I predicted predictability at the outset of this year's US Open and, to be honest, the last few rounds of the tournament did not provide too many surprises. Justine and Roger won again, both in impressive fashion, both tightening their chokeholds on the tours they dominated this year. It's not to say that their wins weren't impressive-they were-or that the result of the year's last Grand Slam was a foregone conclusion-it wasn't. But in the end, Henin and Federer outclassed their opposition so convincingly that they were able to silence for another off-season the speculation that their dominance may be in decline.

The US and Brazil met on Sunday at Soldier Field in a friendly match billed as "The Clash of Champions," a title that glossed the discrepancy in soccer quality between CONCACAF and CONFEMEBOL. Having won the Gold Cup final against Mexico at Soldier Field, the US had been forced to bring a team of lesser talent to the Copa America , failing to win even a match in the group stages of the tournament Brazil went on to win by beating Argentina in the finals. The game against Brazil on Sunday was the US team's chance to prove that it would have fared much better in Venezuela had it been able to bring its European-based stars.

We'll keep the Notes simple this week because I didn't get to see the game on the tube and had to settle for visualizing it in its entirety in my sensory deprivation tank. Nothing to look forward to this weekend either, because of the FIFA match-week schedule, so we'll just have to hang onto the memory of defeating Arsenal's Ex Team from Pompey.

Wednesday night at the US Open was billed as the prime time heavyweight feature attraction and it lived up to the hype. Venus survived a loose first set and a really tough third set to beat third-seeded Jelena Jankovic in a third-set tiebreaker. The match lasted over two hours and both players maintained an extreme level of intensity. The real humdinger was yet to come. Federer and Roddick emerged from the tunnel, both clad in all black, and lo and behold who shows up in the announcer's booth with Ted Robinson and Johnny Mac but the Dre himself , in for a guest announcing role. It doesn't get any better than that...