The US Open tennis tournament, one of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments known for late night matches and rowdy crowds, large stadiums, tons of people, and the sound of planes taking off from La Guardia airport. The event in person up held all of it's hype.
Classmates Ben and Tim organized a trip for 15 of us to attend a match at the US Open this year. This was a great opportunity to visit the big city and experience the US Open that I've seen on TV for years first hand. The event was stunning, the tennis was outstanding, and the company was stellar!
Our seats were very close to the top of Arthur Ashe Stadium, but the view was great and we could be a little more noisy during the matches without disturbing the players.
We could even climb up a few rows and look out over the city (look close, you can see the Empire State building)
It was a chilly night, but the talent was hot! We witnessed Taylor Dent serve up two 145mph aces against Andy Murray only to lose in straight sets. Dent's often reckless but aggressive style of play was very fun to watch. The women posted a much closer match when "the girl in white" came back to win the match after facing 5 or more match points to put away the third set 6 to zero! The matches ran until about 11:30 pm, when we then headed back into Manhattan for some late night fun and we eventually got to sleep.
As far as the Grand Slam tennis tournaments go 1 down.... 3 to go! France, Australia, and England, here I come!
