Official Pianostreet 2007 US Open Thread

[soliloquy]

maybe a bit premature (starts on the 27th i believe), but a lot of the time the theoretical talk before the actual tournament is more fun than the educated predictions halfway through it.

I know a lot of people on here that I've met in the chat like tennis.  So!  Predictions or just general pre-game discussion?


My question is: is the game we're seeing from Federer at the moment in Cincinnati and Rodgers's where his A-game has dropped to, or is he just playing carefully so he's in top shape for the real tournament?  If his age is catching up to him and he continues to make the huge amount of unforced errors we're seeing from him at the moment, does this mean that the cup is finally in Roddick's hands, or is there someone who will step up and take him down along the way, such as Stepanek, Djokovic, Youzhny, Gonzales,  Davydenko, Haas, Baghdatis or Robredo?  Davydenko, Berdych and Verdasco are probably going to be in his quarter of the draw; do any of them pose a serious threat on the hard courts?  And are we looking at a Roddick-Federer or Roddick-Djokovic or maybe even Roddick-Youzhny for the finals, or is Youzhny's past injury going to prove too much for him to overcome?


Also, what of the women's side?  Venus' play has been spotty lately, and it seems like Serena isn't going to be in there.  Mauresmo has also dropped out, so are we going to see the Serbians (Ivanovic, Vaidisova, Petrova, Sharapova) take down yet another title or can Henin and Venus bring their A game when it's necessary?  And what of the unpredictable Schneider?

[kony]

last time i checked, petrova and sharapova are russian, and vaidisova is czech?

but anyway, i read in an interview that Roger Federer said that his ultimate plan is to be still winning tournaments at age 35 so his strategy is going to be to play less tournaments and "focus on the grand slams". he strongly hinted that he will be playing much better in the upcoming USO.