By John Huston and Lucia Hoffman
1. CICI’S THE BELLE OF THE BALL: In an era when teen phenoms are an endangered species, slight Cici Bellis from the Bay Area looks to be a natural. With her well-crafted groundies, the 15-year-old knocked out No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova, the Aussie Open finalist, and melted the heart of many a hardened New Yawker.
2. WOMEN’S UPSETS: Order and sensibility broke down as one woman’s seed after another toppled. Cici Bellis kicked things off by taking down 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova on day two. China’s Peng Shuai (a dark horse to run deep, with impressive stats) speedily put down Agnieszka Radwanska, while Sweden’s Johanna Larsson showed an error-prone Sloane Stephens the door out of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Tall, big-serving Czech Kristina Pliskova dismissed Ana Ivanovic. Serbia’s lithe Aleksandra Krunic, ranked No. 145, took down two of the WTA’s most powerful hitters—Madison Keys and Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova. In the tournament’s most emotional story so far, a resurgent 32-year-old Mirjana Lucic Baroni knocked out No. 2 seed Simona Halep in straight sets, only breaking down when she discussed—with moving candor—her 15-year journey back to the main stage of the game.
3. MORE AMERICAN PAIN: The long, painful drought continues in American men’s tennis. Just two Americans—John Isner and Sam Querrey—got to the third round. Both were dismissed with some ease—by Phillip Kohlschreiber and Novak Djokovic, respectively—as another dreary year went into the books. In 2014, no American man got beyond the third round at a major, and Isner was the only American to reach that stage more than once. All of this is in marked contrast to our North American neighbors in Canada, who still have young Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard in contention.
4. FROM AGONY TO TRIUMPH: Once battered by her dad, and sidelined by injuries and financial woes, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni was the feel-good story of the Open on the women’s side, reaching the fourth round of a Slam for the first time since 1999, when she beat Monica Seles in the third round at Wimbledon.
5. ANOTHER DAY IN THE OFFICE: Novak ends his vacation, old man Roger, 33, rolls on and Serena stays strong. At the end of week one, none of them had dropped a set.
6. HIS AIRNESS MICHAEL JORDAN: The best ever in basketball came by to watch the best ever in tennis, when Michael Jordan was in the stands for Roger Federer‘s first-round match.
7. DOMINICAN DANDY: The first week’s feel-good story on the men’s side was a 34-year-old Caribbean rookie. In his first appearance at the Open, the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos made it to the third round.
8. INTEREST IN INTEREST: A high-profile New York Times article on conflict of interest within the USTA Board of Directors broached an important topic, but ultimately, it sparked little response.
9. THE NEW SERB ON THE BLOCK: Aleksandra Krunic—slight, yet resilient—zoomed through the qualies and then took down America’s underachieving Madison Keys and two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova to reach the fourth round, where she will face former No. 1 Vika Azarenka.
10. BUZZING BEES AND BAD HAIR DAYS: A bee buzzed around and bothered Kimiko Date-Krumm and Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki‘s hair got all tangled up with her racket.
SUNDAY BUZZ:
KILLER COMMENT: Mary Carillo said Sara Errani is “a plucky little buzzkill.”
TAKE THAT, YOU DOUBTERS: If you are wondering if Federer, age 33, still has his speed and athleticism, just check out his ten-step diagonal run to retrieve an adept Marcels Granollers drop shot, which he finished off with a radically-angled flick backhand for an astonishing winner. Not bad for an over-the-hill legend.
COMING AT YOU LIKE A DARK HORSE: With little fanfare, China’s veteran Shuai Peng has snuck into the quarterfinals without dropping a set, playing ruthlessly quick tennis with a noteworthy high ratio of winners to errors while knocking out fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 14th seed Lucie Safarova. Long in the shadow of Li Na, Peng is looking mighty dangerous, and her half of the draw is looking rather open.
A NEW SWISS MISS: As mentor Martina Hingis looked on approvingly from the sidelines, new “Swiss Miss” Belinda Bencic dismissed Jelena Jankovic and her new ‘do from the tournament 7-6(6), 6-3. It was the 17-year-old former junior champ’s Arthur Ashe Stadium debut, and the second straight match in which she’s straight-setted a seeded veteran. Next up: a battle with fellow giant-killer Shuai Peng.
BACK TO SCHOOL: The Daily Tennis News observed, “By the look of things, Novak Djokovic‘s little summer vacation is over.”
STRIKING CLAIM: “He’s the best ball striker in the history of our sport.”—John McEnroe, on Andre Agassi.
THEY DON’T CALL HIM “BABY FED” FOR NOTHING: Maybe it was a relationship blip after girlfriend Maria Sharapova‘s loss earlier in the day, but just like Roger, “Baby Fed,” Grigor Dimitrov, dropped the first set of his match—without winning a game, in fact—before storming to a four-set victory.
GETTING KIND OF NITPICKY: Blogger Kevin Ware asked, “Is it just me, or do Gilles Simon‘s legs seem slightly less toothpicky than in the past?” Indeed, both Simon and his equally skinny fourth-round opponent, Marin Cilic, appear to have put on some muscle (as well as stubble).
OUT OF THIS WORLD: Nick Kyrgios hit a ball out of Ashe Stadium during his loss to Tommy Robredo.
WHITE-HOT WORDS: Mary Carillo said, “Roger lately … has been approaching incandescence.”
ICE AND NICE: Maria Sharapova is famously imperious and icy. Caroline Wozniacki, who beat the Russian today to make the quarterfinals, may be the nicest elite player on the tour since Kim Clijsters.
IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO TRAIN: After Caroline Wozniacki ran down Maria Sharapova‘s shots to come out on top of a long rally, Mary Carillo described the point as “a mini-New York Marathon that paid off for her.”
NO KIDDING: Caroline Wozniacki said, “It’s been a bit up and down for me this year.”
THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE: Caroline Wozniacki.
BOMBSHELL—SOMEONE BOSSES SERENA AROUND ON COURT: When asked what it means to play doubles with her younger sister Serena, Venus said, “It means I’m always the boss.”
CASTING CALL: After noting that American No. 1 John Isner lost in New York to Germany’s top player Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round for the third straight year, Greg Garber suggested, “If they ever do a remake of Groundhog Day, Isner is a candidate for the lead.”
GO FIGURE: Against the mighty Federer, Spaniard Marcel Granollers won the first ten points and the first three games … Sara Errani hit a total of four winners during her three-set victory over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
IS THIS THING ON? A few times in the first week, usopen.org commentators have been caught on mic complaining about the “brutal” and “so bad” quality of matches they were calling.
TOUR GUIDE: On the subject of what town or village in Italy she’d advise Americans to go to, Sara Errani said Rome. Then, when asked whether Rome, Paris, or New York provided better people-watching opportunities, she replied (with the certainty of one of her canny drop shots), “Rome, of course.”
IN AMERICA, WE SAY “BUGABOO“: Jim Courier is known as a book lover—once reading Armistead Maupin‘s Maybe the Moon during changeovers—so it came as no surprise when he referred to Rafa Nadal as Roger Federer‘s “bête noire” during Federer’s fourth-round win.
CLIMB A MOUNTAIN, RUN A MARATHON: There have been high-profile charity efforts outside of tennis by female players before Caroline Wozniacki‘s planned New York Marathon effort, which will be in November. The last big one was in 2010 when Martina Navratilova tried to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Then 54, Martina led a team of 25 climbers that came within 4,540 feet of Africa’s highest summit, which is 19,340 feet high. But due to a stomach infection and altitude sickness, she had to endure an all-night rescue. She was carried down the mountain on a stretcher and spent three days in a Kenyan hospital.
LET THEM EAT CAKE: After a reporter told Victoria Azarenka that she had just won her 100th Grand Slam match, the fun-loving vet said, “Really? Where is my cake, then? Like for real…Thank you. Put some icing on it.”
THE EUPHORIA NEVER GETS OLD: After Rennae Stubbs asked Federer, “Do you ever get sick of this, the euphoria?” Roger surprisingly replied, “I get sick to my stomach, because it is the biggest court in the world.”
