Rebecca drove us to the Poughkeepsie station for the train back to Penn Station. A photo of the map of Poughkeepsie and surrounds I found in the train station.
From the station we ubered to Flushing Meadow, the site of the US Open tennis (now officially the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.)
We climbed to take our seats.
It was super hot (39 degrees later in the day.) We were nearly the first to our seats.
We watched the warm up with children playing.
Then it was the first quarterfinal - Elina Svitolina from Ukraine and Johanna Konta from UK - Johanna won 6-4, 6-4.
I love the stats. Here are their stats. Johanna won on winners, but had lots more unforced errors than Elina. We had seen Johanna play before on TV, and she had seemed to have given the match away. So we liked it she could keep gutsy here and win, as Elina was not giving up. Maybe I would have made it to Wimbledon if I could see statistically what I needed to work on! (Ed. There were other factors.)
Then it was Daniil Medvedev from Russia v Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland. Danill was not popular with the crowd the day before. This from the Guardian.
"Daniil Medvedev had endured nearly two hours of endless booing by the time he reached match point at midnight on Friday against Feliciano López. He had seen grown men leap from their seats and launch full-throated screams at him whenever he was near. Chants of “López! López! López!” shook the arena, not because the crowd adored Medvedev’s opponent but because they wanted to bury him. Even his missed first serves were soundtracked by whooping cheers. As the atmosphere intensified, the Russian put his head down and did not say a word. He won and then exploded: “I want all of you to know, when you go to sleep at night, I won because of you,” he said gleefully, drunk on the boos."
Danill Medvedev won today, in a thriller game 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. There was no controversy during the match. I felt warmed towards him, as anyone who transforms their behaviour I like.
Then we watched Serena Williams v Qiang Wang from China. Bill was angry with Ashleigh Barty from Australia for not being there? Wang Qiang had beated her on an off day for Ash.
The game was a white wash, 6-1 6-0. Serena looked invincible, the papers said. Bill calls Serena 'The Beast' (in a nice way of course). (Not particularly, Ed.) She was that today. She wore an all in one stretchy suit. It worked today for sure.
Then we had a break before the night session. First up was Grigor Dimitov from Bulgaria v Roger Federer. I definitely pick a player when I am watching and want one to win. Federer is so my guy here.
This was another thriller and this from the Guardian:
"Every time Roger Federer loses a match tennis holds its breath. He wins, mostly – 43 of 49 matches this year – but a month after turning 38 he walked away from the US Open looking spent and vulnerable because Grigor Dimitrov, 10 years his junior, beat him and beat him up in a dramatic quarter-final.
The owner of 20 majors went down fighting against the owner of none in five sets that held everyone spellbound for three hours and 12 minutes, though it seemed longer. But how many more nights will there be, was the whispered question. Will Federer win another grand slam title?
It is not often he lets us into his soul but in his doomed denouement it was impossible to ignore the unravelling of his cool. The beautiful rhythm of his set-up and execution disappeared. He looked to be shivering in the cloying embrace of Arthur Ashe Stadium, captured in the gaze of 24,000 mostly sympathetic admirers, and millions beyond, who, as when Muhammad Ali defied time and logic, believed their hero was capable of one more miracle."
I was hoping for a miracle for sure. He did start valiantly. But he couldn't maintain it tonight.
And here is the victorious Dimitrov.
And the very sporting Federer.
We got back to Manhattan at 12.30 am. Bill realised he left his phone in the Uber. Except it wasn't an Uber as the driver had given us a fixed price and we paid cash, so we don't have his number. Then when we open the door to Chris's house, we set the alarm off. The cleaner had turned the alarm on (we had stayed at Rebecca and Bryant's the night before) and we didn't know how to turn it off. The police arrive. I quickly get data on my phone. Bill gets Chris's number from his laptop. We wake him. He tells us the password and the alarm is sorted. Chris said he was pleased the system worked! He must have been thinking other things! We get to bed about 1.30am. Bill is as calm as a cucumber about his phone. He says to go to sleep and is resigned his phone is lost as we cannot contact the driver.