U.S. Open

As we warned you earlier today, Serena Williams played in a nail-biter this evening and eventually beat Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-6 .

When she left the court this evening, she complained to a friend that she was completely frustrated. She said the same later.  

“I was upset after the match,” she said. “I didn’t feel that I played the greatest at all. I actually felt I didn’t play well at all.”  read more »

More than two hours after his 4 hour, 44 minute marathon match had ended, Novak Djokovic sat on a bench inside Arthur Ashe waiting to go back to his hotel on Lexington Avenue. He had just finished several rounds of interviews and I asked him how his cramped-up legs felt.

“Exhausted,” he said.

The match he just completed was nothing short of fantastic -- high quality tennis with long rallies, impossibly good shots and an electric crowd.

“It was a lot of fun,” Djokovic said. “We had great entertainment and the crowd loved it.”  read more »

Novak Djokovic just survived a heart-racing four-hour, 44-minute, five-set test, winning 7-6 (7-2) in a tie-break in the final set. Djokovic survived a two-set-to-one deficit and cramps in both legs.

"The match is unforgettable, I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for coming," Djokovic said at the end.

We'll have so much more shortly.

A barn-burner at Louis Armstrong: Novak Djokovic has won the fourth set 7-5 in a remarkably challenging second round match against the gangly veteran Radek Stepanek. They’ve been on the court for 3 hours and 45 minutes and both players are feeling it. Djokovic had a trainer come out twice in the third and Stepanek called for the medical assistance at 4-5 in the fourth set.

By the way, Djokovic never makes it easy. At Wimbledon alone, he played in 10 tie-breaks during his trip to the Semis. I'll keep you updated.

After last night's exhilarating action, we've got some great tennis to follow up.

At 11am, Justine Henin plays at Ashe while Novak Djokovic plays at Louis Armstrong. In the afternoon, Ana Ivanovic, Tim Henman, Marion Bartoli and Serena Williams all play.

Lleyton Hewitt will play on Louis Armstrong at night, while Venus Williams and the injured Rafael Nadal play at Ashe.

Match to watch for: Mardy Fish v. Tommy Robredo at 1pm on Ashe. Fish is hot and he gets the big stage to take on the nunmber 8 player in the world. A solid chance for a major upset.

James Blake just met with the press. I'll have a full wrap in the morning, but here are a few quotes on winning his first-ever five set match and what this could mean for the rest of the tournament.  read more »

Happy Birthday, Andy Roddick! The 2003 U.S. Open Champ turned 25 today and won after Jose Acasuso retired after the third set. Other ranked straight sets winners today: Tomas Berdych, Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Andy Murray both needed to go the distance to win their matches.

Men's no. 14 Guillermo Canas was upset today and Tommy Haas is down a set, which you can track here.

Maria Sharapova and James Blake play tonight.

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 »

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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A lawyer for Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine wants a retraction from Mark Ames, the publisher of the Moscow-based alt-zine Exile.

Ames published an "In Brief" item that began: "The former lover of tennis star Maria Sharapova, Maroon 5's frontman Adam Levine, revealed yesterday why he broke off their brief romance," and continued to explain that the returning U.S. Open star disoriented him by making no noise during sex.

The offending item, which Mr. Ames has since told The Transom that the piece had been written in five minutes from a hotel room in California, and was intended as “throwaway satire” to fill space.

“Americans are the most gullible fucking morons on Planet Earth,” he said.

Apparently not just Americans.

Here's what Mr. Levine's lawyer, Jeffrey Worob of Serling Rooks & Ferrara, said in an email to Mr. Ames:

Since the time of your posting, several other news outlets around the world have picked up your "story" and reported it as true in their publications. As such, Mr. Levine has been forced to address the statements and defend his character.

The legal letter--and a draft of the response Mr. Ames plans to publish in his newspaper, are after the jump.  read more »

Roger Federer might be the greatest all-around player ever, and his rival Rafael Nadal might be the best of all time on clay.

Novak Djokovic, a 20-year-old Serbian, is ready to make the case—a more convincing one than we’ve seen in years—that there’s room for three players at the top.  read more »

Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic, 19 and 20, threaten to up-end U.S. Open; McEnroe says he’s better than Roddick; she’s already the hottest.  read more »