went to the qualie week Tuesday - Thursday (yes, I hung around even in the rain on Tuesday hoping to see some players, and I did! - just not playing), and thought I should share some gossip.

The highlight of Wednesday was the Djokovic-Youzhny practice on Armstrong. Novak decided to be a jokester and play to the crowd by trying to hit balls out the stands and running around the court, homerun-style. Misha laughed along but half the time he looked at him like he was crazy and like the whole hitting session was a waste of time. They played an epic bh-cc point to see how long they could go without missing, first with topspin then slice, and I think in the end it was Novak who blew it. The slice shots reminded me of that great point from Fed-Youzhny at the AO this year. They also played a volley rally finally won by Misha with a fist pump. Novak did great impressions of Nadal, Roddick, Sharapova, and Federer. Someone asked in the other thread about what the Fed impression looked like, and ti was actually the best. He hit a forehand and backhand in exactly Fed's style, the way he hits the ball without moving his head, and also did the take-off-the-cap-and-shake-your-hair-out thing that Roger loves. And as they left the court and Misha was signign autographs, Novak did the Youzhny salute signature to each side of the court. I was impressed some fans actually knew it was Youzhny's gesture. I told Mish not to let him get away with that.

Also on Wednesday I watched some qualie matches, my favorites of which were Phau-Bass and Darcis' first round. Phau is super attractice, but also so talented. He should have closed out the match in straights but choked and double faulted on his match points, and then was down 4-2, 40-15 in the 3rd before finally waking up again and hitting winners from everywhere. Bass was pretty much an unimpressive counter-puncher waiting for Phau's mistakes, and at times there were many. I hope Bjorn can qualify here because he is so good when he wants to be.

On Thursday I saw Novak and Roddick play a practice set on Armstrong. Djokovic kicked his ass, breaking his serve twice so I think the set went 6-2 to Novak. Roddick was getting flustered and broke his racquet, starting cursing to Connors/his brother: "the fucking ball keeps flying... what am I supposed to do with that when he hits a fucking winner on the first ball everytime?!" Novak played so well and dictated all the baseline rallies, picking when to go for a winner and usually executing it perfectly. Roddick served huge aces on his first three points but after that his serve was nothing special and Djokovic was reading it easily. Roddick definitely took the practice seriously and was not happy by the end, getting really crabby with the fans too. Novak and Andy were also chatting for a while and were pretty friendly. Roddick must have been dissatisfied because a few hours later he was back practicing on Armstrong against Amer Delic. We also saw Connors around the grounds a couple times and his mood varied between impatient and patient, but luckily I got pictures and an autograph without much of a groan from him. He's still got that cocky and funny attitude.

Then watched Murray beat up on a streaky Henman in a practice set. Murray seems to be hitting the ball much better now. He really let it rip on some serves and forehands (much harder than I thought he could hit the ball) but was tentative on some other shots. I really don't see either one making it too far here. It was also nice to see and get pictures of Brad Gilbert and Paul Annacone on the same court. They seemed to get along well and were pretty chatty, even though their personalities couldn't be any more different. Brad LOVES the spotlight, no surprise, and was eating up the fans' attention but hitting out balls and saying dumb things.

Also saw Youzhny and Kohlschreiber play a practice set on the Grandstand. Misha started off big then kind of fizzled and Philipp stepped it up. I think at 5-5 they played a tiebreak cuz they were getting kicked off the court and Misha hit some nice shots. They will most likely play in the 2nd round here, which is interesting because they are such good friends and doubles partners, and also the Munich final. Earlier in the day I saw Kohl watching a qualie match and I asked for his autograph. He was sweet and smiled and said "Really? Thanks" when I said congrats on winning in Munich, but of course I didn't tell him that I was actually pissed at him for beating my favorite. I hope Misha can get revenge if they have their rematch in new York. My favorite thing in the world is to watch Youzhny move on the court, he changes direction so well with such natural athleticism and flexibility it's amazing. The points the two of them played were full of everything you want to see in a tennis match.

The nicest players I found with signing for fans were Djokovic, Youzhny, and Safin. They took their time to sign for everyone and posed for pictures willingly. Hewitt barely signed for anyone when I saw him leave the practice court and we were pissed. Same thing with Maria Sharapova - she got booed by the fans for not hanging around long to give autographs. Ollie Rochus was also pretty reluctant and took off as quickly as possible. Monfils and Mayer were really nice. I love Richard Gasquet but sometimes you can tell he wants to avoid the fans. He did thank me for wishing him luck though, and signed for most people who wanted it.

And last note - the biggest mob I saw the whole time at the US Open was unsurprisingly for Nadal. No one else attracted nearly as many people AT ALL. People were pushing and shoving and would probably kill just to get his autograph. He signed for everyone who was aggressive enough to get through, ans I wasn't one of them. Since I don't like him, I just settled for taking close-up pictures.

Hopefully I will upload my best pictures here but probably not for a while since I still have all my pics from previous US Opens as well as this year's Miami not online.