US Open, New York City, Monday Sept. 4

addendum to : New York Times, Sports pg. D-4, 9/6/2000
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On Monday (Labor Day here)The Louis Armstrong
Stadium was packed with fans from the
adjoining smaller stadium when play ended there.
The singles match Krajicek played in was lively but
fans were anxious for the following event,
the women's doubles. Martina Navratilova was to
be paired with Sanchez-Vicario against Huber (Ger)
playing with Schett (Aut). And after that the
Williams sisters would (presumably) walk thru
their doubles match. Louis Armstrong, the
second largest stadium, was the place to be on
Monday afternoon.

New York was having impossibly sultry weather
and the audience wasn't worn out a bit by it since
it was early in the day. A short hour long delay
took place but the changeable skies indicated
a better afternoon than the previous wet day.
The courts were quickly dried and the squeegee
staff was roundly applauded. Play resumed but the
extra damp sunny weather was fleeting. Big clouds
roiled along. No one was completely dry from the
last cloud burst and all the vendors had been
browsed thru. We didn't want any more interruption!
Umbrellas went up and ponchos came out but the
play was halted and we hadn't gotten
within a set of the start of the women's play.

This included thunder and a deluge. No one had dry
shoes at this point and the court became a swimming
pool. But the weather WAS changeable. Most afternoon
attendees had all-day passes and weren't about to leave
Flushing for anything less than a cat 4 hurricane.
Some beer and wraps and fleece pullover shopping.
No problem.

A steady deadly drum beat of rain continued. No more
to eat and nothing to do. The vendors kiosks had little
overhanging roof space to shelter people from the driving
storm. Fans huddled near them with about as much protection
from the rain as cows around a phone pole.
Wet-shoed fans eyed with envy the people smart
enough to wear Tevas. I went barefoot and could gloat
over having dry sneakers in my back pack. Now we are
pretty damp if not soaked. This storm lead to a two hour
delay and this time the squeegee men had an even bigger
ovation. OK we're ready. You can play now.

Unexpectedly, the scoreboard that had given line-ups
for the many small courts outside the Armstrong stadium
now flashed the next match. Williams... doubles...
where's Martina ? We were all waiting for Martina.
People who had been hustling out along the fringes must've had
some inside dope on this! I went with all the other
Martina N. fans to find her.
This un-retirement may be our
last chance to see the legend play. We weren't
going to miss. We did want to strangle the scoreboard
operator who announced all different matches than were
listed on the printed daily draw sheet. How dare they!

By THIS time it's dark. There are over twenty courts and the
commons between them are pitch dark. Guessing, I go to number
15. Some guys are playing on it. The outer courts are as big
as a court in a public park with bleacher seating for some
dozens of spectators. I'm confused. I feel like I'm on
a strange campus looking for a lecture hall. With no map.
Luckily I see a dimly lit kiosk with a small crowd
around it with nothing for sale. This kiosk
displayed sort of a court directory with people placing
placards on it. Almost no one has stumbled across this
wealth of information. They are drifting around like me
looking through cyclone fencing for who's on what court.
The placard says court 10. Navratilova was paired
with this guy named Leach. Her opponent, calendar-girl Kournakova
was with this Belarus guy Mirnyi who made his partner look downright
short. This guy was an NBA player with hair.

Since my group trickled into the few seats with the prior match
still on we had choice benches. I was three seats back from
wet towels and there were only about 5 or 6 rows to this child
size arena. Cool weather was setting in and a whippy wind didn't
make being near soaked any fun. Who had fun were those fleece
buyers and prescient jacket wearers. It had been 85o. Who'da thought?

We are loaded for bear. Martina is going to play at last. The
DILIGENT fans who sought her out are packed in and on the entire
side of the court where there's no seating, just a waist high railing
are more fans three deep.

We've been drinking beer all during the rain delay.
We've been run around looking for court ten
and we had to exit the expansive large stadium
that could easily accommodate throngs of WTA fans. We were loud and
we don't care. They can't throw us ALL out. Whooping after good
play was accompanied by ingenious rhythmic foot stomping that made
an especially loud din since we were on aluminum flooring.

About four guys in front were enthusiastic about Kournokova. The
men paired at this match were really unknown to this group. Leach
had great acrobatic moves and backward under-leg antics. The problem
was his dramatics always seemed to snag the ball at the top of the
net on return producing groans of disappointment from the partisan
crowd. The other man Mirnyi was, unfortunately, a great player.
His lean, lanky form enabled him to pounce down on the ball
with this big overhead sweep that clobbered the incoming ball
downward close to our heroine's side of the net with such
force it looked like a volleyball smash then the ball
bounced rocket like straight up beyond anyone's reach and neither
Navratilova nor Leach had a butterfly net with them to capture the
flying fuzzy satellite. As the match progressed past 10 p.m. other
fans from the upper deck of a nearby larger court could be seen
watching the match, backs to their own court.

So much for tennis action. All anyone needs to know is it was
an exciting and long match. However, the best action wasn't on the
court. The fans were totally synchronized and took advantage of
the situation (no opposing fans to speak of and no fear of being
ejected for loud mouthing). Mostly frozen, everyone kept good & warm
by stomping.

From the reception they got anyone arriving late (fat chance!)
would've thought Naratilova/Leach had just won the competition.
I doubt there can be as good an audience for her should she
appear at the Garden in November for Chase Championships. The
Garden has ushers who worked the Friday Night Fights.

--- Mary Titus

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