I was surprised yesterday and today to watch the men's number one and number two seeds at the U.S. Open tournament go down in flames in their respective Round of 16 matches. Sunday top-seeded Daniil Medvedev, last year's tournament champion, lost to Nick Kyrgios and today second-seeded Rafael Nadal was taken apart by Frances Tiafoe. Although I was rooting for Kyrgios, I suspected that the finale would naturally be between Medvedev and Nadal...is this finally the signal for the changing of the guard in men's pro tennis? With the women, top seeded Iga Swiatek is still hanging in there, but #2 seed Aryna Sabalenka is, at this writing, one set down to Danielle Collins...I'm watching on ESPN2 to see what happens. I was also surprised yesterday to see both Florida and Florida State win their season openers, the former at home against seventh-ranked Utah and the latter at Baton Rouge against Louisiana State. Both contests ended up as nailbiters, the Gators intercepting a Ute TD pass attempt with 17 seconds left to win 29-26 and the 'Noles prevailing on a blocked extra-point attempt at the end of regulation, giving them a 24-23 win. Both teams...as well as my third traditional Florida college football team favorite, Miami, should provide plenty of entertainment for this 2022 season. I was a little taken aback at the big boast that Florida's attendance crowd was a packed record at over 90,000, this happening while new Covid vaccines are being rolled out amid the newer strains' resistance to older versions...and folks are still getting sick, are going to the hospital and are dying from this pestilence. Oh well, I guess people just want to pretend it's all over now...
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Correction...Sabalenka is seeded #6 and did come from behind to advance tonight. #2 was Anett Kontaveitt, who lost in the second round to Serena Williams...
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