US Open Update 5

Hello all, hope you got a chance to take a look at the pictures, I hope to put more on later in the week. Today was the first day of the main draw. I was on court 16t and I had one men's match and two women's matches.
Giovanni Lapentti (ECU) v. Simon Greul (GER)
Melinda Czink (HUN) v. Mario Elena Camerin (ITA)
Michelle Lacher De Brito (POR) v. Mathilde Johansson (FRA)

The men's match took five sets to decide. All in all it was a pretty laid back day, I won't say they were easy but, pretty low key. The crowd was amazing, especially during the five setter, the court was surrounded with people, and the energy was great.

Tomorrow we are in for a little treat. At 9:30am the chief umpire is bringing in Violette Palmer, NBA referee. That should be fun, and then the day's matches start at 11am. Maybe tomorrow I will be on a TV court, but who knows.

-Aworth

US OPEN: Pictures from the first week!

Here are some pictures from the first week in NYC.

US OPENUpdate 4

Hello again from New York. Today was suppose to be a day off, however, because of the rain yesterday we had to finish the final round of qualifying today. I had the Donald Young match to end my day. Main Draw starts Monday. Another update will come then.

-Aworth

US OPEN Update 3

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but yea I just ran out of time. Yesterday, I was on court 14 and it was the first day that I had what veteran officials call the US Open experience. I was involved in a match with two Southern American players, and the level of play was the best I have seen. We had a good crowd, the court was surrounded. At the end of the first set a player and a spectator got into a yelling match. It made that match a lot of fun.

Today, not a whole lot of happened because of rain. We got a few matches in, but besides that we got rained out, so our day off tomorrow is now the finals of qualifying which was suppose to be today. One good thing that came about today was I found out that I got extended until next Sunday for the main draw. So watch for me on TV, tell me how many calls I missed.

I will keep you all updated.

-Aworth

US OPEN Update 2

Day 2 at the US Open was a lot like day 1. Got to the National Tennis Center at 8:30 for a 9am meeting for all first and second year umpires with the national TE's. Basically, it was a discussion on proper line techniques and what to expect while we were there. Afterwords we got our assignments and got on court by 11. I was put on court 8 which is a show court, so that was exciting.

Besides that, the day was uneventful. I am getting a lot of good constructive feedback, and I am learning a lot. I know I promised pictures today, but I don't want to be "that guy" taking pictures. Eventually I will get some up on here.

-Aworth

US OPEN Update 1

Well today was my first day of work at the open. I arrived in New York around 8:30am yesterday, and got to the hotel around 9:30. Myself and a few other officials took the subway over to the National Tennis Center and got my uniform and credentials. That night I went with all the mid-west officials to a BBQ place called Virgil's for dinner.

Today we had a meeting for all umpires at 9am. We went over just standard information like any other morning meeting for officials. From there we looked at the crew sheets to see where I was working. I was assigned to crew 2 on court 12. All in all it was a good day, it felt really good after making that first close call. All my courts' matches were pretty routine, and we got our four matches done pretty quick, and actually got assigned a fifth. We got done around 7pm which was nice.

Tomorrow there is a meeting for all first and second year umpires at 9am and matches start at 11. I will give another update tomorrow, and maybe throw some pictures on here.

-Aworth