8 Reasons to remember the 2010 US Open tournament – Part 2
This year’s US Open heralded a set of new records, events and victories, many of which were unexpected and quite surprising. As with every tournament, there were certain more memorable moments than others, listed in this second feature.
5) Fan riots have always been an integral part of tennis, despite the fact that the general impression of tennis is that of a sophisticated sport. This year, a fight between two fans – apparently one of them had called the other one “fat” – was videotaped
by another spectator, which eventually became a YouTube sensation overnight. The disagreement occurred at a match between Novak Djokovic and Philipp Petzschner, and resulted in a two year ban from the US Open tournament for the quarrelling fans, mandated by
the United States Tennis Association. When asked for verification, a USTA official made the following statement: “It's a hot night in New York. Things happen.”
6) Speaking of the weather, this year’s event may just be listed as one of the most contrary seasons ever, and that expression isn’t limited to tennis; the weather seemed to get progressively more difficult and unpredictable after every passing week at the
US Open. During the first week of the event, the heat in New York became nearly impossible to bear; the weather was so severe that one of the WTA players, Victoria Azarenka (who suffered a minor concussion prior to this), collapsed on the court during a match
against Gisela Dulko. The temperature at that time was over 110 degrees. In the second week, wind became a major issue, with drafts and gusts of breezes causing unforced errors and double faults left, right and centre. In the third week, the men’s singles
final was delayed to a Monday for the third consecutive year, due to rain and inclement weather conditions.
7) Ryan Harrison’s debut at the US Open this year was definitely one of the highlights of the event, marking a historical victory for the home country. The 18-year-old player managed to score a victory against 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic in the opening
round of the tournament, becoming the first American male teenager to beat a Top 20 player at a Grand Slam event in 9 years. Although Harrison suffered a loss in the second round to Sergiy Stakhovsky, his remarkable performance in the first round bookmarked
him as a player to watch out for in the years to come.
8) An unexpected contender entered the throng this year: American professional tennis player, Beatrice “Trice” Capra proved herself to be another player to keep an eye on in the future. After she lost the girls 18-and-under national championships, the last
thing that 18-year-old Capra was expecting was a chance to participate in the last Grand Slam event of the year. However, she was invited to the tournament’s wild card playoffs, and emerged with a pass to the 2010 US Open. Trice managed to defeat Aravane Rezai,
the tournament’s eighteenth seed, in the first round. Although she fell 6-love, 6-love to Maria Sharapova in the last round, Capra garnered quite a fan following for herself after this success.
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