The seeds:

1. Maria Sharapova, Russia
2. Lindsay Davenport, United States
3. Amelie Mauresmo, France
4. Kim Clijsters, Belgium
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
6. Elena Dementieva, Russia
7. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium
8. Serena Williams, United States
9. Nadia Petrova, Russia
10. Venus Williams, United States
11. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland
12. Mary Pierce, France
13. Anastasia Myskina, Russia
14. Alicia Molik, Australia
15. Nathalie Dechy, France
16. Elena Bovina, Russia
17. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
18. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
19. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
20. Elena Likhovtseva, Russia
21. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
22. Dinara Safina, Russia
23. Silvia Farina Elia, Italy
24. Tatiana Golovin, France
25. Shinobu Asagoe, Japan
26. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
27. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic
28. Gisela Dulko, Argentina
29. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
30. Anna Chakvetadze, Russia
31. Ai Sugiyama, Japan
32. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany

Don't forget that qualies have started as well (am i too obsessive?)! First round winners include Americans Megan Bradley, Lilia Osterloh, Jen Hopkins, Tu, Neha Uberoi , and Tiffany Dabek, Anne Kramer, Ma. Emilia Salerni, Alves from Brazil, Tatiana Panova, Tian-Tian Sun, and MILAGROS SEQUERA!!!!!

Today we have Dominikovic v. Talaja, Sanchez Lorenzo v. O'Donoghue, Castellvi v. Pichet, Beygelzimer v. Shikha Uberoi, Callens v. Czink (!), and the bitter rivals Nagy v. Nagyova!.

I'm psyched to see more qualifying on Friday IN PERSON! Hopefully Milagros will stay around for another round or two!

Okay, yeah, I'm too obsessive.

I'm just praying that Amelie Mauresmo does not draw Elena Dementieva as her projected quarterfinal opponent. Actually, if I had my choice, I'd want her seeded to meet the Kooz. wink

The draw ceremony starts in fifteen minutes!

Despite the rash of injuries this summer, practically everybody seems to be coming to the open, so it's really a very deep field. Things will get interesting in the 4th round.

WOW...the draw! I love it. Maria has to play Eleni D. in the first round, with a possible third round with Sania Mirza or Dinara Safina, with Nadia Petrova and Svetlana lingering in her quarter! I love it!!!

Also shocking...if they make it, Venus and Serena will meet in the round of 16. I love that too.

Of the top seeds, I think Kim and Linsday have decent draws. Amelie's isn't the best, but managable. Oh...I can't wait for this to get going!

JK ... obsessive? I would NEVER think anything like that.

When I first looked at the draw, I was incredibly drippy ... so many potential AWESOME matchups.

Sharpie vs. Eleni has potential to be a great catfight. Maria had some GREAT matches at the Open last year against Granville, Jankovic and La Pierce and this year, we could see the same thing again. I'm bummed that Dally is in her section, but fortunately for my favorite Madgascarian, she has a relatively inexperienced player as her 1st round opponent.

I'm bummed that Vaidisova has to play Peschke in the first round ... mainly because I ilke Peschke there, but if Nicole advances, I could see her ousting The Kuz. Hopefully, Mashona will play well against Sania because she has her New Haven points coming off this week.

Clijsters FINALLY gets a decent draw at a Slam. I'm somewhat apprehensive about Ivanovic and Bovina lurking, but both players have been injured this summer. I'd kiss my grits if Harkleroad manages to give Kimbo a match in the 2nd. I love Ashley, she's been kicking ass on the challenger circuit this year, but I don't think that she's quite ready for that matchup.

Pin-Hantuchova is a great rematch of their thriller 1st round match last year. Venus-Serena ... who the f**k knows. Venus really played well against Serena in Miami, but I won't touch that match with a 10-foot pole. I'd LOVE to see Clijsters take out either sister because I desperately want Kimmy to win this year.

La Pierce ... she has a chance to play her way into the event, if she's relatively healthy. I don't like Jankovic looming, but if she can harness her inner chi and play the way that she did in California, I like her chances. Double H has a nice draw ... hell, I think that she will win the Open this year. *shrug* I don't WANT that to happen, but honestly ... her draw is quite scrumptious.

Momo ... meh, why bother? She's going to choke anyways.

I'd love to see Anna-Lena do well here ... her serve and backhand looked so powerful in her match against Kimmy out in California. If she can get through a tricky section, she could give Momo a match in the 3rd round. As for Nastya ... *shrug*, I love her flat groundies, I love her speed, but her ankle is mucked up and I'm more sentimental about Frazier trying to get her game back on track.

I would laugh loudly if Dementieva meets Schnyder again this year ... they had that kickass match in Melbourne (mumbles ... that I had to follow on Eurosport), although Chi Chi vs. Schnyder in the first round has cage match written all over it. I would LOVE to see Petty Patty hide Chi Chi's balls again. If that doesn't make you moist, I don't know what will.

YAY! Lindsay gets to meet my FAVORITE player in the first round. I'm predicting an upset here ... well, if Li Na's ankle heals up before the Open. Davenport loves power, but this could be a tricky match. If Lindsay wins this, I see her cruising to the semifinals. She has the draw yet again this year, will she be able to do anything with it? *shrug*

Nick

[ August 24, 2005, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: The_Hammerman ]

I am going to be pullin for the "old" woman with the bad knees, Lindsay. I hope she arrives at least in pretty good shape, will all ailments healed. This may be her last big slam tournament, maybe. I hope not.

I love that Schnyder and Martinez have to play in the first round and I PRAY PRAY PRAY that I will get to see some of it.

Funny you should mention the Schnyder-Dementieva match in Oz--I listened to that on Eurosports radio. Unfortunately, they probably won't show us Schnyder...she had what might well have been (just guessing from watching scores) the best match of the entire French open against Mary Pierce, but they showed us Clijsters/Davenport on tape delay instead.

Wow...Venus and Serena got a shyster draw. I honestly am not sure Serena will even make the 4th round and she still may withdraw. I can't imagine she can be much better since withdrawing after her first round Rogers match. Maybe she will have the knee wrapped. For Venus she could potentially have to beat Hantuchova in round 3, who beat Schnyeder today at the Pilot Pen and is playing much better, then Serena in the round of 16, Clijsters in the quarters, Sharapova in the semis, and Davenport in the final. Phew...not an easy task at all. Davenport got a gift wrapped draw to the semis. Henin I can see losing to Pierce in the round of 16 if Pierce has recovered from her hamstring injury. Its going to be interesting. Some people are projecting a Sharapova/Kim semi and a Henin/Davenport semi. I just don't see that happening. Henin's form wasn't all that good at the Rogers and if Venus and Kim meet in the quarters I can see Venus winning that. So its all so much in the air. I haven't heard anything about Venus' health status since coming down with the flu. Maria is a question mark because of the pec injury. Even though Clijsters is the overwhelming favorite she still has that history of not being able to break through at the majors. Her draw isn't bad so she should take advantage. I always root for Venus and Serena but only one of them would be able to make the final since they are in the same half. So...I will root for Venus. I said after Wimbledon I'd be rooting for Lindsay to win the Open cuz I felt so bad for her loss at Wimbledon. I mean if Lindsay doesn't win with this draw its ashame. Could be a repeat of the Wimbledon final. Sentimentally though...I'm rooting for Lindsay. Let the old girl get one more slam before calling it a career.

As usual Lindsay has a pretty good draw, I like her chances if her back will hold up. I have to say I'd like to see Kim or Amelie win just so at least one of them could shake the choker label.

Sveta out in the first round probably poor thing. Maria, nah. The new #1 will drop early I predict.

Justine, gutsiest player in eons will step it up I bet. I'd have to say she is the favorite, despite Kim superior play lately.

Serena? If she shows up at all I think she should pack light.

HEre's the Ladies Draw:

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/draws/ws/index.html

Well we're about to see how well Serena will or will not do. hating on her. I contended she should withdraw and get into better conditioning and take care of the knee. Of course Tracy Austin is already spewing the hate. I have to put my tv on mute sometimes whenever I listen to these bitches commentate the Williams matches because they say some real shady shyt. I wish Logo or BET covered tennis so I wouldn't have to hear such crap sometimes.

Serena takes the first but Chan is pushing her hard and has a 3-1 game lead in the second. Serena looks sharp, then not often within the same game so far.

[ August 29, 2005, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: puckman1 ]

OMG... Has anyone played around with the usopen.org point tracker?? First, i'm thrilled the live scoring board works on a mac. A treat since that's not the case for all big events. But the point tracker lets you replay points in 3D. It graphically traces the movement of the ball, tells you how fast each shot was. It's SOOO COOL!! You can pick any completed point from the current match.

Tennis Nerd Nirvana

[ August 29, 2005, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: curtj ]

Serena sharpened up in the end. Props to her opponent--she really hung in there, and she looks like she coiuld be top 30 as she gets older.

Tracy Austin was an idiot. First the commentators were talking about Serena trying to get off the court as quickly as possible, then Tracy starts talking about Serena needing "longer points" for match experience. Whatever. I'm sure Serena would rather have nice long rallies with her practice partners.

USA is about to show Nadal. I never realized this but he really has the body of a gladiator, compared to most of the other guys on the tour. Taylor Dent should take a few notes. But enough of the men, I don't want to take the thread off-topic.

No surprise but Kuznetzova lost in the first round in straight sets! She's probbaly still hurting with her back injury but she's gonna tumble out of the Top Ten, like Myskina, after that!

More evidence that last year was a fluke for the Russians! (and, I consider Maria Sharapova more of an American nowadays anyway)!

Kuznetsova dropped from 5 to 13 with her loss in the first round today and becomes the first player in the open era to lose in the first round as defending champion. Her and Myskina have just been a mess this year. Myskina was the defending French champ and went out in the first round. I hope she gets it together.

She had the same problem that bedeviled Jan Michael this morning. Too many unforced errors. Maybe she was thinking to far ahead all ready?

Agreed, another grand slam, another Russian champion from last year out in the first round.

Jan Michael hasn't played well in years, he only got in the draw with a wildcard, so you can't say that was a surprise.

And Sveta is a disaster. She needs to beg Martina to take her back and give her some more tips, she obviously forgot them. But Anna-Lena is getting the benefit of that now, and it shows.

Oh, no! I just read a review that predicted a fantasy final of Kim against Amelie. According to a source close to the author, his selection of the favorite is a kiss of death, so don't plan for either to be there. But I sent strong vibes to this distinguished author, trying to sway him not to pick Kim. Of course, I'm not New York enough for him to have listened (my mental vibes would have come through a lot louder if they had been accompanied by a New York post-it or two, I guess wink ).

It's Roger's until he's beaten. A couple are capable, but it will be a surprise. It could be a dozen women. What a difference.

Nice write up, G. As always.

[ August 29, 2005, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: Good Hands ]

Thanks, GH. I try and it's nice to know you enjoyed the preview. I know those predictions are goofy as hell, but that's how I saw things panning out ... at least before Davenport buzzed through the field at the Pilot Pen. ha ha. I try not to be all Tracy Austin with my picks. That woman has never taken a risk in her life. I'm rarely right anyway, so I might as well be really, really wrong!

I learned my lesson when I had to do the Wimbledon picks and my instinct was to have Venus Williams winning and then I changed my mind. So this time I went with my gut! We'll see.

Henin and Mauresmo won with not many problems.
Dementieva and Myskina won their first round too.

Sanchez Lorenzo defeated Angela Haynes 75 76

Haynes should be embarrassed for letting a dirt baller beat her at the US Open. UGH!!

Sanchez Lorenzo wasn't even able to pass the qualification turnment: she is a lucky loser.

[ August 30, 2005, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

My husband isn't a tennis fan but he offered some interesting insight.

Regarding Serena: "Thankfully she has those huge hamhocks to hold up that ass!"

Regarding Venus: "Does she realize how much she looks like a cracked-out Whitney Houston?"

van-a......i can't type LOL big enough!

C'mon guys ... Haynes played ONE good match against an injured opponent on a HUGE stage ... *shrug*, are we REALLY that surprised that she lost here? Besides, Sanchez Lorenzo ousted Nastya in the first round of the French this year, so she has won some rather important matches.

Haynes is young, but ... fellas, she just doesn't have a major weapon right now. I really wish that she would pull a Harkleroad, play some challengers and get some match practice that way because right now ... *shrug*. Chances are, once her points come off, she's going to be back in the 25 & 50K Challenger circuit regardless.

I'm pretty psyched that Granville is getting some results here. 7-5 in the 3rd against Pratty is nice and Petrova has been injured this summer.

Venus-Hantuchova looks to be a great 3rd rounder. Dani has played tons this summer, with some solid results. I really want Venus to play well here, but I wouldn't shed a tear if Dani manages to win. *shrug*

Nick

Winning over Myskina (in her Roland Garros conditions) was not a huge surprise.

The Granville-Pratt match was so weird. At one point it seemed that Granville was heading to a win (6-4 and 5-3 up in the second), then she had a black-out: she lost 75 the second set and she was down 4-0 in the third. Then she started to resurface to win 75. Crazy match.

[ September 01, 2005, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

ugh...I can't stand JUICEtine Henin. She was a little scratchy today and I hope if she and Pierce meet in the round of 16 that Pierce obliterates her.

LOL about Justine. Who knows, maybe lil' ol' Yoon Jeong Cho (who advanced to the 3rd round with a nice upset of Dulko) can throw her off her game? She almost played giant killer a few years back against Seles, so you never know. wink

Myskina seems to have found a decent shape.

I'm glad that Nastya seems to have recovered from her bum ankle. Frazier can be a threat on hardcourts, but Nastya posted a nice scoreline.

Not to beat a dead horse, but MSL still had to hit the shots to beat Nastya. Nastya had personal issues going into the tourney, no doubt, but MSL played a nice match, *shug*.

Most of the matches today have been incredibly tame ... I'm hoping that Karatancheva can harness her inner chi and make it a match against Momo. Momo should win, but it'd be nice to see Sesil give her a scare.

Nick

Sucha is fighting Schnyder hard in the second set.

[ September 01, 2005, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

Yes, this would be awesome. If Pierce can achieve the form she had in San Diego, she can definitely beat the snot out of lil' Justine. It seems like a lot of Anastasia's problems were not just injury related. Her mother was quite ill and is now better. I think we're going to see a much better Myskina here at the Open, I still don't think she'll get too far though. Although since her seed is Mauresmo, who knows.

More from my husband the non-fan

Regarding Karatantcheva: "All those unforced errors [in the first set] must be because she can't see past her nose."

And to think he almost bought us tickets for next week. We'd be kicked out before the third deuce.

Just spent a few minutes looking at Amelie's website http://www.ameliemauresmo.fr/ (sorry if I am not posting sites correctly). I always cheered for her but always expected her to lose. Now, (perhaps influenced by some French wine) I found myself tearing up a little at how much she REALLY wants to win a major. Glad she was able to shellack Karatantcheva (I will never call her Special K). My draw is being redone. Mauresmo defeats Clijsters in 3. Wishful thinking, I know, but I'd rather the lesbo defeat the cross-eyed Flemish-woman.

I'm sure I'll regret posting this tomorrow.

seems there's been a plethora of justine-bashing here. for balance sake i'd like to throw in some praise. her injuries/battles with illness appear genuine and her subsequent return to the game has been admirable. her game is graceful as well as potent, and she's overcome her original shortcomings to be one of the justifiable rulers of the game on the women's side. she maintains a low profile and is as graceful and gracious in defeat as she is in the winner's circle...something that can't be said about some of the others. she's arguably the hardest worker on the women's tour and has earned all her success. whether someone cares for her personality is secondary...she rocks. while davenport is a sentimental favorite and clijsters is long overdue, i hope henin continues her run.

hey van...too damn funny. here's to french wine and french lesbians...would love to see her pull it all together and win the french. a french-born woman holding up that trophy...

tennisballs, I totally agree that Justine takes an extremely hard wrap on the board. She has accomplished quite a bit and I completely admire how she has improved her game and mental toughness from the early years.

However ... you must admit, her personality and on court antics ... *cough* Le French Open ... as Bridgeport Jake & BuJeff can attest, I do a pretty DAMN good Justine impression *cough* ... can be, ahem ... less than stellar.

Furthermore, the dynamic personalities are the main topic of discussion from tennis fans. I love trying to analyze the technical aspects of the game, but hell ... being GAY GAY GAY, I also love a diva bitchfit a la the Tubba Blubba vs. Serena last year.

Nick

[ September 01, 2005, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: The_Hammerman ]

heya nick...so glad you're back...truly. missing you 'round here.

as far as the whole french thing....eh. gotta admit, that bothered me not. one point, one scenario. there've been so many off-court and on-court antics from various players (i can certainly take up some space naming some, don't get me started) it would take up an entire thread. hmmm, there's an idea...our least favorite antics. justine has earned her accolades. while she may not be 'little mary sunshine' she is an inspiration and an example re: determination and ethic...love her, love that backhand.

again nick....glad you're back...allez...

awwww tennisballs ... =), *wipes away tear*. Seriously though, thanks bud.

I've never really bought into that one point situation. There have been lots of matches where one seemingly moot point has caused a huge shift in momentum.

True, a champion SHOULD be able to block out a bad call, but when it's an incredibly stressful situation and you feel as if you were OBVIOUSLY cheated out of a point, it could screw up anyone's focus. I think that Serena should have pulled thru, but ... *eyebrow raise* ...

Hantuchova-Venus ... PLEASE make it a match tonight. I could see Dani winning this match, but I'll show V-dawg some love and pick her to win in straights. Besides, they've been showing tennis lately at the gym, *smirk*, and it'd be nice if the match were still going on when I get there in a bit.

Nick

Venus looked very, very good last night. IMO she's playing better than she did a Wimbledon. To win the tournament she may have to put together wins over Hant (done), Serena, Clijsters, Sharapova, and Davenport. That would be worthy of a No 1 ranking! My pick at the moment is Davenport. She's got a relatively easy draw.

The thing about last night's match is that Venus's forehand was quite solid. I was very impressed with the way that she put the pedal to the floor after Dani broke back at 3-all. Her forehand was incredibly solid, her serve was working and Dani's game fell apart.

Once Venus started painting that forehand up the line, Dani just stopped attacking ... pace is hard to discern on TV, but she really seemed to be punting the ball back to Venus ... she seemed to be waiting for that up the line forehand, so Venus took advantage of it and started hitting forehands all over the court. Great win for Venus and based on current form, I have to pick Venus over Serena. *gasp*

Nick

Dementieva survived against Chakvetadze. 19 double faults for Elena. Chakvetadze was almost in tears in the last part of the match (don't know if she had some allergic reaction or something of that sort).

[ September 03, 2005, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

Some great matches on the women's side today ...

Dementieva managed to overcome her massive serving woes to oust Chakvetadze, Myskina lost in a 3rd set tiebreak to Likhovsteva (she's had a surprisingly consistent year so far), and Henin really struggled in the 2nd set against the Korean, Cho.

I'm anxious about Pierce's match against Jankovic. Mary needs to play balls to the wall tennis and dictate play against Jankovic. I'm a bit worried about her health, but if she can get through this, she should have a fair chance against Double H.

Finally ... I'd love to see the German oust Momo. I know that she lost meekly to her last week at New Haven, but I'm starting to lose interest in Amélie's bouts of "inaggressivity."

Nick

Yeah, Chock-Full-Of-Nuts, er, um, I mean, Chakvetadze had her chance, that's for sure. But when someone who double faults 19 times still wins the match, something's wrong. I was hoping Dimentieva would lose like Myskina did, proving last year was a fluke for the Russians. I guess it doesn't matter because if Dimentieva keeps serving like that she won't be around much longer. Too bad, she's got great ground strokes and speed, imagine how lethal she'd be with something that even remotely resembles a serve.

but even if she would have lost, she would have been defeated by another Russian (like Myskina lost to Likhovtseva).


Dechy won the French derby against Golovin. I was expecting more by Golovin this year. Dechy is not irresistible.

[ September 03, 2005, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: andrea ]

Golovin has been struggling with injuries recently. I like her backhand a lot, but until she gets healthy, it's tough to see her playing up to her potential.

I wish that Dementieva would get things together. It seems frightening to say this, but after Sharpie ... she's really the most consistent Russian on tour. Granted, she's had some really strange losses this year (Asagoe, Dulko, Medina-Garrigues) but she's managed to get to the 4th round of each slam in 2005. I dunno ... she seems to be the best capable of handling the nerves and such.

In the 4th round, Schynder is going to be a stiff test for Elena ... AWESOME rematch of Melbourne ... but I really think that she has a shot if she were to play Lindsay in the quarters (Although, the only match that she's beaten Davenport on hardcourts was in 2000, indoors, at the Chase Championships. I'm ignoring the match in Key Bicayne because Davenport defaulted in the 2nd set.)

*scratches head* Ok, I'd rather have Lindsay face Patty because Davenport has defaulted against Dementieva twice in their history and I couldn't take another Lindsay injury issue this year.

Nick