US Open: Balance Sheet, Part Two – The Comeback of the Man Bag

The US Open is almost history. In the second week the program thins out a bit. Impressions for a very subjective balance could nevertheless be collected.

The big comeback of the man bag has started Makunga. No greatness in the tennis circus, that’s true, but rather the opponent of the wonderful Alex in the animation film “Madagascar 2” from 2008, but at the latest in the current edition of the US Open there are the majority of players who do not transport their changing clothes in a sleazy plastic bag, but in a sports bag whose capacity could not take up a racket.

The bigger the players, the more beautiful the contrasts of the pros and their man bags. See above all Juan Martin del Potro and Alexander Zverev.

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One knows the pictures of American football in the US-American late summer: The players are cooled during the breaks with fans, the generated wind power is enormous. However, football is usually played around noon. The fact that the US Open even let its protagonists fan air mechanically for the night session is a novelty.

Roger Federer even had the fan repositioned and sat down directly in the draft. Small hook, as John McEnroe also noted: the size of the fans. While football is played in XXL, the players in New York were only treated to the mini version.

Matchday nine, Tuesday in week two, and they do exist. Still in singular, but maybe “he” is out there somewhere. The smoker as such at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “She” at 5:51 p.m. on the dot disproves the assumption that the USTA has issued a general ban on smoking on the premises. Except for the journalists. And, of course, David Ferrer.

Pam Shriver, for example, can only be envied for her job sometimes. The former world-class player usually has the very best seats, reports directly from the court for ESPN. But unfortunately has to ask the protagonist two questions before the matches, on which they have no desire at all. Mostly a potpourri of the greatest phrase successes follows, especially Sloane Stephens has shown herself as a champion time and again.

The gentlemen are a little more happy, perhaps also because they fear the Twitter ban by Brad Gilbert, the male Pam Shriver. The eloquence of Federer and Djokovic is well known, the secret winner in any case was John Millman. A man with an enormous need to speak, whom he also proves after every point.

And speaking of John Millman: He did very well in terms of sport, but had to take a slight blame from Matthew Berry. Mr. Berry is ESPN’s fantasy football expert and rated the draft Millman announced after his win over Federer. Quintessence: Nothing went wrong with Tom Brady on quarterback, but the position of the wide receiver is too weak. It’s not gonna work.

Odell Beckham Jr. has, however, made himself scarce this year. Millman could have used the star player in his fantasy team, in contrast to previous years “OBJ” was not present at Arthur Ashe Stadium. But sizes like Alec Baldwin (in very fine thread) and Chevy Chase (basically without thread). But one thing above all has caused enthusiasm in the German-speaking journalist gang: Damian Lewis. This should be known to all serial fans from “Homeland” and “Billions”.

Finally, the safety precautions are still intact. Well, in part. In any case, access to Parking Lot H is no longer as meticulously controlled as it was at the beginning of the tournament when the parking ticket was scanned in. To this end, specialists from the New York Police Department are not only on hand with emergency vehicles, but have also recently started to support the personnel who deserve to be inspected at the entrance. Mute. But equipped with full military equipment.