U.S. Open Tennis Preview

The American Grand Slam event takes place from this Monday up until Sunday, September 9th. The hard, blue court makes for fast excellent Tennis and the fans are among the rabid in the world. The electrifying atmosphere that is the Open Championship is vastly underrated because the sport is far from mainstream. All the matches are played basically next to each other at the same time, making it a crazed heaven for Tennis junkies. Imagine the NCAA Tournament all played at one site. I went to first and second round matches last year, and became hooked. Woman's 11th seed Patty Schnyder, loves the atmosphere at Flushing Meadows.

"I think it's great. " Schnyder said. "There are so many fans from different countries come to support us. People travel from all over the world."

On the ladies side, the Swiss support Schnyder, and of course Roger Federer on the men's side. Spain, France, and Russia all have big time stars on their side traveling to the events and matches. Justin Henin is the top seed on the womens side, and all of Belgium greatly support their biggest Tennis star. Expect a quarterfinal matchup with either 8th seed Serena Williams, or French 10 seed Marion Bartoli. The Serbain women have really made named for themselves on tour, and 3rd seed Jelena Jankovic highlights the 2nd section. Her countrymate and 5th seed Ana Ivanovic is at the bottom of the bracket, and is a force to be reckoned with. She's 3-1 head to head with Jankovic. 14th seed Elena Dementieva and 12th seed Venus Williams would make for a great 3rd round match and would be potential spoilers for the Serbs. Russian 7th seed Nadia Petrova leads the 3rd section, and could face either 9th seed Slovokian Daniela Hantuchova, or 16 seed Martina Hingis, who has vast experience in New York. 4th seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova has an easy draw on the bottom of the bracket. Russian 6th seed Anna Chakvetadze is at the top of the bracket, but could run into trouble in the 3rd round with the 26th seed Sania Mirza. The Indian has made headlines worldwide for her nationality and stellar play. Schnyder and 13th seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova could also be threats in the round of 16. 2nd seed Maria Sharapova is on the bottom of the bracket along with 18th seeded Israeli Shahar Pe'er.

On the mens side, the big story is the emergence of another Serbian named Novack Djokovic. The 3rd seed is coming on really strong and is quickly rising to the levels of the top two in Federer and Rafael Nadal. Tennis Magazine Senior Editor Peter Bodo analyzes Djokovic's game, and points out that he's a big threat to the top two.

"Novak is a huge threat. The crazy thing is, neither I nor a number of people I know were surprised that Djokovic beat the top 3 players in the world in back-to-back matches in Montreal just three weeks ago. I think the biggest thing that Djokovic needs in order to beat Federer as well as Nadal is a slightly greater willingness to attack. On the other hand, he's been holding his own as a kind of all-court power-based liner just fine, and there's no doubt that his progression towards the top has been orderly as well as predictable. But yeah, I've been saying this kid is the real deal since before he was."

Federer is the top seed in the first section, and will have to likely play a tough wild card Rainer Schuettler in round two. 21st seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero will likely be his first test, and 13th seed Richard Gasquet or 9 seed Tomas Berdych could be next. Young American Donald Young could foil the 13th seeded Frenchman. Ultimately though, 5th seed Andy Roddick is set to face Federer in the quarterfinal, which would be a finals worthy matchup because Roddick plays so well on hardcourt with his powerful serves.

4th seeded Nikolay Davydenko leads the 2nd section, and will likely face the tough German Nicolas Kiefer in the 2nd round. Rising Brit and 19 seed Andy Murray will be a threat to Davydenko, but experienced Swede Jonas Bjorkman will challange the powerful Murray. 10th seeded German Tommy Haas is also in the section, and could face tough Slovak Dominik Hrbaty early on. 18th seeded Marcos Baghdatis will also be a threat, but will likely take on Sebastian Grosjean in roun two. They will likely have to take on the man at the bottom of the bracket, 6th seeded American James Blake.

8th seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo leads section 3, and will run into a hot Mardy Fish in round two, who's having a great Pilot Pen tournament in Connecticut. Robredo will also be challanged by fellow countryman and 17 seed Carlos Moya. 11th seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny will also be a threat, and will have a great 3rd round match against 16th seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt, if Hewitt can get by American Amer Delic in round one. Djokovic headlines the bottom of the bracket as the 3rd seed, and could face a 2nd round test from Radek Stepanek, 23rd seed Juan Monaco, or 31st seed Jurgen Melzer.
Chilean 7th seed Fernando Gonzalez is at the top of section 4, but will be really challanged in round two against American Robby Ginepri. Gonzalez will also be challanged by 25th seed Marat Safin, who has a lot of major experience. Croatian 12th seed Ivan Ljubicic and 15th seed David Ferrer could also be opponents for Gonzalez in the round of 16. The bottom of the bracket belongs to 2nd seed Rafael Nadal, who has never won at the US Open. On his side is the tough 24th seeded David Nalbandian. The best match in the first round comes on this side, as 27th seeded Russian Dmitry Tursonov faces British hero Tim Henman.
Watch the ESPN family of networks and CBS for all the fantastic and exciting action at the Open. You won't want to miss it. Stay here at SprungOnSports for daily Open updates on sprungonsports.blogspot.com