NEW YORK -- The U.S. Open usually tests elite tennis players with clamor, chaos, humidity, wee-hours finishes and chronic spectator rudeness, but it's clearly over the top to toss in a tropical storm.
Hanna's arrival Saturday at 2:40 p.m. EDT not only disfigured the closing-weekend schedule but did so enough to stir questions of whether the men's singles outcome will qualify as fair.
After Roger Federer finished his masterful 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 semifinal win over No. 3 Novak Djokovic in Arthur Ashe Stadium at 1:55 p.m. on Saturday, he said he hoped Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray could finish their concurrent semifinal in Louis Armstrong Stadium "so we can have a fair final on Sunday."
They won't have a Sunday final, and it's debatable whether the final they'll have Monday will be fair, because Nadal and Murray must resume their unfinished semifinal today at 1 p.m. PDT, with Murray leading, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 2-3, but Nadal up a service break in the third set.
The weary winner will play a less-weary Federer on Monday at 2 p.m. PDT, and the washed-out Saturday night women's final between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic will go on tonight at 6 PDT.
While Arlen Kantarian, professional tennis chief executive of the United States Tennis Assn., found a "silver lining" in the women's rescheduling because a Sunday night TV audience usually beats a Saturday night, the men's situation featured only clouds.
Eyeballing Hanna and consulting meteorologists, USTA officials believed on Friday night that the rain would not come until 5 p.m. EDT, and they designated Nadal-Murray to follow Federer-Djokovic and to begin "not before 12 o'clock."
By Saturday morning, "The window that presented itself eventually started to shrink," USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said, and by noon, with Federer and Djokovic already an hour into their high-quality tussle and Hanna due at 3, officials moved Nadal-Murray from 23,000-seat Ashe Stadium to 10,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium for a 12:40 start.
Asked repeatedly why they did not start Nadal-Murray at 11, officials noted an array of factors including the 23,000 fans who bought tickets for a doubleheader and the wishes of CBS, but Kantarian finally did say, "In hindsight, that would have been the right call, but if every decision was based on pending rain . . ."
