US Open: Roger Federer in civilian clothes, Alexander Zverev in a good mood
The media day at the US Open 2019 brought little new knowledge. Except maybe that the roof over Louis Armstrong Stadium was a good investment.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Aug 23, 2019, 10:33 pm
By Jens Huiber from New York City
The Louis Armstrong Stadium, completely renovated since last year - rather: newly built - plays, as one would say in Austria, "all pieces". There is enough to eat, even before the US Open begins. A roof is also available, although in 2018 it remained open throughout the two weeks of the tournament. A shower of Flushing Meadows like the one on Thursday night wouldn’t affect the tennis players anymore, the baseball players of the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians were not quite as happy there.
# IMG2 #
The dimensions of the Armstrong are by no means enough for a solid match in Major League Baseball, but they are definitely enough to carry out the traditional “Media Day”. And so the gathering reporters were allowed to romp around in the second largest stadium of the facility between the basic and T-lines, an interesting, although somewhat arbitrarily selected group of players in prayer. Particularly striking: tournament favorite and defending champion Novak Djokovic was not at the start. The Serb apparently had already told himself in public at the presentation of the draw.
The roof remained closed on Friday morning, with a light drizzle over the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Federer and the embarrassing returns
Roger Federer, on the other hand, answered the questions and opened the round of tournament favorites on the men's side. In the field of women, on the other hand, everything is possible again, but the USTA had at least called up the top three in the WTA world rankings: Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova. To be on the safe side, Bianca Andreescu, the winner of Indian Wells and Toronto.
# IMG3 #
Federer spent a whopping 40 minutes with the journalists, taking every question as seriously as if he had heard it for the very first time. It is interesting to note that the Maestro found that in the early days of his career there were players who were below average in the return game. One would have liked to ask who exactly matched this description. Alone: the acoustics in the not so wide round did not allow this.
# BETATHOMEUSWIN #
Tsonga with a new hairstyle
Also because USTA created another event for the fans from Question Time, with the corresponding consequences: Alexander Zverev could hardly understand the questions asked to him, because at the same time Naomi Osaka's type was required. Loud and incessant. First World Problems, no doubt, the German number one was in a good mood anyway, Alexander Zverev does not have to endure the pressure of a favorite role this year.
In the afternoon the places were dry again, most of the professionals took advantage of the training opportunities that opened up. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, for example, showed up on the training ground with Richard Gasquet, and that with a new, blond hairstyle. Stan Wawrinka had also started a training session like Rafael Nadal. Only Roger Federer was still in civilian clothes several hours after his appearance in front of the reporters.