TENNIS in DEPTH.

The U.S. Open men’s final has been moved to Monday and the women’s final has been bumped to Sunday, the USTA announced. The tournament lost two days of play on Tuesday and Wednesday due to rain. This is the fourth consecutive year that the men’s final will be played on Monday. The following is the revised schedule:

Men’s Singles Quarterfinals

The remaining men’s quarterfinals will be played on Friday, September 9th, with gates opening at 10am. The tickets from the originally cancelled Session #20, Wednesday September 7th night session will be honored for this rescheduled session.

Men’s Singles Semifinals

The men’s Semifinals (Session #24) remains as scheduled for Saturday day, September 10th with gates opening at 10am.

Women’s Singles Semifinals

The Women’s semifinals (Session #23) originally scheduled for Friday, September 9th are rescheduled to Saturday night, September 10th, with gates opening at 6pm.

Women’s Singles Final

The Women’s Final (Session #25) is rescheduled for Sunday, September 11th at 4pm with gates opening at 11am and doubles match TBD.

Men’s Singles Final

The Men’s Final (Session #26) is rescheduled for Monday, September 12th at 4pm with gates opening at 11am with doubles match TBD.

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I used to bite my tongue when Wimbledon was in a rain delay, and the likes of Dick Emberg, Mary Carillo and John McEnroe made snide remarks about the English weather. But for two years in a row the weather in New York has ben much worse than anything that occured in the UK. At least they built a retractable roof at Wimbledon, and Roland Garros is getting ready to do the same. So everytime that clown Emberg brags about the biggest, the best, the ultimate tennis facility in the world, I know he must be thinking Wimbledon and not Forest Hills!

Playing 5 set matches back to back to accomodate the TV networks has always been a disgrace, but so typical of US sports. With no play yesterday, amd maybe limited play today with the weather forecast predicting more bad weather from the fringe of Hurricane Katia that could deluge the site of the US Open over the weekend, I am interested in hearing the NBC’s trio of experts resolution to the problem. For Embergs illucidation bigger means nought if it is nullified by the hand of god. Whoever wins the titles, it will be a battle of fitness and preparation and luck of the draw, rather than a test of tennis!

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It’s the first boring week of yet another much-promoted Grand Slam event where the players everyone wants to see are matched against players whose names are unfamiliar to many of us, or are given free-rides into the later rounds. Nothing is as mind-numbing as having to watch Djokovic or Nadal play the best of five sets against a player who has no hope of winning anymore than a couple of fluky games in a three hour charade. But the Grand Slam format is a part of the tennis tradition, and will probably continue long into the future. It is one of the reasons why the sport is falling behind in popularity with young sports fans, and why, if it wasn’t for the increase in ticket prices, the Slams would be losing propositions.

I’m not qualified to offer advice, nor do I presume to be an expert on the game, except as a spectator and fan. As a fan, I enjoyed the ATP Finals in London, the round robin format, the high quality level of the tennis, and the simple pleasure of seeing match after match played by the very best players. I have to pose the question, why don’t we see more of this type of event?

Isn’t it a better test of tennis for a player such as Federer to be forced to play 4 matches against 4 ‘real’ opponents rather than to see him play 6 or 7 matches in a Grand Slam against just one or two worthy combatants?

From a fan’s perspective, and all the seats were sold out, there were no ‘garbage’ matches, no warm-ups for the top players at the fan’s expense, no walk-in-the-park offerings that give tennis its boring reputation, plus there is the additional benefit of a reduction in the court time for the players. Every match was a kin to a quarter or semi final, and the results reflected the competitiveness.

I’m all for dividing the ATP and WTA rankings into tiers of twenty players, and the individual players would move up or down according to their match results within their tier. Top two up, and bottom two down, just like Soccer, the Fed Cup or the Davis Cup.

Tennis is due for some changes to make it more fan friendly, the traditional 5- 6 hour matches of Grand Slams are boring until the end, TV schedules are often disrupted, and Tennis remains as an elite sport supported by a core of frustrated weekend players.

Remuneration for players outside of the top 30 is barely enough for them to be able to continue in their profession without sponsor support. A tiered tournament could be structured to increase the prize money for those players who win and move up, instead of he or she being defeated in the first round of a Grand Slam by a top ten player, and going home in debt.

With the sharp increase in injuries, the complaints from some players about the length of the season, and the separation of the top players from all the others, it is time to think about making some changes.

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In light of the current forecast regarding Hurricane Irene, and in order to avoid any possible safety issues for our fans and patrons, many of whom would have been arriving on-site with young children, the USTA is cancelling Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day. This decision also follows discussions held between the USTA and New York City officials. The event was scheduled to take place tomorrow, Saturday, August 27, from 9:30 am to 4 pm. This cancellation covers both the free ground activities scheduled for the morning, and the ticketed Stadium show that was scheduled for 1 p.m – 3pm

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Serena Williams pulled out of the U.S. Open on Friday, saying she still is recovering from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot.

The top-ranked Williams has won three titles at Flushing Meadows, part of her 13 Grand Slam singles championships. Last year, she lost in the semifinals after a tirade at a line judge over a foot-fault call.

“It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the U.S. Open,” Williams said in a statement released by her publicist.

Williams went to add: “My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal.”

She called missing the tournament “one of the most devastating moments of my career.”

The 28-year-old American was hurt while she was in Munich last month – shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon singles title on July 3, and before playing in an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters that drew a tennis-record crowd of 35,681 in Brussels on July 8.

Williams had surgery in Los Angeles on July 15. She already had pulled out of three hard-court tournaments she was scheduled to enter in preparation for the U.S. Open.

Williams has participated in the last 16 majors; the last one she missed was Wimbledon in 2006.

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Serena was spotted hobbling around Beverly Hills on crutches after stitches to deep cuts she suffered when she stepped on broken glass in a restaurant.

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