[KatoabamyHant]

Very cool, James. Yeah. $13 is about right.

Hope you have fun today. And I hope the weather cooperates!

[MilenaMKB]

Love the report, James!

[warrgazur]

So John read my last post... so we headed off to the tournament nice and early! He was actually ready to go before me.

We opted to just drive to the tournament site itself, but the GPS disagreed and wanted us to drive past our location in a big 6 mile loop to come around to it from the other side. A few U-turns later, and we just went ahead and stopped at the place instead of passing by and driving through the park trails to reach the other side of it.

We got there a little before the Nishikori/Anderson match was scheduled to start. I walked by the practice courts and who should I see but Nestor and Zimonjic practicing together. I decided to lose any pretense of dignity and go ahead and press up and poke my camera up through the fencing today.

Snapped a whole bunch of shots as I squeed about being near someone even more famous than the other day. John went ahead to the seats and I walked over to the Russell Kunitsyn match already in progress.

Gravitating back to the number one doubles team I glanced over when someone by the serving exo (you can clock your own serve) yelled "There he is!... John Isner!"

I glanced over to my right to discover that I had been basically walking just next to and a little ahead of Isner. He hurried past me and said something teasing to Nestor on the practice court while I tried to snap a few.

Basking in the glow of another close almost contact, I headed back the other way and checked in with John at our seats. I went down since I saw Anderson warming up with... someone. I asked the Tournament worker lady who it was that he was practicing with. She looked at her schedule and turned to me then confidently told me it was Kei someone whose name she couldn't pronounce. I timidly tried to imply that Kei possibly might not have become dark middle eastern in complexion since yesterday but she was not to be dissuaded. That was Kei and I could get a schedule at the booth over there. I thanked her anyway, then headed back down towards Russell.

Once again, I found myself walking right towards someone... Tomas Berdych this time. I gaped and brandished my camera. A bolder girl also recognized him and trailed after him trying to get his attention. I followed him back to where Nestor and Zimo were and he started warming up with a few exercises.

Yet again someone I could have simply tackled, groped or punched so close they came to me. I resolved to be more aggressive... maybe.

I went back up to the seats. Kei was finally out and I wondered briefly who the other woman must have thought he was.

The match started off poorly for Kei. Anderson DFed twice in the opening game, but his big serve really came into play to help him hold. Kei was spraying some errors and went down 3-0, but then managed to even things back out. Sadly, Kei was broken in the tenth game again and lost the set. Kei was showing flashes of a good game, but was making too many errors... long balls and such, and Kevin's serve was solid and hitting 130mph often.

I was bummed and got up to look around. My Tennis Celebrity sightings went into overdrive. I saw Nalby, Llodra, and Simon. Part way through the second set of Kei/Kevin was much better... both seemed to up their level of play and get into some exciting rallies. Kei seemed to be the one coming up with some winners that had the crowd actually into it. Backhand passing shot down the line on the run, a smash return winner, etc.. I started to have hope, but Kei seemed to be getting those niggling errors at just the wrong time... or Kevin would come up with a huge serve. Things held even.

I went down again and saw Nalby leaving the practice court. He was decended upon by a handful of people for photos/autographs. I could have gotten it, I think, but balked at the last second. I saw Troicki and Cilic again playing together. Nearby Simon again.

I went back to the seats and John took off to wander a bit. The set went to a TB and Kei lept off to an early lead with some really strong solid and flashy playing. These few points were and example of why I'm a fan of his. I explained to the nice couple behind me about why the scoring had changed from 15-30-40. Kei closed off the set with a winner to my loud applause.

John came back a little later and I asked him if he had been looking for oohsalmon. He said he hadn't seen him but he was wearing a red shirt today. As if summoned, oohsalmon appeared by us. He sat and chatted with us at the start of the next set. He pointed me towards the player lockerroom entrances and exits and mentioned having seen Fish and Roddick amid a large mob. I recounted some of my sightings.

During the mid part of the third, I headed around again. Kei seemed to be getting the upper hand now even though things stayed even. The level once again was quite good.

John accompanied me. We saw Tursunov. Near the outer courts I spotted Llodra... alone and largely unnoticed and looking at the qualifying match. Smelling blood, I decided this was my best chance to strike. I pounced upon him as he was leaving and asked for a picture. He gave an exasperated assent and deigned to hold still for John to snap a picture of me and him... he looks... ummm... less than pleased. I apologized and he made a hasty retreat. Maybe he would have been nicer if I used him name, but I was so freaked out that "if I call him by the wrong or mispronounced name I'll make an even bigger ass of myself". Oh well... at least I got one.

The Nishikori match was nearing the end so I dragged us back to witness Kei's triumph. By this point, I think he had won over the crowd mostly as well. He broke Anderson's serve for the win as I was saying to John that since it looked like rain and I had had him there long enough we could probably go after this. I said I had sort of hoped to catch sight of Gulbis.

As we walked out past the practice courts I saw a huge crowd... and who should be there, but Gulbis. Practicing with Baghdatis (who seemed to be the big draw). Oh, and Hewitt was there on the next court.

I snapped a few more photos and we took off. It was a good day of big name sightings and close encounters. Plus I got a unwilling photo!

Youtubes: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...B819DC0B878CD7

Photos: http://www.talkabouttennis.com/forum/album.php?u=1919

[beepbeet]

Really great report and pictures James. Glad you had a great time.

[Mjypksun]

Thanks for report/photos, James!

[KatoabamyHant]

Nice, James! I also have a very difficult time approaching players. It's just not in my nature, and I haven't had much luck with it--you've never been completely demoralized until you wish Shahar Peer good luck and you get the look of a very long, very painful, very agonizing death.

Max Mirnyi is very accommodating, though. Is he in the doubles draw? If so, check him out. He's extremely gracious after his matches.

I'm surprised by Llodra. The reports I've read is that he's usually very gracious with tennis fans. Perhaps he, like all of us, has moods and "at the moment" priorities. Who knows.

I love your reports.

[vintsqyuid]

Good job, James. Keep them coming.

[beepbeet]

ORDER OF PLAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2010

STADIUM - 4:00 p.m. start

[Q] I Kunitsyn (RUS) vs [Q] K Nishikori (JPN)
Not Before 5:00 p.m.
R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) vs M Baghdatis (CYP) / S Wawrinka (SUI)
Not Before 7:00 p.m.
[Q] R Sweeting (USA) vs [WC] J Blake (USA)
[WC] D Nalbandian (ARG) vs R Ram (USA)

GRANDSTAND - 5:00 p.m. start

D Istomin (UZB) vs L Mayer (ARG)
V Troicki (SRB) vs [Q] K Kim (USA)
L Lacko (SVK) vs T de Bakker (NED)

COURT 1 - 5:00 p.m. start

K Beck (SVK) vs M Berrer (GER)
I Marchenko (UKR) vs R Schuettler (GER)
D Tursunov (RUS) vs T Gabashvili (RUS)

COURT 2 - 6:00 p.m. start

B Becker (GER) vs [Q] G Zemlja (SLO)

[beepbeet]

Tournament Name: LEGG MASON TENNIS CLASSIC
Location: WASHINGTON, DC, USA
Dates: AUGUST 1–8, 2010 (SUNDAY START)
Prize Money: US $1,165,500
SITE: William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Center
16TH and Kennedy Streets, NW
Washington, DC, 20011
SURFACE: HARD COURT
BALL: WILSON EXTRA DUTY (US OPEN)
WEB SITE: http://www.leggmasontennisclassic.com/

Qualifying draw: Friday, July 30, 9:00 p.m.
Main draw: Friday, July 30, TBD
Doubles draw: Saturday, July 31, 6:00 p.m.
48 MAIN DRAW & 24 QUALIFYING DRAW

ATP Ranking Points
W: 500
F: 300
SF: 180
QF: 90
R16: 45
R32: 20 (Seeds: 0)
R64: 0
Q: +10
Q12: 4
Q24: 0

Entry deadline: June 21, 2010
Seeding: July 26, 2010

Roddick, Andy USA 7
Cilic, Marin CRO 12
Berdych, Tomas CZE 13
Isner, John USA 19
Querrey, Sam USA 21
Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 23
Stepanek, Radek CZE 25
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 26
Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 27
Gulbis, Ernests LAT 29
Simon, Gilles FRA 32
Llodra, Michael FRA 37
Benneteau, Julien FRA 40
Troicki, Viktor SRB 42
Zeballos, Horacio ARG 44
Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 45
Berrer, Michael GER 46
de Bakker, Thiemo NED 49
Mayer, Leonardo ARG 52
Giraldo, Santiago COL 54
Tursunov, Dmitry RUS @58
Falla, Alejandro COL 60
Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 61
Greul, Simon GER 62
Malisse, Xavier BEL 63
Vliegen, Kristof BEL @68
Istomin, Denis UZB 70
Becker, Benjamin GER 71
Ginepri, Robby USA 72
Fish, Mardy USA 73
Marchenko, Illya UKR 74
Lacko, Lukas SVK 75
Golubev, Andrey KAZ 81
Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 82
Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 84
Schuettler, Rainer GER 85
Clement, Arnaud FRA 86
Beck, Karol SVK 88
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(WC) Nalbandian, David ARG
(WC) Verdasco, Fernando ESP
(WC) Blake, James USA
(WC)

[beepbeet]

Updated MD & QD

Washington Main Draw

OUT Soderling, Robin SWE 6
Roddick, Andy USA 7
Cilic, Marin CRO 12
Berdych, Tomas CZE 13
Isner, John USA 19
Querrey, Sam USA 21
Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 23
Stepanek, Radek CZE 25
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 26
Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 27
Gulbis, Ernests LAT 29
Simon, Gilles FRA 32
Llodra, Michael FRA 37
Benneteau, Julien FRA 40
Troicki, Viktor SRB 42
Zeballos, Horacio ARG 44
Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 45
Berrer, Michael GER 46
de Bakker, Thiemo NED 49
Mayer, Leonardo ARG 52
OUT Kubot, Lukasz POL 53
Giraldo, Santiago COL 54
Tursunov, Dmitry RUS @58
Falla, Alejandro COL 60
Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 61
OUT Greul, Simon GER 62
Malisse, Xavier BEL 63
Vliegen, Kristof BEL @68
Istomin, Denis UZB 70
Becker, Benjamin GER 71
Ginepri, Robby USA 72
Fish, Mardy USA 73
Marchenko, Illya UKR 74
Lacko, Lukas SVK 75
Golubev, Andrey KAZ 81
Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 82
Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 84
Schuettler, Rainer GER 85
IN Clement, Arnaud FRA 86
IN Beck, Karol SVK 88
IN Ram, Rajeev USA 93
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(Q)
(WC) Nalbandian, David ARG
(WC) Verdasco, Fernando ESP
(WC) Blake, James USA
(WC)

Washington Qualifying

OUT Clement, Arnaud FRA 71 (to MD)
Przysiezny, Michal POL 89
Dabul, Brian ARG 91
Russell, Michael USA 92
Anderson, Kevin RSA 97
Devvarman, Somdev IND 105
OUT Beck, Karol SVK 109 (to MD)
Soeda, Go JPN 112
Young, Donald USA 113
Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 114
Sweeting, Ryan USA 116
Zemlja, Grega SLO 124
Sijsling, Igor NED 149
Out Ram, Rajeev USA 151 (to MD)
Kim, Kevin USA 152
Salamanca, Carlos COL 169
Gonzalez, Santiago MEX 172
Nishikori, Kei JPN 193
Jones, Greg AUS 198
Bogomolov Jr., Alex USA 226
IN Okun, Noam ISR 262
IN Millman, John AUS 263
IN Balleret, Benjamin MON 264
IN Copil, Marius ROU 271
(WC) Britton, Devin USA
(WC) Kudla, Denis USA
(WC)
(WC)

[Penisvergroesserung]

Please don't give the last WC to Somdev...

[warrgazur]

Do they post an order of play for qualifying somewhere? I want to find out where/when/if I can catch Kei.

[vintsqyuid]

Please don't give the last WC to Somdev...

Why? He did play college tennis at Virginia.

[whatisthebluepill]

Do they post an order of play for qualifying somewhere? I want to find out where/when/if I can catch Kei.

Yes, on the ATP website.http://www.atpworldtour.com/Scores/T...ent-Draws.aspx (Washington/Legg Mason is at the bottom of the page) Check there late this afternoon

[warrgazur]

Yes, on the ATP website.http://www.atpworldtour.com/Scores/T...ent-Draws.aspx (Washington/Legg Mason is at the bottom of the page) Check there late this afternoon

Thanks. I checked there earlier and and it allowed me to download a whole pdf that said "No Order of Play available at this time". I was a little miffed.

[jessyhalm]

Thanks. I checked there earlier and and it allowed me to download a whole pdf that said "No Order of Play available at this time". I was a little miffed.

Some of the US hardcourt tournaments suck b/c their OOP comes out so late....when I'm posting deadlines for predictions on my other site, sometimes I can't do it until the next day b/c the oop comes out so late. It's annoying.

[vintsqyuid]

Some of the US hardcourt tournaments suck b/c their OOP comes out so late....when I'm posting deadlines for predictions on my other site, sometimes I can't do it until the next day b/c the oop comes out so late. It's annoying.

So far the OOP have been coming out before 10 PM USA EST which is impressive to me as some of the European tournaments take their time before releasing OOP

[beepbeet]

Main Draw

[1] Tomas Berdych (CZE)/bye
[PR] Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
[WC] Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs [PR] Kristof Vliegen (BEL)
[16] Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/bye

[12] Julien Benneteau (FRA)/bye
Santiago Giraldo (COL) vs Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs Thiemo de Bakker (NED)
[5] John Isner (USA)/bye

[3][WC] Fernando Verdasco (ESP)/bye
Karol Beck (SVK) vs Michael Berrer (GER)
Qualifier vs [WC] James Blake (USA)
[14] Michael Llodra (FRA)/bye

[9] Ernests Gulbis (LAT)/bye
Illya Marchenko (UKR) vs Rainer Schuettler (GER)
Michal Przysiezny (POL) vs Horacio Zeballos (ARG)
[8] Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/bye


[6] Sam Querrey (USA)/bye
Arnaud Clement (FRA) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) vs Alejandro Falla (COL)
[11] Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)/bye

[15] Mardy Fish (USA)/bye
Viktor Troicki (SRB) vs Qualifier
Denis Istomin (UZB) vs Leonardo Mayer (ARG)
[4] Marin Cilic (CRO)/bye

[7] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)/bye
[WC] David Nalbandian (ARG) vs Rajeev Ram (USA)
Qualifier vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)
[10] Radek Stepanek (CZE)/bye

[13] Gilles Simon (FRA)/bye
Qualifier vs Qualifier
Benjamin Becker (GER) vs Qualifier
[2] Andy Roddick (USA)/bye
__________________

[beepbeet]

Qualifying Draw

(1) ANDERSON, Kevin RSA v KLEC, Ivo SVK
(WC) ORE, Junior A. USA v (12) NISHIKORI, Kei JPN

(2) RUSSELL, Michael USA v (ALT) BLOOMFIELD, Richard GBR
BALLERET, Benjamin MON v (7) KUNITSYN, Igor RUS

(3) DABUL, Brian ARG v (WC) BRITTON, Devin USA
MILLMAN, John AUS v (11) SIJSLING, Igor NED

(4) YOUNG, Donald USA v (WC) SHABAZ, Michael USA
COPIL, Marius ROU v (8) ZEMLJA, Grega SLO

(5) DEVVARMAN, Somdev IND v (WC) KUDLA, Denis USA
OKUN, Noam ISR v (10) KIM, Kevin USA

(6) SWEETING, Ryan USA v BOGOMOLOV JR., Alex USA
JONES, Greg AUS v (9) SALAMANCA, Carlos COL

[beepbeet]

ORDER OF PLAY - SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010

STADIUM start 10:00 am

Qualifying - K Anderson (RSA) vs I Klec (SVK)
Qualifying - [WC] J Ore (USA) vs K Nishikori (JPN)
Qualifying - D Young (USA) vs [WC] M Shabaz (USA)
Qualifying - S Devvarman (IND) vs [WC] D Kudla (USA)

GRANDSTAND start 10:00 am

Qualifying - M Russell (USA) vs R Bloomfield (GBR)
Qualifying - B Dabul (ARG) vs [WC] D Britton (USA)
Qualifying - N Okun (ISR) vs K Kim (USA)
Qualifying - R Sweeting (USA) vs A Bogomolov Jr. (USA)

COURT 1 start 10:00 am

Qualifying - B Balleret (MON) vs I Kunitsyn (RUS)
Qualifying - J Millman (AUS) vs I Sijsling (NED)
Qualifying - M Copil (ROU) vs G Zemlja (SLO)
Qualifying - G Jones (AUS) vs C Salamanca (COL)