We learned a lot this year!

We learned that men's tennis has entered a new golden age, and that women's tennis is in disrepair. (Though that didn't stop the women's final from being surprisingly riveting, and the men's final from being something of a bore.)

We noticed that American men like Andy Roddick and James Blake are in the twilight of their careers, but that strong new Americans are emerging -- with more compelling fan support.

We ate (lots of) hot dogs and more exotic fare, and we marveled at the number of pizzas and hamburgers that everyone else consumed.

We walked the grounds and found hoodies, smokers,  read more »

Well, that was fast.

The Roger Federer of old returned this evening and dispatched Andy Murray in a quick and breezy 1 hour, 51 minutes, in three sets, at 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

It was evident early on that Federer wasn't going to let Murray touch him tonight. He blitzed when he needed to, and showed that elegant game that he displayed to devastating effect against Novak Djokovic in the semis.

With Federer's triumphant return, men's tennis leaves this U.S. Open in its best shape in two decades. The parity is incredible: Djokovic grabbed a championship, Nadal found a way to win on clay and grass, Federer won, and newcomer Andy Murray has nudged his way awfully close to the first-tier of top tennis players in the world.

We've entered a new golden age, and Federer just capped off an incredibly stirring 2008 season for the game.

Andy Murray just came off the practice courts and is about two hours from the biggest match of his life.

If he plays anything like the way he played yesterday, Roger Federer might have a real test.

But then again, these matches often come down to big-situation experience (please see: Serena v. Jankovic last night, or Djokovic v. Federer, 2007 U.S. Open final). Prior to this tournament, the 21-year-old Murray had never done better than the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam; Federer has won 12, and has been in the finals in 12 of the last 13 Grand Slams.

Reporters in the press center will be writing B-copy for two story lines: Can Federer shut up all his critics and win his first Grand Slam of the year, his 13th of his career, and his fifth consecutive Open? And can Murray put his stamp on the game and nudge his way into the game's elite group of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic with a major upset?

Murray owns the head-to-head against Federer (he's 2-1), but Federer hasn't lost here since 2003.

In the tennis world, we have grown used to assuming that when good players lose, especially in "upsets," the loser must be suffering from injuries. And the truth of injury declarations has been a factor towards the end of this tournament, as when Novak Djokovic publicly defended himself against Andy Roddick's maybe-joking doubt about Djokovic's medical issues.

In a graceful press conference after his semifinal loss against Andy Murray, though, Rafael Nadal told the truth: Murray just played better.

"Injuries? What injuries?" he said in response to a question which seemed to assume that Nadal must have been dealing with a handicap. "No, no. Not one during all the season."

So, if it wasn't Nadal's injuries, what could possibly have led to this unforeseen victory?!?! "He play better than me and he beat me."

Simple.

The grounds, at about 11:30 this morning. Not a soul in sight here, other than a few scattered security people.

In six hours, there will be more than 23,000 fans here.

Experience prevailed tonight.

Serena Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic in an often nervous but ultimately riveting match 6-4, 7-5.

It lasted over 2 hours, including a 1 hour, 17 minute second set that brought everything to the table: dramatic rallies, set points saved, a match point saved, key errors and stirring winners.

For Serena, it was a coronation of a long road traveled back to the top spot (literally--she's now the no. 1 player in the world). With the top players in women's tennis knocked away with an injury (Sharapova), early retirement (Henin) and a bad loss (Ivanovic), the sport is rewarding the player who hung around the longest, even if it wasn't exactly playing the best tennis we've seen from the game, or the best tennis we've seen from her.  read more »

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 »

In less than an hour, Anita Baker will be on that red carpet singing "America the Beautiful," and shortly thereafter, it'll be time for Serena and Jelena.

It is, also, bigger than a Saturday night match or a Sunday evening match--the traditional time for the women's and men's finals, respectively--and the biggest primetime slot ever dedicated for tennis: 9 p.m., CBS, Sunday night (the only other primetime Sunday night match was that ridiculous "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition in 1973).

The downside is that the women's final will have plenty of competition tonight: NBC has the first Sunday night football game of the 2008 NFL season; ABC has a primetime benefit concert that's featuring Janet Jackson and Jessica Simpson; MTV has the Video Music Awards; HBO has the season premiere of Entourage.  read more »

The top tier of men's tennis has gotten so deep and so good in the last year and now it'll have to welcome a new member: Andy Murray.

Murray just defeated the 5-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in four sets, winning the fourth set on the biggest stage in tennis with a 6-4 victory. He broke Nadal twice, and owned the entire game on his racquet. In the match, he had 65 winners, and 54 errors, compared to the 32 and 40 for Nadal.

Unfortunately, we will not have a Nadal and Federer final for a third consecutive Grand Slam. The good news is Murray is worthy of the men's finals--this is clearly his breakthrough tournament and he absolutely exhausted Nadal today.  read more »

About 26 hours after the match was delayed yesterday, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have resumed play at a packed-house at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a far cry from their match at a half-filled Louis Armstrong yesterday.

And Nadal, who was up a break in third set yesterday, has taken the set, 6-4.

Reflection on early play: Nadal held all three of his service games, but Murray, particularly in the last game, played really nice defense. The conventional wisdom going into today's match was that Nadal, a 5-time Grand Slam Champion and a veteran for matches like this one, would come out today playing with soaring confidence and Murray, a neophyte to this stage, would play tight. Not so. Murray had a break chance on Nadal's serve, and just missed getting the game evened at 5-5.

We're going to have a good final two (one?) sets.