In case you didn't know, the
2010 U.S. Open has begun. Actually, it began yesterday, August 30
th if you want to get specific.
I'm watching the
Rafael Nadal vs.
Teimuraz Gabashvili match at this time. Nadal just won the 2
nd set tie breaker. He's up 2 sets to 1 (7-6, 7-6). There is supposed to be a women's match afterward between
Caroline Wozniacki and someone else. I guess it's good that they have lights at The Open but also makes me wonder how enthusiastic these ladies really are to play around 11pm or so at night (since it's currently 9:49pm CST).
Anyway, the opening ceremony was last night. I watched a little bit of it and I had a few comments to make. Now, I was paying attention half-heartedly so I could have my timing mixed up with the night matches so I guess this is based off of what I thought I perceived.
First of all, the opening ceremony should not be the night of the opening day. Many day matches had already been played. I was watching a couple of evening/night matches, including one that seemed to be in-progress, when they cut to the opening ceremony. Again, this could have been replayed from before the night matches started but I can't be certain as I wasn't fully paying attention to the opening ceremony because of all the stupid, boring speeches.
Second, it was weird the way the brought, talked about, used as a theme, those tennis players they put on the "red carpet" for overcoming diversity.
Martina Navratilova,
Esther Vergeer (who is quite hot by the way),
Dori Samadzai-Bonner, and
James Blake. I guess it was a good message but it was just kind of lame, boring and WTF for me. I thought Martina did give a sort of from-the-hip speech but it was sort of weird when she said something about being fortunate because she could be like Esther. I think Esther was weirded out by the comment too although she hid it pretty well.
Third, it's pretty sad that the lady,
Christiane Amanpour, that introduced the above four "diversity overcomers" was leagues better at giving a speech compared to the white-haired USTA lady (I think she's the USTA president) and New York's Mayor
Michael Bloomberg. It's kind of lame and embarrassing to know that people in these positions are very pore presenters. White-hair lady read word for word from her paper without much inflection or crowd "eye" contact. Bloomberg wasn't much better. In fact, I'd have to say Bloomberg was more disgraceful because he's in a high political position AND is the 8
th richest man in America. I think he could afford to take business presentation techniques courses at some university.
Fourth,
Gloria Estefan sounded great but I think her performance was robotic. She is older these days so I don't expect her to bounce around but it was kind of a somber song. I guess it was along with the theme but it's like...this is tennis people and it shouldn't be themed along the likes of world hunger. Maybe I just didn't make my point clear but if you know what I mean then good otherwise oh well.
Fifth, there was a 12-yr-old Black boy that performed the National Anthem. He was forgettable. I think he won some competition to sing at the opening ceremony but I wonder what his competition was like. I don't know if he was just nervous because of the humongous crowd on Arthur Ashe stadium but his rendition was very lacking. I'm irritated to see/hear young singers trying to warble songs, any songs. I wasn't digging it and I don't think it was a good exhibition of his talent. He did have moments, a very few of them, where he sounded good but most of the time it was painful for me to watch and hear as a former "choir boy." Again it could be nerves, but he would take deep breaths in the middle of words because he was preparing for the long warbles. Don't get me wrong though. I sound harsh with my critique but he had ginormous huevos to sing acapella in front of so many on such a huge "stage" so overall kudos to him. I'd just recommend him watching his own performance and move on from there. Oh, and I'm not just being a dick with the "forgettable" comment. I have tried to Google for his name and no article on the official Open website or any other website mentions him even being at the ceremony.
Sixth, the fireworks were short and sweet if not somewhat lame but decent overall.
In the grand scheme of things, I would have been stoked just to be there watching so why complain about seeing it on TV? Because I can!
