Another US Open came and went this past year, and this one was especially memorable. Just before the Open I took the big step and got engaged to my girlfriend Lisa. We then traveled to upstate New York to spend the weekend with my family and celebrate the engagement. On Sunday we took a train to NYC and we stayed on Lexington Avenue in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. We had a great view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
On Monday we got to the grounds at 9:30 am and were in shortly after 10 am. We ran into some tennis friends from Atlanta on the way in and headed over to see some players warming up before the matches started. After watching Davenport for a short time, Lisa, Pat and Marybeth stayed around Court 4 while I took a stroll. I had Lisa join me shortly thereafter as I was watching Tommy Haas and Igor Andreev warming up. At the end of their session, Lisa got photos with both guys.
During a break early in the afternoon we ran into a number of friends of mine who had told me they were planning to come. Mark had flown in from Atlanta and would be there for the first two days and Eileen and her sister took the train down from upstate New York. I also spotted Ashley Weinhold, a junior standout I have known for a number of years and is still part of the USTA development program. She came over to meet Lisa and catch us up on her life on the tour.
Later in the afternoon, after all that visiting, we headed over to join Pat and Marybeth on the Grandstand court to see John Isner, former member of the national champion Georgia Bulldogs. Unfortunately he went down in straight sets to Andres Beck. Isner made a big splash at last year's Open, but it did not work out the same for him this year.
On day two, I met up again with Mark and my good friend Eric, who had flown in that morning from Washington, DC. We spent a lot of the day together drifting on the backcourts and hitting the stadium courts as well. We also met up with Pat and Marybeth for a few matches, including the Richard Gasquet - Haas duel. We made sure to see the two Atlanta boys on the schedule. Scoville Jenkins played in the early afternoon and went down to Jarkko Nieminen while Bobby Reynolds played late in the day against Tomas Zib. Reynolds played tough and advanced.
I have been going to the Open for years, but I saw more people I know at this Open than any previous one. It's such a great event and it brings the casual fan as well as the tennis die-hard fan. Attending the Open is always special, but when you can share it with friends it takes a great feeling and makes it even better.
Time.
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