Category: Blog

Above, Jason Jung: the big news of the day at the US Open Qualifying Tournament was Jung’s hard-fought win over Donald Young

Tuesday August 20th, 2019 – The heat has become a factor in determining which days and how much time I can spend at the National Tennis Center, pursuing my favorite non-musical pastime. I’ve gone to the US Open every Summer since I moved to New York City in 1998. After a few years of attending for main-draw tennis, I discovered the Qualifying Tournament, and I have continued to attend matches during that event even after I gave up on the main tournament as being too expensive and too crowded.

The Qualifying Tournament has changed a lot since I started going. It used to be that only serious tennis buffs would attend. Sometimes only a handful of people would be watching a given match. Hardly any children were to be seen, and cellphones had not yet proliferated our culture. You could watch match after match, sure of getting a seat, and without worrying too much about extraneous distractions.

Over time, the general public has discovered the Qualifying Tournament…and the fact that it’s FREE. The Qualies have become a destination. Baby strollers are now a court-side fixture – even though the occupants themselves are indifferent to the game itself – and hordes of school kids always show up. People who run summer camps bring large groups, giving them something to do for a day.. Shopping, eating, and irrelevant musical entertainment became part of the Qualie Experience.

Despite these developments. I have continued to make the trek to Flushing; I have learned to move about to avoid chatterboxes, bored and fussing children, and listening to cellphone conversations about the most inane things while the players are giving their all. 

The Open has become sleeker, more commercial, more…plastic…over time, and I suppose that was inevitable. But now there’s a different element to the Qualies (and the entire tournament): the heat factor. There have always been the random hot days at the Open, but now they seem far more frequent…and far more intense. Most of the courts are exposed to the baking sun from morning to sunset. I do not know how the players are able to carry on in such conditions; yesterday, apparently, a ball-kid fainted on court.

So, anyway: this year, I skipped the first day – temperatures exceeding 90 degrees were forecast and indeed came to pass. Today the heat was very slightly less extreme, and a breeze kicked up from time to time. I arrived before the 11:00 AM start of play, and planned to stay for the Go Soeda-Tommy Robredo match, which I knew would not start until 6:00 or later. 

Above: Sumit Nagal (an Associated Press image)

Despite wearing a baseball cap and a light-weight long-sleeved shirt, by 4:00 PM I began to feel like the Roasted Swan in CARMINA BURANA. I realized it was time to head home during the Tatsuma Ito-Sumit Nagal match. When their first set was to be decided in a tie-break, I held on to see how it would end. Nagal, a very intense, good-looking guy, won the tie-breaker, and went on to win the match.

But the excitement of the day centered on Jason Jung’s victory over Donald Young. Donald of course had the enthusiastic support of much of the crowd, but a goodly number of Jung admirers were vocal throughout the match – which might have helped propel him to a 3-set victory which ended with a tension-filled tie-breaker. The crowd was hanging on every point.

The exhausted Jung was interviewed on-court after his win…

…and greeted fans…

…and posed for dozens of photos.

One charming element of Fan Week was a band of roving jugglers and stilt-walkers; the girl above towered over me with her out-sized racquet, and cheerily posed for my camera.

My other pictures from today are of players who – unfortunately – lost:

Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino lost to Spain’s Guillermo Garcia Lopez, though Giustino made a fine impression.

Taro Daniel was defeated by Mario Vilella Martinez, a big-hitter who plays a passionate game. Both of the first two sets ended with tie-breakers, with Martinez winning the first and Taro the second. But the Spaniard prevailed at the end.  

Tatsuma Ito, a long-time favorite of mine, got off to a good start against Sumat Nagal, but then the player from India stepped things up a notch or two. 

Despite the horrible heat, I had fun today and will try to go back – but not tomorrow, as I originally planned: I can’t take another episode of baking quite so soon.

~ Oberon