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[Aileen]

Ditto that. Everything happens for the best. Would've been nice to win again in Cincinnati but never mind. (Hot, humid, muggy there now, unless you can play in the cooler evening).  All will be better in a week and a half in New York.

Thanks for the info about the weather.  And Andy did play his first match in the cooler part of the day.  By the time the USO comes he should be well acclimatised.

[Aileen]

I do like your style Linda.

[janetx]

I think Andy will be okay for the USO. He had a similar amount of preparation for Wimbledon and that didn't hurt him at all. So hoping for the best. Come on Andy!!  

[tamila]

Have seen on Breakfast that Bradley Wiggins is being given another couple of weeks  to recover from his exertions. I consider cycling the other sport which needs more exertion and fitness than any other.  Mike who does the sport suggested that Andy should have been able to do this but, of course, the ATP (who are supposed to be for the players) does nothing about it.  All these tennis associations seem to be  worried about is the money brought in by these top players.  The gold medal at the Olympics is the pinnacle of any athletes career and so it should be for tennis.  The fact that it only brings in 750 points is disgusting! It should be at least 1500.  

I personally glad that Andy is not playing at Cincy any more as the climate there is conducive to heat injury which is life threatening.  They should not have to play in the middle of the day.

Andy has also been on an adrenaline high added to jet lag so is probably feeling horrible now that he has come down.  He may also have some niggling illness which cannot be very serious or he would not have played.

I am not too worried about the USO as he has reached the highest level with the gold medal as Federer seems to think it is.  No one said anything when Ferrer went out in the 1st round or when Delpo and Tsonga went out ion Toronto.  Why can they not leave our boy alone?

The YTD rankings .as usual, are the same as ever so why should Andy not make the WTF?

[Philip]

Big nose (mouth) keeps referring to The fact that Andy shouldn't be physically tired as he not played too many matches in the last 2 months.

What he hasn't taken into account are :

1. Andy has been constantly working with Lendl in the background to refine his game, bigger FH, stronger / more spin second serve,  etc...

2. Mental fatigue
Interestingly, Federer said that the mental fatigue in beating the guys in the earlier rounds of the Olympics as well as in the SF against Delpo took its toll in the final. He explained that the great desire to win for his country a medal was tremendous and drained him significantly. Had it been a normal Wimbledon, federer may have crumbled at the SF stage as Delpo was serving for it 12 times in the 3rd set. Even Delpo raised his game as he was playing for his country. In one report, Djokovic was devastated after the bronze medal play-off loss and even considered bypassing the American hard court season prior to the USO to rethink his strategy, such was the importance of winning a medal means to him.

Imagine how much greater desire Andy had to win medal(s) for his country in his home Olympics in front of 10,000+ patriots willing him on. The mental boost, elation must have been considerable and hence the magnificent, uninhibited, steely performances we saw at the Olympics. Now, Andy will know a GS title is within his grasp.  The physical and  mental energy exerted in the last month will have taken its toll, so it is good Andy now has time to integrate all these emotions and events fully before launching his assault at the USO trophy.

[Ruthie]

[email protected]  Yes I agree.  Bignose's constant insinuation that Andy has no cause to be tired ignores the circumstances of the last month or so.  Also takes no account of jet lag and as you say the mental and emotional energy that Andy will have exerted in past month - both post wimbledon and during Olympics.  As Aileen has said elsewhere he's had no time to come to terms with being an Olympian gold medallist and to come down from the high of that.
Also the point people have made about not being too tired physically going into USO in part relates to what happens in the rest of the US hard court season.  Sometimes when Andy has done well in it, he has in effect peaked too early and not had enough energy to make it to the end of the USO.  Hard courts are particularly punishing on the body and he's had no chance this year to adapt to conditions in a pre-hardcourt training season in Miami.    I'm not sure if Andy is physically tired right not but I'm sure he is mentally and if he'd gone all out to win the two masters tournaments then I'm sure he'd not have had enough energy left for good run at USO.  It sounds like Nole is pretty tired  from what he said when Davydenko withdrew injured.

And Michelle yes I think there were pretty dire predictions after Queens.  But at least that wasn't in the context of Andy just having won a gold medal and reached a GS final, so perhaps were more understandable then.

[Ruthie]

When I say 'why can they not leave our Andy alone' I am referring to the scathing comments from posters on other sites and also the terminollogy used by the BBC in particular Andy did not 'crash out' as they say.  That would be ok if he had been beaten with a 6-1 etc score.  To go out on 6-4, 6-4 is not a disgrace considering the circumstances.  I do agree with you all on the title of the report on here but maybe what was meant that Andy was feeling dismal.

I am sure they are all tired as it was more of a strain to play for their country. One of  the differences was that Andy had so much media to face because it was in his country. Federer also had media but he had a rest.  Delpo had media as well and went out in the first round at Toronto.

Thanks for the clarification Tamila.  Disappointing that the tide turns against Andy so quickly among posters on other sites but I guess we should have expected it.  Yes did see the BBC report but I fear journalists tend to over-use 'crash out' any time a player goes out earlier than expected.
 Perhaps that was what was meant by the title here but the author hasn't responded to say so so I suspect not and even if it was what was meant I don't think anyone will have interpreted it that way.  So for me 'dismal' is much worse than the over-used cliche of 'crashed out'.

[blueberryhill]

Also, don't forget Andy had all sorts of problems with Chardy two years ago at Cincy, only coming through in the third set.
If he didn't want to put the same effort in now, who can blame him?