US Open: Rain Toughest Opponent

The forecast? Ugly. Photo tweeted by TV commentator Darren Cahill.Rain delayed Andy Roddick's retirement for another day and gave Maria Sharapova the chance to catch her breath from the 0-4 pounding she was getting from Marion Bartoli at Flushing Meadows.

It also gave tennis fans who paid big bucks for those fancy, courtside seats at roofless Ashe Stadium something to hate.  Late summer thunderstorms, for the fifth year in a row, are messing with players' heads, spectators' hair, USTA profits and ESPN coverage.

Play resumes Wednesday, fingers crossed.  More storms are in the forecast.

Up first in Ashe is Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli's quarterfinal.  The 11th seed Bartoli was crushing 3rd seed Sharapova, 4-0, in the 1st set.  Look for Maria to regroup, like she did during a 3rd set rain delay Sunday against Nadia Petrova.  She called her dad, who told her to pick up her energy.  More shrieking and more winners ensued.  

Then it's Roddick and the guy many think will send the American into retirement, Juan Martin del Potro.  Roddick was up a point in the 1st set tiebreak. But he shouldn't have let it get to a tiebreak.  He was up 4-2 at one point.  

Here's how ATPworldtour.com had it:

Roddick made a strong start when the pair took the court, winning his first 11 service points and breaking for a 4-2 lead. Del Potro recovered a break as Roddick served for the set in the ninth game and held a chance to go up 6-5, but saw the American save the break point opportunity with an ace.

On Twitter, "Sports Guy" noted most people won't see Roddick's match this afternoon, and that the long-time Top Ten athlete deserved a night match for his meet-up with del Po. I agree.  Let's hope the rain lasts through the day and pushes Roddick/Del Potro into prime time.  He'll be competing against former President Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention, but I say, no contest.  We listened to President Charisma for 8 years.

Today's schedule of US Open matches