New York can make you, and it can ruin you. Fast.

Case in point: Novak Djokovic.

Last year, in his two weeks at the Open, Djokovic transformed himself, on our stage, before our very eyes, from a gifted-but-little-known Serbian up-and-comer into a full-fledged star. Yes, it had much to do with his daring, nerveless play, but it was more than that.

Robert De Niro and wife Grace Hightower sat in the Djokovic player's box during his Open final against Roger Federer; they treated him to dinner at Nobu during the tournament and at Wakiya after he lost the final. Maria Sharapova cheered him on every step of the way, and rumors started running high that they began dating at the Open.  read more »

Roger Federer has found his game. He's playing confidently, elegantly and has reestablished himself as the player to beat in this tournament. With the rain holding off for just long enough, Federer outlasted Novak Djokovic in four sets, taking the last set 6-2.

Djokovic, who started to find his own game in the second set, uncharacteristically unraveled toward the end of the match; he started rushing his points, stopped chasing balls and had the look of a guy who couldn't wait to get out of New York. His post-match presser is going to be interesting.

At the end of the match, Mary Jo Fernandez asked 4-time U.S. Open champ Roger Federer who he'd rather see in the finals: Rafa or Andy Murray. He didn't dodge the question.

"I'll say Rafa," he said.

Please bring it on.  

Well, this is going to be an interesting day!

Today, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic square off at 11am (promptly!) at Ashe. Nadal and Murray follow, though the USTA allows the possibiltiy that they may play on Armstrong.

We thought we retired that court four days ago, but with the possibility of squeezing the men's finals and the women's finals on the same day is too tempting for the USTA. And they may play both men's semis at the same time.

This is something the USTA has never faced over the last four decades, and here comes a ridiculously insane day of tennis.

Will they get it through?

Boo, Hanna!

Andy Roddick said that his comments about Novak Djokovic's various injuries were all a big joke.

"Listen, I joke all the time. I don't think anybody in their right mind takes me serious. I think it's very clear when I give a serious answer and when I don't give a serious answer."

Well, maybe not.

"I don't know if, you know -- he took it as seriously," he said. "I figure if you're going to joke and imitate other people and do the whole deal, then you should take it."

Both Roddick and Djokovic said they wouldn't discuss anything they said to each other in the locker room after the match.  read more »

I caught up with Novak Djokovic's agent Benito Pérez-Barbadillo after last night's PR disaster, and he said a center court interview was definitely the wrong place for Novak to vent his anger.

"He’s young, and he’s learning," said Mr. Pérez-Barbadillo "He learns from defeats, and he learns from wins and he learns from life. He’s 21 years old and he had a shit day yesterday. You have a bad day yesterday and when a friend of yours, or someone you think is a friend of yours, says something and it’s taken from the press and all over the world and you feel hurt--he chose the wrong audience to say where he said and he learned from that.  read more »

The Serbian sweetheart of 2007 has lost his New York support.

That bad blood between Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick that we discussed? It bubbled all over center court last night. After Djokovic's hard-earned four set victory over Andy Roddick last night, he shot back in a post-match on-court interview at Roddick for implying that he was faking his injuries.

"Well obviously, you know, Andy was saying I have 16 injuries after last match, so obviously I don't, right?," said Djokovic in the interview. 

The boos began, but Novak, amazingly, did not stop there.

"Like it or not, it's like that," he said.  read more »

We made the argument this week that men's tennis today is looking exactly like the golden age of women's tennis from about eight years ago--its full of high quality tennis, rivalries and interesting characters. The only thing men's tennis appeared to be missing was the Henin-Williams-sisters-type feud. And now it looks like men's tennis has it.

Welcome, to Andy Roddick versus Novak Djokovic. Later tonight, at a little after 8:30 p.m., they'll face off in the quarterfinals. But if you've been listening closely enough, you'll notice some simmering tension.

In Djokovic's last match, he made a big deal of his many ailments: a hip, an ankle, fatigue from a stomach problem.  read more »

Novak Djokovic got his first test of the tournament this afternoon, and now it's Roger Federer's turn. Federer and Igor Andreev have nabbed a set each (at 7-6) and Federer is up a break in the third. At this point, we'll start the women's match at about 8:30, Roddick's match at 10:30, and we'll all be going home well after 1 a.m.

Here's two-time Grand Slam winner and former U.S. Open champion Ilie Nastase talking about Rafa's game in light of Nadal's rather unextraordinary display of tennis against Sam Querrey yesterday.

"Nadal reminds me a little bit of Jimmy Connors," said Nastase. "He wants to win every point. I guess he likes to play the top guys; he plays his best against top guys. I think if he played Federer or Djokovic he would have played a different way [yesterday]."

Nastase said he's rooting for a Federer-Nadal final. "I'd like to see a final again of Nadal and Federer. It would be the best for that."

Correction: Due to pretty unbelievable stupidity, an original version of this post misidentified Ilie Nastase as Guillermo Vilas. We regret the error.

It took three hours and 45 minutes, but an exhausted Novak Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals with a five-set win over Tommy Robredo. It seemed like everything was ailing him: his stomach, his hip, even his ankle. It looks like that stomach ailment that we told you about before the tournament took its toll in this match. 

"If I started joking about all the things that bothered me now, we could talk until tomorrow," he said in an on-court, post-match interview. "Whoever I play [in the quarters] will be physically fitter than me, that's for sure."

It will be the winner of the Andy Roddick-Fernando Gonzalez match.