Agassi advances, US Open...

[jfw834]

Man, I am happy and pissed at the same time as I TIVOed the quarterfinal with agassi and blake tonight. watched the first four amazing sets go 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and then at 2-1 in the 5th, THE GODDDAM network has some stupid "contractual obligation" and they cut transmission!!!! For the love of god.....this was definately an epic US Open 5 setter and I missed the very best part. Of course the 5th set traded breaks and then went to a tiebreaker. Each player had match points in their favor!!! but of course Agassi prevailed and I'm still excited for him to make go all the way at 35 years old. I think most every audience member would have been equally happy had either player won though....so much respect for both athletes!

I'm a huge agassi fan as I have been since I saw him win wimbledon at age 22 when I was 12. But i have to say that James Blake was playing some of the best most aggressive tennis I have ever seen in the first two sets!

i'm still fuming about the coverage though....i recorded 90 minutes past when it should have ended but I guess TIVO can't do anything about cutting broadcast for Law and Order to come on......arg!!!

anyone else see the 5th set??

[Sarc]

Cool, another tennis fan. I was glued to the match lastnight-suffering through the first two sets, elated at the third, but the eyes started getting heavy into the fourth. I think I must of turned in around quarter past midnight.
I had a feeling Andre was going to turn the ship around, and I would have been royally pissed if I had stayed up to see the fifth get interrupted!
Let's hope he get rested enough for Ginepri, as that could be another 5 setter.
Not looking to far ahead, wouldn't it be great to see an Agassi/ Federer matchup? Sure would be nice be have Andre get another shot at the Swiss master.

[Sarc]

It's also very nice to some American men who we wouldn't normally expect (Andre excepted) do so well; The five setter between Ginepri and Coria yesterday was top notch tennis (save for the mutiple match points). And the match between Dent and Hewitt last weekend was just as entertaining. If this trend continues, the U.S. can put their hopes in someone other than Roddick.
Now if some of these guys could just play on clay........

[artplumber]

While I have appreciated Agassi's run, I am sorry for James Blake. He's made an incredible improvement in his game, and after a terrible last year, it would have been great to see him go all the way. An epic battle.

Ginepri didn't really deserve to win that fifth set - winning by 2 double faults - yuck! He had three chances for match 2 games earlier and choked on each. He will need some more testicles to "go for it" in those situations in the future. I doubt whether he can leave that match satisfied/confident that he truly won. I think it's great that he did so well in the tournament.

[jfw834]

Originally posted by Sarc
Cool, another tennis fan. I was glued to the match lastnight-suffering through the first two sets, elated at the third, but the eyes started getting heavy into the fourth. I think I must of turned in around quarter past midnight.
I had a feeling Andre was going to turn the ship around, and I would have been royally pissed if I had stayed up to see the fifth get interrupted!
Let's hope he get rested enough for Ginepri, as that could be another 5 setter.
Not looking to far ahead, wouldn't it be great to see an Agassi/ Federer matchup? Sure would be nice be have Andre get another shot at the Swiss master.

yes! a tennis fan I definately am. when the US open and Wimbledon come round....my life literally stops as it is and all I care about is getting my daily dose of breakfast at wimbledon or flushing meadows.

it's probably better you got tired...man was I livid. my friend had regular cable and told me that his broadcast wasn't interrupted!....said it was only a problem with dish users.....sucks

It is nice to see these american men playing their hearts out. The passion that goes into the sport of tennis is never on display more than it is at the US Open, IMO. Agassi is an ubelievable person to see deal with the trials of still after 20 years, going head to head with the best tennis players out there and I find it just amazing his determination. like they were saying as far stamina and bouncing back from injury, being off your game, when you are old this takes a lot more energy and will power. Agassi has always been an icon to me of what true dedication and love for a sport really is.

i am also looking forward to a possible agassi vs. federer final. what a match that would be.....i'm going out of town tomorrow until monday and will have the two semis and the final TIVOd.... hopefully they will work this time!

[jfw834]

Originally posted by artplumber
While I have appreciated Agassi's run, I am sorry for James Blake. He's made an incredible improvement in his game, and after a terrible last year, it would have been great to see him go all the way. An epic battle.

james blake is really coming alive.....those first two sets showed some of the best athleticism I have seen over decades of watching the open. I couldn't believe how solid he was especially when agassi came out of the gates firing as well. he will most definately ride the wave of this great result even though it would have been amazing for him to pull through to the finals.

I also think that in that match, blake was stronger. He just lost it mentally somewhere in that third set to give it back to andre and never fully recovered. Andre, being the veteran that he is, capitalized on it major.

[rrpjr]

Agassi is a phenomenon. Unfortunately I don't think he's equal to Federer, the best pure and total player, the best mental player, in so long. But it would be the proper final, I think, and I'd be rooting for Agassi.

My favorite matches from Flushing: Sampras-Corretja quarter-final about 6 or 7 years ago, and the Connors-Panatta semi-final in 1978 (as a kid, I thought Panatta was one of the smoothest players around, and he almost pulled that one off).

[Don Ro]

Originally posted by rrpjr
... the Connors-Panatta semi-final in 1978 (as a kid, I thought Panatta was one of the smoothest players around, and he almost pulled that one off).

I watched that match - on TV. I agree w/you, and so did/does the international tennis world.
It was on ESPN Classic a year or so back.
I also liked watching Adriano Panatta's smoothness...reminded me of a male Evonne Goolagong.
After that match, Panatta couldn't stop complimenting Connors' play.

[SalazarS2K]

Originally posted by jfw834
Man, I am happy and pissed at the same time as I TIVOed the quarterfinal with agassi and blake tonight. watched the first four amazing sets go 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and then at 2-1 in the 5th, THE GODDDAM network has some stupid "contractual obligation" and they cut transmission!!!! For the love of god.....this was definately an epic US Open 5 setter and I missed the very best part. Of course the 5th set traded breaks and then went to a tiebreaker. Each player had match points in their favor!!! but of course Agassi prevailed and I'm still excited for him to make go all the way at 35 years old. I think most every audience member would have been equally happy had either player won though....so much respect for both athletes!

I'm a huge agassi fan as I have been since I saw him win wimbledon at age 22 when I was 12. But i have to say that James Blake was playing some of the best most aggressive tennis I have ever seen in the first two sets!

i'm still fuming about the coverage though....i recorded 90 minutes past when it should have ended but I guess TIVO can't do anything about cutting broadcast for Law and Order to come on......arg!!!

anyone else see the 5th set??

Nope....but at least you didn't have to sit through it to find out that they cut off the broadcasting. I watched for two hours and than I thought it went to a Law and Order commercial, but it turned out to be the actual program! Boy was I pissed, I ended up just following up online which sucked. I wrote USA Network a long email ripping them on the whole thing. Here was their response:

"Thank you for expressing your concerns about our US Open coverage. Regarding
Wednesday night's match between Andre Agassi and James Blake, our
commentators announced several times that viewers in the east would need to
switch over to CBS to continue viewing the match. Due to contractual
obligations we could not continue our coverage after CBS's US Open
Highlights show began at 12:37AM (Eastern). Requests to allow us to continue
our coverage were denied.

While the eastern feed of USA network left the match, the western feed
continued to broadcast the match until its conclusion. If you live in the
western part of the country and had the match cut off, this means you were
viewing the eastern feed. Contact your cable or satellite provider for
information on why you are not receiving the western feed of USA.

USA Network"

As for the match, Blake was on fire throught the first 2.5 sets, it didn't seem like Agassi could get to any of his big forehands. His first serve percentage was high and that kept Agassi from breaking initially. Blake's body language also seemed to change midway through the 3rd set, it didn't look like he had the same fire as he had earlier on which may have affected his mental game as well. I was amazed at the huge swing of mementum when Agassi starting painting corner after corner as he made his opponent run for everything. Great match, but what a disappointing finish to miss.

[jyl]

What, no mention of Elena Dementieva?

Agassi-Blake was one of the best matches I've seen in a long time.

[Sarc]

Originally posted by jyl
What, no mention of Elena Dementieva?

Absolutely! Talk about mental toughness. I'm constantly amazed how well and high ranked she remains with here serve. And to know your serve is the joke of the tour (at least in the commentators eyes) and still beat no. 1 is admirable.
She's also easy on the eyes if you ask me!

[/B][/QUOTE] Agassi-Blake was one of the best matches I've seen in a long time. [/B][/QUOTE]

Agreed. Right up there with Connors/Krickstein and more recently Capriati/Henne-Hardenne a couple years ago.