Italians Stare Down the Barrels

If Flavia Penetta and Roberta Vinci have been watching ESPN over the last couple days, these two 2015 U.S. Open semifinalists may not even bother to show up for their big matches, today.  What would be the point?  Serena is the surest of bets to steamroll Vinci, while Penetta simply does not posses the necessary weaponry to trouble rising Romanian star, Simona Halep.  ESPN has obviously begun the process of selling a colossal, 1 vs 2 final with a calendar slam in play for Serena.  Alas, Penetta and Vinci will both almost certainly decide to head on over to the National Tennis Center this morning, and it's doubtful that the Italian duo will use the media's narrative as little more than motivation to set up an all-Italian final.

You can't reach this level in tennis without being exceptionally good at the game.  In order to pull off these  upsets, though, Vinci and Penetta will both need to be better than that...better than great, there's really no known measurement for the level they'll have to play at, because they've probably never seen or even thought it possible.  It's entirely possible, though, and history tells us that the U.S, Open can bring forth such an effort.  How many of us expected Kei Nishikori to upset Novak Djokovic in the 2014 men's semis?  Okay, how about Marin Cilic over Roger Federer on the same day?  

This is America, land of opportunity, and this is the U.S. Open, toughest tourney in the world.  No one wins it on name, alone.