Nigeria Content Online

How time flies. It
is already a year since new mum Kim Clijsters proved her “come back
queen” status by winning the 2009 US open and Roger Federer, bidding
for sixth title in a row at flushing meadows, surrendered his crown to
Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.

Once again it is
the last grand slam of the year and as usual it promises to be
exciting, more on the men’s side than on the women’s. It is no longer
news that Serena Williams pulled out of the US open claiming injury.
Something tells me she may never play there again after she was treated
badly in her semi-final match against Clijsters last year. If you are
in doubt, ask the organisers of Indian wells where the sisters have not
played in over 7 years because of racial abuse.

Serena, the
greatest player of this generation, will be sorely missed. There’s just
something extra special the Williams sisters bring to every tournament
they enter.

Bad for Serena,
good for Caroline Wozniacki as she gets her first top seed in a grand
slam. A finalist at last year’s US open, she is one of the favourites
to lift the trophy at Queens in a fortnight. Why not? She is a hard
worker and full of confidence after topping the US open series. She
must be motivated by the fact that she goes away with £2.7m if she wins
the title. Wozniacki does have the determination and experience and
according to her “I feel I’ve definitely got more experience and I know
how it feels to be in a Grand Slam final.” As long as she doesn’t get
burned out from all the play before the Open she has a real shot
coupled with the fact that the American Grand Slam tournament will be
without two-time champion Justine Henin. Three other past U.S. Open
winners -Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters have been
injured recently.

By the way what are our expectations of American teenager Melanie Oudin after her great run to the quarter-final last year?

The men’s half

Over to the men’s
draw which proves to be more exciting. Top seeds are the usual
suspects. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Further down are the likes of Andy Roddick, Robin Soderling, Nikolay
Davydenko, Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco and Mardy Fish who took
Federer to the wire at last Sundays Cincinnati final. The Fedexpress
won his 63rd career title and tied Bjorn Borg for fifth place in the
Open Era.

Truth is, a diverse
new range of playing styles is emerging in the men’s game. We’ve long
been familiar with Roger Federer’s comprehensive brilliance, but
everything from the diversification of Rafael Nadal to the tactical
nuance of Andy Murray and Gilles Simon and the all-court prowess of Del
Potro, Tsonga and James Blake have brought excitement to ATP. But
Federer is always a force to reckon with especially when it comes to
grand slams. So as always, the 16 Grand Slams title winner is the
hottest favourite going into the US open. Andy Murray has been
brilliant in the US open series. He beat both Federer and Nadal to win
the Toronto masters, though he crashed out in the semi-final of the
Cincinnati masters. Question though is can he “do it” when it really
matters considering he’s come close to winning his maiden Grand Slam
and lost to the great Roger Federer in both finals.

Though Nadal has never made it past the semi-final here, in seeking to complete the career Grand Slam,

he will be the
top-seeded man when the U.S. Open starts today. Despite Nadal’s not too
impressive run to the US open, he will still be a force in any
tournament.

Unfortunately Del
Potro becomes the third U.S. Open men’s champion in the 42-year Open
era that will not defend his title. He pulled out because of tendinitis
in the wrist.

Alongside Del
Potro, two other men withdrew late Friday, No. 10-ranked Jo-Wilfred
Tsonga of France and three-time U.S. Open quarterfinalist Tommy Haas.

And by the way, one other man that excites me and should not be written off is David Nalbadian.

After been
side-lined for over a year, he recently gave us another example of how
talented he is. Will he emulate his compatriot and have another
Argentine shine for a second straight year? Only time will tell.

While we look
forward to watching good tennis, we also look forward to the fashion
statements to be made as we are now used to seeing in the game of
tennis. After all the Williams sisters, Sharapova, Federer and Nadal
have shown us that you don’t have to be a “plain-Jane” to win titles.