The LG&T Challenger in Binghamton.... we're a little behind...

Rock Rock on guest duty while Paula is in... Alaska!?!

Everyone is getting ready for the US Open here in NYC... but my mind is still on the Binghamton challenger we saw three weeks ago! Or was it four? I don't know, the end of the summer has become a blur. I don't know what;s going on.

This was our 3rd year going to the event, official site here, and the primary goal was to cheer on the pros from the local club, The Binghamton Tennis Center, Billy and Chris, who qualified for the doubles with 2 tough wins before going down to Zib and Dlouhy, 2 Slovakian guys who have been around on the tour.

But as a bonus, we got to see the Battistone brothers with their 2 handed racquets and the one with his crazy leaping volleyball serve. I got a pretty good picture:

Look how crazy high off the ground! And you can kind of see the 2 handles.

Carsten Bell and another guy beat the Battistone's in the final - I'm not a huge doubles person in general, but it was fun to watch. Paul Capdeville of Chile won the singles, and that was pretty interesting... all in all, challengers are cool, because a) these guys really care, and b) what separates number 125 in the world from number 200 is an interesting thing to ponder. Capdeville is a decent player, has spent time in the top 100, but you could be forgiven for not knowing who he is. But watching him wear down Rajiv Ram int he final, it's like, Damn! He's really good at tennis! But they all are! It's hard to even see how it is happening sometimes, but the outcome, after Ram took the first set, was decisive. It's kind of freaky to watch, like Capdevvile put some spooky hex on Ram and he just stopped believing he could win. Weird, and cool.

Anyway US starts tomorrow - my picks: Djokovic over Murray, and Safina over Dementieva.

Cheers - Rick Rock