Where’s the roof? Mac leads the protest

Tedium, frustration and boredom have replaced tennis during the second week of the US Open as drizzle and rain has all-but obliterated play. Just three matches have been completed in the last two days and the spectre of spilling into a third week is looming large.

McEnroe, four times a champion here in the 1970s and ‘80s, is in no doubt who is to blame for the mess here — and it isn’t Mother Nature.

“Whoever spent $250 million for the biggest tennis court in the world, and to me it is too big, should have made it smaller and built a roof,” he said of the 23,000-seater Arthur Ashe stadium court. I didn’t graduate (from) Stanford… only went for a year, but I know that.

“All these delays hurt our sport. Australia has retractable roofs for its Open, the fans get their money’s worth. I really feel our sport is losing out.”

Forget the installation of a roof, the US Open does not even employ covers or tarpaulins as used at the French Open and Wimbledon to protect the courts from rain.

“It’s beyond my ability to comprehend why there are no tarps here,” he said on USA Network. USTA chief executive Arlen Kantarian did say the Open is considering installing a retractable roof on one of its show courts.

Agassi through to semis

Andre Agassi’s patience was tested by unrelenting rain and his skill was pushed to the limit by determined Taylor Dent, but the World Number One handled both challenges with style. Eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi led 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5 when Dent retired here on Tuesday with a right hamstring injury, ending the match barely five minutes before showers halted play at the year’s final Grand Slam event.

Japan’s Ai Sugiyama led Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7/5), 5-4 and Russian seventh seed Anastasia Myskina led France’s Mary Pierce 7-6 (7/2), 2-0 in women’s fourth-round matches that began Monday. (Reuters)