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 Racket-ball Big Apple's noise, atmosphere challenges players
Posted: Wednesday September 08, 1999 10:52 AM
By Mark Morgan, CNN/SI NEW YORK -- Each Grand Slam event has it's own unique identity: the blistering temperatures at the Australian Open. The sweeping romance of Paris that envelops the French Open at Roland Garros. The tradition and quiet reverence that is Wimbledon. The tour's final Grand Slam stop, the U.S. Open, has a frenetic energy, it's a place where old-fashioned tennis etiquette is hurled out the window. "The excitement, the roaring, the going nuts in some of these matches," is what comes to mind for 1996 U.S. Open runner-up Michael Chang. For defending champion Lindsay Davenport, "New York has its ups and downs for every player."
"After five minutes at the Open, everything is difficult there, whole amount of people, difficult to have practice courts, food conditions," said No. 13 seed Alex Corretja. "Everything is so big." Except for Corretja's length of stay in the tournament. He was ousted in the first round by un-seeded Wayne Arthurs. The Open's No. 3 seed, Yevgeny Kafelnikov says just getting to the tournament can be one of the biggest headaches.
"If you're staying in Manhattan, to drive to Flushing Meadows must take a long time traffic-wise and that's probably what bothers a lot of players," he says. Davenport thinks Europeans have a hard time with the Tournament in general. "You always hear them complain the food is not good, the planes are going by, and the crowd, they don't even care about tennis. But as an American you kind of just go with the flow." Todd Martin is this year's No. 7 seed and a 1994 semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows and he says, "There's tons of guys out there that don't look forward to it the way this tournament should be looked forward to." The Open's original New York home was the West Side Tennis Club, a modest, conservative facility in the residential neighborhood of Forest Hills. In 1978, it was moved here to the National Tennis Center, across the tracks from Shea Stadium. The event became more lavish and commercial. And because it was more accessible to the general public, the once buttoned-down tennis set took on the air of a baseball crowd. "You know, you're smelling the hot dogs and people were shouting during the points to each other or something," says No. 12 seed Richard Krajicek. "If you're not playing well and you're a little bit edgy and people aren't behaving the way you're used to, you could lose it a little on the court." New York native and four-time Open champion John McEnroe says the distractions are par for the course which makes winning the event so difficult. That includes fans being seated during the competition. "The ushers are looking for a couple of bucks and they will sit people down right in the middle of the game. They will do it and you've got to live with that."
A cacophony rains down on the participants and the loudest sounds are made by the jets taking off from nearby LaGuardia Airport. Even though air traffic was re-routed in 1994 by then-mayor and tennis fanatic David Dinkins, airplanes are still heard flying overhead. "I think when you first come out here, you're very sensitive to planes overhead," says Chang who looks up as a plane flies overhead right on cue. "I'll never forget the tiebreaker I was playing against Jennifer Capriati in our semifinal match," says Monica Seles who has twice won this tournament. "You're out there for two-and-a-half hours, it's six-all in the tiebreaker, a couple of points will decide who's in the finals, and then you have the plane flying over. And it's like 'Oh, get me out of here' for a second."
Much like New York City, the U.S. Open seems to never sleep. Evening matches on the stadium court, which can run past midnight, have become legendary. The backdrop: over 20-thousand revved-up New Yorkers, many of whom have imbibed a portion of the 12-hundred kegs of beer and 400 cases of champagne that are consumed at the U.S. Tennis Center every year. Despite the unrelenting circus around them, many players embrace the challenge. "It forces guys to rise above the conditions and that's what a Grand Slam should be," Martin says. Four-time winner Pete Sampras who is out of the tournament due to a back injury says the noise level is something to be expected. "You expect people to kind of be walking around. And there's a certain buzz in the air."
Experience and mental toughness are all vital to success through a two-week span amid the unforgiving conditions of the Open. Many players don't like the atmosphere, but as Seles put it recently, the key to success is making yourself like it.
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