Category: Blog

US Open Qualifying Tournament 2015 – Day 1

Above: Renzo Olivo, of Argentina, serving in the sunshine

Tuesday August 25th, 2015 – Right up until the morning of, I was unsure if I’d be making my annual trek to the US Open qualifying tournament this year. Over the last two or three years, I have changed from being a “Summer person” to being a “Winter person”. I – who used to sunbathe avidly, and always loved hot, steamy weather – have done a complete volte face. I now find heat and humidity oppressive and really annoying.

But the lure of watching tennis live overwhelmed my concerns for comfort and so, after having a ‘private car’ on the 7 train out to the tennis center, I tried to ignore the sun beating down and the trickles of sweat. Around 2:00 a lovely breeze kicked in, and if you sat high enough up in the stands, you could maintain reasonable comfort.

The day started badly as two of my favorites went down to defeat: Tatsuma Ito (above) was over-powered by the big-hitting Russian Aslan Karatsev…

…whilst Somdev Devvarman (above) fell in a three set battle to the Slovakian Norbert Gombos.

Wei had asked me to check out the tall young Chinese player Ze Zhang (above), who won his first-set in an exciting tie-breaker against France’s Tristan Lamasine. In the second set, Ze Zhang was serving for the match but somehow lost a bit of momentum; Lamasine stepped up his level and took the set. In the deciding third, Ze Zhang seemed to be hobbled by an injury to his serving arm; his big serve was compromised and often he would just tap the ball into play. The trainer was out and did what he could to alleviate the problem, but Lamasine took advantage of the situation, playing even harder and forcing a victory. The Chinese crowd were demoralized. But Ze Zhang has the goods; I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of him in the seasons to come.

Japanese-American Taro Daniel (above), who impressed me at last Summer’s tournament, played a beautiful, dominating first set against the Argentine Renzo Olivo; Taro’s serve has a lovely slice to it. Olivo made some headway in the second, but Taro kept his cool and swept to victory.

I so enjoyed watching Taro’s match from my perch up in the stands. It was everything I love about tennis.

Above: Taro Daniel after the match.

I would have loved to have stayed on to see the 19-year-old Swede Elias Ymer, and my longtime favorite Alejandro Falla, but I was already sunburnt, and so I grabbed a big bottle of water and headed for the train. Both Ymer and Falla won their matches today, so hopefully I can catch them in the next round.

August 26, 2015
US Open Qualifying Tournament 2015 – Day 1

Above: Renzo Olivo, of Argentina, serving in the sunshine

Tuesday August 25th, 2015 – Right up until the morning of, I was unsure if I’d be making my annual trek to the US Open qualifying tournament this year. Over the last two or three years, I have changed from being a “Summer person” to being a “Winter person”. I – who used to sunbathe avidly, and always loved hot, steamy weather – have done a complete volte face. I now find heat and humidity oppressive and really annoying.

But the lure of watching tennis live overwhelmed my concerns for comfort and so, after having a ‘private car’ on the 7 train out to the tennis center, I tried to ignore the sun beating down and the trickles of sweat. Around 2:00 a lovely breeze kicked in, and if you sat high enough up in the stands, you could maintain reasonable comfort.

The day started badly as two of my favorites went down to defeat: Tatsuma Ito (above) was over-powered by the big-hitting Russian Aslan Karatsev…

…whilst Somdev Devvarman (above) fell in a three set battle to the Slovakian Norbert Gombos.

Wei had asked me to check out the tall young Chinese player Ze Zhang (above), who won his first-set in an exciting tie-breaker against France’s Tristan Lamasine. In the second set, Ze Zhang was serving for the match but somehow lost a bit of momentum; Lamasine stepped up his level and took the set. In the deciding third, Ze Zhang seemed to be hobbled by an injury to his serving arm; his big serve was compromised and often he would just tap the ball into play. The trainer was out and did what he could to alleviate the problem, but Lamasine took advantage of the situation, playing even harder and forcing a victory. The Chinese crowd were demoralized. But Ze Zhang has the goods; I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of him in the seasons to come.

Japanese-American Taro Daniel (above), who impressed me at last Summer’s tournament, played a beautiful, dominating first set against the Argentine Renzo Olivo; Taro’s serve has a lovely slice to it. Olivo made some headway in the second, but Taro kept his cool and swept to victory.

I so enjoyed watching Taro’s match from my perch up in the stands. It was everything I love about tennis.

Above: Taro Daniel after the match.

I would have loved to have stayed on to see the 19-year-old Swede Elias Ymer, and my longtime favorite Alejandro Falla, but I was already sunburnt, and so I grabbed a big bottle of water and headed for the train. Both Ymer and Falla won their matches today, so hopefully I can catch them in the next round.

August 25, 2015
US Open Qualifying Tournament 2015 – Day 2

Above: Yoshihito Nishioka

Wednesday August 26th, 2015 – Today’s first match at the US Open qualifying tournament was a tough one for me, because I really like both players and I didn’t want to see either one of them lose. Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who recently made tennis news with this improbable shot, was pitted against Yuki Bhambri of India.

Above: Yuki Bhambri

Yuki is much taller than Yoshi, with a powerful build. But Yoshi, a lefty, has great technical skills and is able to generate strong pace. For eight games, they stayed on serve and there were some very dynamic rallies. Nishioka broke Bhambri in the 9th game and was able to stave off 3 break points in the following game to take the set.

The second set found the Japanese experiencing a perceptible dip in energy. Bhambri took advantage; he broke Nishioka and held on to take the set 6-1. I did a walkabout, wondering which way the match would go.

When I got back to the court, a breeze had kicked up and Nishioka, having changed to a red shirt, seemed revitalized. He took control and, with some well-fought points along the way, won the match…and the crowd’s acclaim.

Another fine Japanese player, Yuichi Sugita (above), was unfazed by the powerful hitting of his imposing opponent, Austria’s Gerald Melzer. Melzer had his moments, and his fans, and he managed to break Sugita in the second set. But overall, Sugita sailed confidently through the match with the authority of a young prince. I really loved watching him play.

Above: Yuichi Sugita

After the Sugita-Melzer match, I’d hoped to see Nicolas Almagro in action. Yes, surprisingly the Spaniard, who had a career-high ranking of #9 in 2011 – has fallen down the charts following a prolonged layoff to recover from an injury and was thus forced to qualify for the US Open. Approaching the court where Almagro was playing, I could see there was no chance of getting anywhere within viewing distance. I later heard that he won his match, so that augurs well.

August 25, 2015
Summer Morning

This is the Summer of my discontent, I guess…

July 28, 2015
Maria

Maria

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)

July 26, 2015
Maria

Maria

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)

July 25, 2015
Führerbunker

Above: the Berlin Holocaust Memorial

On Thursday April 30th, 2015, the 70th anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler will be marked. On that date in 1945, with the Red Army only blocks from his bunker underneath the Reich Chancellery, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide.

On 16 January 1945, Hitler had moved into the Führerbunker, a secure underground haven of residential and office space from whence he continued to rule Germany for three more months. He was joined by his senior staff, Martin Bormann, and later by Eva Braun. At some point Joseph Goebbels with his wife Magda and their six children also took up residence in the upper Vorbunker. Two or three dozen support, medical, and administrative staff were also living there. These included Hitler’s secretaries (among them Traudl Junge), a nurse named Erna Flegel, and telephonist Rochus Misch. Hitler’s dog Blondi was also one of the occupants of the underground bunker; Hitler could sometimes be seen strolling around the chancellery garden with Blondi.

This recent article in The Guardian tells of the lingering effects of Hitler’s reign of horror on the city of Berlin. Reading the story of course prompted me to watch, yet again, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2004 film ‘Der Untergang‘ (Downfall).

In this powerful film, which I cannot recommend highly enough, the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz creates a portrait of Hitler in the final days of his life that has a harrowing feeling of reality. The dictator’s slow grasp of the fact that his Reich is doomed is detailed in scenes in which the character veers from cool efficiency and calculation to epic temper tantrums as he berates his generals and clings desperately to the belief that Germany can still prevail. Once that illusion has been shattered by incoming reports that the bunker is surrounded, Hitler becomes a ghost of himself. He marries Eva, has cyanide capsules tested on his beloved dog Blondi, and finally withdraws with his wife to the private room where they end their lives, having bid farewell to his faithful staff.

In the film’s most chilling scene, Magda Goebbels (another uncannily ‘real’ characterization, from actress Corinna Harfouch) systematically murders her six children; she then sits down to a game of solitaire before going up to the Chancellery garden where her husband shoots her before taking his own life. This scene so powerfully depicts the sway Hitler held over his followers, creating a vast cult in which he was viewed as nothing less than a god. Following his death, many of the faithful shot themselves rather than face a world where Hitler was no longer.

Above: the instrument of surrender, which ended the war in Europe.

April 27, 2015
Lament for the Rohirrim

“Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?”

~ THE TWO TOWERS/JRR Tolkien

March 22, 2015

Winter Heavens

Winter Heavens

George Meredith (1888)

“Sharp is the night, but stars with frost alive Leap off the rim of earth across the dome. It is a night to make the heavens our home More than the nest whereto apace we strive. Lengths down our road each fir-tree seems a hive, In swarms outrushing from the golden comb. They waken waves of thoughts that burst to foam: The living throb in me, the dead revive. Yon mantle clothes us: there, past mortal breath, Life glistens on the river of the death. It folds us, flesh and dust; and have we knelt, Or never knelt, or eyed as kine the springs Of radiance, the radiance enrings: And this is the soul’s haven to have felt.”

January 25, 2015

Rudolf Schock

Rudolf Schock sings “In fernem land” from Wagner’s LOHENGRIN, conducted by Horst Stein.

October 27, 2014