US Open 2006

One of my buddies from work - Kaushal - was telling me he was planning on going to the US Open 2006 in Flusing, NY. I always wanted to see a Grand-Slam match, so consider the exitement when we were able to secure tickets to the Mens Semi-Final matches on Saturday. Leaving from Akron-Canton Airport on a direct 1hr flight to La Guardia we were in Queens around 9.30am. We took a cab to the USTA Tennis Center and got onto the grounds at around 10am. After grabbing some brunch (not often you can get a good Greek-style Gyros with garlic-sauce in the morning) and listing in on an interview with Nick Bolleterri (owner of the Tennis Academy which produced players like Sharapova, Seles, Agassi, etc...) I bought a polo-shirt from the Arthur Ashe foundation to support the cure for Aids. I thought it was fitting after having tickets to the games at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Plus, I wasn't willing to spend almost $100 for a Ralph Lauren polo. Sorry, but my money goes to the ones needing it more...

The two games where Federer - Davidenko and Roddick - Youshny. The Federer match was a bit of roll-over, but the 2nd match was a real match leaving Roddick with the right strategy to appear victorious in 4 sets. The weather was again awesome and I picked-up a nice tan. Me, the blond white guy from Holland now finally has a tan. Oh, of course I ran into some Coggies living in NY... After freshing-up at the Hotel we went to the East Village on Manhattan to get tickets to the Blue Man Group and some food. We ended-up in a nice Chinese Restaurant a few blocks down from the Astoria Theater on Lafayette Street, setting outside enjoying a dish listed as 'Chefs-mom special'. Well, gotta have that..;-)

The Blue Man Group was awesome. Very impressive use of every day objects in a musical and comedic setting. Add some twinkies, toilet paper and a lot of audience participation and you can imagine we had a great time. I can strongly recommend seeing the show. Its worth the ticket-price. For those in NE Ohio: Oct 7, 2006 they will perfrom in the Quicken Loans Arena at 8pm.

The Sunday was a real relaxing day with getting up in time only to get breakfast and then a free shuttle back to the airport. Hopefully to be back in Cleveland in time to catch the Finals of the US Open. Result: Federer won that match and his 9th career Grand Slam. He only has 5 players ahead of him on the all-time Grand-Slam list and he's only 25 years old. History in the making...

Good night!