Sports Then and Now

In a year that has been anything but normal, the USTA is hoping to provide some return to normalcy by hosting the 2020 U.S. Open Tennis Championship on its originally scheduled dates from August 31-September 13 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY.

However, while the dates and venue will be familiar, there will be other aspects of the tournament that are quite different.

First, like most other sports that have started to return to the field, the 2020 U.S. Open will be played without fans in the stands.

It has certainly been a bit strange watching basketball and baseball in empty stadiums and there will likely be a similar sensation when watching tennis at the U.S. Open. Even though during matches you often do not see fans during points, the energy that a full stadium crowd provides will be difficult to replicate.

Another group of people who will not be participating in the 2020 U.S. Open are those who are usually positioned directly behind a line to make those split-second calls as to whether a ball is in or out. Instead, the U.S. Open will be the first major tournament to use the Hawk-Eye Live system to make all line calls on 15 of their 17 courts (all but the two stadium courts).

Though there will not be a person on the line or making the calls, you will still hear human voices for the calls as that is part of the system. In addition to reducing the number of people on the courts, it should also speed up play because there will be no challenging available on the courts where the Hawk-Eye Live is making the calls.

What is not clear yet is which star players will actually be participating in the tournament and which will choose to pass. The first list of competitors has been announced, but with the tournament still three weeks away, there could still be fluctuation before the tournament starts. For that reason, figuring out the US Open betting odds could be a bit tricky.

Wimbledon may well be in its primary stages and understandably, all participants’ attentions will be firmly set on the All England Club but the fourth and final major of the year will be next on the agenda. The US Open is set for its 139^th edition in August, as Flushing Meadows gets set to host the prestigious event whereby the world’s best players will all compete for a place in US Open folklore.

The favorites for the men’s singles title contain some familiar names as well as a few surprise picks, but their Wimbledon performances will hold plenty of bearing on how their odds shape up nearer the time. Ahead of the start of the tournament on 26^th August, we’ll take a closer look at the favorites.

Novak Djokovic 6/4

It’s no surprise to see Novak Djokovic sit top in the US Open men’s winner odds, as the hard-hitting Serbian embarks on his fourth win at Flushing Meadows. Djokovic is the current champion and will be the main man to beat once more. If Djokovic is at his best, it’ll take a monumental effort to stop him.

Rafael Nadal 9/2

The undisputed “King of Clay” will also be looking for his fourth US Open crown, and Rafael Nadal’s price of 9/2 suggests he’ll be there or thereabouts again. Still fresh from his 12^th French Open success, Nadal will need to avoid any potential banana skins in the earlier rounds and if he does get to the latter stages, he’ll be very hard to beat.

Tennis Thief Carlos Ramos.

Sports officials have been doing their collective best to ruin sports, ensure they are part of the show and occasionally thrust themselves into the outcome of a contest for years, but tennis umpire Carlos Ramos has now taken that self-indulgence to an unprecedented level by stealing the opportunity for a competitor to fairly compete for a title at the 2018 U.S. Open Women’s Final.

Naomi Osaka played a great match to win the women’s tennis U.S. Open, but there is no doubt that Carlos Ramos stole the chance for Serena Williams to win her 24th Grand Slam by deciding he was bigger than the players or the match.

Early in the second set he gave a penalty to the coach of Serena Williams, Patrick Mouratoglou, for what he called coaching during the match. While Mouratoglou admitted after the match that he was coaching, he also said that he and every coach does some type of coaching during every match. That was acknowledged by Chrissie Evert during her commentary.

Williams, however, insisted that she was not cheating and Mouratoglou said after the match that he was pretty sure that Serena didn’t see him.

Later in the set, after having finally broken Osaka and then being broken back twice, Williams broke her racket in frustration.

Because of the previous violation, Serena received a second conduct warning, which resulted in the loss of a point in a game that Osaka won by love.

At the next break, Serena was still frustrated and multiple times asked the umpire to apologize to her for what she considered calling her a cheater. As he kept refusing to acknowledge any culpability, Serena said that he stole a point from her and then called the official a thief, which seems to be pretty accurate. Just to be clear, she did not cuss at him or use any abusive words.

Showing that he was determined to make this match about him, Ramos called a third conduct penalty on Serena, which he knew when he was doing it would result in a game penalty and basically end the chance for Serena to win the match because it took away a chance for Williams to break Osaka and brought her within one game of losing the match.

As an experienced official with previous grand slam experience both on the men’s and women’s side, Ramos should have known that this was the time for him to show restraint and understand that athletes in those situations are playing with great emotion and adrenaline and if they are not using abusive language should receive restraint from someone in his position. Evert and the other ESPN commentators after the match suggested that Ramos should have spoken with Williams and told her she needed to stop what he considered to be an aggressive tone or he would give her a misconduct penalty. Read the rest of this entry →

Could 17th seed Grigor Dimitrov be the next longshot to emerge with a major tennis title?

The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, is perhaps one of the favorites for the neutral tennis spectator as it throws up the potential of a shock winner.

For so long the men’s singles game has been dominated by the ‘big four’ of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, but with Marin Cilic winning at Flushing Meadows last year – and Stan Wawrinka’s famous victory over Djokovic on the French clay in June – it is fair to say that this tournament is wide open.

And that’s why this even is so intriguing; and why it is well worth keeping an eye on the US Open betting odds to see if you can pick out a potential surprise winner.

The Contenders
What was incredible about Marin Cilic’s victory in this tournament last year was that he wasn’t expected to even reach the latter stages, let alone lift the trophy, as the 14th seed. He’d only reached one Grand Slam semi final in his career up to that point, at the Australian Open in 2010, and had only ever gotten to the last eight at Flushing Meadows twice in five attempts.

But something just clicked in the Croatian’s game during that fortnight, and his straight sets wins over Kei Nishikori (another surprise) in the final and Federer in the semi-final, show that there can be demons in the hard courts of America for the more fancied players.

So who are the players to watch at this year’s event? Read the rest of this entry →

The 2014 Soccer World Cup highlights a busy sports summer.

As if a cold and snowy winter isn’t enough reason to look forward to the summer, the months of June, July and August 2014 promise something for just about all sports fans.

There is never a bad time to be a sports fan because there are great events spread throughout the year, but this summer should be especially great for fans across the board. Some think that the world of sports slows down in the summer and there isn’t anything worth watching—how wrong they are! If you can’t get enough sports, prepare yourself for an awesome lineup and get psyched for sports this summer. Read ahead for the best events to keep an eye out for:

2014 Golf Men’s U.S Open
The U.S Open is one of the toughest and most prestigious golf tournaments played on the PGA Tour every year. This year’s edition of the tournament will take place June 12-15 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. It will be the third time the U.S Open was held at the No. 2 Course at Pinehurst.

2014 FIFA World Cup
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world, and the 20th tournament will begin on June 12. The entire tournament will last just over a month, and it will be played at 12 different arenas throughout Brazil. There is nothing quite like watching the national soccer teams of 32 country battle it out for one of the most prestigious prizes in professional sports. Read the rest of this entry →