Flushing Meadows... ... We'll be back...

[sirius]

Seeds have been announced!!!! BUT USopen.org hasn't posted it yet. got it from a chinese website...here goes...

1. Federer
2.Roddick
3.Moya
4.Hewitt
5.Henman
6.Agassi
7.Ferrero
8.Nalbandian
9.Gaudio
10.Massu
11. Schuettler
12.Grosjean
13.Safin
14.Gonzalez
15.Srichaphan
16.Pavel
17. Chela
18.Robredo
19.Kiefer
20. Kuerten
21. Dent
22. Hrbaty
23.Spadea
24.Ljubicic
25. Novak
26. Fish
27.Ancic
28. J Johansson
29.Canas
30.Lopez
31. Santoro
32.Bjorkman


ooof...that was bad...trying to figure out what the guys were called in chinese...... phew! i'm not gonna try the girls....

[Mike]

Here the women:

1. Justine Henin-Hardenne

2. Amelie Mauresmo

3. Serena Williams

4. Anastasia Myskina

5. Lindsay Davenport

6. Elena Dementieva

7. Maria Sharapova

8. Jennifer Capriati

9. Svetlana Kuznetsova

10. Vera Zvonareva

11. Venus Williams

12. Ai Sugiyama

13. Paola Suarez

14. Nadia Petrova

15. Patty Schnyder

16. Francesca Schiavone

17. Alicia Molik

18. Karolina Sprem

19. Silvia Farina Elia

20. Chanda Rubin

21. Amy Frazier

22. Magdalena Maleeva

23. Fabiola Zuluaga

24. Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi

25. Elena Likhovtseva

26. Elena Bovina

27. Mary Pierce

28. Nathalie Dechy

29. Eleni Daniilidou

30. Tatiana Golovin

31. Maria Vento-Kabchi

32. Meghann Shaughnessy

[SAFINNO1]

This site is supposed to be about Marat Safin and his chances of winning his Grand Slam so can we please stop chatting about players like Morrison Spadea blake and all other crappy players.
Because at the end of the day if Marat Safin plays anywhere near his best he will beat anyone with his eyes closed so please can i hear your simalar opinions.Thanks.

[sirius]

to talk about marat winning his grand slams, we ave to acknowledge that there are ppl ard who will be competing with him to win the same grand slam.

even if marat were in his element, he'd have to appear on court to win his grand slam. u can't win a slam just by standing still and exuding your "i'm the best" charm...so...i think it's perfectly normal to talk abt the other players!

how else would we be able to talk abt marat winning if we can't talk abt him having to first play them and rating the odds...and the circumstances and lah dee dah? and marat could be playing spadea for all u know.

[Teresa]

Hi , SAFINN01

Welcome to the board.

I think we are all a little shaken by the the plane crashes in Russia, naturally there is concern for Marat, and too that the USO is about to get going, draw is out, and therefore further concern about Marat's draw.

So......lets all take a deep breath here, lets all get very very positive about everything to do with Marat, on court and off court. AND lets all starting wishing Marat the best of luck at the USO 2004

[Teresa]

The draw is out

Jiat.....Nicki....Mike.....whoever can post properly please do........ ;D

Marat's first round is Thomas Enquist

He has JCFerrero and Roddick in his half of the draw.
From a very quick and very very nervous look the draw seems ......well..... not so bad........but I need reassurance so looking for you all to post and reassure me please

[tall_one]

SAFINNO1 said:

This site is supposed to be about Marat Safin and his chances of winning his Grand Slam so can we please stop chatting about players like and all other crappy players.
Because at the end of the day if Marat Safin plays anywhere near his best he will beat anyone with his eyes closed so please can i hear your simalar opinions.Thanks.

sirius said:

to talk about marat winning his grand slams, we ave to acknowledge that there are ppl ard who will be competing with him to win the same grand slam.

even if marat were in his element, he'd have to appear on court to win his grand slam. u can't win a slam just by standing still and exuding your "i'm the best" charm...so...i think it's perfectly normal to talk abt the other players!

how else would we be able to talk abt marat winning if we can't talk abt him having to first play them and rating the odds...and the circumstances and lah dee dah? and marat could be playing spadea for all u know.

Well said Jiat!

And welcome to the board SAFINNO1, please feel free to post as often as you like, but please refrain from telling us what we can and can't talk about. Thanks

[tall_one]

Singles Draw
1 Roger Federer v. Albert Costa
Qualifier v. Olivier Mutis
Dmitry Tursunov v. Mariano Zabaleta
Todd Martin v. 31 Fabrice Santoro

24 Ivan Ljubicic v. Hyung-Taik Lee
Alberto Martin v. Antony Dupuis
Igor Andreev v. Fernando Verdasco
Jarkko Nieminen v. 16 Andrei Pavel


10 Nicolas Massu v. Jose Acasuso
Sargis Sargsian v. Alex Corretja
Paul-Henri Mathieu v. Raemon Sluiter
Younes El Aynaoui v. 21 Taylor Dent

25 Jiri Novak v. Radek Stepanek
Qualifier v. Alex Calatrava
Florian Mayer v. Flavio Saretta BRA
Robby Ginepri v. 6 Andre Agassi

3 Carlos Moya v.Brian Baker
Qualifier v. Amer Delic
Qualifier v. Alexander Popp
Olivier Rochus v. 27 Mario Ancic

22 Dominik Hrbaty v. Oscar Hernandez
Karol Kucera v Xavier Malisse
Qualifier v.Qualifier
Victor Hanescu v. 15 Paradorn Srichaphan


9 Gaston Gaudio v.Juan Monaco
Daniel Elsner v.Thomas Johansson
Greg Rusedski v. Cyril Saulnier
Qualifier v. 19 Nicolas Kiefer

26 Mardy Fish v. David Ferrer
Qualifier v. Max Mirnyi
Irakli Labadze v. Qualifier
Ivo Karlovic v. 5 Tim Henman

8 David Nalbandian v.Dennis van Scheppingen
Albert Montanes v. Mikhail Youzhny RUS
Jeff Morrison v.Qualifier
Tomas Berdych v. 32 Jonas Bjorkman

17 Juan Ignacio Chela v. Qualifier
Wayne Odesnik v. David Sanchez
Tommy Haas v. Davide Sanguinetti
Olivier Patience v. 12 Sebastien Grosjean


14 Fernando Gonzalez v. Robin Soderling
Nikolay Davydenko v. Mark Philippoussis
Karol Beck v. Thierry Ascione
Kristian Pless v. 20 Gustavo Kuerten

30 Feliciano Lopez v. Arnaud Di Pasquale
Qualifier v. Julien Benneteau
Hicham Arazi v. Kenneth Carlsen
Wayne Ferreira v. 4 Lleyton Hewitt


7 Juan Carlos Ferrero v. Qualifier
Stefan Koubek v. Alex Bogomolov Jr.
Rajeev Ram v. Jan-Michael Gambill
Yen-Hsun Lu v. 28 Joachim Johansson

23 Vincent Spadea v. Luis Horna
Jurgen Melzer v. Gregory Carraz
Michael Llodra v. Gilles Elseneer
Qualifier v. 11 Rainer Schuettler


13 Marat Safin v. Thomas Enqvist
Qualifier v. Bobby Reynolds
Wayne Arthurs v. Arnaud Clement
Nicolas Escude v. 18 Tommy Robredo

29 Guillermo Canas v. Qualifier
KJ Hippensteel v. Filippo Volandri
James Blake v. Rafael Nadal
Scoville Jenkins v. 2 Andy Roddick

[Carolineonline]

yay! the draw!
wokeej.. first round.. he can handle.. 2-0 record, plus enqvist lost his last 7 matches on hardcourt...
second round.. cant be too hard either..
thirth round... hmmz.. thats when it starts.. and if he makes it.. then we have our rodthingy..
anywayz.. could be worse for first two rounds....
;)Caroline

[Vlad]

Not an easy first round opponent for Marat. It seems that every player Marat plays recently is not an easy opponent... Still, match is in Marat's hands and it is up to him to win or lose this match. Second round looks easier but first he has to get through this one and don't dare talk about later round at all...
Marat leads h2h 2-0 with Enqvist, both played on hard courts..
Enqvist has lost few round matches recently and probably is low on confidence, so Marat needs to take advantage of that..

[ivy]

For me 3 out of the 4 Grand Slams are when we have break.

Lucky me. ;D

[Teresa]

Nicki thanks for posting the draw ;D

Not an easy first round opponent for Marat. It seems that every player Marat plays recently is not an easy opponent... Still, match is in Marat's hands and it is up to him to win or lose this match. Second round looks easier but first he has to get through this one and don't dare talk about later round at all...
Marat leads h2h 2-0 with Enqvist, both played on hard courts..
Enqvist has lost few round matches recently and probably is low on confidence, so Marat needs to take advantage of that..

Thanks Vlad, I am still feeling nervous, hopefully Marat can take advantage of this opportunity and capitalize on it.

[sirius]

Complete Breakdown of the Draws
by Greg Laub
Wednesday, August 25, 2004

The 2004 US Open Draw Ceremony was held Wednesday, Aug. 25, at the United Nations Building in New York City, and at first glance, there are many intriguing first-round matches and potential clashes down the road to look out for on both brackets.

On the men's side, Brit Tim Henman knew he couldn't draw a tougher first-round opponent than last year, when as the 33rd-ranked player (and thus unseeded) he drew eventual champion Andy Roddick. But the No. 5 seed didn't get any sympathy this year, either, as he drew Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic in round one. The 6'11" Karlovic not only posted first-round victories over Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon last year and Paradorn Srichaphan at this year's Wimbledon, he also made it all the way to the third round of last year's US Open.

The good news for Henman is that following his first-round test he has a fairly easy quarter bracket, as most of the top players seem to be bunched elsewhere. This is also good news for unseeded players hoping to sneak into the quarterfinal. Before Henman would see No. 3 seed Carlos Moya in the semifinals, a few hot players could have something to say about it, most notably Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish, who is seeded No. 26. No. 9 Gaston Gaudio, No. 15 Paradorn Srichaphan, No. 19 Nicolas Kiefer, No. 22 Dominik Hrbaty and No. 27 Mario Ancic are other seeded players in this quarter bracket. Other than Karlovic, a few sleepers who could also give them a scare: Xavier Malisse, Greg Rusedski and Max Mirnyi.

Who will meet one of the above names in the semifinals is a much tougher guess. The top quarter of the men's bracket is where many of the sleepers in the tournament are hiding, and it is also the home of world No. 1 Roger Federer and US Open legend Andre Agassi. Before they can meet in the quarterfinals, they'll each face one of the sleepers right off the bat, as young up-and-comer Robby Ginepri will try to pull off the upset against fellow American and No. 6 seed Agassi, while No. 1 seed Federer will have to deal with veteran Albert Costa from Spain.

The rest of the quarter bracket should join in with some more heated matches, as well, with No. 31 Fabrice Santoro set to face off against American Todd Martin, No. 16 Andrei Pavel going up against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, and No. 25 Jiri Novak playing fellow Czech Radek Stepanek.

But perhaps the most compelling match-up from this quarter bracket will be between No. 21 Taylor Dent and Younes El Aynaoui, the Rockin' Moroccan who thrilled the Flushing crowds last year with his five-set marathons. It's not a particularly favorable draw for Dent, coming off a very successful run at the Olympics. Other sleepers in this difficult draw: Dmitry Tursunov, who broke out at last year's US Open, Fernando Verdasco, Sargis Sargsian and Alex Corretja.

The bottom half of the draw is a bit more top-heavy than the top half. The lower quarter features 2003 finalists, No. 2 Andy Roddick and No. 7 Juan Carlos Ferrero. And while there don't appear to be many sleepers in this quarter bracket, Roddick has the misfortune of drawing one in the second round. Following a first-round match against fellow American and wild card Scoville Jenkins, Roddick would have to play the winner of James Blake and Rafael Nadal. Blake is always a threat to play up to his talent, and Nadal is a serious riser on the tour. The talented Spaniard last year gave El Aynaoui fits in the second round, and he has wins over Sjeng Schalken, Federer and Novak in his limited hard-court play this season. After that, the road stays rough for the defending champ, with a potential meeting against former US Open champ No. 13 Marat Safin in the fourth round.

Ferrero's round-of-16 candidates include No. 11 Rainer Schuettler, No. 23 Vincent Spadea and No. 28 Joachim Johansson. Other names to watch in this quarter bracket are No. 18 Tommy Robredo, No. 29 Guillermo Canas, Jan-Michael Gambill and Arnaud Clement.

The upper quarter of the bottom half will headline No. 4 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 8 David Nalbandian. There's a very good chance that will be the quarterfinal match, too, as the prospects between the two are not quite what they are in the other quarter brackets. Hewitt starts with Wayne Ferreira in the first round, and after that has potential matches against No. 30 Feliciano Lopez, No. 20 Gustavo Kuerten and No. 14 Fernando Gonzalez. Nalbandian has No. 32 Jonas Bjorkman, No. 12 Sebastien Grosjean and No. 17 Juan Ignacio Chela to worry about. There are also Tommy Haas and Mark Philippoussis lingering in the gaps, and they could be names to watch in the early going.

[sirius]

pretty even draw for maratik. now to get the job done.

NEW REALITY SERIES COMING UP:

[glow=red,2,300]THE RETURN TO FLUSHING MEADOWS...[/glow]

[Steph]

Well, I think that the first round is prettty ok. The match is in Marat's hands. And that's all I'm gonna say, coz I don't want to look too far ahead, lets just get passed the first round for a start