Grand Slam Matches Formats

"Are they playing best of five in doubles here?"
"Wait, and is it a tiebreak in the final set?"
"But wasn't it different in qualifying?"

Those questions come up in every Grand Slam, and no wonder - the individual Slams are free to choose their own play format for every one of the events they're running (Men/Women, Singles/Doubles/Mixed, Main Draw/Qualifying). The only fixed rule is that Men's Singles must be best of five (5) sets. All other events can be best of five or best of three, can end in a tiebreak or an advantage set. Confusing? Maybe, but not for long. Here are all the common rules and formats, with a short glossary for all the tennis terms you're not sure about.

ATP/WTA tennis tournaments
Singles - best of 3 sets, all 3 are tiebreak sets, ad scoring.
Doubles - best of 3 sets - 2 tiebreak sets & 3rd supertiebreak, no-ad scoring.

ITF Grand Slams
(All matches are ad scoring unless noted otherwise)

	Australian Open/ Roland Garros	Wimbledon	US Open
Men's Singles	Best of 5 4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set	Best of 5 4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set	Best of 5 5 tiebreak sets
Women's Singles	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets
Men's Doubles	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets	Best of 5 4 tiebreak sets, 5th advantage set	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets
Women's Doubles	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets
Mixed Doubles	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak No-ad scoring	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd supertiebreak No-ad scoring
Men's Singles Qualifying	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	First rounds-Best of 3 Final round-Best of 5 2/4 tiebreak sets, 3rd/5th advantage set	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets
Women's Singles Qualifying	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	Best of 3 3 tiebreak sets
Men's Doubles Qualifying	--	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	--
Women's Doubles Qualifying	--	Best of 3 2 tiebreak sets, 3rd advantage set	--

Tennis Glossary

• Tiebreak set - The set is played until a player reaches 6 or 7 games, with a 2-game margin. A tiebreak is played when the score is 6-6. To win a tiebreak, a player needs to win at least 7 points, with a 2-point margin (7-5, 8-6, etc).
• Advantage set - no tiebreaks are played, and the set continues until one of the players has a 2-game margin (8-6, 9-7, etc). Today, only the last and deciding set of the match (the 5th or the 3rd) can be played as an advantage set, while all the other sets are tiebreak sets.
• Supertiebreak - A set that consists of a tiebreak, in which a player has to win at least 10 points with a 2-point advantage.
• No-ad scoring - A scoring method in which the 40-40 point is a deciding point - whoever wins it, wins the game. This scoring is employed in ATP/WTA doubles matches, and in Grand Slam Mixed Doubles (except in Wimbledon). 
• Ad scoring - after getting to 40-40, the player/team must win two points to win the game (the first of those is the "advantage" point). This is the usual method of scoring in tennis tournaments.

Interview with Julia Glushko

The great guys over at Israel Tennis Results did an extensive interview with Israeli #2, Julia Glushko. Glushko had a stellar summer, reaching semifinals or better at 4 ITF tournaments in North America, and qualifying to the main draw of the US Open.

In the interview, which I transcribed and translated to English, she talks about everything - results, financing, form, friends, the time she spent with Martina Hingis, superstitions, plans for the future and more. It gives some insight into the daily life of a tennis player, and reveals more about the hardships of the professional tour for those players who are out of the lime-lights.

Watch the video (in Hebrew) and read the translated transcript (all possible mistakes are by yours truly) right here. Enjoy!

The Men's Semifinal Predictor Challenge - US Open 2012

This is a fun game traditionally organized by Brodie at Mind The Racket (follow the link for an example). The rules are simple: predict the winner and the number of sets for both US Open semifinals which take place tomorrow. The matches, if for some reason you don't know them, are Djokovic - Ferrer and Murray - Berdych.

You can leave your guess in the comments here (make sure to leave a nickname), tweet me @anna_tennisfan, or post the guess as a comment to my Facebook page update, whichever is the most convenient!

The deadline is at the start of the matches - 11am EST (that's 17pm CET, 18pm in Israel). I'll update the guesses periodically here.

The winner will get a badge of honor, and will be immortalized in the pages of history :)

Djokovic in 3, Murray in 3:
Djokovic in 4, Murray in 3:
Djokovic in 5, Murray in 3:

Djokovic in 3, Murray in 4: @rosso_neri, @ImmaJonatic, @MichalGradziel, @elliejackson1, random cloud, @suboticjelena
Djokovic in 4, Murray in 4: @JugamosTenis, @betol, @stephd89, @StephintheUS, @thaiguy84
Djokovic in 5, Murray in 4:

Djokovic in 3, Murray in 5: @ZezeAM, @anna_tennisfan,
Djokovic in 4, Murray in 5: @ra_m_9, @BraveThinkSol
Djokovic in 5, Murray in 5:

Djokovic in 3, Berdych in 3:
Djokovic in 4, Berdych in 3:
Djokovic in 5, Berdych in 3:

Djokovic in 3, Berdych in 4: @DSDispatch, @ChristinaNcl, @MindTheRacket, @catmaniego
Djokovic in 4, Berdych in 4:
Djokovic in 5, Berdych in 4:

Djokovic in 3, Berdych in 5: @deucejunkie
Djokovic in 4, Berdych in 5:
Djokovic in 5, Berdych in 5:

Ferrer in 3, Murray in 3:
Ferrer in 4, Murray in 3:
Ferrer in 5, Murray in 3:

Ferrer in 3, Murray in 4:
Ferrer in 4, Murray in 4:
Ferrer in 5, Murray in 4:

Ferrer in 3, Murray in 5:
Ferrer in 4, Murray in 5:
Ferrer in 5, Murray in 5:

Ferrer in 3, Berdych in 3:
Ferrer in 4, Berdych in 3:
Ferrer in 5, Berdych in 3:

Ferrer in 3, Berdych in 4:
Ferrer in 4, Berdych in 4:
Ferrer in 5, Berdych in 4:

Ferrer in 3, Berdych in 5:
Ferrer in 4, Berdych in 5:
Ferrer in 5, Berdych in 5:

US Open 2012 - Qualifying Day 1

This year, I've only had one day to watch matches at the US Open, which was the first day of qualifying. Luckily for us (my brother and me), the schedule for that day was simply perfect for us, and we got to see both Israeli players - Amir Weintraub and Julia Glushko - win their first round match.

The day started with watching practices - we caught both Amir and Julia at the end of their pre-match warm up, wished both of them good luck, and I took photos of my brother with both of them. At the official practice courts, we saw a bit of Serena Williams and a lot of Andy Murray, who we were waiting for to come out.

Murray in practice

 The wait was long, since Andy wasn't rushing anywhere - the practice courts were half empty at that time. Serena refused to come to the mosh pit and interact with fans at the end of her practice, but Andy signed autographs for everyone who was there (not a lot of people compared to what usually happens during the tournament itself). Unfortunately, I didn't realize we could get on Louis Armstrong and Grandstand to watch the top players practicing, so I've no idea who we've missed there... in fact, I think I'd rather not know.

Murray signing autographs

Amir's match against Mathieu Rodrigues from France was first on court 14, and we came there just as he held for a 3-1* lead. He was visibly stronger than the French player, who had a very weak serve (especially his second one), and didn't attack much. What he did have was excellent dropshots and slices, and he fooled Amir quite a lot with those. As the first set progressed (Amir broke again, then got broken back), I felt like Rodrigues was deliberately stalling and taking his time. For instance, when he was down *3-5 0-30, he suddenly decided he needs to wear his hat. I'm pretty sure it didn't stay on for long... Amir got a break point, which got him 3 set points, but Rodrigues saved all of them, and then saved 3 more of those before Amir finally managed to convert his 7th set point for a 6-3 lead.

Amir preparing to receive serve

The second set went quicker, as Rodrigues grew visibly tired. Amir opened with a break for 2-0, but got broken back in the next game. He got to a 5-1 lead easily enough and was serving for the match, but Rodrigues chose that moment to raise the level, and broke as Weintraub played somewhat tentatively. However, Amir broke again in the next game, winning the match 6-3 6-2 on his 3rd match point. You can see the first match point, which was saved by a clean winner, in the following video.

This was Amir's first ever win in the qualifying of any Grand Slam tournament.

By the time we got to Julia's match, she was already leading 5-2 in the first set against Marta Domachowska from Poland. She played well to win the set 6-2, but got broken early in the second set, and her level dropped. The taping on her knee started to bother her, and when down 2-5 she received a medical timeout to have her knee re-taped.

Julia Glushko

We had to leave the court (read: we were hungry and went to buy food), and when we came back, it was the middle of the third set and Julia just broke back for 3-3. She won the next three games and the whole match, 6-2 2-6 6-3, while showing some great mental strength at tougher moments, such as facing break points. The next video shows her first and only match point:

Julia later qualified to the main draw of the US Open, and will play her first ever main draw match at a tour-level event tomorrow against Yanina Wickmayer.

We've seen bits and pieces of a few other qualifying matches, and were particularly impressed by Yuki Bhambri. The young Indian player has a good technique and seemed like a cool-headed guy from the few games that we saw.

As always, you can find all our photos from that day on my Facebook page.

A Spoonful Of Sugarpova

If you're planning to go to the US Open one day, my first advice to you is: make sure to arrive at New York at least a week before the tournaments starts. During that week, Manhattan fills up with promotion events for anything from food to clothes to sunglasses, as the various tennis players make appearance at their sponsors' various stores.

This week, I've attended two such events, one of which was the launch of Maria Sharapova's new candy collection, fittingly called "Sugarpova". (The other was Novak Djokovic's event at the Uniqlo store).

My younger brother and I arrived an hour early at the Henri Bendel store, where the event was scheduled. While waiting, we had the chance to take a look at the different tastes available for sale, including tennis-ball-like chewing gum.


The whole collection is gluten-free, so the many players who are now following this diet can eat as much candy as they like ;)

Upon arriving to the store, Masha gave interviews outside, while inside free candy was distributed among the waiting fans, along with Sugarpova stickers and fake tattoos in the shape of the Sugarpova lips logo. Shortly afterwards, she came inside for some more interviews with what felt like every member of the press who was there. We waited (somewhat) patiently until the interviews were over, hoping she'd go through the crowd for autographs and pictures. She did, but it was too crowded to get close enough to her, so instead we tried to sneak upstairs, where we knew she'd be giving another interview (this time to CNN).

Unfortunately, that cunning plan failed, as her interview was in a closed off section of the store, and not where we were standing. The only thing left to do was to wait for her downstairs, hoping she'd oblige for some more fan interaction. And here, I've got another advice for you - if you're hoping to interact with players, bring a kid with you. Just as we slipped to the front of the group of fans still left in the store, the organizers decided to arrange a short autograph-only session, but only for the kids. My brother went first in line, and I followed him hesitantly, but the guard waved me through, and I certainly didn't object to being considered young enough ;)

And so, we started waiting for the CNN interview to be over, while being repeatedly told that we can only get Maria's autograph, and nothing else. So, here's advice #3 - when you get such instructions, ignore them, especially if you're at the beginning of the line. As soon as Masha came to us, I asked her (in Russian) if we can have a photo, she agreed with a smile, and - voila, a pic with my brother and a pic with me. And so, we left the store happy and delighted.

Oh, and the candy? Delicious. We bought a bag of "Spooky Sour", which is a gummy candy in the shape of tasty (and mostly sweet) spiders. It was empty after about 24 hours, and I've only ate one candy of the lot...

For a few more pictures (like my picture with Maria), visit my facebook page, where you can also find photos from the first day of qualifying and from Novak's Uniqlo event. Detailed posts about those will come later this week!

My Tennis Memory Is So Bad

How weird is that I remember absolutely nothing from the 2010 US Open Djokovic-Federer semifinal? For a while now, I wasn't even sure whether I've seen the match at all. I was already a Novak fan back then - though not as dedicated as today, that's for sure. Still, I have absolutely no recollection at all of seeing that match. All I do remember from that tournament is watching the women's semifinals and final. However, today I stumbled upon the following 'conversation' that I had on an online (non-tennis related) forum:

Me: "What excellent tennis in the USO SF. 2-2 in sets between Djokovic and Federer. At this rate, there won't even be a Federer-Nadal final...  "

Person A: "Such a final [Fedal] won't be as fun as in previous times "

Me: "Well, I'm cheering for Djokovic in this tournament "

Person A: "I really hope Federer does something before he retires... He's so perfect "

Me: "5th set, 5-5. Crazy match "

Me: ""

Person B: "I wanna cry, Federer lost I really wanted a classic final..."

Person A: "To see Nadal eat him without salt again? No thanks... "

I had no idea that I had this conversation. Until today, I wasn't completely sure that I've seen the match. How is that even possible?

US Open, Extra Day

Here I was in New York, thinking that my US Open experience was all over, almost ready to return home. Monday was supposed to be my last day in the city, and I already had some plans (which were already cut back somewhat due to the "lovely" Irene).

Then, on Sunday evening, I saw this...

... and my eyes lit up. Novak on Armstrong? I couldn't miss it. Changing my plans completely (tons of *thanks* to my friend, who was great and didn't kill me for leaving her), I quickly bought a grounds pass for the following day.

As it was Labor Day, I knew the place would be filled with people - so my plan was to catch a good seat as soon as possible, and to stay there for as long as it takes. Turns out I had the right idea - at 10:30 (half an hour before the first match), Armstrong was already full, and I later read that the queue to get into the stadium, which was locked down, was unbelievably long.

Post by Let, Second Serve.

The first match, between Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Carlos Ferrero, was a good match. Its only problem was that it was long, and it was clear that large parts of the audience were there to see Novak up close. You could almost hear the collective sigh as the players split the first two sets (but maybe I just heard myself sighing).

Post by Let, Second Serve.

In any case, I very much liked seeing Janko win (in four sets) and go through to his first ever Slam quarterfinal. It was clear how happy he was about it, and it also took him to a career-high ranking of #13.

Finally, it was what we've I've been waiting for.

Post by Let, Second Serve.

The first set was nerve-wracking for me. Dolgopolov was the first to go up a break, but Nole immediately broke back, as I had no doubt he'd do. But then it came to a tiebreak. I never liked tiebreaks before, but this one... Well, with a final result of 16-14 (to Nole, thankfully), you can imagine how many set points there were, for both sides.

Post by Let, Second Serve.

Yeah, that's how I felt too, Nole...

Post by Let, Second Serve.

Dolgopolov, by the way, has the weirdest serve I've ever seen from a player. It's one thing to see it on TV, but up close it's even stranger.

Post by Let, Second Serve.

I had a great time, finally being able to cheer on Nole from a proper distance :) I even sneaked in my "Even Irene Can't Stop Nole" sign (generally, banners aren't allowed on the grounds), and made sure to lift it up on every changeover. I sat across from the players' chairs, so there is a tiny chance that he saw it... Though I have no idea if it was readable. Since the first match was really long, and I had to get back to Manhattan by a certain time, I had to leave Nole's match when he was leading two sets to love. On the last changeover before that, a scary-looking security guard came to me and told me that if he saw that sign of mine again, he'd "kick me off the grounds". I have to say, he had perfect timing, as I was about to get out after the following game anyway ;)

Post by Let, Second Serve.

No doubt, it was the best way to end my US Open visit, and my whole trip to NYC. I hope to go back next year!

(For more photos of that day, check the facebook album)

US Open, Day 5

Originally, day 5 was supposed to be my last day at the tournament. Knowing that, I had exactly one target for the day - keeping my promise and getting Rafael Nadal's autograph for my brother.

With that in mind, I made sure to come into the grounds as early as possible, to try and find out when Rafa would be practicing. He had a match during the day session, so I knew he should be there sometime in the morning. At first, his name wasn't on the list for the near time-slots. Since there wasn't anything interesting on other courts at that point (it was before play started for the day), I came back to the practice courts about ten minutes later, only to see his name at the end of the list. I got into the mosh pit where people were waiting for players, before anyone else even realized when and where Rafa will be. Securing myself one of the best places possible there, it was clear to me that I was going to stay there for a very long time... The practice itself was scheduled in an hour, and I knew he'd only sign on his way out - making it at least two hours of waiting.

Those hours were hardly a waste of time, though. As each player only practiced for 45 minutes or so, players kept coming and going into and out of the courts, giving me plenty of opportunities for photos, autographs, and sometimes both. I saw B. Bryan, Jankovic, Wozniacki, Pospisil, Gimeno-Traver, Vania King, R. Haase, F. Lopez, T. Haas, Ljubicic, Verdasco, Nalbandian, A. Murray, Ferrer, Dulko, Pavlyuchenkova, Ivanovic and Youzhny. I also asked Nigel Sears (Ana Ivanovic's coach) to wish Ana good luck in her next match :)

Oh, and Rafa? Yeah, I saw him. Three times. Once when he came into the grounds, once when he came into practice, and once when he gave me 2 autographs :) I owe my thanks to a very nice guy who stood next to me and kindly gave me a great photo of Rafa for the autograph. And yes, he does sign them right-handed ;)

After that, I accidentally stumbled upon the notice that Juan Carlos Ferrero would be signing autographs in the ATP booth in 15 minutes. I was first in line, because everybody else were queueing for the WTA booth, where Ana Ivanovic was due to arrive.

I already had Ana's autograph, so I stayed where I was. Can't complain, really.

After that, I caught a bit of Jurgen Melzer's match (he eventually lost it in a fifth set tiebreak, which should be banned from the US Open, if you ask me).

Then I saw the first set of Feliciano Lopez vs. Vasek Pospisil. Apart from being a Feli fan, I was interested to see it, as Vasek was going to come to Israel for the Davis Cup (and we all know how that turned out... a post will be coming in the evening). I was definitely impressed - by his serve, in particular, but he has a good all-around game in addition to that.

Unfortunately, I decided to leave this match (I later regretted this), in order to secure myself a spot on Grandstand, for Ferrer-Blake, which was going to be my last match in the tournament (or so I thought). That also meant I caught the end of Lisicki-Falconi, which was nice, and I did sit through the whole Ferrer-Blake match. Of course, it was a good match, and I'm happy I got to see all of it, but I think that next time I'd rather stay with my favourites than go see a match in which I'm less invested (though I love David Ferrer).

That concluded my time at the US Open, and I left completely tennis-saturated... which didn't stop me from following the night matches from my hotel that evening :)

(Lots of pictures of different players are here)

US Open - Day 4

As I came into the grounds, I met the lovely Steph, and we kept meeting up throughout the day, watching some of the matches together. Getting to meet people you know through twitter is really awesome, I have to say :)

After a routine scan of the practice courts (Monfils, Nadal, Melzer), I've had a very tight schedule, where I watched most matches for as long as I could.

The first match on the menu was Tipsarevic-Petzschner. I actually like them both, so it was tough to decide who to cheer for, but my heart was with Janko. I came to the court a little while before he gave Philipp a bagel (those Serbs do like their bagels and breadsticks...). Petz was obviously quite upset, and then cheered in mock celebration as he held his first game. Janko won the second set, and I was really hoping he could win it in three sets before I had to go - but alas, the match ended after four sets, and I left before that.

The reason was the "blockbuster" match between Roger Federer and Dudi Sela. My foolish hopes of an impossible upset were soon crushed by the 6-3 6-2 6-2 beatdown, but Dudi was the only loser on Ashe that day who managed to win more than 2 games in a set. Ashe saw 4 bagels, 3 breadsticks, and 4 sets of 6-2 on that Thursday, as the seeds demolished their lower-ranked opponents.

My next target was what turned out to be an epic 5-setter between Gael Monfils and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Many called it one of the best matches of the tournament, and rightly so - it had a little bit of everything, and a lot of amazing rallies and moments. I'm not sure if I came towards the end of the second set or in the middle of the third, but I sat on Louis Armstrong until the very end of the match, which Ferrero won with inhuman willpower, 7-6(5) 5-7 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4.

As soon as that match ended, I rushed to the adjacent Granstand, to watch Shahar Peer taking on American Sloane Stephens. Or rather, not taking on... Shahar lost the first set badly, then came back in the second, only to lose it in the tiebreak (after failing to serve it out). Thus, all the Israeli singles players were out in a matter of a few hours.

I stayed on Granstand and watched a little bit of Azarenka-Dulko, while waiting for the main dish of the day - my first Nole match of the US Open! I missed his first round, which collided with Shahar's, but here he played the last night match, so of course I stayed until the end.

Novak was playing against Carlos Berlocq. Or rather, he was playing with Berlocq, as if Berlocq was a puppet that Nole sent running all over the court. I was sitting next to a large family, and before the match they were playing the "Let's guess how many games will Berlocq win" game. The most common answer was around 7 - that was my guess, too. One person said 4, another said 3. With a final result of 6-0 6-0 6-2, we were all very far from the truth :D Quickly enough, the whole stadium just wanted Berlocq to have that first game. It took some time (not too much, the whole match was exactly 1h:30), but when he finally did, he got a lot of applause and cheering :) I won't lie, though, I kind of wanted it to be a triple-bagel at some point :P

On one hand, it was a little bit disappointing to see such a one-sided match. On the other hand, this match was somewhat exhibition-like at times, with some great points, and Nole obviously enjoyed himself :) He even hit that dreaded shot of all, the tweener, to bring up match point. Since it didn't stop him from winning the USO, I'll forgive him, but I hope that doesn't become a habit!

More pictures from day 4 are on my facebook page.

US Open - Day 3

Memo to self: if you don't write it right away, you're probably going to forget it.
Since I want to actually finish writing about my time at the US Open, I'm going to take a couple of shortcuts, and post brief summaries of my other days there.

Day 3
I arrived to Flushing Meadows very early, checked out the practice courts, and since there was nothing too interesting there (well, Serena far away), I went to catch me a seat for the first match of my day - Feliciano Lopez vs. Tatsuma Ito. There, I met Rachel from onthegotennis.com - it was my first ever "tweetup", and it was great :)

We watched about a set and a half of the match, and then headed to the doubles match of Erlich/Ram vs. Monaco/Kerr - I was there for the Israelis, and she - for the Argentines ;)

Once again, us Israeli girls were practically the only cheering squad Andy and Yoni had. But it was obviously good enough, as they won and gave us thumbs up after the match. I wanted to get a picture with both at the same time, but it was too complicated :P

That concluded my "Must do" part of the day, so from that point onwards I wandered from one match to another - saw the end of Murray/Devvarman on Ashe, caught the end of Shahar's doubles match (she lost it for the team, I have to say), watched about a half of Isner/Baghdatis, saw the very end of Tusrunov&Dimitrov playing doubles (poor guys were bageled in the last set), where I met Rachel and Jennifer, saw the beginning of the night session on Ashe - Roddick vs. Russell, and finally managed to see a couple of games in the mixed doubles - Ivanovic/Zimonjic. I kept missing Ana's singles matches due to collisions with other matches, so at least I got that. Of course, Ana got broken when she was serving... and they lost their first round of Mixed.

More pics of day 3 are right here.

What if?

After Novak Djokovic's first loss of the year, in the semifinals of Roland Garros, I had a fleeting thought - "What if he manages to win both Wimbledon and the US Open? This could've been a chance to complete the Grand Slam". The thought evaporated quickly enough, as the prospect of winning both slams still seemed far at the time - more a dream than a possible reality.

The thought made a comeback some time after Wimbledon. "What if he can take the US Open title? How will we look back at the French open then?"

Suddenly, it didn't look so far fetched anymore. Surely it will be hard to find someone who can challenge Novak?

As the North American swing started, it became harder to imagine him grabbing three slams in one year. Djokovic looked shaky in most of his matches in Montreal, even though he won the title. Cincinnati was even worse. With an ailing shoulder, Novak only won the semifinal due to Berdych retiring, bothered by the same injury. In the final he suffered his second loss of the year, retiring against Andy Murray. Could he recover in time for the last Grand Slam of the season?

(Click to enlarge)

Turned out that he could. And now that he has won three out of four Grand Slam tournaments, beating Rafael Nadal for the sixth straight time, I'm sure many are saying - what if?

So, what if Novak could beat Roger Federer in that French Open semifinal? What would've happened then?

Could he have won the Roland Garros? On one hand, nobody beats Rafael Nadal at the French Open (unless your name is Robin Soderling, but 2009 was definitely an exception). On the other hand, Novak had already won against him twice on clay, and as we know now - he can also beat him in best-of-five format, repeatedly. Judging by his form during the tournament, and by his mental state against Djokovic in the next match they played (Wimbledon final), I think Nadal would probably have lost this final, as well. But then... what is the chance that Novak could go on as he did? The streak would've continued, and the pressure of "When will it end?" could reach such levels to make it impossible to deal with. He'd come to Wimbledon less relaxed, and the rest of the summer might look completely different.
(Then again, what would happen to Nadal's confidence if he lost RG? Too many 'if's here.)

At the end of the day, all of it doesn't matter. History knows no 'if's. We fans became gluttons for winning (insert a no-gluten joke here). Three slams? Not enough, we want all four. Two losses? That's 2 too much. But none of us could ever dream that 2011 will look like this. If anyone promised us on January 1st that Novak would have a Slam in his pocket - we'd sign on it in blood. In fact, choose any part of Novak's 2011 season, suggest it to any player on one of the tours - I'm sure they'd take it without hesitation. What else can we say, but "Novak, we're damn lucky to be your fans. Thank you!"?

And yet, as I went to sleep yesterday, thinking about how difficult it's going to be for him to complete a career Grand Slam next year (or ever), that pesky thought crept into my mind... What if?

(Photos: Getty Images)

The Hindrance Rule

During yesterday's US Open Women's final, there was a lot of drama as Serena Williams reacted to the decision of chair umpire Eva Asderaki to award a point that Williams technically won to her opponent, Sam Stosur. Stosur went on to win the match, and was crowned as the new US Open champion.

The point in question was awarded to Stosur due to the fact that Williams let out a loud "Come on!" shout before the point was over. After all was said and done, I've seen some mentions on Twitter that the rule regarding this situation is different between the ITF (the governing body in Grand Slams) and WTA (who run the regular women's tournaments). Two related incidents were brought as an example - one in which the verdict was the same (in Marion Bartoli's match against Cristina McHale in this US Open), and an older one, involving both Williams and Asderaki, in which the point was replayed.

I decided to check the matter - and it seems that the "Hindrance Rule" is in fact very much alike in both sets of rules.

Here is the ITF version, which was relevant to the final match:

26. HINDRANCE
If a player is hindered in playing the point by a deliberate act of the opponent(s), the player shall win the point.
However, the point shall be replayed if a player is hindered in playing the point by either an unintentional act of the opponent(s), or something outside the player’s own control (not including a permanent fixture).

This is the rule in the WTA rulebook:

H. HINDRANCE RULE
If a player hinders her opponent, it can be ruled as either involuntary or deliberate.
1. Involuntary Hindrance
A let should be called the first time a player has created an involuntary hindrance (e.g., ball falling out of pocket, hat falling off, etc.), and the player should be told that any such hindrance thereafter will be ruled deliberate.
2. Deliberate Hindrance
Any hindrance caused by a player that is ruled deliberate will result in the loss of a point.

According to both those quotes, any deliberate hindrance will cause the player to lose the point, while any involuntary (note: this is not the same as "unintentional") hindrance will result in a let call and a replay of the point.

In any case, Asderaki's decision yesterday was correct. While I'm sure that Williams didn't intend to disrupt the point, the shout could not be considered "involuntary", no matter how you look at it.

"The History Book On The Shelf Is Always Repeating Itself" - US Open 2011 Semifinals

"Couldn’t escape if I wanted to"

The first three sets of the 2011 US Open semifinals between [1] Novak Djokovic and [3] Roger Federer were very much like the Roland Garros semifinal, if you only look at the scores.

In the first set, Roger Federer came out with his best shots, serving lights out, hitting blistering forehands and unreachable backhands. Without getting anywhere close to a break point, the set reached the inevitable tiebreak. Drawing a forehand error, Federer got a minibreak, and after an exchange of double faults and an unreturnable serve he had his first three set points at 6-3. An unreturnable serve and two forehand winners later, Novak Djokovic drew it for 6-6. He saved one more set point for 7-7, but got wrongfooted on the next point and ended up losing the set 7-6(7).

This set was already very different from the parallel first set of the Roland Garros, which began with two consecutive breaks of serve. However, the next one saw Federer getting an early break, which he practically held until the end, winning it 6-4. And so, with a 2-0 lead in sets, everyone couldn't help but think of the 183-1 win/loss record Federer had in Grand Slams when having such a lead. However, that single loss came just two months earlier, in his quarterfinals match against Jo Wilfried Tsonga. Meanwhile, Djokovic had only one comeback from two sets down in his career. One of those single match records was about to be changed.

Still, even as Djokovic managed to break Federer in a very long second game of the third set, keeping the lead and winning it 6-3, I couldn't escape the thoughts "This is just like in France".

"I tried to hold you back but you were stronger"

The fourth set couldn't be less similar to the French Open. Djokovic hit the gas pedal and got to a quick 5-1 lead, holding a set point for a possible 6-1 result. If he could have done that, he would be the first to serve in the fifth and deciding set, giving him a certain advantage. However, Federer managed to hold, forcing Novak to serve the set out and prepare to receive in the next one.

As much as Roger was the best player during the first two sets, so was Novak in the next two. With extremely high quality of tennis throughout it all, and commentators, such as Patrick McEnroe, already calling it "Match of the Year", it seemed like everyone was holding their breath to see what the deciding set would bring.

"I have met my destiny in quite a similar way"

If you expected Roger Federer to give up the fight after losing those two sets, you were very much mistaken. Raising up his level immensely, he was once again hitting untouchable serves. Djokovic managed to keep up for three of his service games. Then, in the most crucial eighth game of the match (Am I the only one who thinks it's more important than that seventh game the commentators are always talking about?), as he was serving at 3-4, he was broken to love. Roger Federer was serving for a place in the US Open 2011 Final, leading 5-3.

In 2010 Federer was in a very similar position. Then, too, he was in the semifinals of the US Open, having two match points in the fifth set against Novak Djokovic. But while in 2010 it was Djokovic serving, this time Federer was the one holding the tennis ball in his hand, 5-3 40-15 up. He made a great first serve.

The ball was returned with an unthinkable crosscourt winner. 40-30.
The next point had a ball hitting the top of the net, bouncing out of the court, for a deuce. Two match points, just like in 2010, have come and gone. On the following break point, Federer double faulted. (All objectivity aside, I was begging and praying for that double fault since the beginning of the game. When it actually happened, I couldn't believe my eyes.)

Novak was in full control from that point on, breaking again, and only needing one match point at 6-5 40-15, as Federer's return sailed long.

And so, after 3 hours and 51 minutes, Novak Djokovic was into his third Grand Slam final of 2011, winning 6-7(7) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5.

Trying to describe my emotions throughout this match would be near impossible. But history does repeat itself, I guess.

In memory of September 11, 2001

US Open, Day 2

So I'm actually back home now, and there are 5 more days of live tennis to write about. I'll try to catch up, hoping I'm not forgetting too much of it! So - day 2, here we go.

While my first day at the USO was all about men's matches, the second one had much more women in it.

The first match I saw was Sabine Lisicki vs. Alona Bondarenko on the new court 17. Sabine started out a bit shaky - she kept catching her toss without hitting the serves, but as the match progressed she grew more confident in herself, and kept on hitting winners from all sides of the court. She won comfortably 6-3 6-3, and I even managed to get a photo with her (once again, she looks great, and... yeah).

After that I caught about a set of David Ferrer-Igor Andreev. I wasn't exactly sure how Ferrer lost the first set, since in the part of the match that I saw, he clearly was the better player, while Andreev was spraying errors all around.

The next stop for me was the practice courts, once again. There, I managed to snap an awesome paparazzi photo of Feli Lopez watching the madness that happens when fans try to get autographs. His shirt is the best thing about that photo.

"Nerds love apple pie"

The practice session was prolific for fans - Verdasco, Roddick (before the practice, which is unusual! But he had a birthday), Del Potro, Fish, Soderling all came to sign autographs while I was there. Roddick was practicing with Somdev Devvarman, Gasquet with Monaco, and some other people on the courts were Stosur, Petrova, Cibulkova and Murray.

On my way to buying myself some food, I stumbled upon the ATP booth, where Tomas Berdych was supposed to be signing autographs shortly. Since I've got my priorities in order, I decided to wait there until he comes, and was lucky enough to be on of the first people in the queue - so I managed to get a picture, as well (though the timing was a bit off).

The next match, which I saw from start to finish, was Shahar Peer vs. Sania Mirza. Shahar never beat Sania before that day in main draw matches, so the official head-to-head was 0-4. This match started out very close, going to a first set tibreak, which Mirza won. After that, however, Shahar was much more focused, and managed to win the second set, after which Mirza was visibly tired, and made too many errors to give Shahar some breaks and the match.

This match didn't have as much loud cheering as Dudi's match against Bellucci, but the crowd was obviously pro-Shahar, and us Israeli girls contributed a lot to the cheering efforts.

I didn't intend to see the night session that day, so I sold those tickets in the morning. With my plan for the day fulfilled, I wandered around the grounds some more, encountering some very tall people ;)

At the end of the day, I watched the last game of Na Li in the US Open (lost to Simona Halep in 2 sets), and a few games of Jams Blake vs. Jesse Huta Galung, and then headed back to the city.

Quarterfinals are starting in a few minutes, so stay tuned for more posts tomorrow!