FREAKS!

No, they're not freaks. Freakishly tall, for tennis, maybe. But not freaks.

Sam Querry (6-6) and John Isner (6-9) just lost the first set of their doubles match against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Argentina's Agustin Calleri. Hoards of people came out to Court 7 for the match and were oooh-ing and ahhh-ing as the 13-plus feet tandem strolled in for warm-ups.

The place was standing room only. I don't know if that was a combination of the fact that it was a pair of Americans, it was a pair of very tall Americans, or people are still caught up in the backlash from James Blake's comments from Beijing, when he criticized Gonzalez of not fessing up to a ball that allegedly nicked his racket and sailed out of bounds during a crucial point in their semifinal match. I heard at least one fan remind her friends of the incident as Gonzalez entered the court.

I really don't buy it. I don't know him, but Gonzalez genuinely comes off as a friendly guy. In the first set, he was smiling for most of it. Our guy Arthur Staple pointed out in his Web column last night that Gonzalez is no villain.

Ok, I'm going to check out that match a little more and then it's on to the big show for Roddick-Santoro later on at Arthur Ashe.