug 18 for one week.)

Serena was the Federer of women's tennis six years ago, she was dominant and was practically unbeatable, but her winning streak ended, and injuries followed. She still had her big wins, but they were too few and far between for her to be able to reach the #1 ranking again. But Justine Henin's sudden retirement gave her the opportunity to get there, and she did. After losing in the Wimbledon final to big sister Venus, Serena sealed her return to the top of the rankings with a 6-4, 7-5 win over JJ. Inasmuch as Fed had his critics and doubters, so did Serena (and even more, probably.) Serena's 9th Grand Slam and return to the top is probably a good enough answer to hers.


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Chances and Choices (And All The Good Things That Fall In Between)

I went to my friend and former officemate Vlam's wedding yesterday at the Grace Christian Church in QC, and since I live way down in the south and the church is all the way up in the northern part of Metro Manila (and because I am Alvin), I was late for the wedding (I went with George, Mich, James and Becca.) If it wasn't for a vehicular accident that caused an awful traffic jam on the way there, we would've made it just in time.

At least we made it to the wedding ceremony... when Joseph, Geebee and Camille arrived, the bride and groom were already outside the church, lol. Apparently they got really lost on the way there. And when I say really lost, I mean they were supposed to be in Grace Village in QC, but somehow they managed to go to the newly-opened SM Marikina. (Their original alibi was that Geebee was having some problems with her, uh, Movement. Bowel Movement.)

Anyway, we all got to the wedding reception in Edsa Shang on time. The food was great, and the whole event was just awesome. The night started with the newlyweds singing a Chinese song to welcome everyone, then more singing from their friends and family (in English), and more singing from Vlam (pagbigyan nyo na, wedding day nya to...) just before he gave his message to all the guests. Congratulations Vlam and Janice! Enjoy your honeymoon in Europe :D

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Speaking of former officemates, two more CDW teammates just became former officemates last week. Good luck Mathet and Sheberly (that's Sheryl's party gurl name, lol.) See you around! (since you two are actually one of the very few who resigned from our company and will not be going to Singapore.)

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The last grand Slam of the year, the US Open in New York, is coming to its climax. The women's final will be between American Serena Williams and Serbian Jelena Jankovic. i was rooting for Elene Dementieva (who won the gold in Beijing) over Jankovic, but she lost in straight sets on their semifinal match. Serena will be going for her 9th Grand Slam, while World #2 JJ will be going for her first Grand Slam title. Whoever wins the final match will also take over the #1 ranking from Ana Ivanovic, who flopped to a second-round loss to #188-ranked Julie Coin of France. Ana will go down to #3 in the rankings no matter what happens in the final tomorrow morning (later tonight in New York).

On the men's side, defending champ Roger Federer is trying to redeem his sub-par (by his standards) year at the US Open. He's already passed his big semifinal hurdle by beating Serbian Novak Djokovic in 4 sets, and now he's waiting for the winner of the Rafael Nadal-Andy Murray match to see who he'll be facing in the final. I would've thought that current #1 Nadal will win that match, but as of this writing, Murray has the upper hand, leading Nadal 6-2, 7-6, 2-3.*

*Update: Murray beat Nadal in 4 sets to face Federer in the final.

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trying hard not to sound desperate here

I had my final interview with Navitaire's director for product development yesterday. She basically grilled me about my intentions of joining their company, considering that I'm also interested with joining another company. Of course I couldn't really say that the other company was ranked higher on my list since that would definitely affect their evaluation of my application (d'oh) (I haven't even recieved a job offer from the other company yet.) I had a hard time convincing her that I was really interested in joining Navitaire, and I wasn't even sure she was convinced... so in the end I just decided to tell her that I was as interested with Navitaire as I was with the other company, and I'll choose who/whichever company gives me a better job offer(that is, if I actually get a job offer from both companies).

Speaking of the other company, I just got another call from them asking me to come to their office on Monday, 11:30 am (hey, lunch time yan ah... Anyone want to treat me to lunch after??? No? No one? Anyone? No? that's okay...) for another interview, which was strange since I got a call from them last week saying that my interview last monday was my final interview... So I guess this is my final final interview? Whatever it is, I (trying hard not to sound desperate here) really hope it gets me closer to a job there.

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Day two of the US Open saw 2003 champion and No. 4 Andy Roddick(USA) get upset by No. 68 Gilles Muller(LUX) to the score of 7-6(7-4), 7-6(10-8), 7-6(7-1). Roddick was one of the favorites to challenge No. 1 Roger Federer(SUI) for the title, but was beaten by the 22 year-old Muller, who was making his US Open debut and is the first man from Luxembourg to play at the tournament. Muller is no stranger to creating upsets, he had a big win over Andre Agassi(USA) last year and was also responsible for defeating No. 2 and French Open champ Rafael Nadal(ESP) at the second round of this year's Wimbledon (on his debut as well). Incidentally, Roddick was celebrating his 23rd birthday on the day he lost.

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Navitaire just called me up some odd seconds ago, I'll be there to discuss their job offer tomorrow. Nice.

of Road Rage, being a Professional Interviewee, and the US Open '05 Day 1

The most annoying thing about living here in Las Piñas city is that except for a short span of time between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m., traffic is always brutally heavy. It's like someone gathered the most incompetent MMDA traffic aides and made them stand up right smack in the middle of Alabang-Zapote Road, just so they could purposely congest the city's main thoroughfare.


Dumb. Fuckers.

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Just had an interview with Navitaire this afternoon. Actually, I had two interviews (right after passing the first interview, they scheduled for my second interview just a few minutes later.) I was supposed to have my third and final interview the same day too, but my interviewer was not available so I would have to come back tomorrow morning for that. Yesterday, I had my final interview with HP. To sum it all up, I have been interviewed by 6 people in the past 4 days. If being an interviewee was a career, I bet I'd make good money out of it.

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The US Open in New York is now underway. Some notable first round results:

Monday, Aug 29
Men's First Round
(2) Rafael Nadal(ESP) def. Bobby Reynolds(USA), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
(7) Andre Agassi(USA) def. Razvan Sabau(ROM), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
(8) Guillermo Coria(ARG) def. Felix Mantilla(ESP), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, 6-3
Brian Baker(USA) def. (9) Gaston Gaudio(ARG), 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, 6-4 (this is 20 year-old Baker's first ever win in a Grand Slam event, and only his fourth win in the pro ATP Tour)
(13) Richard Gasquet(FRA) def. Alberto Martin(ESP), 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
(14) Thomas Johansson(SWE) def. Mariano Zabaleta(ARG), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
(18) Ivan Ljubicic(CRO) def. Tobias Summerer(GER), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
(19) Tommy Robredo(ESP) def. Daniele Bracciali(ITA), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
(24) Mikhail Youzhny(RUS) def. Florian Mayer(GER), 6-1, 6-0, 6-2
(29) Tommy Haas(GER) def. Peter Luczak(AUS), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Ivo Karlovic(CRO) def. Mardy Fish(USA), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4)

Women's First Round
(1) Maria Sharapova(RUS) def. Eleni Daniilidou(GRE), 6-1, 6-1
(4) Kim Clijsters(BEL) def. Martina Muller(GER), 6-1, 6-2
Ekaterina Bychkova(RUS) def. (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS), 6-3, 6-2 (the Kuz makes history by being the first ever US Open defending champion to lose in her opening match, just like Anastasia Myskina at the French Open earlier this year)

Insisting that the back injury she sustained two weeks ago in Toronto was not a factor in her loss, Kuznetsova had 45 unforced errors and only 15 winners in the 65-minute match.

(8) Serena Williams(USA) def. Yung-Jan Chan(TPE), 6-1, 6-3
(9) Nadia Petrova(RUS) def. Eva Birnerova(CZE), 6-4, 6-4
(10) Venus Williams(USA) def. Rika Fujiwara(JAP), 6-3, 6-1
Shenay Perry(USA) def. (14) Alicia Molik(AUS), 6-4, 6-4
(18) Ana Ivanovic(SCG) def. Lindsay Lee-Waters(USA), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
(20) Daniela Hantuchova(SVK) def. Camille Pin, 6-3, 6-1 (woohoo!)
Maria Camerin(ITA) def. (21) Dinara Safina(RUS), 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 (Dinara follows big bro Marat's footsteps and goes home early from the tournament)
Laura Granville(USA) def. (22) Silvia Farina Elia(ITA), 6-2, 6-1
(25) Francesca Schiavone(ITA) def. Jelena Kostanic(CRO), 6-2, 7-5
(26) Nicole Vaidisova(CZE) def. Kveta Peschke(CZE), 6-3, 6-1
Sania Mirza(IND) def. Mashona Washington(USA), 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (8-6), 6-4
Emma Laine(FIN) def. Shuai Peng(CHN), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 (there goes my unseeded pick)


More first round matches later today in the second day of the 2005 US Open. Scheduled to play are Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, and Justine Henin-Hardenne

Tennis This Week Pt. 3

Results from the weekend:

Kim Clijsters wins another title (her sixth this year) by beating fellow Belgian and former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final of the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada 7-5, 6-1.

In Cincinnati, No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland won his ninth title of the year by beating American Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the Western and Financial Group ATP Masters Series - Cincinnati. The win marked Federer's 22nd straight win on a final and improved his win-loss record this year to 64-3 (he has lost only 9 out of 147 matches in the past two years) and has been ranked No. 1 for 82 straight weeks.

It's constant pressure, when it's over, it's kind of a surprise. You can't expect to win all the time. If it keeps on going, it's incredible. -Roger Federer

With their respective wins over the weekend, I think Kim and Roger has got to be the hot favorites to win the US Open, the year's last Grand Slam. Spaniard teen-ager Rafael Nadal should post the biggest threat, as well as Russian Marat Safin (depending on the condition of his newly-operated knee, and his mental stability over the two-week competition). Justine should post a big threat to Kim, although she faded in the second set of their finals match and seems to still lack the stamina to win long matches, Justine has always beaten Kim in the big, important matches (including the first three Grand Slam finals that Justine won). Lindsay Davenport of the USA just got back from a back injury (she's playing in the Pilot Pen Tennis Open in New Haven, Conn. this week), her challenge to the title depends on how well her injured back has healed. She defeated Kim in the 4th Round of the French Open and Wimbledon, but Kim has made huge leaps in the rankings since then (she's now back to number 4) and Kim really has dominated the whole hardcourt season, so I'll still be putting my money on the Belgian to win her first ever Grand Slam title.


The draws for the US Open will be out later today, I'll talk about that on my next entry.