So how’s that for irony? Rafa is supposed to be on the brink of leaving the U.S. Open due to injury, and not only does he look much better than in the first round but his opponent, Janko Tipsarevic, retires because of a rib injury.

In his post-match interview, Nadal said he felt better than Wednesday. [...]

Just received a press release in the media center. The U.S. Open, day and night, is sold out through Labor Day.

That means it’ll be eight days of sellouts by the time Tuesday rolls along. The USTA says there are still a limited number of tickets available beginning Tuesday, but that there are no tickets or [...]

This is the best day so far, no question about it.

ASHE —
Day: No. 30 Agnieszka Radwanksa vs. No. 2 Maria Sharapova, 11 a.m.
Thomas Johansson vs. No. 5 Andy Roddick
No. 1 Roger Federer vs. John Isner

Night: No. 13 Nicole Vaidisova vs. No. 18 Shahar Peer, 7 p.m.
Stefan Koubek vs. No. 6 James Blake

ARMSTRONG —
No. 4 Nikolay [...]

Rafael Nadal probably won’t take the court for another couple hours, but I just watched him practice for about 20 minutes. He looked pretty good from my vantage point (about four or five courts away), and didn’t appear to be favoring his knees. After a series of overheads, Nadal sat down for a few minutes [...]

Well, you must know one thing: If there is a rain delay at some point during the U.S. Open, USA and CBS will have plenty to show. James Blake vs. Fabrice Santoro was that good.

The best part of the match may’ve been Santoro, who played the role of villain-turned-hero better than Rocky in Rocky IV. [...]

I’m sitting here just inches from an open can of Mountain Dew. It is the devil. So powerful that it wakes me up in a few sips, but also so powerful that it keeps me up forever.

Unfortunately for James Blake, I may need the boost tonight, because we both may be here for a long [...]

If you ask me, tomorrow will be a MUCH more interesting day. Both of the Williams sisters will be in action, as will Rafael Nadal, complete with the ongoing saga of his balky knee. You also have the super-talented Novak Djokovic, followed by blog favorite Ana Ivanovic, not to mention the Safins back-to-back.

Anyway, here’s what [...]

Not to take a jab at Al Trautwig of USA, but he just tried to infer that the fans may have a strong reaction to seeing Roger Federer in black…Uh, please.

I’ve been out there folks. The people here are into the fashion, but seeing Federer in all black for the first time isn’t exactly going [...]

Here’s Thursday’s schedule, which was just released:

Ashe:
Camille Pin vs. No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 11 a.m.
No. 16 Martina Hingis vs. Pauline Parmentier
Jose Acasuso vs. No. 5 Andy Roddick

Casey Dellacqua vs. No. 2 Maria Sharapova, 7 p.m.
Fabrice Santoro vs. No. 6 James Blake

Armstrong:
Laura Granville vs. No. 26 Sania Mirza, 11 a.m.
Donald Young vs. No. 13 Richard Gasquet
No. [...]

So I am here, finally joining Harold and Jane for my first day covering the Open this year. So far it hasn’t started all that well.

Problems so far include…
1. I picked Baghdatis to reach the semis and he lost in the first round. Bad pick, but it happened two days ago. I’m over it.
2. I [...]