Super Saturday Saves the Day

Every tennis fan remembers or has heard about that memorable Saturday in 1984, a day that lasted over 12 hours, saw two men's semifinals go to the final set, and the women's final between two classic rivals, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Coincidentally, the 25th year anniversary of that day will be commemorated at the U.S. Open this year.

Ironically, this year's U.S. Open has already had its version of a Super Saturday and it took place in the first week. Needless to say up to that day, the first week of the last Slam tournament of the year desperately needed some excitement, especially on the men's side.

The day started with what many thought would be a day in the park by Roger Federer — not that he does not look like he is doing just that in many of his matches — against Lleyton Hewitt, who used to be the best player in the world at one time earlier this decade, but who since has lost to the new king of the court 13 times in a row prior to the match. Hewitt was determined to make it a match this time, and showed glimpses of the old Hewitt, scrambling for every ball, frustrating Federer, fighting his way to break-point situation in a crucial time in the third set with the sets tied at one a piece.

That's when Federer did what he does best — served his way out of trouble and raised his game level to win the third set. Hewitt did not give up and made Federer earn the fourth set. He called his year a "rebuilding year," and it seems that Hewitt is rebuilding quickly and it should show in the rankings at the end of the year.

Although Hewitt pushing Federer to limits was unexpected, it can hardly be called a surprise. But when a stocky 26-year-old guy, ranked 276 in the world with an 0-6 ATP Tour career record, freshly let go by his clothing sponsor, shows up to play Novak Djokovic, it is not only unexpected that he can push the latter, but also highly improbable. Yet, Jesse Witten who played college tennis in Kentucky, did exactly that, battling Djokovic for over three and a half hours, and coming very close to turning the No. 4 in the world's day into a nightmare when he served for a two sets to one lead at 6-5 in the third set. At the end of the day, Djokovic prevailed, but perhaps the success of Witten was a sign of things to come for the underdogs of the day's later matches.

Melanie Oudin, who by the time you read this article, will hardly be considered an unknown, was one of those underdogs who took court later in the afternoon. Already having defeated an in-form Elena Dementieva, surely Oudin, who is ranked outside top 50 and just a few weeks short of turning 18, was not going to beat another giant in Maria Sharapova. In the most electric women's match of the day, Oudin defeated Sharapova and it almost felt like the whole stadium defeated Sharapova because they were cheering for Oudin so hard — hardly the usual case when Sharapova takes the court.

While this was happening on Arthur Ashe, a high quality match between Tommy Haas and Fernando Verdasco was taking place in Louis Armstrong. Verdasco would win this match that lasted exactly three hours and 45 minutes. He would later say "I feel good" three times answering the same question in the post-match conference. Unfortunately, in the kind of day that was taking place, this monumental battle between two seeded Europeans went unnoticed, because there were plenty of Americans like Oudin and Witten stealing the spotlight. However, they were not the only ones.

Another young American, John Isner, was to pull the monumental upset on the men's side, defeating the American of the summer, Andy Roddick. After winning the first two sets, Isner lost the next two, not capitalizing on a match-point and showing signs of cramping at the end of the fourth set. The fifth set fittingly went to a tiebreaker, an area that Isner feels comfortable; he has played 45 of them this year and has a whopping 39-14 record in them, 5-0 this U.S. Open. He added in the press conference, "I am not satisfied yet!"

Just for good measure, later in the day, the No. 1 seed Dinara Safina was eliminated by Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, and normally the upset of the top-seeded player would make the headlines, right? Not this Saturday. This match was a slugfest that finished in favor of the one who could, while nailing the ball as hard as possible, could also hit as close as possible to the lines. Kvitova was able to do that a few points more than Safina, who was not happy about having her match moved to Louis Armstrong after having been scheduled on Arthur Ashe.

However, outside of Safina, hardly anyone had anything to complain about. The day provided so many thrills, so many climactic moments that most fans, outside of James Blake's well-known supporting group, had nothing left in the tank for the evening session match opposing James Blake and Tommy Robredo. Fittingly, after a lackluster performance, James Blake left the court defeated, wondering what is happening with his miserable 2009 season.

The second week promises more thrills as all the highly seeded players other than Roddick are still in the men's draw at the time of this article being written. On the women's draw, Serena Williams still seems to be the one to beat. But Saturday showed that the attraction does not center on Serena, Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Kim Clijsters. The likes of Isner and Oudin may still have a few words to say. Bring on the second week!