El US Open

donald young who pushed mr. harvard to 5 sets.

jimmy b

jmdp

Canas

ms. jankovic

Coco Vandeweghe making her grand slam debut on Arthur Ashe!

The former number 1 (wow. already "former.") vs. 16 year old Coco Vandeweghe, who is from Rancho Santa Fe. (yay RSF!)

jelena jankovic with a much better outfit than her (in)famous Olympics outfit

Tszvetana Pironkova

Tszvetana Pironkova again

Guillermo Canas vs. the Dinara Safina of men's tennis (aka: Juan Martin del Potro)

I nabbed tickets to opening night! I was a bit disappointed (okay, scratch the bit.) that Federer didn't play opening night. They didn't put Nadal opening night either. I figure that they scheduled Blake vs. Young because they're two Americans.

james blake and his rocker bff

For three years in elementary and junior high school in Fairfield, Conn., the Grammy winner spent almost every afternoon playing Nintendo with his childhood pal, tennis star and Olympian James Blake. "Just about every day he was at my house, and we'd play Nintendo games, like Joe Montana football, all the time," says Blake, who was in fifth grade when the two became best buds. "John was pretty good, but I played a bit more than he did," Blake told PEOPLE at Heineken's Share the Good event in New York City on Friday, where he accepted a $10,000 check for the Thomas Blake Sr. Memorial Cancer Research Fund, his charity honoring his late father.Mayer and Blake, one of PEOPLE's Hottest Bachelors, hung out Thursday night at the Manhattan benefit for the charity.

So, were girls swarming around them back at Fairfield High School? "Absolutely not!" says Blake, with a laugh. "I don't know what he likes to tell about his high school experience, but mine was very different from the way life is now. "I was about five feet tall wearing a back brace [due to scoliosis]," continues Blake, who's in town for the U.S. Open. "I definitely didn't have girls flocking around me."

"To be honest, I don't think either one of us was doing that great [with the ladies] in high school – John was still kind of fitting into a niche ... He's more than made up for himself with how he's done since then." These days, Mayer, 30, and Blake, 28, are both single. So, will they be each other's wingman? Don't bet on it, says the tennis star. "I don't think John needs one, he does just fine on his own," says Blake. "He doesn't even need to be my wingman – he can just stand there, and people are impressed that I know him!"

Check out the entire People article here.

her baby is not the only one keeping her up....

"I had to stay with the guys. The first night, I had to share the bathroom. James [Blake] went to the bathroom like three times in the middle of the night, turning the lights on. The next night, I was like, 'There is no shot I am staying here. I'm getting the bedroom with my own bathroom.' Then they started playing practical jokes on me. They eventually got me to leave. The last few nights, I went back to the hotel. James put salami in my pillow. He was throwing stuff in the toilet. They were so bad. So bad." -Lindsay Davenport on life in Beijing. Davenport is playing singles and doubles (with Ms. Hantuchova) at the Pilot Pen tournament at YAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLE Univeristy!

rafa nadal fashion icon

Nadal is featured in NY Magazine's fall 2008 issue. Article here! I can't decide if Rafa's smile is heartwarming and genuine or just downright freaky.

RF +SW = BFF and more?

Forty Deuce and others have speculated about Fed and Wawrinka's "special" relationship. (ie: Refer to the picture.)

Here's what Fed had to say about the hugging, kissing, jubilant celebrating, etc..

"Well, I mean, the thing is, I can't just hug a stranger when I win singles (smiling). I could, I guess, but it's just not something you do. The guy would go like, Are you crazy or something? I would just rather not do it. I think that's the difficulties, you know, I guess in singles play, that you're all alone on the court. You win, you sit down. Going through the ceremony is quite different. I'm not the type of guy that's going to run up into the stands and start hugging my family and all my people who came. I never did that; I will never do it. It's a different approach to winning. In Davis Cup we've had some crazy moments, you know. People who know me, they know I'm very open and outgoing. It showed today. That's usually how I really am."

double the gold

"It is like a fantastic dream come true. I feel really happy to win the gold medal. It is great. I enjoy that. I have tried for several times, and I came really close to the medal in Sydney where I finished fourth. . . . Since then I can't stop thinking that if I am the best player in the world, I should do the same in the Olympics, and then finally I made it. It is really special also because it is for Switzerland, you know, you country cannot get so many medals at one Olympics, maybe one or two, but this time I got a gold medal, it is for my country. I really feel different, as it is for my country. It is different from the Grand Slam where I did it for just myself." -TMF after winning the gold in men's doubles.

Congrats to the Swiss duo and all the medalists! Click here to read more about the win!

:(

The pictures say it all. What an eeyore of a day. At least he's still in doubles?

double duty...

Only one man and three women are still contenders for both singles and doubles medals. In case you haven't noticed already, I'm a little biased (and by that I mean very) towards a certain Swiss player. GO FED! Too bad Federer, with fellow Swiss compadre Wawrinka, meets Indian doubles powerhouse team Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Perhaps Paes and Bhupathi's troubled relationship will work against them.

Park Tae Hwan!!!

South Korean Park Tae Hwan won the 400 freestyle gold medal at Beijing Olympics! The first gold medal in swimming for Korea! Wahoo!!! Dae Han Min Gook!!!! Check out the details here.

Plus, Park eerily reminds me of my friend's brother. Hi Edward!

GO KOREA! And Switzerland (but only if you are a certain male tennis player who answers to the name Roger Federer)!

speaking of the chinese...

This issue is hotly debated in the gymnastics world, but I wasn't aware of it until I watched the women's gymnastics prelims yesterday. Apparently, there's speculation that some of China's athletes are underage. Currently, rules declare that you must be 16 years old to compete. Do the girls above really look 16??? or even over 10?

Check this New York Times article for more info.