2002 US Open Preview

AJ Chabria

Latitiude, longitude and attitude: America’s Slam is more than a few ticks north and east of the happy-go-lucky one in Melbourne. It couldn’t possibly touch the romance and beauty of Roland Garros. It lacks the ‘establishment’ feel and polish of Wimbledon …by design.

Hewitt is the best counter-puncher in the game but he's no lock to win it all.

For the fan, the U.S. Open is the Slam that makes you think, “God, I love this game.” Ditto (times ten, actually) for the players worth their salt.

Welcome to the purest and toughest Slam in tennis, coming at you live from a public park next door to Shea Stadium in Queens, New York.

Everybody is inspired and ready to make this their year. The tours have just come off the long, hot North American summer hardcourt swing and the players are either totally exhausted or in impeccable physical and mental condition.

The Men

Say what you want about Lleyton Hewitt dominating the game. Thanks to the almost comical depth in men’s tennis, it’s anybody’s final. That said, Hewitt will probably be in it. It has taken big efforts by two or three different kinds of players to upend the young Aussie on hard courts this year: big hitter Roger Federer made short work of him in Key Biscayne, as did Greg Rusedski in Indy, most recently, Felix (El Gato) Mantilla and Carlos Moya have used heavy spins, massive forehands and well-placed serves to frustrate him. In a 3 out of 5 set format though, he’s got to be considered a favorite.

The aforementioned players (or a handful of guys who can learn from them) are capable of taking him down again. It will take a nearly flawless performance by the supremely talented Tommy Haas, Andy Roddick, J.C. Ferrero or James Blake (a possible 3rd round thriller) to get Hewitt out of the draw, possibly Mark Philippoussis or Guga Kuerten (both in the opposite half as Hewitt) on a great day.

Agassi is always in the hunt, but he simply doesn't not match up well against Hewitt

Marat Safin, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, are always in the hunt, but simply do not match up well against Hewitt, the best counter-puncher in the business. The good news for that trio is that they are nowhere near Hewitt in the draw; Pete and Safin are in the opposite half, and Andre would meet Hewitt in the semis of the top half. The bad news for Safin is that he may have to face a resurgent Guga in the 2nd round.

The Woman

Rather than explore whether the Serena/Venus final will be a thriller or a dud, let’s applaud a couple of my favorite stylists, Chanda Rubin and Amelie Mauresmo for seriously getting it in gear for some topnotch summer results.

Everyone’s looking forward to formidable comebacks from Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, but it might be too soon.

Of all the -ovas and the -evas, the sprite Dani Hantuchova seems poised for a run deep into the draw. Who can forget the sublime Justine Henin’s run to the semis at Wimbledon? Though she and Kim Clijsters have waffled a bit this summer, along with Jennifer Capriati, they round out the list of contenders this year.

Let’s face it: we are left with 118 of the darkest of darkhorses, which ought to be encouraging to the qualifiers and wildcards.


With all the hype over the Women's game, should we expect anything more than another dull Serena and Venus final?

A sucker for comebacks (and smooth volleyers), I’m rooting for one of the American wildcards, Corina Morariu. Back from a courageous battle with cancer and feeling like the luckiest player in the draw, Corina has drawn Serena in the first round.

The Sideshow

The Becker/McEnroe story has been a long and tiresome one of late. It’s easy to poke fun at the whole nostalgia thing and see this as an ounce in the tide of abominations like The Rerun Show and the Love Boat Reunion Special

How pathetic, but uh…Play already! We’ve gotta see this. There’s substance here after all. Who can resist two of the most amazing players of the open era?

Along with Sampras and Laver, Mac and Boris are the only two guys anyone can remember who have won Wimbledon, the US Open and the Davis Cup -- all in the same year.

As always, Boris and John are engaging as can be, always in the news, and they squabble like brothers. Love, hate, love. They play sort of similar styles and use the same racquet…the perfect undercard to the women’s final, huh?

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