The Deuce Club, 9.04

By Peter Bodo

[Note from Heidi: Pete wrote up a great report on our TW wedding, so here it is!  Hope you all enjoy the pics and news.  This thread is for that discussion and all other off-topic non-tennis talk.  Don't forget to share your own news; email me as usual.]

Before we focus on the US Open women's semifinals, I want to give a quick report on the wedding of AmyLu and Juan Jose, two stalwart TennisWorld readers who met and began their gloriously sweet relationship in the cozy cyberspace of TW. I'll be posting on the tennis matches later today, and you'll soon have your daily Crisis Center (how about a hand for Rosangel) to get you fired up - and pulled through the day's events. Personally, I think the Elena Dementieva vs. Jelena Jankovic match (first on) could become a classic. In the second match, Dinara Safina faces yet another enormous, new challenge; of her three critical matches since June (French Open final, Beijing gold medal match, USO semifinal), I think this battle with Serena Williams, on her home turf, is the most daunting assignment. I think the operative word is "gut-check time."

An additional side note: I hope that you've checked out my You're Invited! post from earlier in the day - it contains an invitation to a "jamfest" tomorrow night with the Bryan Brothers Band and Wayne Bryan and Murphy Jensen, at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Manhattan. . .

Now for the red meat of today's Deuce Club post. AmyLu and JJ were married in Allentown, Pa. last Saturday, at the First Presbyterian Church, with a reception that followed at Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Conference Center. Sitting in the pew at church, I just marveled at how this great young couple found each other via TennisWorld - and the part so many of you played in their budding romance.

I felt almost giddy, because it was all a touch surreal, and almost exactly like my own wedding some years ago - meaning, small, understated, and very traditional. AmyLu and JJ wrote their own vows, but they contained nothing about bolo forehands from Amy, and JJ (a big Novak Djokovic fan) resisted doing a Rafael Nadal impersonation in front of the altar.

I had an idea during the ceremony. I knew Rafa was on court at the time, battling Viktor Troicki, and that AmyLu would have no idea of how that was going -  but would wonder, no matter how important the business at hand. So I flipped open the phone and texted Asad Raza, asking for an "emergency update" on the Nadal score, hoping nobody was watching. The ceremony soon ended, and I joined the receiving line. I stayed as far back as I could (which was hard, because it was a fairly short line) and I was just two people from the happy couple and their immediate family members when the phone vibrated in my shirt pocket. I flipped it open: the text was from Asad, with the news. I thought, Way to go, Asad!!! Moments later, AmyLu greeted me with a big hug and as our cheeks met I whispered in her ear: Nadal, four, three and oh!

When I arrived at the reception I met JJ's mom, Martha, a warm, beautiful woman whose skin had a lovely, coppery glow, I asked if I could get her a drink and she requested a scotch. Now that's my kind of lady! We had one together and talked of how her son had met AmyLu at TW. For someone of her (you can read "my") generation, she was very tuned in to the way new media has affected the world - and in a profound, immediate way. I also had a nice long chat with AmyLu's dad, Norm. He's a handsome man with great bearing and an air of calm, like a US ambassador right out of central casting.

I made my way to my assigned table, and found myself among a dozen strangers. They were very friendly, and as I introduced myself I explained: It's funny, but I'm the person who knows the fewest number of people here, but am most responsible for everyone being here. It wasn't meant as a boast, but the irony was too delicious to pass up. During dinner, I kept getting text messages from folks at the National Tennis Center, including Asad, NDK, JB, Tari. I was embarrassed to be texting while everyone else was eating, but thankfully someone raised the issue, "You must be checking the US Open scores, how's it going?"

I apologized for being preoccupied and said, "Oh, I have no idea who's winning or losing tonight. These messages all are about the wedding, and Amy and Juan Jose." I stayed to the end, which in semi-rural Pennsylvania wasn't very late, but I did get to see a pile of pretty girls going wild on the dance floor to a great mix of mostly dance music.

Then I drove home to Manhattan, to get ready for the next day of work, dog-tired but smiling all the way across the dark New Jersey landscape.

Thanks for giving me this space, Heidi!