new haven open

... K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Well, technically it wasn't in a tree, it was on a tennis court in front of the Yale football team and thousands of fans who watched Caroline Wozniacki advance to the finals of the New Haven Open. That doesn't rhyme as well, though.

Golf's reigning U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy gave his new girlfriend a kiss on Friday night that must have had some good luck; the 21-year-old Dane went out the next day and won her first tournament since she and the Northern Irish star began dating after Wimbledon.

That is the happiest I've ever seen a group of guys over a kiss involving other people. I've looked at wedding photos where the groomsmen have less of a smile than the Yale football players have plastered on their faces in this shot.

caroline wozniacki rory mcilory yale football

A lot of couples have to deal with differences in religion or race or finances or education or upbringing. I worry about the day when Caroline and Rory have their first adidas/Nike argument. Rory doesn't have a deal with the Oregon athletic

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Busted Racquet previews the women's draw at the 2011 U.S. Open.

Three biggest storylines

1. Can Serena get back on top and win her first Grand Slam in 14 months?

2. Will Caroline Wozniacki break out of her slump at majors?

3. Which of the up-and-coming stars will break through like Kvitova at Wimbledon?

Dark horse: Daniela Hantuchova -- Someone is going to make an unexpected run at the year's final major, why not the 28-year-old Hantuchova? Since making three straight Slams quarterfinals early in her career, the Slovakian has gone past the fourth round just once. Still, she has the right draw (she could see the struggling Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round and the always-struggling Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth) and has played top players tough this summer.

American dark horse: Venus Williams -- The great ones always have one last burst in their career. Nobody's talking about Venus going into the Open. And why should they? She's unseeded, has had middling results in the scant

fish hug cinc11Busted Racquet previews the men's tournament at the 2011 U.S. Open.

Dark horse: Mardy Fish -- The top-ranked American may not technically qualify for darkhorse status, seeing how he's No. 8 in the world, has taken out Rafael Nadal this summer and gave Novak Djokovic his toughest test of the hardcourt season. But in a sport where three men have won 25 of the last 26 Grand Slams, anyone not named Roger, Rafael or Novak can qualify for that billing.

To advance to his first Slam semifinal, Fish could have to go through Wimbledon semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round and Roger Federer in the quarters. With the way he's playing and given the extra recovery days he'll receive in New York, the prospects of that sound much less daunting than you'd expect.

A real dark horse: Alex Bogmolov Jr. -- Bogmolov Jr. once spent three weeks in the ATP top 100 in 2003. During the rest of his 11-year tennis career, the Moscow-born American tossed around the challenger circuit and kept his

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Busted Racquet looks at the six former WTA No. 1s who will be playing at the upcoming U.S. Open.

Venus Williams -- Weeks: 11 -- First time: Feb. 25, 2002 -- Last time: July 7, 2002

How long has it been since Venus was ranked No. 1? The last time she led the WTA rankings, Nelly's "Hot in Herre" topped the Billboard charts and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was still in movie theaters. For a player of such stature, her two reigns at the top were remarkably brief. She almost has twice as many career Grand Slam titles (21) as she does weeks at No. 1 (11). Venus enters this U.S. Open unseeded and a longshot to make any sort of run in New York. The last time she won the tournament was a decade ago.

Serena Williams -- Weeks: 123 -- First time: July 8, 2002 -- Last time: Oct. 10, 2010

The previous five No. 28 seeds at the U.S. Open were Alisa Kleybanova, Sybille Bammer, Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama (twice). They combined for seven wins, exactly the total Serena Williams will need to win her

delpo uso09

A replay of Juan Martin Del Potro's 2009 U.S. Open victory was on TV the other night. The Argentine's groundstrokes haven't changed in the two years since he stopped Roger Federer's five-Open winning streak; he still winds up on his forehand, holds the racquet head behind the ball for a split second before unloading on it with a turn of shoulder, pounding the ball at impossible angles and making it impossible for his opponents to return. Then, as now, you can get into a Delpo match and wonder, "how does this guy ever lose?"

There's something different about the Juan Martin Del Potro of 2011. There's less bounce in his step. His shoulders slump a little on changeovers. He doesn't carry himself with the air of a 20-year-old who thinks he's invincible.

Juan Martin Del Potro doesn't walk like that anymore. He still has the talent that propelled him to No. 4 and helped him become the first player ever to beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same Grand Slam. His body is the thing

In honor of ESPN's woefully misguided photo illustration of a white Michael Vick (for a story entitled "What if Michael Vick were white), Busted Racquet presents the hypothetical question, "What if Rafael Nadal were a jeans model with a pompadour?"

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Thanks to a new advertising campaign from Armani Jeans, we won't have to go through life wondering what might have been.

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The draw for the 2011 U.S. Open was released on Thursday and three-time tournament champion Serena Williams found out who she'll have to play if she's to advance to her third straight semifinal in New York. Busted Racquet breaks down her most likely opponents in each round through the quarterfinals.

First round vs. Bojana Jovanovski

The last time we saw Ms. Jovanovski she was learning the hard way that there are two Carlsbad airports in the United States, only one of which is nearby the tournament in the California city of the same name. Ranked No. 52, Jovanovski is not the easy first-round draw Serena may have been hoping for. Ultimately, the result won't be any different.

Second round vs. Eleni Daniilidou

That Williams the the top-ranked Greek player Daniilidou haven't played since 2004 is both a sign of their advanced age for the sport and their tendency to run in different tennis circles. The No. 88 Daniilidou isn't a guarantee to make it past her opening-round match against a

andy murray uso08

Want to win a bar bet during the U.S. Open? Ask a friend whether Andy Murray has had more recent Grand Slam success on the clay courts of Paris or the hard courts of New York. When they say "New York," you'll present the surprising stat that Murray has two career quarterfinals at Roland Garros against only one at Flushing Meadows and, voila, the victory is yours.

Murray's lack of pedigree at the U.S. Open is a bit surprising given his usual mastery of hard courts. He's done well in New York before, making his first Grand Slam final at the event in 2008 and then getting promptly run off the court by Roger Federer en route to the Swiss great's fifth straight title. In his five other appearances in New York, Murray hasn't made it past the fourth round. In two of the last four years he's gone out after winning two matches.

It would seem that if Andy Murray is going to make his Grand Slam breakthrough, history suggests it will be somewhere other than New York. That's precisely why it needs