Roger Federer

hen Novak Djokovic checked into the Barclay on 48th Street three weeks ago, he was a little-known tennis player from Serbia.

He’ll leave New York a star.

By the time Djokovic, 20, reached yesterday’s final, he had impressed a tennis world with his play and won crowds over with his emotive personality.

Off the court, the celebrity treatment started even earlier.  read more »

Two weeks of stunning tennis have transformed the Serbian phenom.  read more »

U.S. Open champion Roger Federer was asked tonight whether Novak Djokovic was ready to unseat Rafael Nadal as the second best player in tennis.

"I guess Nadal is still No. 2, but it's getting closer," he said. "It probably depends who finishes better at the end of the year."

"No. 2, No. 3, doesn't matter much," he continued. "It's No. 1 that matters."

And there's no one else close.

I tried it again, and nothing bad happened.

So here, for our third and final attempt at live-blogging the Open, I'll be presenting a running account of the men's final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic live from Arthur Ashe Stadium.

4:24: Liza Minnelli is seriously winded after performing "New York, New York" on a red carpet on center court. The crowd seemed entertained by her performance too.

4:46: Wow. Federer abandons his traditional Sunday blue in favor of the all-black "Darth Federer" look.

4:48: Maria Sharapova in Djokovic's box. Really?

For my live action click 'Read More'  read more »

Novak Djokovic's coach, Marian Vajda, said the game plan that led them to success in Montreal last month will be similar to the one they use against Roger Federer today.

"We know a couple things, a couple weaknesses that we talked about before the match in Montreal," he said. "It's not going to change a lot."

What kind of weaknesses?

"I don't tell you now," he said. "It's kind of secret before the match. Sorry about that."  read more »

Later today, the 20-year-old Novak Djokovic will become the third youngest man to ever play in a U.S. Open Final. The only ones younger were Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg.  read more »

“They’ve named it twice—New York, New York—but there can only be one winner at U.S.T.A.!” said U.S. Open veteran J.R. Reid, a “cool 36,” who was born and raised in Harlem.

“My favorite part is the finals. When we get down to the finals, when we get down to the bread and butter—who’s going to win, who’s going to go home,” Reid said. “It’s a beautiful match for two weeks, but this is New York, so there’s only one winner. That’s what I look forward to.”  read more »

I asked tennis’ most consistent overachiever over the last 15 years, retired American Todd Martin, what he would do to beat Roger Federer.

His answer: "For me, as somewhat limited as my game was, there’s only one option: to be as aggressive as I can—to get him on the first hit as often as possible. In order to do that there has to be a variety of attacks or an attack that makes Roger as uncomfortable as humanly possible.”

What advice does he offer today’s players?

“You have to understand that the most unique thing about our sport is the way we score. You don’t have to win more points than him. You don’t have to win more games than him. You have to just win them at the right time. If you want to break serve against a better player—and he’s better than everyone else—you have to accept losing games where you don’t make him play. Then hope you’ll win four out of six points, or five out of eight points and so forth. All you have to do is do that one time a set if you serve well.

“Sometimes you’re gonna look silly cause he’s more athletic than you and he’s more skilled than you. But you have to defend your serve and figure out a way—string a couple of points together here and there.”

Roger Federer once again proved himself unstoppable, but Andy Roddick played incredibly well.

Start with these total stats for both players:

Winners: 90

Unforced: 42

Doubles: 0

"It was great tennis," said Federer.

"I didn't make mistakes," said Roddick. "If he hits a 140, hits the back of the line, you know, whatever."  read more »

Tonight, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer will square off in what is perhaps the most uneven rivalry in tennis.(Federer leads the head-to-head, 13-1). Roddick said that he knows expectations are low.

But Roddick is looking good—he hasn’t dropped a set in the Open—and Federer has lost two first sets (wow!) in this tournament.

I asked one my favorite experts, Jon Wertheim, for his take on the match.  read more »

To listen to Andy Roddick over the last two weeks, you'd think he was closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He said before the Open began, "I still feel like I have another Slam in me. At least that's what I'm shooting for."

Then he said this today about his potential quarterfinal date with Roger Federer: "I'm excited. I expect a lot of myself. I don't think anybody else really expects much from me."  read more »

Labor Day Match of the Day: Andy Roddick versus Tomas Berdych. Neither player has dropped a set in this tournament and the winner will be rewarded with a quarterfinals match against Roger Federer. Tommy Haas and James Blake have both endured bloody lead-ins and they’ll clash this afternoon.

The women’s bottom draw will get clearer tonight: the upstart Israeli Shahar Peer will take on the upstart Pole Aggie Radwanska.

It’s the hotly anticipated match of the first week. Federer v. Isner: The giant of tennis versus the boy giant.

It’s not really a matter if Isner can beat Federer -- no one thinks that -- but about how good a fight the young American can put up. Everyone seems to agree that Isner could be a headache.

“John probably has a game that can make Roger a little bit more uncomfortable than most people just because you can go game sometimes without hitting a ball,” said Andy Roddick when asked about the match.  read more »

In addition to the big news of Rafael Nadal's injury, the big news out of yesterday's play was the number 7 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile lost in five sets yesterday, becoming the highest-seeded player to crash out of the tournament and potentially clearing a path for American Robby Ginepri to move into the third round.

Also last night, boy-giant John Isner won in straight sets, setting up a tantalizing third round match-up with Roger Federer to be played this weekend.
John McEnroe said of Isner: "This guy's gonna be a headache for Federer."

Match of the Day today: Impressive American prospect Donald Young takes on the super-talented and super-emotional Richard Gasquet at Louis Armstrong a little after noon.

Men's number one seed Roger Federer will play tonight and women's number one Justine Henin will play a little after 12 p.m.

Which is fine by each of them.

Here's how Federer on night matches: "I prefer them over the day sessions, to be honest... It's more special--electrifying. The crowds come out in big numbers."  read more »

At around 2:30 p.m., South African doubles player Jeff Coetzee dropped by the Julien Farel salon for a quick trim. (This year, for the first time, Farel has set up shop on the third floor of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, down the hall from the players lounge.)

"I just felt cleaning things up," said Mr. Coetzee, as stylist Stephanie Mille worked her clippers around his sides and neck area. "Some players are very superstitious about their hair. But I'm not."  read more »

Is former champion Lleyton Hewitt the dark horse of this year's open?

That's the talk around here this week and if today's match was any indication -- he rolled over University of Illinois grad Amer Delic in straight sets -- he's in his best form in years.

"When you feel confident within yourself, you're happy with where your game's at, you enjoy it a lot more," he said today.

Hewitt, a 26-year-old 16th seed, won his two Grand Slams when men's tennis was in a tattered state -- post-Sampras, pre-Federer.

Since the advent of Federer and Nadal, Hewitt was left in the dust.

"Roger or Nadal, they're consistent and they have the firepower," Delic said today. " I think that's where Lleyton gets lost a little bit."

But Hewitt has made the argument this year that his game -- he's arguably still the best serve-returner in tennis -- is coming back to form.

In his last Grand Slam at Wimbledon, he made it to the 4th round and lost a knock-down, dragout five-setter to Novak Djokovic. And in a tournament in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, he brought Roger Federer the distance in a semifinal in which Federer needed two tiebreaks to win.

Hewitt, who last won at Wimbledon in 2002, thinks he's still got what it takes to win another Grand Slam.

"I believe that, yeah, it's in me, that's for sure."  read more »

I ran into celeb-coach Brad Gilbert -- the man who resurrected Andre Agassi's career and led Andy Roddick to his only Grand Slam -- and asked him for his thoughts on how to beat the rarely beatable Roger Federer.

"I coach [Andy] Murray, so the advice is in here," he said, tapping his head. "Won't give that away."

Was there anything he could tell us? Anything at all?

"No. Not about somebody that my guy can potentially play. I don't want [Federer] to read about it. Andy might have to play against him, so I don't want him to see or read nothing."

Okay!

I'm reading a transcript from the Roger Federer press conference, which I missed.

Q. What do you know about Althea Gibson?

ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. You're putting me on the spot. I don't know what you're talking about.

Q. She's being honored tonight.

ROGER FEDERER: It's before my time. Isn't much I can really say about it.  read more »

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Each morning here at the Observer's U.S. Open blog we're going to tell you what to look out for in the day's action. Today's tip: arrive early!

The heavy-hitters -- Jelena Jankovic, Justine Henin, Roger Federer -- will steal the spotlight at Arthur Ashe today. But you know how these first-round matches go: some of them are over in 40 minutes. If you have a pass that lets you into Arthur Ashe, don't be late.  read more »

According to the friendly tennis pro at Paragon, customers come in throughout the year looking for their favorite professional player’s racquet, but it’s nothing like U.S. Open season.

“It happens all the time!” said David Billings, who’s spent the last three years in the tennis department of the sporting goods store, located at 867 Broadway off Union Square. “People come in and ask, ‘What racquet does Federer use?’ ‘What racquet does Nadal use?’”  read more »

Last week, Serbian tennis sensation Novak Djokovic was speaking on the phone from the Barclay on 48th Street. It was close to 9pm and a group of friends were waiting patiently outside his hotel room waiting to party in Manhattan.

“Everyone is beatable,” Djokovic said. “No one is unbeatable.”

He was discussing Roger Federer, the 11-time Grand Slam winner who Djokovic had defeated in the Rogers Cup Final, a US Open tune-up, nine days earlier.  read more »

Welcome to the New York Observer's U.S. Open blog.

For the next 14 days, Spencer Morgan and I will be in and around the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing gathering stories, game analysis and observations from the tournament.

Stay with us, and please keep in touch (as often as you like) about what we’re doing and what else you’d like to see. We’ll do our best to oblige.  read more »

Roddick loves the nightlife! The prospect of beating his long-time nemesis, Roger Federer, is not the only thing Andy Roddick is looking forward to at this U.S. Open. It's playing ... under the stars! From Reuters:

"It's probably my favorite tournament as far as the electricity in the air," he said. "I've had a lot of night matches there and it's just something you look forward to."  read more »

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