US Open: The Qualifying Record – Genie Bouchard Attracts the Masses (Still)

For four days 128 women and the same number of men applied for one of the 16 places in the main field. A small balance.

By Jens Huiber from New York City

The National Tennis Center has won again with the new Louis Armstrong Stadium. Every year a new attraction, the much money that the USTA earns with their Grand Slam tournament, is well invested. So there should finally be the possibility to make use of the Hawk Eye on all courts. Alone: this is not used in the qualification. Why the hell not?

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Hawk-Eye is not, but coaching is allowed. And not at the benches as usual on the WTA Tour, but directly from the coach box. Gerald Melzer made use of this opportunity at a very early stage, beating Félix Auger-Aliassime 3-0 in the first set. A regulation, whose adoption on the regular tour speaks very little against. Even if the entertainment factor of the conversations between Garbine Muguruza and Sam Sumyk captured via microphone is very high.

And while we’re at it: The shot clock can do three different things. Players are given one minute to toss the coin, and 25 seconds to play in, from the announcement of the score to the next serve. The resulting warnings: few or none at all. It’s quite simple.

Eugenie Bouchard is still a crowd puller. When the Canadian, just a few years ago a Wimbledon finalist and participant in the WTA final in Singapore, the stands are full. Bouchard plowed through the qualification against Carol Zhao, Ekaterine Gorgodze and Jamie Loeb.

In sporting terms, the qualifiers are looking for a decent sum of money – and some professionals were also allowed to take something with them in terms of atmosphere. As guinea pigs for the matches in the aforementioned new Louis Armstrong Stadium. First impression: fantastic new arena. One small limitation: the marshalling yard just behind the Armstrong is still in service. And not quietly.

In addition to the already active players, the permanently qualified participants also play on the course. The most striking finding: Richard Gasquet not only shares a training ground with Benoit Paire, but possibly also the same hairdresser. Gasquet has chosen the hair colour “hydrogen blonde”.