Tennishead on Tour blog: US Open, day 1

Maria Kirilenko

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I left the stadium tonight with an over-riding sense of disappointment. I had fully intended to watch the opening ceremony and take some pictures of the past champions being paraded in front of the crowd and then the fireworks.

Click here for the US Open Day 1 photo diary

But there was so much happening on the outside courts I didn’t make it on time and all I heard was a big bang and then saw billowing smoke and the end of the display. Very disappointing, as I was actually looking forward to it especially as I have my new fisheye lens to use.

Among my other first day highlights were Caroline Wozniacki’s new outfit…

Despite missing the fireworks, though, it was a very good day of tennis and was pretty relentless as there were 12 courts running with four of five matches on every court. So, despite my best efforts, I didn’t make it to every match.

I would have seen more, but I watched the whole of Tennishead blogger Anne Keothavong’s match which she won in superb style and the second two sets of Andy Murray’s match, which again was a textbook display from Andy.

Before I talk about today, I must also say I was very impressed that the USTA have opened a US Open clothes and accessory shop in Soho on Prince Street.

It is a very brave move but if it works it could see the merchandise moving from the tennis court to the high street. I was trying to imagine what would happen if the All England Club set up a retail shop for Wimbledon in Knightsbridge – a weird concept it must be said.

However, in New York it looks like it is working really well. The merchandise for the US Open is actually really good and pretty stylish. It has got to be the best of the grand slams and actually is gear you would be seen in. The fact that Ralph Lauren also designs and sells merchandise for the Open has to be a bit of a bonus as well.

As well as visiting the USTA store, I also went for a haircut at the immensely cool Freemans Sporting Club, which I would definitely recommend if you need a trim while in the Big Apple. Maybe Rog and Rafa should check this place out.

So, yeah, back to the tennis – today was a big one. I’m sitting here tapping away and it’s 1.30am already and there are a whole lot more pictures to go through tonight.

The day started slowly with Dementieva beating the very
powerful Amanmuradova. I am a huge fan of Dementieva’s, as she isn’t the biggest player but she makes up for her lack of size by being incredibly fit and has obviously worked incredibly hard on her strength too. I was also very impressed when she won Dubai after being well down to Kuznetsova in the final but mounted a massive comeback to win that match.

The highlights of my day were seeing Andy Murray absolutely bury Roitman and Kirilenko, who looked fantastic under the setting sun, beat Paszek, who did so well in Canada recently.

The biggest match of the day for me, however, was seeing Keothavong progress to round two. She played really well, looked very physical and deserved the relatively easy win she had.

Among my other first day highlights were Caroline Wozniacki’s new outfit, which was very Robin Hood in grey, but built like Caroline is, it would be impossible for her not to look fantastic, whether she had a bow and arrow or not!

The other two players I saw today who I have a great deal of time for are Victoria Azarenka and Anna Chakvetadze, who both played very well.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a cracking day and I am really looking forward to it. I think it will be another long one, but well worth it!

Gonzalez is playing tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if he has a hard time from the crowd after the rhubarb in Beijing with Blake. I think he will but I guess he’ll deal with it. We’ll see…