US Open 2021: Tornado, state of emergency in New York - Tsitsipas continues, Kerber postponed
Under very special circumstances, Stefanos Tsitsipas moved into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday evening (New York time). He won against Adrian Mannarino 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 7 (4) and 6: 0. Angelique Kerber's match has been postponed.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 02, 2021, 05:33 am
By Jens Huiber from New York City
Little disaster science, lesson one. As the well-traveled, currently California-based reporter for the best German daily newspaper explains in a captivatingly simple manner, the difference between a hurricane and a tornado lies in the following detail: A hurricane is evacuated, a tornado should be able to be sat out at home. So it's good that on Wednesday night, New York time, only a tornado swept the city. Not so good that basically very few people have their main residence in Arthur Ashe Stadium, but relatively many did not miss the third night session of the US Open 2021. According to official figures, more than 20,000.
Those who were there won't forget the evening anytime soon. It all started quite harmlessly, unless you feel connected to Cori Gauff and her immediate family. She felt like she had chased Sloane Stephens out of the Ashe with the wet towel. The winner's interview with Sloane could hardly be understood, however, as the rain had already taken over the acoustic command. The tornado at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where Kevin Anderson and Diego Schwartzman had agreed to meet for a sporting exchange of blows, completely intervened in the game direction. Which went well for a little longer than a sentence. Then the horizontal amounts of water had prevailed.
Kerber's match is postponed
Anderson and Schwartzman were shipped to Arthur Ashe Stadium, but only as a sequel to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Adrian Mannarino. Which also meant that Angelique Kerber was allowed to go back to the hotel, her match against Anhelina Kalinina will be made up on Thursday (as the third match after 5 p.m. CEST on the Grandstand).
The Greek and Mannarino had a fine exchange of blows, but no feast for the ears. From row four the beating could no longer be heard. And: As well as the digital line judges work, the exclamations were simply no longer audible. Because that is also a lesson from the rainy evening in Flushing Meadows: A Central European summer thunderstorm may have lost its shine within a few minutes, the American tornado as such takes a little more time.
Tsitsipas loses third set
At 10:31 pm local time, Mannarino and Tsitsipas were in the tie-break of the third set, the USTA then gave a small all-clear that the tornado would lose strength in the next 20 minutes. Speaking of which: Tsitsipas lost round three and left the court, but this time, in contrast to the toilet breaks in Cincinnati, he did not have complete marching gear. But with a transparent bag that only contained fresh pants and a dry T-shirt. Mannarino took it calmly, the left-hander exudes the long-suffering of a long-retired French winery owner anyway.
# IMG2 #
While the pattering on the stadium roof slowly subsided, the stopwatches on the spectators and in the press center were running hot. The disappointment that Tsitsipas was ready to play again after less than ten minutes caused such a lack of understanding among the fans that they almost completely overran Mannarino's camp. By the way, most of the subway operations in New York City had already been shut down at this point. Just like Adrian Mannarino's momentum: Stefanos Tsitsipas made an early break in the fourth set, winning 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 7 (4) and 6: 0. And on the weather front? According to the well-traveled reporter, who is currently working in New York City for a major German news agency, it was the hour with the heaviest rainfall in history. No wonder that Mayor Bill di Blasio declared a state of emergency that night.
Here is the men's single tableau
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