US Open Wrapup

A lot going on in New York early this week, including the beginning of NHL preseason action and a bench-clearing brawl between the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays that caused both Newsday's Ken Davidoff and The Daily News' Jon Harper to call the Yankees idiots.

But I'm going to go back to tennis one more time and give you six things to take away from the US Open, in honor of 6-foot-6 Juan Martin Del Potro and the sixth straight title Roger Federer didn't get.

1. Enough about Serena Williams already. Yes, the defending champion went all John McEnroe on a line judge and lost match point on a code violation. And yes, her behavior was reprehensible. But the incident has spawned a tidal wave of commentary, from broadcasters calling for her to forfeit the women's doubles final to a New York Times' column on gender bias.

Bottom line: The line judge should never have made such a close call on the biggest point of the match. And Serena should have let it go and focused on the two match points against her. When she didn't, the chair umpire correctly docked her match point -- which is punishment enough, in my opinion, unless you want to fine her $50K and give the proceeds to charity. There's no need to belabor the issue at this point -- it will obviously get enough airplay at the 2010 US Open.

2. Kim Clijsters' channeled her 1994 Andre Agassi on her way to the women's title. At least that's the last time I can think of such a remarkable run.

Like Clijsters, Agassi was a former Grand Slam champion who came into the Open unseeded. Helped out by Jaime Yzaga's (remember him?) upset of No. 1 Pete Sampras, Agassi blew threw the draw, knocking off five seeded players on his way to the championship.

Clijsters was even more impressive, coming out of retirement after four years and beating both Williams sisters to claim her second US Open title. Perhaps she'll get a taste of Agassi's career Renaissance in the majors to come, assuming she decides to keep playing.

3. Unheralded American men were the most overrated -- and underrated -- storyline. Overrated because none of the U.S. upstarts who pulled off upsets will ever crack the top five or win a major, unless you think John Isner can play the match of his life two or three times in a week. Underrated because with all the media present at the Open, no one knew the story of Jesse Witten firsthand, like I did.

4. The Andys went gently into that good night. It was bad enough when No. 5 Roddick lost a fifth-set tiebreak to Isner just two months after taking Federer to the brink in the Wimbledon final. But no upset was more shocking than No. 2 Murray, who basically gave up after losing the first set to No. 16 Marin Cilic in the fourth round. Combine that with the Brit's gut-wrenching loss to Roddick in the Wimbledon semis, and you get a world-class player who disappears when the going gets tough.

5. Melanie Oudin is the real deal. Give her a couple years to turn 18 and all. But the Georgia girl with the iron will and booming groundstrokes knocked off Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, and Nadia Petrova in consecutive rounds to reach the quarterfinals. That's not a fluke; that's a prodigy.

6. Del Potro has the biggest forehand I've ever seen. I saw Sampras play out of mind for a day and destroy Agassi with his forehand in the 1999 Wimbledon final. And last year's Federer-Rafa Nadal Wimbledon epic featured incredible groundstrokes from both sides. But Del Potro's forehand was even bigger.

The 20-year old Argentine literally blew five-time defending champion Federer off the court with his forehand in the last two sets. When he wound up, you knew one of two things was happening: He was hitting it out or he was hitting a winner. After a while, Federer knew it too, and he began to press in the fifth set.

Federer will win more Grand Slams, and he remains the best player of his era. But with one incredible weapon, Del Potro knocked off the juggernaut and announced himself as tennis' Next Big Thing.