Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 14 - september 11 , 2005
ANDRE A BRILLIANT STONEWALLER BUT ROGER BULLDOZES TO THE TITLE

There are times when one guy goes home with the cup and the serious cash when, nevertheless, you can put a W beside the other guy’s name.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 13 - september 10 , 2005
MAYBE ANDRE’S LUCKY NUMBER IS 35 SHOULD HE PLAY IT IN THE LOTTERY?

Willie Loman traveled on a shoe shine and a smile as the famous salesman whose downfall and demise was dramatized by Arthur Miller. Andre Agassi travels with a shiny head and a smile, and bows to the four corners of the arena, win or lose, and there’s no downfall yet.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 12 - september 09 , 2005
KIM CLIMBS ON HER BICYCLE TO OUTDISTANCE RAMON POULIDOR’S TOUCH IN ANOTHER GAME

So is this the day that Kim Clijsters gets out of jail, loses her ball and chain, tosses into the trash the hairshirt with the scarlet letter C on it? Is this also the day that she’ll have to rent a Brink’s truck to carry away more loot from the U.S. Open -- $ 2.2 million -- than any two previous champions?

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 11 - september 08 , 2005
TAKES TWO TO TANGO IN AN EPIC, AND DANCING ANDRE STEPS ON JAMES’S FEET

What those two did to each other spectacularly brings back a bygone refrain: "It’s 3 o’clock in the morning - we’ve danced the whole night through..." OK, so it was only 1:09 yesterday morning when the quick-stepping dance of Andre Agassi and James Blake ended with a bang - but not a whimper.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 10 - september 07 , 2005
DON’T CALL HER "GRANNY" TO HER FACE BUT NAVRATILOVA’S IS AN ETERNAL FACE

A robust Russian blonde named Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has made her name at both ends of two U.S. Opens, leaned into her serve and fired a ll5 MPH ball at "Granny." Was that a nice thing for a 20-year-old to do that elderly person?

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 9 - september 06 , 2005
A CLASH WITH DASH - THAT’S ANDRE AND JAMES IN THE QUARTER-FINALS

Andre or James? James or Andre? Is this the "Crushing in Flushing," as Muhammad Ali, the poet of pugilism, might have dubbed the U.S. Open rumble in a rectangular ring? How about the "Melee in the Meadow"? You may recall Ali coining the "Rumble in the Jungle" to hype his 1974 adventure in Zaire where he stripped the heavyweight title from the future grillmeister, George Foreman.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 8 - september 05 , 2005
NOW THE TITLE SCRAMBLE FOR THE WOMEN BEGINS AS MARTINA NAVRATILOVA'S CAREER NEVER ENDS

Chloe's eyes were mournful. A few feet away her mistress was being beat up. But since Chloe (a 2-pound Chihuahua) never impersonates a police dog, she did not spring to Martina Navratilova's rescue. Instead, choosing the discretionary path, she closed those sad eyes and went to sleep in her small duffel.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 7 - september 04 , 2005
TAYLOR DENT WOULD BE TENNYSON'S BOY, EMULATING THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

As he strained and struggled, fought and finally fizzled, Taylor Dent seemed the short-trousered, one-man version of “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 6 - september 03 , 2005
IT'S NADA FOR NADAL AS JAMES BLAKE RUNS THE FRENCH OPEN CHAMP RAGGED

A plot of pavement in Flushing became Hah-vud Yahd for 2 _ hours yesterday.

It is a blue strip of asphalt that a Harvard refugee named James Blake painted crimson, leaving Rafael Nadal in the red, and the U.S. Open tilted somewhat off it's axis.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 5 - september 02 , 2005
SERENA'S THEME: IT'S THE LITTLE (IF EXPENSIVE) BLINGS THAT COUNT

It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that bling.

That appears to be the guiding principal of Sister Serena as she labors as never before to catch up with herself of 2002. It is hard, sweaty work, slaving over a large blue hotplate that passes as a tennis court at Flushing Meadow. So why not brighten your working girl's world and that of the folks watching you by suiting up at the U.S. Open in a veritable carat patch?

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 4 - september 01 , 2005
ANDRE ON THE TIGHTROPE, BUT HURRAH, HE'S BACK ON THE JOB

Does life re-begin at 35?

The little bald-headed guy tripping the light fantastic across the blue dance flooring of Arthur Ashe Stadium would like to think so. His name, of course, is Andre Agassi. Twice winner of the U.S. Open, and though a long way from doing it again - five victories to be exact - he lusts for it yet.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 3 - August 31 , 2005

Are they dancing in the streets in Luxembourg?
Are there streets in Luxembourg?
Can a tennis court be squeezed into Luxembourg, or will it lap over into Belgium or Germany?

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 2 - August 30 , 2005

Ivo Minar is shaking his head as though he's trying to clear it on a morning-after. His brown eyes aren't exactly glazed, but they evince a bleariness that resembles Tuesday's sky.

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Bud's 2005 US Open Diary - Day 1 - August 29 , 2005
ONCE MORE - THE U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH NOT MANY KVETCHES HEARD

Kveta did not kvetch.

No, Kveta Peschke, the 20-year-old pride of Bilovec, Czech Republic, didn't grumble at all after walking off a strip of blue pavement at 12:12 PM yesterday, officially declared the first loser of the 125th edition of the U.S. Tennis Championships.

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