The US Open tennis championships take place in Queens, NY every year, and every year I strive to get tickets. Last year the session I bought was rained out, so it was extra special this year. I went with family to the Sunday day session, and saw some great tennis: David Nalbandian losing to the eventual semi-finalist David Ferrer in 5 grueling sets (no, I didn’t watch the match just because both players were named David), Martina Hingis playing doubles (looking down on the grandstand from a vantage point in Louis Armstrong Stadium), and others.

This year we mixed it up, and I’m glad we did. Instead of sitting in our upper deck seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium all day, we wandered into Armstrong stadium, walked over to the Grandstand, saw some outer court matches, almost got into a long line to have James Blake sign his book, just out and out fun! We had close encounters with Robby Ginepri and John McEnroe, saw the Bryan brothers play tennis (they are amazing!), and had our picture taken by official US Open personnel. I had a $10 burger (it wasn’t that great), $5 fries (ditto), and bought a $24 hat (which I’m wearing right now as I type).

Here is a beautiful picture that I’ll take credit for (I really didn’t take it) of sunset at the US Open):

At the top is my sister and I in front of the draw.