At least in the early going, The Samurai is not present for Sam Querrey's early afternoon fourth round match. Querrey is on serve with Stanislas Wawrinka in the first set, and there are a few thousand people at Ashe right now. It is quiet. Querrey complained earlier this week that he hadn't had a Read More
I've been sad to see the absence of Sam Querrey's cheering squad, The Samurai, this year and I was beginning to wonder if the group had disbanded. This afternoon, there is most definitely a loud cheering squad for Querrey, which presumably consists of former Samurai members, but no body-painters, no Samurai.
I emailed one of Read More
After Sam Querrey's second round win, he said he's "not a huge fan of the scheduling this week."
And how come? He feels like he--and his fellow Americans--have been snubbed.
"We have a lot of Americans here," he said. "None of us play on center court. If you go to the French Open, they have Gasquet, Benneteau, Read More
We've got total revolt at the Open these days. Without the J-Block at full force--poor James Blake had to play on Court tk yesterday in his latter-days--there's no loud American crowd crew to handle the cheering for our underdog American men!
We thought we'd do give it to the Samurai, the cheering squad for Sam Read More
It was an incredible day of tennis on the first Saturday of this U.S. Open. The biggest stories, of course, were John Isner and Melanie Oudin, but it was a day full of excellent matches, Novak Djokovic's hardfought win over Jesse Witten among them. There was so much great play that by Read More
Well, CBS is sitting awfully pretty. Its coverage begins today and the network has what is far and away the best day of matches in the tournament so far. So much to watch:
Roger Federer v. Lleyton Hewitt; Ashe, 11 a.m.:
Now, this really shouldn't be much of a match, but you know, it's two Grand Slam Read More
After five days of eating stadium food, every trip to the player's dining room is making us a little dizzy.
This afternoon we saw three players who have a day off before their next matches. And for two of them, it;s likely to be their last lunch here. Lleyton Hewitt, who has Roger Federer in the Read More
What do hungry players eat?
Sam Querrey was in the player's dining room eating some yogurt--granola, strawberries and berries included--and drinking some Evian, and he had an unopened box of sushi next to him. He was sitting across from John Isner, who was eating a small sandwich.
Outside, Gael Monfils was sitting with about six friends, laughing Read More
Here are two members of The Samurai, the cheering squad for Sam Querrey, who were hanging out immediately after Querrey's gritty four set loss against Rafael Nadal. On the right is Dan Farrugia, a 19-year-old who's studying industrial and labor relations at Cornell and has known Mr. Querrey since the sixth grade; on left Read More
Sam Querrey just proved to the world that he's a real player. He made Rafael Nadal fight for 3 hours and 13 minutes in an incredibly satisfying four-set match. Nadal took the last set 6-3, thanks in large part to Querrey's seven blown break points in the seventh game.
In other action, the 2006 Wimbledon Read More
Move over, J-Block! We've got a new American fan base in town. Sam Querrey's fan club, "The Samurai," is made up of a few bare-chested young fellows who spell out his first name on their bodies, and a few others with white headbands.
I really do prefer The Samurai to the low-rent attitude of the Read More
Honestly, this might be the best day at the Open in years. Each marquee match offers a lot:
Mardy Fish v. Gael Monfils:
Fish is finally coming into form with an impressive victory over James Blake, and now he plays the wonderfully entertaining Gael Monfils who had that fantastic run to the French Open semis Read More
What follows are some excperts from his post-match press briefing after Read More
Week 1 of U.S. Open tennis draws to a conclusion at the end of the day, and with few upsets, we're looking at an incredibly promising second week. Top seeds today all moved to the next round fairly easily.
Rafael Nadal won in straight sets, making very quick work of up-and-comer Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.
Serena Read More
Sam Querrey, the 21-year-old American men's tennis player who has never made it past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament, is moving on to the Round of 16.
He just finished thrasing the lovable Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 in a nearly flawless performance: 45 winners to 13 unforced errors.
In the first Read More
