Andy Roddick is Gone. John Isner Has Eliminated Andy Roddick

An Andy Roddick vs Roger Federer semi-finals was my prediction before the US Open. After all Andy Roddick had beaten John Isner at Washington 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 and this has only been John Isner's 2nd year playing professional tennis, after all but dominating NCAA tennis for several years. If you looked at the numbers of saturday's match between Roddick and Isner you would have concluded that Roddick had won the match - Roddick had broken Isner's serve twice, whereas Isner only broke Roddick's serve once. Roddick had won 162 points to Isner's 155. Roddick had only 20 unforced errors to Isner's 52. Isner was able to win in the tie breakers in set one and set 5.
Andy Roddick felt good coming to the US Open, especially after his appearance in the 2009 Wimbledon Tournament. He met a tough opponent with the 6'9" John Isner. John Isner will now go onto face No. 10 Fernando Verdasco of Spain. My money is on Isner to pull off another upset. Andy Roddick is a much tougher opponent then Verdasco, and after all Isner has no pressure on him to win, he wasn't supposed to beat Roddick.

America's 17 year old wreaking crew Melanie Oudin has beaten fourth-seed Elena Dementieva and 29th seeded Maria Sharapova in one week! I was cheering for her all through the Oudin - Sharapova match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. You have to believe that her next opponent 13th-seed Nadia Petrova will be the victim of the teenage Melanie Oudin and her believe sneakers.
While the press claims that the defeat of #1 seeded Dinara Safina by the 19 year old Petra Zhul Kvitová ranked 72, was an upset. I do not agree, it just confirms that Dinara Safina's carreer of choking during the the major Grand Slam tournaments continues. Safina just can not win the big tourneys. She has managed to aquire the number one rank over Serena Williams, is because she has played two more tourney's then Serena and she is only 800 points ahead of Serena. Hopefully, with Safina's early exit in the US Open and Serena can win US Open Grand Slam, to go along with the 2009 Australian and Wimbledon, she will be #1..

The Awe -Inspiring Story of Taylor Dent

To watch a player who was never going to play tennis again, was truly inspirational. The way the crowd cheered him on in the fifth set was incredible. His serve once topped out at 147 miles an hour. A 138 mph serve broke the strapping on the net, which caused a 7 minute delay in the game. After five long sets against Spain’s Ivan Navarro, Taylor Dent was victorious after the fifth set tie breaker - a match that took just a little over 4 hours to play. The crowd, as well as this blogger, was truly behind him as everybody chanted his name.

Two years ago Taylor Dent underwent surgery twice for his back. He had been told that he would never play tennis again. He had seen a promising career disintegrate because of his back problems. At one time, before his back surgery, he was ranked as high as 21 at the time. Yesterday, he was ranked at 195. Dent's next opponent will be Andy Murray, this will probably end Taylor Dent's magical experience at the US Open.

Rafael Nadal beat 129th seeded Kiefer - 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the next round against 32nd seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.


Andy Murray beat 87th-ranked Paul Capdeville of Chile 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. It seems that losing the second set, served more as a wake-up call, and Andy Murray quickly disposed of Paul Capdeville in the next two sets.

Rafael Nadal Will Not Be a Factor in the 2009 US Open

More Grand Slam excitement starts today. Will Roger Federer be able to win his 6th US Open Championship and take home the $1.5+ million dollars. 2009 will prove to be as good as 2008 was as bad for Roger Federer. If he wins the 2009 US Open he will have won 3 of the 4 Grand Slams.

There are a couple of obstacles to him winning the 2009 US Open, namely Andy Murray and Andy Roddick. I do not think that Rafael Nadal will be a factor in the 2009 US Open. I have written more about this in my article Roger Federer Wants to Play a Healthy Rafael Nadal in the 2009 US Open Grand Slam. Rafael Nadal has never gotten past the semifinals at the US Open. The US Open is Roger Federer's French Open - it took Roger years to win the French Open.

Is It Andy Roddick's Turn to Win the US Open?

After a successful 2009 Wimbledon, even though Andy Roddick did not win the match, he could have very well have won, Andy has shown the world that he will be a force to reckon with in August/September at the US Open.

Roger Federer has reported to the media that he would like to play Rafael Nadal in the US Open. The way the Tennis draws are set up Rafael Nadal would have to get past Andy Roddick first. That will be a difficult task. Having Rafael Nadal at the US Open will make the tournament more exciting and competitive.