Opening statements

If you want to be successful in life, you need to look for your openings – i.e., the opportunities that can be the gateways to reaching your goals. This analogy is very appropriate, and sometimes literal, for athletes – as an ice hockey player looks to shoot at an unguarded corner of the net – but it applies to nearly all aspects of life as well.

For business entrepreneurs, an opening may be that specific group of clients you need to target, or that perfect business partner that can help get your idea in motion. For an aspiring lawyer, an opening may be talking to the right people at your law school, or performing like a seasoned professional at an interview.

My opening starts next week. Appropriately enough, it’s called the U.S. Open.

Starting on Monday, I will be at Flushing Meadows four fourteen straight days, working towards my goal of a career in tennis. From morning until night, I will be doing everything from writing match reports for USOpen.org, to ushering non-credentialed people out of courtside seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It’s all very exciting, and I want to document it in such a way that I can look back on it many years down the road. That’s where [G/R] comes in.

When I went to the United Kingdom three years ago, I saved nearly everything that I acquired, because I wanted to make a scrapbook when I got home. That very book sits on my desk next to me, and is something I treasure immensely thanks to the memories it reminds me of. It includes plenty of pictures, but also more obscure items such as boarding passes, foreign currency, and an opened bag of chips (crisps).

I’ll be taking loads of pictures and video during these next two weeks with a new digital camera I recently bought. It’s a luxury I somehow did without when I went to the U.K., as I used seven or eight disposable film cameras. Crazy, huh? This time, I want to do a little more besides camerawork. Each night when I return to the apartment of my gracious hosts in Queens, I’ll have a short diary entry here at [G/R]. The post might talk about the matches I watched, the people I saw, or even just the food I ate. Whatever it is, I encourage you to stop by and see what happened at the U.S. Open – as it happened.

A number of people have been asking me about my predictions for the Open. Since I won’t be around too often during the tournament, this seems like a fine time to speak on these matters. (Here’s the draw if you haven’t seen it.)

- The first semifinalist should be Roger Federer, for obvious reasons. The three-time defending champion has handled Andy Roddick every time they’ve played, and even when it was close (2006 Tennis Masters Cup), Federer still emerged victorious. You only need to look at the 2006 U.S. Open final and the 2007 Australian Open semifinal to know my feelings on how this inevitable quarterfinal will play out.

Also, I’m glad I didn’t put a side bet on Richard Gasquet to win the Open…he’s in this loaded quarter of the draw as well.

- James Blake should best his U.S. Open quarterfinal appearances this year, as he’s my pick for the second semifinalist. There are many reasons why I think it will be James’ time to shine. Consider the seeded players in this quarter: the top seed is Nikolay Davydenko, who Blake easily dispatched of in Cincinnati (he’s also 6-0 against him). Andy Murray is still injured. Nicolas Almagro and Fillipo Volandri do their best work on clay. We haven’t heard from Guillermo Canas since Indian Wells and Miami. Tommy Haas always goes far in Grand Slams, but not that far. The only opponent for James that I’d be worried about is Marcos Baghdatis, but if they meet, Marcos will fall just like last year – amidst a heavily partisan crowd.

- Today at the Pilot Pen tournament on ESPN, Patrick McEnroe, Chris Fowler and Pam Shriver did some forecasting for the Open, with many of them picking Lleyton Hewitt to either emerge from this half of the draw, or at worst, be a very viable dark horse. I’m still not sold on Hewitt making a big splash. Sure, he won in Vegas this year, but that’s his only title since June 2006. In addition, he hasn’t reached the semis of a major since 2005. Lleyton might make it to week two, but not to the end of week two.

Instead, I like Novak Djokovic to take down this quarter. The analysts had a good point about the Serbian – this is the first time in a Grand Slam that he’s really expected to go deep. Many like Djokovic over Nadal in this half of the draw. Considering what we saw in Montreal, it’s tough to disagree.

- Speaking of Nadal, he’s in the final quarter of the draw. I’m picking him to emerge from it, but the possible third round match against Dmitry Tursunov has me worried. Remember, he lost to Mikhail Youzhny – a Russian with a similar game to Tursunov’s – here at the Open last year. Once again, it was a quiet summer for Nadal on hard courts, so there is some trepidation in penciling Rafa to play Novak in the semis. Week one for Rafa is loaded with possible landmines in Tursunov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Janko Tipsarevic. But I think if Nadal can get into week two, he’ll take care of business en route to the final four.