re: 2016 U.S. Open Tennis Championships thread

Some UK sports media guy said this:

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Hearing there may be a fascinating pre-tournament twist in the story of the men's singles at this year's US Open. I'm saying no more.

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Not sure what that could be other than Rafa or Nole are out or Fed is playing.

I saw this guy's review on another board and thought it was pretty funny. God bless the worm.

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I stayed until the last match but not it's conclusion though it was pretty good with A. Hesse taking it to three when I went over to watch Medvedev and someone else I can't remember but their games were so grim looking I left. Medvedev's forehand made my eyes burn. Note to Hesse's team. It's illegal to smoke at the tennis center even if you're French and smoking is your national pastime. This is NYC. We don't allow smoking in any city parks which includes Flushing Meadows Park and the included National Tennis Center. I was in a good mood. Don't make me make a citizens arrest on Thursday when she plays again.

Back to tennis. Random thoughts on qualies day 1. Anyone that thought Rafa was tired these days was mistaken. He put in 2-1/2 hours on the practice court. The players can hear your conversations while they're practicing, if you sit close. Some little kid says in a tiny kid voice "hi Rafa." Rafa immediately turns around and says "hi" back. I only mention it because the players almost always ignore the crowd conversations. Not Rafa. He's always gracious with the crowd and I've noticed many times particularly with younger kids. Vamos Rafa !

The Worm did something really weird during his practice. A real WTF moment. He turns around to a woman in the crowd and does with his tongue what got Tony Montana slapped poolside in the movie Scarface. If you've seen the movie you know the move. Really, really weird. It was among the oddest practice moments I've seen and I've seen more than you. I was sitting down the aisle (no one in between us) from Stan during Vekic's match. I went back and forth from the match but he stayed the whole match and I didn't see a single person bother him for an autograph or otherwise demonstrating the qualies crowd is cooler than the main draw crowd. Not less knowledgeable (often more so) simply less annoying.

Thumbs down overall on the new layout IMO (not happy about the new grandstand) but it would take many pages to go into details and everyone will have their own opinion anyway. It's just a first day impression so maybe I'll change it but what they did to court 7 is a crime against the tennis going public. Thumbs up on all the new bathrooms and water fountains though.

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