US open tennis Men's final

Day 1		Day 2		Day 3		Day 4
Eataly Part 2 Esca Tasting menu		Le Bernardin Appetizers Main course & desserts Men's tennis Final Miss Korea		Lunch at les Halles 911 memorial Staten Island Atera Amuse Bouche Main Dishes Desserts		Streets of New York Daniel Amuse Bouche 3 course dinner

When we made plans to go to New York we did not know that the date of the Tennis Men's final would match with our stay. Once we found that out Hoa requested for me to do some research and try to get tickets for the final game. All the tickets were sold out a long time ago but luckily there are a bunch of un-used tickets on the US Open's website that people want to un-load. Of course it cost a lot more than the face value but at this point we are just happy to get two tickets. All the good seats are taken and the resell value is over $1,000 (way out of our league). Our seats are way, way up the stadium but we are going for the ambiance and the experience. After all what is the chance to watch the top 2 tennis players in the world battling out live! Hoa and I we are Nadal's fan and we hope he will win.

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens.

The easiest way to get to the stadium is to take the #7 subway and the price is right $2.50 per ticket.

Once you get off the subway there is a long walkway (a good 10 minutes) to the entrance of the stadium.

We arrived about 45 minutes earlier so we can take our time and take a few pictures.

This is the entrance of the US open! Lots of security checks but all lines move very quickly.

This is the 2nd check point..There are a few more. Lots and lots of people but it only took a few minutes to get through. It is even faster is you don't have a bag for them to check.

so they can take a picture with the Men's singles Trophy and the best part it is FREE!

Arthur Ashe Stadium opened in 1997 is the main tennis stadium of the US Open. The stadium is named after the famous tennis player, Arthur Ashe, who won the inaugural US Open in which professionals could compete in 1968. Before 1968 professionals were not allowed in the tournament, Us open was only for amateurs.

View of the Unisphere, a 12-story high, spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth. Commissioned to celebrate the beginning of the space age, the Unisphere was conceived and constructed as the theme symbol of the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair. The theme of the World's Fair was "Peace Through Understanding" and the Unisphere represented the theme of global interdependence. It was dedicated to "Man's Achievements on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe".

View of a bunch of tennis courts on the ground. The circular court you see at the end of the picture is the Louis Armstrong Stadium, opened in 1978, extensively renovated from the original Singer Bowl. It was the main stadium from 1978 to 1996, and its peak capacity neared 18,000 seats, but was reduced to 10,200 after the opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Arthur Ashe stadium features 22,547 individual seats, 90 luxury suites, five restaurants and a two-level players' lounge, it is the largest outdoor tennis-only venue in the world.

It looks empty because there is another 20 minutes before the beginning of the game.

We are seated way up but we were surprise to find out that we could see very clearly the main court.

An actor (Don't know who it was) came out to sing the anthem while the navy came out to spread out a huge US flag.

The game started in sunlight at 5:00Pm and finished at night! The match lasted a total of 3-hour and 21-minute.

This final was so interesting to watch with cliffhangers, plot twists and Nadal and Djokovic inspired standing ovations in every single game they played throughout the evening.

You can see how far up we sat in this picture.

Rafael Nadal won the title, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1.

It was an unbelievable match!

Once Nadal defeated Djokovic he just collapsed on the floor in disbelieve and hapiness!
The winning price is $3.6 million in prize money, including a $1 million bonus for results during the North American hard-court circuit, would make anyone weep with happiness.

What a great match and also hard to believe this is the same Rafael Nadal who was home during the US Open a year ago, nursing a bad left knee. What a great comeback!

I just check the ranking with the ATP ranking and even with his defeat Djokovic is still keeping is #1 seat as of 9/2013.