U.S. OPEN (Tennis), Profile // NFL: Looking Ahead, First Week-Regular Season

U.S. OPEN---AS last year, the U.S. Open (Tennis) will be held at New York City, N.Y., and will occur Monday, August 26th, through September 9th. It is the last of a year’s four Grand Slam events, and will happen on hard surface, the 133d version of the tournament since 1881. Of the four annual Grand Slam events, first is the Australian Open, a competition on grass. Next comes the French Open (Paris, Fr.), on clay, followed by Wimbledon (London, United Kingdom), grass. Of nations from which this year’s U.S. Open’s seeded male players (singles) are from, six are of Spain (the most from a single nation), and two are from the U.S.---John Isner, seeded 12th and ranked 13th in the world among male players, and Sam Querrey, seeded 23d, ranked 29th. The defending U.S. Open male champion (singles) is Andy Murray, of the U.K., this year’s Wimbledon singles winner. Murray is seeded third for the U.S. Open, and ranked third among men in world tennis behind first place, Novak Djokovic (Serbia), and second, Rafael Nadal (Spain). The seeded “top six” of the 32 male players qualified for this year’s U.S. Open are led by Djokovic. Second, Nadal. Third, Murray. Fourth, David Ferrer (Spain). Fifth, Tomas Berdych (Czechoslovakia). Sixth, Juan Martin del Porto (Argentina). . . Roger Federer (Switzerland), a U.S. Open male-singles winner for five years straight (2004-2008) is seeded seventh this year. Federer’s five straight wins is one win short of the six consecutive U.S. Open wins achieved by U.S. tennis great, Bill Tilden, 1920-1925. The last American male singles player to win at the U.S. Open is Andy Roddick, 2003. Within the past 40 years, U.S. male players have won the U.S. Open 20 times, 10 in a row from 1978 through 1987, John McEnroe winning four of these, Jimmy Connors three, Ivan Lendl, three. Among American players, Pete Sampras holds the record for the most U.S. Open wins in the 40 year time frame, five wins during 1990 through 2002. America’s Andre Agassi won the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1999. . . Among women seeded one through six for this year’s U.S. Open (singles), last year’s winner, Serena Williams (U.S.) leads. Second, Victoria Azarenka (Belarussia). Third, Agneiska Radwariska (Poland). Fourth, Sara Eviani (Italy). Fifth, Li Na (China). Sixth, Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark). Two other U.S. women will compete at singles-U.S. Open among the 32 seeded: Sloane Stephens, seeded 15th, and Jamie Hampton, seeded 23d. Women singles players who have won the U.S. Open more than once since 1973 are Chris Evert (5X), Marina Navratilova (4X), Venus Williams (2X) and Serena Williams (4X), also this year’s women’s French Open winner. . . So, Roddick is the only U.S. player to win the U.S. Open-singles/men within the last 10 years, and the likes of multiple U.S. Open female winners Evert and Navratilova haven’t been seen since 1987, Serena Williams now being the only U.S. athlete among the world’s top 10 women tennis players. Presently, the lack of there being new U.S. male and female tennis greats is as much a mystery as is the current dominance of the game by players from Europe . . . As of today, withdrawn from the U.S. Open due to injuries and/or personal reasons are male player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France), and the U.S. Open winner/women’s singles in 2006, Maria Sharapova (Russia), and Marion Bartoli (France), this years women’s singles winner at Wimbledon. . . /// . . . NFL-WEEK ONE, REGULAR SEASON---ON September 5, a Thursday, the NFL season-opening game competing the Denver Broncos against the Baltimore Ravens will likely be the high tension/high anxiety AFC event of the week, and not only because the Ravens knocked the Broncos from last season’s playoffs in overtime and went on to win a Super Bowl that the Broncos seemed until then to be up for (read: revenge). In addition, former Broncos linebacker now Raven LB, Elvis Dumervil, will be gunning for Broncos QB, Peyton Manning, the QB that he had committed to return a football to after sacking an opposing QB only last season---how will this work out for Dumervil? Too, will Ravens QB, Joe Flacco, direct an offense against a Broncos defense weakened from pre-season injuries and the loss of LB Von Miller “in ways proving he’d have done as well were the Broncos defense re-set, and in ways better than opposing QB, Manning?” Also, we will have a first look at Manning + his reinforced receiver package operating during regulation. So, if offense and defense are as comparable as the last time that these two teams met, the difference in points could come from “special teams,” the two ST’s also comparable, though data has the Ravens ST’s slightly ahead in kick/punt skills. AND, for NFL week number one several teams appear poised to win if we are to judge from last year’s final standings and current scouting reports. In other words, data advises that on Sunday, September 8th, it’s likely that the Atlanta Falcons will take down the New Orleans Saints, and the New England Patriots will win over the Buffalo Bills. Too, as suggested from data and recent analyses, the Seattle Seahawks could easily defeat the Carolina Panthers, and the Indianapolis Colts will draw victory from the Oakland Raiders. Data+ suggesting “uncertainty” on September 8th, then, are the N.Y. Giants against the Dallas Cowboys, and the Green Bay Packers versus the San Francisco 49ers. As for NFL Monday night, September 9th, data+ chooses the Houston Texans over the San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins over the Philadelphia Eagles. END/ml