Greg's US Open preview...

I may be in Denver for the convention, but I'm still excited about the US Open starting today. I fell in love with tennis in 1979 when my two of my big brothers were watching the men's final between John McEnroe and the late Vitas Gerulaitis in the living room and I plopped myself down to watch it with them. I was hooked! I don't think I've missed a final since!

I've always tried to predict the winners and while I used to just tell all my friends who I thought was likely to win, it's fun to have a blog and to share the fun with readers.

This year, the man to beat is someone whose face I don't even have to post. He's the top gun(s) in tennis in every way, he's Rafael Nadal. He's number one in the world and you have to respect a champion who achieves that status by actually dethroning the reigning number one as Rafael did with Roger Federer (pictured below). He's won the French Open, Wimbledon, Olympic Gold medal and many smaller tournaments this year. He's the top seed and the guy to beat.
That being said, I think this could be where Federer turns his miserable year around. He's only won two smaller tournaments all year long but he was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon and was greatly lifted by the surprise gold medal at the Olympics in doubles. It was joyous to see him so happy after so many disappointments in 2008. He is the four-time defending champion and will be giving all he has to win title number five.

But to win, Federer will likely have to beat the Serbian cutie Novak Djokovic in the semifinals which could be tricky. Novak beat Roger in that round at the Australian Open back in January and went on to win his first grand slam title.

I think it's safe to say those three are the only guys who can win. I usually would include Andy Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, in the mix but he's had trouble winning even minor tournaments in recent months so I don't think he'll make it past the quarterfinlas.

As for the women, who cares? It's hard to care when no one has picked up the mantle of being a consistent top player since Justine Henin strangely retired this spring. But of the top gals, my fave is Venus Williams who looks like a gazelle on the court. She's won two US Open titles to go along with her five Wimbledons and is always a threat.