Insert Your Own Flushing Meadows Joke Here

At least one event today is scheduled to start business as usual after Hurricane Irene, and that's the US Open Tennis Championships in New York.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament will begin on schedule tomorrow at 11 a.m. after the National Tennis Center in New York sustained “minimal damage” from Tropical Storm Irene.

The final Grand Slam tournament of the season will begin with nine matches, including Ryan Harrison of the U.S. playing 27th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Mardy Fish, at No. 8 the highest-ranked of 14 American men in the singles, meets German Tobias Kamke in the first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium at 1 p.m. New York time. Russia’s Maria Sharapova, the women’s No. 3 seed and 2006 U.S. Open winner, follows against Heather Watson of Britain. 

If only the state of US men's tennis was as resilient as the crews running the event are.  When your only serious hope for a home country win is Mardy Fish, you know you're in trouble. Andy Roddick did it in 2003, but we've been skunked since, including Roger Federer's insane five in a row (including that heartbreaking pounding of Andre Agassi in 2005).

The Williams sisters have come through as recently as 2008 with Serena's win over Jelena Janković, but this year it's looking dicey at best.  Here's hoping.