[Mornin' Tribe: Andrew is here with a Picks Game update; I will have a Crisis Center post up for you shortly, where you can discuss all the action on this, the Longest Day, of the USO. But feel free to discuss any of the vagaries of the draw and PG standings here - Pete]
Greek cosmology had a world made from four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Looking at our four tennis Grand Slam events, it seems natural to assign earth to the red clay of Roland Garros, while Wimbledon can only be water. And the US Open has been on fire now for days. There have been dramatic matches, new players coming forward, and some heartwrenching upsets.
Last night saw the first of two marquee QF match ups pencilled in since the start of the tournament. Serena Williams took on Justine Henin for the third time in a Grand Slam event this year, and for the third time the Belgian was the one to advance. The second marquee QF will be played tonight, as Andy Roddick tracks his own Great White Whale - actually, that's a pretty bad visual, given that the man he faces will be the all black Darth Fed.
If you visualize the TW Tribe using some grade school math diagrams, a big circle of us will have been keenly disappointed by Serena's exit, and another, overlapping circle were crushed by the upset defeat of Nadal by Ferrer in the match that followed Henin - Williams. Nadal went up a set and a break, but Ferrer - who fought off a match point against Nalbandian - refused to go quietly into that good night.
I haven't compiled all the most recent Picks yet, so I can't say as of this morning what the Tribe forecast for the two matches was. This preliminary Leaderboard is good through Monday's matches, ie all but four of the Mens R16:
