Day 1 at the US Open began like most days at the US Open do – with rain. Rain has become almost as synonymous with the New York grand slam as it has with Wimbledon. But Wimbledon has an advantage that the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center does not. Wimbledon’s main stadium court has a retractable roof that allows for at least some play if (or rather when) the rain appears. The rain has been so prominent in Flushing Meadows that the tournament has been forced to hold the men’s final on Monday the last four years. If the rain today was any indication, I don’t see this year being any different.

And let’s not forget the huge ordeal that last year’s rain delays caused. It was toward the end of the tournament and Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick marched into the tournament director’s office to let him know just how unhappy they and other players were with the way the rain delays were being handled. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, this is the gist of it: players were being forced to play for 15-20 minutes at a time between rain delays, and were sent out to play on courts that were still wet – one that even had a crack in it causing water to seep up every time it was stepped on.

Not only was it tough on the players, it was tough on the fans too. Drawing them out from under their cover from the rain, only to be drenched again just moments later. The tournament seemed more concerned with their obligation for tv time that they weren’t really considering what the greatest good for the greatest number of people would be. It was a heated topic for the final few days of the tournament, one that almost overshadowed the winners. And in the end, the men’s final was played on Monday September 12th instead of Sunday the 11th as originally planned – making it the fourth consecutive year that the men’s final took place on a Monday.

A lot of people had strong opinions about the controversy surrounding last year’s US Open, myself included. I think the tournament handled the issue extremely poorly, and sacrificed the health of the players in order to fulfill an obligation of a certain amount of live television. And I respect and admire the fact that players like Nadal, Murray, and Roddick – who all hold such high stature at the Open – had the guts to bring it to the attention of the tournament director. I can only hope that a lesson was learned and that should we find ourselves in a similar situation this year, it will be handled with much more class and thoughtfulness.

Despite the almost certainty of rain at the US Open though, it still remains a huge draw to fans – one that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

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