New York--September 11, 2004--U.S. Open Women's Tennis Finals
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Today, we managed to squeeze in an afternoon baseball game at Shea Stadium between the Mets and the Phillies. The stadium is located in the Flushing Meadow area next to the U.S. Open Tennis Stadium and near LaGuardia Airport. True to form this year, the Mets lost to the Phillies.
Early in the evening, we went over to the U.S. Open Tennis complex (158-159), had dinner and then entered Arthur Ashe Stadium for the women's finals of the tournament. We were surprised that the stadium was not quite full but this was probably due to the lack of an American finalist. Meeting in the finals were two Russians, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva.
After the National Anthem by Jessye Norman (160-163), Kuznetsova relatively easily defeated Dementieva 6-3, 7-5 (165). Various trophies and prize money were exchanged, including $1 million to the winner. Both Russian women commiserated with the American people on this third anniversary of the September 11 terrorism and noted their own recent country's experience with terrorism involving Russian school children.
While walking around the stadium a bit, we captured a shot of the symbol of the 1964 New York World's Fair, the Unisphere (173), which is one of the few remnants still left from that event.
After the main tennis event, we watched the Over 45 Men's Doubles Finals (175). This was a match between Mansour Bahrami/Gene Mayer and Kevin Curren/Johan Kriek. This match was far more entertaining than the Women's Finals since Bahrami (176), an Iranian, was a real comic who had the crowd in stitches during the whole match. He seemed like a Harlem Globetrotter of tennis and has amazing control over a tennis ball. Unfortunately, he and his partner lost, perhaps due to too much comedy, but they sure were entertaining. Don't miss a chance to see him if he is in your area.