As Usual, Time For Tennis Festivities : U.S. Open 2009

It's time. And about time too. Had to wait till the end of the year for it. But what? All's well that ends well, don't it?

I remember the booming sounds Sampras' serves produced when they whizzed past the guy on the other side and hit the backdrop. It used to have an extra decibel added to it.

The sound and the cheers (screams) from the stands seemed to suggest that this was more of a duel than simply a match and that the Pistol got his name here.

The U.S. Open seemed in many ways the right place for the last decade of tennis. The unpredictability and drama brought about by pace and aggression seemed to get accentuated by the atmosphere. Tennis became truly gladiatorial.

But old stories are old stories and they are for another time.

What's changed now? The game's changed. The mechanics are changed.

Today's game boasts of the best base-liners in tennis ever. With emphasis on all-court play and a stress on athleticism and fitness, the bio-mechanics have improved by leaps and bounds.

The strokes have more spin, bounce, and "weight". The court-coverage is faster, and the brute force is breath-taking.

Still, the Open seems the right place.

For one, the court surface gives the optimum speed for the game, by controlling the pace of the groundies to the correct level. Too fast, and you are frustrated the point is over too soon. Too slow and you are bored.

For another, almost everything finds a place here. Volleys and base-line slugging co-exist. The flat strokes rediscover themselves here, while the top-spin is by no means blunted.

Perhaps more importantly, and perhaps as a consequence of the above two, it is the fact that the competition becomes much deeper here, is what makes it special.

The lead-up to the Open gives us so much promise, and shows how much more consistent the top players are in similar conditions.

The top four still sit comfortably in their thrones. But they surely will be made to sweat here, and that can only be a good thing for tennis.

Del-P could get hotter, Rod may find himself in the form of his life and fulfil the Dream, or Tsonga may hit his "Yo-Jo" mode.

The one blotch maybe that Nadal is not in the best shape. Murray does take it to Federer, but not as much as Nadal does in Slams, or so the fans think.

But what? Rivalries and expectations apart, the tennis promises to be exciting, the atmosphere to be as vibrant as ever, the lights as effective, and the colours as expressive.

Let's open the beer cans, sit back, and cry our hearts out when it comes what comes. Let's worry about propriety later (around next June, what say?).

Drink Up Me Hearties, Yo Ho!

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I could be reflecting some of Rob's thoughts here