Wednesday 29th August 2018.... finally in the big 🍎!!!!!

Took my time this morning packing up and getting ready to leave for the three hour plus drive to NYC

For this I did some route planning but mainly relied on my trusty GPS..

Soon I saw my first NYC sign and it was a bit of a shock to me that in two hours of driving it cost me 35 dollars in tolls!!!

What I have never seen before and liked was that on this highway trucks had separate lanes from the cars!!

I arrived at my Airbnb apartment at just around 3pm and my hosts were waiting for me..there is free street parking outside their home and I have my own keyless entry and basement apartment....it is small but very lovely and has everything I need, nice bedroom, lounge with large screen TV, washer and dryer good internet  not really a kitchen but I do have a microwave, toaster and kettle so can make do with breakfast of cereal and fruit and yogurt and can bring a home cooked meal home to re heat and considering after tomorrow I am out for the next four nights.....I booked this place a year ago and glad to be here!!

Got settled in and had dinner a left over from last night, really good!!!

A shower and now watching live tennis which is so cool because I am about three miles away from the stadium!!!

Jeanette and Henry my hosts are very kind he has printed off Google maps for me to show I get from the apartment to the tennis stadium by foot, metro and driving. How nice of him...

I was in NYC about seven years ago when I was travelling in Ramona but then I left her outside the city and just used public transportation ....so I think Little Bluey is going to remain parked outside the house and I will use the bus and train...

This tells you happened yesterday...

Conditions at the US Open were described as "dangerous" as five men had to retire from their first-round matches on Tuesday because of heat-related issues.

Temperatures close to 38C (100F) in New York were made more stifling by humidity levels of over 50%.

French player Julien Benneteau, who won on day two, said matches in the middle of the day should not have been played.

"They were lucky they only had retirements," said the world number 60.

The conditions led to tournament organisers implementing an extreme heat policy in men's matches for the first time.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who said he "struggled" with the heat in his win over Marton Fucsovics, added that the physical issues affecting some players were "really sad to see".

Six players were forced to retire from matches on Tuesday, with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) saying five of the withdrawals - Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia, Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, Argentine Leonardo Mayer, Russia's Mikhail Youzhny and Serb Filip Krajinovic - were "heat-related".

For Youzhny it was a sad end to his final Grand Slam tournament, with the former world number eight set to retire from tennis next month at the age of 36.

 

The women's WTA has an extreme heat policy for its players, unlike the men's ATP, which has a discretionary rule.

USTA managing director Chris Widmaier said the decision to introduce it for the men was made after consulting its medical team.

The ruling offered a 10-minute break to both players after the third set and was taken if either or both wanted it.

The break took place in women's matches between the second and third sets.

Mikhail Youzhny retired from his final Grand Slam match against Marcos Baghdatis because of heat exhaustion when trailing two sets to one

'We were naked in ice baths'

Former world number one Djokovic and his Hungarian opponent Fucsovics were the first players to take a break after both suffered in the high temperatures.

The Serb revealed that they used the time to sit in cold baths together.

"Marton and I were in ice baths next to each other. We were naked in the ice baths and it was a quite wonderful feeling."

"It wasn't fun to play in the heat," said Fucsovics, who lost in four sets. "I was dying after each point. It was too hot for tennis. It's dangerous."

Djokovic, who asked for a sick bucket to be put next to his chair in the second set, added: "There's so much cramping going on. You don't want to see that.

"You have to be fit, of course. I agree with that. But there are some conditions that are so extreme that, as fit as you are, you can't just not feel it."

The USTA said it would make a decision on Wednesday, when conditions are forecast to be similar, whether to implement the heat rule for a second time.

"We will be doing this on a case-by-case basis," Widmaier added.

He said the show-court Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums do not have air conditioning when the roofs are closed, although they may be shut overnight in an attempt to cool the courts!!

Yashi Kochi