Friday Washed Away – Tennis Schedule Revamped

Washout Friday: The more they rolled - the more it rained.

A day and night of the rain on Friday wreaked havoc with the schedule at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships that will now be extended until Monday.

Here’s the latest schedule which of course is still at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Rafael Nadal is slated to resume his match against Fernando Gonzalez at noon on Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The weather of course, is still in question, but Nadal is up a set and on serve in a second set tiebreaker, 7-6, 6-6(3-2).

Once Nadal in finished, the schedule calls for the first women’s semifinal featuring Wozniacki versus Wickmayer.

The premier women’s semi, Serena Williams versus Kim Clijsters is set for the night session on Saturday beginning at 8pm.

The men’s semifinal matches, will be played on Sunday and the women’s final has been shuffled to Sunday evening starting at 9pm.

The men’s final which was to be played Sunday, will now be played on Monday. There will be a quiz after reading this!

Wet and Nasty Conditions Looming: Serena and Clijsters Up First – Nadal Match to Resume

On the women’s side, this is the clash that many people hoped for. Serena Williams has yet to blink running through 5 rounds of tennis like she was on vacation. The “Working Mom” Kim Clijsters is one of the great “feel good” stories of the tournament.

Clijsters won’t feel good for long. She’s been very impressive so far, but no woman on the planet is match for Serena right now. Williams serves too well, moves too fast and hits too hard for anyone to pose a serious threat. But Clijsters had a great run.

After that match wraps up, Rafael Nadal will resume his contest against Fernando Gonzalez. Nadal’s match got suspended last night, not once, but twice. Rafa is up a set and on serve in a 2nd set tiebreaker by a score of 7-6, 6-6(3-2).

Nadal aggravated an abdominal injury last night, but should be able to push past Gonzalez. The cold and wet conditions are apparently compounding the injury issues for Nadal and today’s conditions won’t be any better than the weather was last night.

Although advancing to the semis would be a great accomplishment for Nadal, he would run into the red-hot Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro struggled with the wind early in his match against Marin Cilic, but then overcame the conditions and swatted Cilic away 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

No one wants a piece of Del Potro including Nadal. But Nadal has pressing issues to take care of this afternoon, before he can worry about the semis.

A Summer Off May Be Exactly What Nadal Needed

Rafael Nadal proves it time and again - Never count him out!

Very often, I'm not happy to admit that I was wrong, but this time is different. Plagued by a summer of knee issues, few writers thought they would still be covering Rafael Nadal during week 2 of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, but here he is - playing Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinals.

Rafa’s knees have come through with flying colors and he’s done well to overcome an abdominal injury earlier in the tournament. He was pushed to the limit in a four set win over French strongman, Gael Monfils in the 4th round. Nadal split two of the most physical sets you’ll ever see against Monfils before taking him out in four sets.

Going back to today’s quarterfinal matchup - Nadal has easily beaten Gonzalez five straight times and today should be no different. Gonzalez has a 3 and 6 lifetime record against Rafa and two of those wins have come on hard courts, but that is ancient history. If Rafa holds up physically, he should win this one in straight sets.

In the other quarter, my pick to win the tournament has me a bit worried now. When I picked Juan Martin Del Potro to steal his first grand slam title away from Federer this year, I foolishly never thought he might have to encounter Nadal. I’m staying with Del Potro for now, but I may change my mind for the next round.

Of course I’m way ahead of myself right now – for Del Potro to get to the semis, he must take out Marin Cilic from Croatia. I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem for him, but that’s why they lace up the sneakers. Look for Del Potro to cruise past Cilic in four sets and meet Rafa in the semis.