It has been six years since I was involved in the US Open build-up with a player and hopefully the main draw of the Open. The previous time was 2001 when Martin Lee lost in five sets to Sjeng Schalken which arguably is the best tennis match he ever played. Jez Green has been with Wes Moodie from Newport where he made semis, LA (2ndnd round, quarters of doubles) and Cincinnati where he lost first round qualifying 6-4 in the third set to Sebastien Grosjean. Wes is taking on a lot of new information and hopefully much of it will be in place in time for the Open.  round, semis of doubles), a physical training week and then I joined them for Washington (2

Andy Roddick won Washington and does great with his competitive spirit yet the problem persists with him serving then moving to the net and his late or non-existent split step when he gets to the net. I cannot see him winning another Slam unless he sorts out these two issues. As I write this Novak Djokovic will play Federer in the Canadian open final. Novak beat Nadal last night and is probably No 2 in the world on hard courts so it will be interesting to see if he has closed the gap on Roger to the point where he can take a set and really trouble him. He certainly has the key ingredient which is belief. I think this match will also be the US Open final. 

The US Open women’s event is wide open with the Williams sisters not playing much beforehand so there will be little guide to their form. I have a suspicion that Serena will bounce back to win if she is fit but Henin is always tough and Ivanovic is constantly improving and gaining belief. Sharapova is dangerous as long as she does not run into a Williams, since they both have her number at the moment. Other floaters who can do damage are Jankovic (semis last year), Safarova and Petrova.  

The MCTA is progressing well. Wes is in full preparation for the Open whilst Ilija is playing his first two Futures (pro) events before coming to Canadian Open Juniors and then the US Open. It would be fantastic if he could gain an ATP ranking point which makes scheduling so much easier. Henri Kontinen will play a Futures and then join Ilija. Both girls are on holiday (yes we do allow them!) and will return to play two Challengers in Russia later in the month. 

Enjoy the viewing as we know New York always produced some great matches especially their night matches which have their own unique atmosphere.

David

We now know that Djokovic has closed the gap with his fantastic win 7-6 2-6 7-6 over Roger. Novak has eventually moved himself into a position where he has changed the big 2 into the big 3 which is fantastic for tennis. The US Open will definitely be a more interesting tournament given this result.