Well, not long after I posted it, all of those players have been eliminated. American upstart Ryan Harrison, after having three match points in his 5-set match, blew them all and lost on Friday; Jankovic blamed the wind for her shocking loss on Saturday; Murray fell in the third round, his worst performance at the Open in three years and began doubting himself with whether he'd ever win here; Dent was blown away in straight sets on Thursday afternoon, only hours after I posted the story. Another player who stayed--though only briefly--was Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she lost today in another upset.

Could it be: Is the Radisson cursed?

The only surviving Radisson player is Vera Zvonareva who plays tonight at Ashe. It must be getting awfully lonely in the hotel, and now she has to shoulder the load and keep honor to the Radisson. Maybe she should do a seance, and, hopefully, the bad luck won't rub off on her.

EARLIER:Forget the Waldorf! Rally Round the Radisson! New York Home for Tennis Stars

Andy Murray fell today in four sets in a long, 3 hour, 56 minute match to Roger Federer's sometimes doubles partner, Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray did not look his best, and Wawrinka, who played well, nevertheless gave Murray plenty of opportunities to get back into this match. Murray didn't seize on them.

And he didn't exactly sound like a man with a lot of confidence afterwards.

"I have no idea of whether I'll win a Grand Slam or not," he said. "You know, I want to. But, you know, I mean, if I never win one, then what? If I give a hundred percent, try my best, physically work as hard as I can, practice as much as I can, then that's all I can do, you know."

Not precisely the stirring words you want to hear from a champion.

He continued: "It's something I would love to do. It's a very difficult thing. But I don't know. I don't know if I'll win a Grand Slam or not. But I'll give it my best shot."

Murray has described the U.S. Open as his favorite tournament, but the onetime Open finalist was eliminated in the fourth round last year, and in the third round today. Murray, with no. 4 ranking, has never won a Grand Slam. This is called underperforming.

Murray's loss spells good news for two players: (1) Sam Querrey gets a considerably easier fourth round match and (2) Rafael Nadal's half of the draw also got considerably easier.

But where do stars like Andy Murray and Jelena Jankovic stay?

How about the Radisson!

That's right. For starters, who even knew that the Raddison--that inexpensive hotel where you stay when you make those unfortunate trips to cities like Cincinnati or Jacksonville--was in Manhattan? But it is!

And who else--other than Murray and Jankovic--is staying at the Radisson on the corner of 48th and Lexington?

How about Ryan Harrison (Wednesday's star at the Open), Taylor Dent and Vera Zvonareva? Also: Nick Bollatterri.

According to a guest at the hotel (where all this information comes from), Mr. Bollatterri is a close friend with the folks who run the hotel chain, so anyone who has made a tour through his Academy has a pretty good shot of winding up bunking there.

Apparently the hotel gets pretty decked out for the Open as well. There's tennis everything, a tennis-loving bartender and also a sushi bar (which Open players love, love, love).

Why else stay there? Ah, maybe this has something to do with it, too: Our source tells us the rates are really good.

So if you somehow wind up at the intersection of Lexington and 48th, be sure to give a yell for Taylor Dent who takes on Robin Soderling later today. Or anyone, really. And if Andy Murray winds up winning the Open, we'll be looking closely for the after-party in the Radisson lobby.

We called up Yasuhiro Makoshi, the manager of Restaurant Nippon in Midtown, to find out which players had been dining at the 46-year-old restaurant, one of the first to serve sushi in America, during the Open. The Nippon, due to its proximity to many of the players' hotels and its owner's passion for the game, has become the Rick's Cafe Americain of the tournament.

Ivan Ljubicic, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the first round, told a French Open interviewer in May that it's one of his favorite restaurants in the world: "The owner loves tennis and always gives us special discounts so that loads of players go there [laughs]! He’s a really great guy and always comes to support me in the U.S. Open."

Coincidentally, Djokovic himself is also one of the Nippon's biggest fans, even touting it in a Tennis Channel promo about places to go in New York. He was there last week, said Mr. Makoshi. Also Andy Murray (lost today), Svetlana Kuznetzova (lost yesterday), Elena Dementieva (lost to Oudin), and Victoria Azarenka (lost in round three). Maybe the Nippon is having a Piven-esque effect on some of the players, though Djokovic seems to be doing just fine.

Mr. Makoshi told us that sushi was naturally the most popular order, though Dementieva liked the beef salad. The restaurant's web site also includes an unusual tribute to Michael Jackson, who apparently once sang a Japanese children's song to the owners.

Eep.

In 2014, by which time the folks at Roland Garros will have finished building a new center court with a retractable roof, the U.S. Open will be the only Grand Slam without a roof.

And how do the players feel about the roofless Ashe? They were asked at a press conference before the Open began. Apparently, they love it.

Dinara Safina: It doesn't rain so often here, so I don't think they should change something.

Andy Murray: I don't think it's necessary really to have a roof. There's only normally a couple of days during the tournament where there is some bad weather.

Serena Williams: I think it would be kind of hard to add a roof on this wonderful stadium, so I think we're fine. You know, historically we've done well, and you know, it will be just kind of weird to put a roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Andy Roddick: I think it's a rarity that it gets backed up enough to where it becomes a real problem. Plus then when would we watch Connors and Krickstein again? 

There was only one player in favor of the roof.

Roger Federer:  Last year, was it a Monday final? Yeah, it was. Those are just things that are unpredictable, and with a roof you can make it more predictable for fans, sponsors, TV, for players. You know, that's why it's a good thing to have. That's why I'm obviously for it. I think especially in America we have so many wonderful stadiums, I mean, you figure it's kind of normal that they would be taking the lead with something like this.

UPDATE: Andy Murray lost the third set, 6-2, and the match. Cilic had more errors in the shocking two-hour-long steamroll, but Murray had only 11 winners, showing how little he was dictating, or even attempting to dictate, play.

Says the BBC live-blogger: "I am stunned. The crowd is stunned. I think Cilic is too. He looks like he doesn't know what to do with himself as he celebrates the biggest win of his career so far. Questions will be asked about Murray now, and for the first time, he probably deserves it."

A few minutes after the match, Murray called the loss the biggest disappointment of his career.

After his second round match, which ended well after midnight on Friday night, he complained about the late start time. Late start times are part of the charm of the Open and whether players like them or not, they should say they do (even Federer, who says he loves everything about the Open, very quietly admitted last week that he prefers to play at 11 a.m. rather than 10 p.m.). Whether because of injuries or the surface, this is the only Slam in which Nadal seems to lose that usual fire he brings to the court.

Yesterday, after an odd injury timeout where a trainer was called to rub some ointment on his stomach, he told the press he had no interest in chatting about what was ailing him. 

"No, I don't want to talk about injuries," he said after his match. "Sorry. No, no, I am a little bit tired to talk about injuries."

Well then!

In other action yesterday: The Taylor Dent express came to a halt. Andy Murray defeated the lovable American in three easy sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Del Porto, Tsonga, Cilic, Ferrero, Gonzalez and Monfils all won.

Serena Williams destroyed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0 yesterday morning. And on Ashe, in an awful match to watch, Vera Zvonareva melted down in epic fashion and gave Flavia Pennetta a 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 victory.

Later this afternoon, Venus Williams will take on Kim Clijsters, an absurdly intriguing fourth round match. We're giddy just thinking about it.

Marion Bartoli told us three days ago that Clijsters, back in her first Open in three years after she retired and had a baby, is a contender to win this thing. But! Bartoli also said she wasn't sure how Clijsters would handle the pressure in a match aganist a Serena or a Venus.

It's time for an awfully big test. Venus has been banged up this year, and hasn't looked quite as fresh as she did last year, or in 2007. Also, you have a feeling that Venus doesn't feel the same way about this moment as Clijsters does. Here's Clijsters on what it's like being back at the Open:

"I just felt like, Wow," she said after her third round win. "Just like you feel like when you're 14, 15 years old again. That's how I felt. That's a great feeling to have, because that's definitely something that's always -- at the end of my first career, something that I was missing, just the hunger."

We're taking Clijsters in this one.

Also! Serena Williams plays this morning--as much as she doesn't like it--and Nadal has a reasonably difficult third round challenge against Nicolas Almagro. Tonight, we've got Taylor Dent and Andy Murray.

Ready. Play.

Andy Murray had to work a little bit today, but ultimately dusted off Paul Capdeville, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. Juan Del Potro, Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat their opponents in straight sets. Croatian Marin Cilic, after falling behind Roger Federer's left-handed hitting partner Jesse Levine two sets to love, won in five sets, 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

The men still on the courts right now: Gael Monfils, Fernando Gonzalez.

And no, there was no bad blood today as Serena Williams took care of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets.

In her post-match press conference, Serena Williams was wearing a Nike T-shirt that read, "Vicious, Delicious and Ambitious." When asked about it, Serena said, "This is the new Nike 'Delicious' campaign that I'm a part of, because I'm delicious."

Early rounds at the open.

In one of the most intriguing, raucous matches of the day, which stretched into the evening session, Taylor Dent, a 28-year-old American who left the tour for more than two years with a serious back injury, defeated Feliciano Lopez, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-5. It was an emotional return to the Open for Dent, who last played here in 2005, when he reached the third round.

He described the feeling to reporters as “ecstatic." Doctors were unsure Dent would ever play tennis again, and it’s not too long since he was mulling putting the game aside for good and getting his real estate license.

“I was going through such a bout of almost depression at that stage that doing work was really tough on me, too,” Dent said. “I said, Let me find something fun. I stumbled upon a computer game that my buddy turned me on to. That actually kind of saved me in a way because I was able just to escape to another place and not think about the situation I was in.” The game? “World of Warcraft.”

Second-seeded Andy Murray advanced to the second round, too, in a dull, workmanlike match against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. Gulbis is talented, displaying what John McEnroe described on ESPN as “flashes of brilliance,” but he doesn’t have the consistency yet to beat the very top players.

Maria Sharapova, who won the Open in 2006 but didn’t play here last year, sailed into the second round, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-0.