mb palaver

SportsPalaver: Nadal and Gonzalez Resume Saturday (Weather Permitting)

Friday was a complete wash-out at the US Open.  CBS coverage of the rest of the Nadal/Gonzalez quarterfinal match will begin Saturday at noon.  Showers are expected tomorrow, so who knows when it'll really start.  Or end:  they've now scheduled the men's final for Monday at 4.

It looks like coverage over the weekend will be a combination of CBS and ESPN2.  You can find updated info here, though be cautious about going to usopen.org if you are watching on tape delay.  Belated kudos to Lynn for sticking it out until midnight Thursday night in the cold rain.  Look on the bright side: at least you saw some great tennis until the rain delay.  Today's ticket holders really must be bumming.

SportsPalaver: A Rainy Night in Flushing Meadows

This year's US Open has been so exciting -- huge upsets on the women's side; comebacks from back surgery (Taylor Dent), mono (John Isner), and motherhood/retirement (Kim Clijsters); and the meteoric rise of 17-year old American wunderkind, Melanie Oudin, who made it to the quarters.  (Speaking of which, to the right is yours truly playing in the girls' 18 and under finals of the Monongalia County Open in 1979.  I lost, but at least I got my picture in the paper.  I just wish the photographer had waited until I hit a second serve.)

After 10 days of mostly beautiful weather, though, the rains have hit.  The Nadal/Gonzalez quarterfinal match, which had an hour long rain delay earlier in the evening, has been halted again in the middle of the second set tiebreaker (Nadal won the first set in a tiebreaker). (By the way, when did "tiebreakers" become "tiebreaks"?  Are we really too busy for that extra schwa-r?)

It's now midnight, and it sounds as if they think they're still going to get this match in tonight.  Rafa's got what seems to be a brutal abdominal injury, so playing late into the night in the cold and wind can't be good for him.  Staying up to see what happens can't be good for me.

There's lots of rain in the NY forecast over the next two days, so the schedule might not hold, but here's the plan:  CBS will be airing the women's semis (starting with Kim Clijsters vs. Serena Williams) beginning at 12:30 tomorrow, followed by the men's doubles final; the men's semis Saturday at noon; women's final at 8 pm Saturday, and men's final Sunday at 4.  The women's doubles final will be carried by ESPN2 Sunday at 1.  You can find the schedule of play here.  Let's hope for unexpectedly nice weather.

This just in:  they've called it for the night.  (As McEnroe just said, you cannot be serious!)  No word yet on when they'll resume, but before the women's semis tomorrow afternoon is a good bet.  (Or maybe they'll play in the morning and ESPN2 will carry it, since they were carrying the match tonight.  Note to self:  check usopen.org in the a.m. and adjust DVR settings accordingly, thus averting catastrophe.)   Since the winner will have to play his semifinal on Saturday, I assume they won't want to keep them waiting too long.