2011 U.S. Open is underway

Tennis officially returned to Queens with first round action as the 2011 U.S. Open kicked off tournament play with some of the best in the sport.
But before the games got underway, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park lit up with the annual opening ceremony – ushering in another of the world’s most anticipated sporting events.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke at the ceremony and welcomed the 32,909 tennis fans in attendance to Queens – a borough that faced two natural disasters in one week.
“On Tuesday we had an earthquake. Who knew we lived near a fault line. Good thing it wasn’t a double fault,” cracked Bloomberg, eliciting laughter from the crowd at the ceremony on August 29. “Then we had an unexpected guest named Irene. I was glad she had the good sense to leave the Open.”
Once the focus shifted to tennis, fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium were treated to back and forth matches featuring the top pros of the sport. Roger Federer made things interesting in his first round match against Colombian Santiago Giraldo on, but still advanced convincingly, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Federer’s win was his 224th career Grand Slam victory, which ties him on the all-time list with Andre Agassi. That puts his just nine wins shy of Jimmy Conners’ all time mark of 233 Grand Slam victories.
Also in action during the first U.S. Open night session was Venus Williams, who enters this year’s tournament unseeded. She made quick work of Russian Vesna Dolonts, 6-4, 6-3.
The loss ended a hectic day for Dolonts. With Hurricane Irene delaying flights into all city airports over the weekend, the Russian was unable to depart Moscow until 4 a.m. EST and arrived on site 12 hours later, giving her just four hours to prepare for the clash against Williams.
The hurricane that stalled Dolonts didn’t dampen the spirits of any fans that made their way to the Open from all over the world. Eva Ng of Flushing said that this is her all time favorite sporting event – not just because she loves tennis, but also because it brings the world to New York’s most diverse borough.
“Queens is already full of people from all over the world,” said Ng, who made 2011 her sixth straight year attending the Open. “This [the Open] just solidifies the international flavor. And then there’s the great tennis, too.”