Marking the end of summer with a Grand Slam

Everyone knows that Memorial Day weekend is known as the unofficial start of summer, and Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer. It seems as though we've reached the latter bookend, which has its good and bad points.

I love summer and the wonderful hot weather it brings, so I'm always sad to see it end. But with big events marking the occasion such as the Minnesota State Fair and tennis' Grand Slam event - the U.S. Open - those are two great reasons to wish for the end of August to come quickly.

September also brings the final month of regular-season baseball, meaning tight divisional races, collapses and title-clinching games. For football lovers out there, the college season has just gotten underway, and the NFL will be starting the regular season soon too.

Injuries and upsets
I wasn't sure how the U.S. Open would go this year. Many of the circuit's top players seemed to have been bitten by the injury bug and many pulled out of the Open. Justine Henin, defending men's champion Juan Martin Del Potro and last year's tirade queen, Serena Williams were three big names not playing on the courts in Flushing Meadows.

There have been some upsets and a few early five-set matches. Last year's young, American sensation, Melanie Oudin, was knocked out in the second round. It was too bad because all the analysts were saying her draw was quite favorable. Plus, I really was on her "believe" bandwagon last year after she pulled out multiple upsets of highly-seeded players.

Another shocker (or maybe not) was ninth-seeded Andy Roddick also being sent packing after losing a four-setter in the second round. I didn't see that match, but apparently he was quite upset about a foot fault and the line judge's mix-up between left and right.

I saw a Tweet later that night where the Tweeter basically said he or she doesn't see Roddick winning another Grand Slam event again. I wouldn't doubt it. It is unfortunate that he is in the middle of the Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal era, but Roddick has also been known to choke at times.

Players are still alive
Kim Clijsters, the defending women's champion, is still alive, but she also isn't 100 percent health-wise. She hasn't been challenged too much thus far. I hope she can hold on to make a run back to the final, and this time she can win it outright, instead of by default.

Probably one of the best matches so far was in the men's second round between Sergiy Stakhovsky of Germany and an 18-year-old American named Ryan Harrison. It was a long five-set match that ended in a final-set tiebreaker. Harrison came out on the losing end, but not before winning the crowd over, playing some disciplined tennis and earning three match points before losing 8-6 in the tiebreak.

I'll be keeping Ryan Harrison on my tennis radar for awhile. I hope he and Oudin can continue to improve and bring some success to American tennis. It would be great if these two could prove themselves as worthy competitors, and not just flukes at a Grand Slam on their own soil.