US Open: Day 1

The US Open was the last of the Grand Slam tournaments for me to get along to, and last week I completed the dream of going to Flushing Meadows. Getting tickets was easy as booking online, and after lining up at will call to pick them up on the morning of Day 1, I was there.

I went straight to Louis Armstrong, being the second biggest court, and grabbed to seat to see James Blake play some convincing tennis as part of his recent return from injury.

Whilst the American got to work on court, Talia and I found each other in the stands, and we got to catch up on the last few (four!) years since I was in town last. We chatted between points, as we saw the rain clouds start rolling in...

Blake took the 2nd set as the rain started very lightly and stopped play, before it bucketed down as we started making a dash for it with the rest of the crowd. Getting completely soaked in the stairwells of the stands, there was really nothing we could do about it but laugh!

When the rain subsided to less than torrential, we made a dash for the Food Village, and found the Grey Goose Bar for the signature cocktail of the US Open, the Honey Deuce.

Served in a souvenir cup with all past Men's and Women's US Open winners listed, this drink was perfect to while away the rain delay - very refreshing! The green honeydew balls were a cute touch!

As we caught up on each other's lives properly, huddled under a canopy in the Food Village, we did not fully realise, but this ended up being a 2.5 hour rain delay!

Once the sun was out again, and the courts had been dried, we made our way to the Grandstand court, which sits in the shadow of the Louis Armstrong, to watch a young US hopeful. Jack Sock played a pretty impressive brand of tennis for the 2 and a half sets he was winning against the German Mayer, before the seeded played retired hurt, giving the American the match.

In total contrast to the belting rain earlier, the NY sun packed some heat while we took this game in, and then decided on the next match to watch. We made our way to Court 4 to watch American Ginepri for a bit.

Keeping my eye on the progress of the match on Court 14, however, I then made the switch to watch Aussie Matt Ebden take the first 2 sets of this 3 set win. I then joined Talia back at Louis Armstrong to see Mardy Fish start his campaign, before we called it a day and headed back into the city.

That night, after meeting up with Katie in Times Square, the 3 of us met up with Rich for dinner and drinks, and a little mini-Medley Hall reunion. It was so good to see these guys again!