The US Open is the shit!

There's always next year Rod-Dick...

If you aren't watching the US Open tennis tournament, you are clearly missing out. This has been a ridiculously exciting tournament so far, with tons of upsets on the women's side, some surprises on the men's side, and an unbelievable crowd in Flushing Meadows.

Here are my thoughts so far:

On the women's draw, we've already seen the #1 player (Dinara Safina) eliminated in the 3rd round. In the 4th round, Venus Williams got bounced by Kim Clijsters who has been playing extremely well since taking 2 years off to semi-retire after having a daughter and also losing her father. Serena Williams looks as dominant as ever as she hasn't lost a set all tournament. But the biggest surprise yet is this 17 year old American chick by the name of Melanie Oudin. Considered an after thought at the beginning of the tournament, she went on to win her first round match easily, then took out #4 ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia in round 2 for the first major upset of the tournament. Still clearly an underdog, she then took out hottie Maria Sharapova in the 3rd round when no one thought she had a chance. Yesterday, she faced her third ranked Russian player in a row, Nadia Petrova, and beat her in 3 sets to move onto the quarterfinals.

Melanie Oudin, what a story so far...

Now listen, I'm not a huge fan of women's tennis, but this run is pretty damn captivating. Yeah, she might lose in the quarters but this run she is on is amazing. The fact that she's doing it during the US Open is what makes it so special because the crowd is really what is lifting her during every match. I've never seen such a homecourt advantage in tennis before, so if you aren't watching this chick, start watching tomorrow when she plays again.

On the men's side, most of the big guns are still alive except for mister Andy Roddick who lost to fellow American John Isner in the 3rd round. Wow, that was quite the upset. Roddick seemed to be gaining momentum, especially after taking Federer to the wire during the Wimbledon finals. Oh well, there's always next year. Isner promptly lost yesterday in the 4th round, meaning that no US men's player would reach the quarterfinals for the first time in tournament history. Nice job US men.

The top 4 seeds are still alive (Federer, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic) and it'd be shocking if all 4 didn't make the semifinals on Saturday since they've been so dominant in their matches so far. Did anyone see Djokovic's match last night? Well, he completely dominated Stepanek but the best part was after the match when he did John McEnroe impersonations and then challenged him to come down from the TV booth and play a few points with him. High comedy and it definitely won the crowd over.

Djokovic and McEnroe horsing around last night. Great moment.

One of the best matches of the tournament so far had to be when Taylor Dent from the US battled Ivan Navarro from Spain. The match went to a 5th set tiebreaker and Dent pulled it out 11-9 with the help of the crowd. This was another example of homecourt advantage as the US fans were going nuts the entire time, just giving Dent the will to win the match. What a great story it was because Dent had been sidelined for 2 years after undergoing multiple back surgeries and was genuinely just happy to be competing again. After he won his match, he took the chair umpires microphone and thanked the fans for helping him pull the match out. He then did a lap around the stadium slapping hands with everyone and signing autographs. It was a great moment.

Taylor Dent

Again, if you aren't watching this shit, you are missing out big time! And reminder: I'm going to Super Saturday (both men's semifinal matches) this weekend baby!