-- Johnny Weir
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- When I take the 7 train from the 90th Station in Elmhurst going to the last station in the Flushing’s Main Street in Queens nowadays, I have to agonize in standing all the way to my final destination which is four stations away.
Once I got inside, only few seats were available in the 11-car train managed by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) even for a short distance.
The culprit: US Open 2018.
The train was always packed with Caucasian passengers and tennis fans mostly from Europe who go to the Mets-Willets Point Station, located three stations away or 15 to 20 minutes by walk from where I stay.
Because it’s summer season and heat is extreme, I need to take the 7 train if I want to watch the matches; walking is only possible for me if it’s fall, spring or winter (Conditions were so intense August 28, Tuesday, that Novak Djokovic and his opponent used ice baths to cool down during their opening match. Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis retired due to a heat illness and Stefano Travaglia retired because of cramps, according to tournament referee Brian Earley. Leonardo Mayer of Argentina said he also retired from his match against Laslo Djere due to the heat, and he added that his blood pressure dropped and he was feeling dizzy).
Mets-Willets Point Station is where fans of the US Open 2018 disembark if they come from Manhattan or from the Main Street in Flushing.
-o0o-
Most of them stay in Manhattan hotels located 20 minutes away by train ride from the Queens, thus they need to travel by MTA train that passes through the sub way to the elevated railway.
Baseball fans also arrive in the same station (Mets-Willets Point) when they to to the Citi Field, a baseball park located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, located adjacent to the Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the US Open 2018 is being held.
Completed in 2009, the imposing Citi Field is the home field of the New York Mets of the National League division of Major League Baseball.
Meanwhile, all seven active former US Open men’s singles champions are participating this year.
There was an abundance of star power on tap for 2018 after the 2017 US Open went on without five of the ATP’s Top 11 men.
Although Rafael Nadal, the defending champion and world No. 1 has played only one hard-court event this summer, he made the most of it by winning his record-extending 33rd Masters 1000 title at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
-o0o-
The Spaniard heartthrob has collected five ATP titles in 2018, bringing his career total to 80, and now has an opportunity to complete a French Open-US Open double for the second consecutive year.
After winning five consecutive US Open titles from 2004-08, Roger Federer has not been able to reclaim the New York crown despite two final appearances and three semifinal runs.
Federer has only played one summer hard-court event like Nadal, reaching the final at the Cincinnati Masters. The two-time Swiss defending Australian Open champ has perfected the art of peaking at the right times at 37.
The in-form player of the summer, Novak Djokovic enters New York on the back of titles at both Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Masters.
His Cincinnati title completed a Career Golden Masters for the Serb, as he became the first man in history to win all nine Masters events.
Djokovic has a record of 19-2 in his past four tournaments, including an 8-1 record across two Masters events in the US Open Series, dating back to Queen’s Club in late June.
Matches are getting intense and hot as the weather as the Open progresses until September 9.
Once I got inside, only few seats were available in the 11-car train managed by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) even for a short distance.
The culprit: US Open 2018.
The train was always packed with Caucasian passengers and tennis fans mostly from Europe who go to the Mets-Willets Point Station, located three stations away or 15 to 20 minutes by walk from where I stay.
Because it’s summer season and heat is extreme, I need to take the 7 train if I want to watch the matches; walking is only possible for me if it’s fall, spring or winter (Conditions were so intense August 28, Tuesday, that Novak Djokovic and his opponent used ice baths to cool down during their opening match. Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis retired due to a heat illness and Stefano Travaglia retired because of cramps, according to tournament referee Brian Earley. Leonardo Mayer of Argentina said he also retired from his match against Laslo Djere due to the heat, and he added that his blood pressure dropped and he was feeling dizzy).
Mets-Willets Point Station is where fans of the US Open 2018 disembark if they come from Manhattan or from the Main Street in Flushing.
-o0o-
Most of them stay in Manhattan hotels located 20 minutes away by train ride from the Queens, thus they need to travel by MTA train that passes through the sub way to the elevated railway.
Baseball fans also arrive in the same station (Mets-Willets Point) when they to to the Citi Field, a baseball park located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, located adjacent to the Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the US Open 2018 is being held.
Completed in 2009, the imposing Citi Field is the home field of the New York Mets of the National League division of Major League Baseball.
Meanwhile, all seven active former US Open men’s singles champions are participating this year.
There was an abundance of star power on tap for 2018 after the 2017 US Open went on without five of the ATP’s Top 11 men.
Although Rafael Nadal, the defending champion and world No. 1 has played only one hard-court event this summer, he made the most of it by winning his record-extending 33rd Masters 1000 title at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
-o0o-
The Spaniard heartthrob has collected five ATP titles in 2018, bringing his career total to 80, and now has an opportunity to complete a French Open-US Open double for the second consecutive year.
After winning five consecutive US Open titles from 2004-08, Roger Federer has not been able to reclaim the New York crown despite two final appearances and three semifinal runs.
Federer has only played one summer hard-court event like Nadal, reaching the final at the Cincinnati Masters. The two-time Swiss defending Australian Open champ has perfected the art of peaking at the right times at 37.
The in-form player of the summer, Novak Djokovic enters New York on the back of titles at both Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Masters.
His Cincinnati title completed a Career Golden Masters for the Serb, as he became the first man in history to win all nine Masters events.
Djokovic has a record of 19-2 in his past four tournaments, including an 8-1 record across two Masters events in the US Open Series, dating back to Queen’s Club in late June.
Matches are getting intense and hot as the weather as the Open progresses until September 9.
No comments:
Post a Comment