Nadal sounds off on noise; women’s champ ousted
GETTY TOP SEED Rafael Nadal noted that part of the reason for his struggles in the opening set of his first-round match against Dusan Lajov at the U.S. Open was nerves.
The rest was the noise beneath Arthur Ashe Stadium’s roof.
“I understand it’s a show, at the end of the day, and I enjoy that,” Nadal said, “but under the roof, you know, we need to be a little bit more strict about the noise, in my opinion, no? Because all the noise stays inside, and this is difficult.”
Nadal, 31, echoed the sentiment that players have shared since the USTA introduced the roof a year ago. He managed to play above the din despite experiencing difficulties when trying to decipher the sound of his counterpart’s racket striking the ball. By the end, Nadal had rallied from an early deficit to claim the first set in a tiebreak and breeze to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
“So difficult to analyze how the ball is coming when you are not hearing very well the sound of the opponent’s ball,” he said.
The Spaniard climbed atop the world’s rankings once more prior to the fortnight in Flushing Meadows, and he looked electric at times in neon pink.
His noise lament aside, Nadal received moderate resistance after the first set. The match lasted 2 hours and 16 minutes, and his serve reached 126 mph. He ran down balls for returns, and sought to chase after the echoes of past ovations he received in Queens.
“The real thing is here, the energy and support of the crowd is massive,” he said. “I enjoy it and I have unforgettable memories from this tournament and this court, because the energy is different from in other places.” NEWS/GETTY
There was no mistaking the sound of defeat on the women’s side of play. The greatest thud of the day came when the defending women’s champion Angelique Kerber fell, 6-3, 6-1, to Naomi Osaka, a 19-year-old who spent part of her childhood on Long Island. Kerber will continue her tumble out of the top 10 in the rankings, and credited Osaka’s aggressiveness for allowing her to pull off he upset.
“It was not may day,” Kerber said, “completely not my day today.”
Rain disrupted the schedule during the day session. Shortly after play commenced at 11 a.m., matches were delayed. Only those scheduled for Ashe continued. Karolina Pliskova, the women’s top seed who fell to Kerber in last year’s final, needed little more than an hour to advance past Magda Linette of Poland, 6-2, 6-1, in the first match on Ashe. Pliskova acknowledged that there were a few wet spots on the court after the roof was closed.
“We just waited a few minutes,” she said. “I think the court was fine after.”
No matter the sound or the playing surface, no player looked more at home than Osaka during her upset of Kerber.
It was Osaka’s first victory over a top-10 opponent. Last year, she blew a 5-1 lead in the third set before losing to American Madison Keys in the third round.
“I felt the same type of nerves come up,” Osaka said. “I wanted to tell myself just to keep playing how I was playing and not let the nerves get over me.”
Osaka lived on Long Island for a time as a youth. Her family attended the Open each summer, taking in matches, as well as practice.
“The site feels very familiar to me,” she said. “It’s like, nostalgic every time I come here, so I am always really happy to play here.”