I remember last week complaining about how the weather was too rainy and how nothing could be much worse. Well, am I allowed to change my mind? Either way, Monday, the first day of the main draw event in Queens, had temperatures hovering in the mid to high 90s throughout the late morning and afternoon. Add that to the thousands of fans cramping into the 15 small courts all over the grounds and you had yourself a hot day.

I really shouldn’t complain, the players are the ones who had to go out there and give it their all. In the morning hours, there were three five-set matches all surpassing three hours. There were also two retirements in play, although it is not clear as to if the heat was the cause.

In other news, besides the weather, there was some great tennis played. The best match of the day was easily the Gael Monfils vs. Robert Kendrick match. That match had people lining up to it 20 minutes in advance, and there was nearly an hour wait outside court 11 throughout its duration. This is where I thank god that the press credential allows me to cut the lines. The match however, had everything. Gael Monfils is an extremely athletic Frenchman with great personality and an awesome afro. He is the 17th best player in the world, while meanwhile, Robert Kendrick had to qualify. It seemed as if Gael’s health may have been an issue, and it took him five sets to dispatch of Kendrick. The fans were going nuts, with chants of USA and "GAEL!" In the end, though, it was a great showing of tennis for everyone involved.

There are some questions that the seating situation does rise. Is the USTA selling more seats than it can handle? Are they pushing the limit a little too much, because this wasn’t just a problem on court 11, it was an issue on mostly all of the outer courts. Another question I have is, why do we put the big names on Arthur Ashe court during the first few days? Those players win easily, all of them taking matches in the minimum amount of sets today as the top seeds easily advanced. I would much rather watch a five-set thriller than see Kim Clijsters beat Greta Arn 6-0, 7-5.

In case you were wondering about the usual suspects, Roger Federer won, Venus Williams won, Andy Roddick won, and Robin Soderling won (in 5 sets). No shocks there, and there is a good shot those players won’t lose next round either.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelana Jancovic, and Maria Sharapova will all be in action today. However, if you are heading out to Queens, my match of the day predicition is Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs. Fenando Verdasco (ESP) (8th seed). Both of those are clay court specialists, and they might be in for a long, hard fought battle. Play at the tennis center begins at 11 a.m.

In other New York tennis news: Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey might soon live out his dream of being a ball person at the U.S. Open. He told reporters yesterday that he would love to be able to play at the net and fetch balls, towels and water for some of the rudest people in the world: tennis players. Ball person’s director Tina Taps loved the idea and said that she would help him work around his Mets schedule, but that he wouldn’t be able to do it until next year so that he could try out in June—and train beforehand.