A busy week. It’s been the second week of the US Open plus we had an ATP clay tournament in Austria and a WTA tournament in Turkey. My top pick for the outright winners market was for Jennifer Brady to reach the semi finals. She did make it that far and took Osaka to 3 sets. I had also said that Osaka was the only person with a solid chance of taking the title. I wish I had backed my own predictions but I don’t bother with the outright winner market. I had Azarenka going out in the second round after her Cincinnati title win the week before.
From tomorrow groups of more than 6 people are not allowed. The increase in cases is exponential but so far isn’t translating into deaths. For some reason the change in the rules wasn’t put in place immediately. I have heard a few people saying that they were going to have huge parties this weekend. I would have expected them on Friday and Saturday night but things were surprisingly quiet. To be fair the main party house ( they are actually 3 houses who class themselves as 1 household) have been very quiet for a couple of weeks. I did hear that there had been a lot of complaints. The prison officers house has taken over as Party Central. They even put up a couple of large shed type structures where they can all pile in if the weather is bad. They have had friends round the last 2 nights but the music and their voices were kept extremely low. That makes no sense unless they too have been warned. I could only hear their parties when I walked past with the dogs.
We had the grandkids all day yesterday. Eight hours! We love them to bits but it’s nice when mum and dad collect them. They are 3 and 6. Ella is the eldest. She was a little bugger for a while a couple of years ago but is great kid. Very smart. Quite cheeky but in a funny way. A while ago we were playing and smelled something. I asked her if she had farted. Without any hesitation she replied, “No Granddad it’s your breath!”. The little sod was only 4!
Ivy can be great as long as she is getting her own way. If she isn’t she starts crying. I noticed when she does it there are no tears. She has learned that she gets her own way if she stropps. Her mum lets her get away with murder and Ivy plays her like a fiddle. So obviously she tries it with other people. Grandma is a bit of a soft touch too but “Daddad” isn’t playing that shit. Sue had a hairdressers appointment just after lunch. Very convenient! Five minutes after she had left Ivy climbed onto my lap, stuck her face in front of mine and started crying. She was saying something but I couldn’t tell what it was through all the wailing. I sad to Ella that I couldn’t tell what Ivy was saying. Ella said that she was saying she was hungry. I asked Ivy if she was hungry. With her bottom lip sticking out she nodded. I asked her if it hurt. She looked a bit puzzled and shook her head.
Well stop crying then!
Instant silence.
Later in the day we were all in the garden. Ivy discovered that one of the plastic chairs made an annoying noise if she rocked it back and against the shed. I asked her to stop. She carried on banging. Ivy, I’ve asked you to stop. No response. I calmly took the chair from her and put it back where we keep them. Ivy stropped. BIG strop. I walked up to her, bent down so I was on her level and quietly said to her that when Granddad says to stop doing something, you STOP.
The volume of the strop increased. Ivy, did you hurt yourself? She sulkily shook her head.
Well stop crying then!
Instant silence.
I didn’t get a hug when her mum came to pick them up but she’ll get over it.
I traded the US Open final last night. I was favouring Osaka. Azarenka started quickly. VERY quickly. She seemed to be a little over psyched. She was marching around between points. In fact she was doing everything between points quickly and was playing at 200 mph. It was working well for her. She hardly made any errors in the set. Hardly missed any first serves and Osaka didn’t get many chances. She was making a lot of “unforced” errors but it was Azarenka that was forcing her to take risks. I had backed Osaka when she went 2-0 down. She did hold her next service game but that was the only game she won in the set.
I felt that Azarenka was so pumped that if she started to make a few more mistakes that she may struggle to adjust. She was marching round as if on drugs ( obviously she wasn’t! ) and I thought that if things started to go against her she wouldn’t be able to slow her brain down and things could go against her quickly.
At the start of the second set she was immediately missing 1st serves. She still held but Osaka took her to 30-30. In the next game Osaka was broken again. When a player is a set and a break ahead it is an automatic lay for me. Their level frequently drops in that situation. I added to my position on Osaka. I had also laid Azarenka after the set. Azarenka started to make a few more mistakes and that allowed Osaka to get into the match. Azarenka only held her serve 1 more time in the set.
The momentum was with Osaka. She took a 4-1 lead in the third set and looked to be cruising to the title. When Azarenka served at 1-4 Osaka had 4 break points but Azarenka held and then broke the Osaka serve. Another break for Osaka gave her the chance to serve for the title which she did fairly comfortably. That was a great end to a long day!
Much quieter today. Sue’s at work, the housework’s done and the dogs have had their first walk. I don’t expect the mens final to be as entertaining but I’ll be watching it. I’m wanting a much better price on Thiem before I get involved.
Good luck.
