Well, that was almost a disaster of a day. My general admission ticket was a washout, meaning Evo didn’t really get near the court (a couple of matches did just about start). I don’t know why they don’t get covers, apparently, they did last year which I don’t remember. If it is to be unique then they certainly are for all the wrong reasons. I always remember them not having them though. The courts were cleaned several times for over an hour only for it to lightly rain then pour again. Meaning you have missed out on a couple of hours play at least. Each to their own. After that though was the Evening session in The Arthur Ashe. What was to follow was what I like to call ‘a spare pants’ moment.

Firstly though, Djokovic fans had a mini moment of there own too. It became clear that Djokovic seemed to be having trouble with his serve. It turned out to be a shoulder problem (unsurprisingly). He then called the trainer. Juan Ignacio Londero came to play ball though. For the first two sets, he was right in it. He led by a break on the opener and a double break in the second only to lose both. The Argentine was hitting the ball so sweetly but when push came to shove, Nole won ALL the big points as Londero went into his shell. Djokovic played the injury down after but you can’t help feeling that a natural hard court player could have got a bit more out of this. Time will tell how serious this shoulder is.

I was quite relaxed going into Serena v Cath McNally, without taking anything for granted you understand. As with Djokovic and his shoulder, I noticed she seemed very uptight and nervous in the pre-walk out interview. Maybe I have turned into Mystic Meg, but then again Thiem certainly wouldn’t have been one of my tips and I would have believed the extent of his viral infection. Anyway, maybe I am wrong with Rena but that was my initial impression and what followed would partly back that up.

The errors for a set and a half off the Williams racket worried the living daylights out of me. I even had to move seats due to (1) a change of luck and (2) The couple behind me were enjoying what they were seeing a fuck sight more than I was. I have no problem with that but I had the opportunity to move, so did. I thought McNally did serve pretty well in fairness and I really liked her slice. She was hitting big too but there were a lot of errors from the other side of the net. Rena first broke at 3-2 in second so that tells you a fair bit. After that and in particular the decider it was a different story and the Real Serena turned up and her opponents head started to drop. Is this the match where she struggles? Or is it a sign that it might not happen here? Time will tell. I know what I’m praying for!

Elsewhere there were straight forward wins for Ash Barty, Madison Keys and Karolina Pliskova. Though Venus lost to Elina Svitolina. Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori both won today in four. Poor first set from Fed against Dzumhur and Klahn gave Nishikori a workout. Dominic Koepfer took out Reilly Opelka, who had previously beaten Fabio Fognini and Borna Coric gave Grigor Dimitrov a walkover after a lower back strain.

On we go.
Andy Del Potro