Their careers certainly have had very different trajectories, and their styles and personalities are singular. But Mr. Roddick and Ms. Clijsters have one very important thing in common. Their tennis legacies were written on the hard courts of the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens.

Both Mr. Roddick, who won the U.S. Open in 2003, and Ms. Clijsters, a champion in 2005, 2009 and 2010, chose to end their career at this year’s Open. Ms. Clijsters made it clear months ago that she would be hanging up her tennis bag after her last match in Flushing this year. Mr. Roddick surprised the tennis world by announcing mid-tournament that he, too, would retire after the Open.

Both players won the hearts and loyalties of New York’s discerning tennis fans with their professionalism, charisma and sense of style. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Mr. Roddick married a woman named Brooklyn (although she’s from Ohio, and they live in Texas), and Ms. Clijsters married a Jersey guy and now lives (among other places) on the Jersey Shore.

They may not have been New Yorkers, but they clearly felt at home here. It was in Flushing a decade ago that Mr. Roddick won his only major championship, and from that time until this week, he carried the flag for American men’s tennis in the post-Pete Sampras era. It was his bad luck to come of age just before a young Swiss champion, Roger Federer, burst on the scene, to be followed by another great champion, Rafael Nadal. Mr. Roddick never did get that second major championship. But he’ll always have Flushing.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was the setting for Ms. Clijsters’s comeback from a premature retirement in 2007, about a year before she gave birth to her daughter. Beginning with her opening match in 2009, she went on a two-year tear, winning back-to-back championships. New York’s supposedly hardened, sophisticated fans melted at the sight of Ms. Clijsters hugging her daughter after those two memorable victories.

The Open produces winners every year, but not every champion captures the city’s imagination. These two did—so it was fitting and gracious that they chose New York for their final matches.

The result: Extreme chaos, frustrating delays, jagged nerves and wasted time. Portions of midtown and downtown are turned into armed camps to accommodate the schedules of the world’s leaders, a fair portion of whom attend the session just for the sheer fun of insulting the U.S., Israel and the West.

This is the burden of being the capital of the world. For the most part, Manhattanites understand that sharing their island with the globe’s leaders requires patience, sacrifice and a certain degree of resignation.

But surely the time has come for the U.N. to adjust its calendar to take into account the requirements and necessities of its host city. For the good of New York, the U.N. should move the General Assembly session to August.

Manhattan in August has many charms, as millions of tourists can attest. Certainly among those charms is the relative tranquility of the island’s streets, since so many residents and workers are in the Hamptons or the Berkshires or even (if you can imagine this) at the Jersey shore.

The General Assembly session simply has become too disruptive for millions of people who either live or work in Manhattan. When the U.N. opened in the late 1940s, the arrival of diplomats and heads of state might well have been a colorful and much-anticipated event. But the security concerns of the 21st century and the growth of the U.N.’s membership since the end of Europe’s colonial empires have combined to create a logistical nightmare.

This is not to suggest that New York can’t handle the special concerns that come with hosting world-class events. In fact, no other city on earth is better trained to serve and protect the world’s leaders. The New York Police Department is as good as it gets when it comes to securing large swaths of geography for the safety of presidents, prime ministers and ordinary citizens.

But securing midtown and lower Manhattan these days requires large parts of the island to become frozen zones, often with little or no notice. That brings commerce and everyday life to a standstill, leading to extreme and even dangerous inconvenience. Of course, diplomats and heads of government experience none of these headaches—they are whisked from event to event without giving a passing thought to the people whose lives are being disrupted for their safety.

Rescheduling the General Assembly for August would bring all kinds of benefits to residents, workers and world leaders alike. First of all, many workers and residents simply won’t be in Manhattan, which means they won’t be inconvenienced. Second, the diplomats and international big shots will get a chance to experience August in New York. What better time to be in the Big Apple? August means the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and the U.S. Open in Queens. It means shorter lines at the Shake Shack. It means Shakespeare in the Park and outdoor concerts and street festivals galore.

New York in August—what’s not to like? The U.N. owes its hosts a serious look at this respectful proposal.

But to Rafa, this matters little.

Rafa blitzed his way through his draw and didn't lose a set until a couple of hours ago. His serve--somehow--topped 135mph during his Open run, and hit as high as 132mph today/tonight. Incredibly, he seemed to get better as the tournament progressed. For player who was once exclusively a clay court specialist, and then became a master of the Wimbledon grass, he has finally figured out the fast courts and the lighter balls of Queens. Potential: Unlimited.

"He has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever," said Novak Djokovic after tonight's match. "I think he's playing the best tennis that I ever seen him play on hardcourts. He has improved his serve drastically. The speed, the accuracy, and of course his baseline is as good as ever."

Rafa played a beautifully clean game of tennis tonight. He had 49 winners in the match versus 31 unforced errors and had 8 aces. At some point late in the third set, Novak looked absolutely spent, and began to do his best Week 17-Late-In-The-4th-Quarter Brett Favre impression. He went all for broke on his forehand and backhand which resulted in some pretty amazing screaming winners, and, mostly, a lot of unforced errors (he had 47 for the match). Rafa was only 6 of 26 for break point chances, which is a not-very-hot 23 percentage, but look at that stat again: He had 26 break point chances! Rafa's variety was breath-taking. Even though that slicing backhand was failing him at times, he went back to it over and over again; it began to work. Then, out of nowhere, he would be thrown to some far-reaching corner of the court where Brian Earley was probably standing, and would hit a line drive two-handed backhand winner down the line. It was pretty amazing to watch.

His play tonight, and his performance over the last two weeks is mostly a huge relief. Roger Federer was officially dethroned of his crown in Queens last year, and he would not return to the U.S. Open Final this year--the first time since 2003. We knew going in that we were on the brink of a changing of the guard, and we wanted our New Guy to be Rafa. But it's always been injuries (the knees! the "broken abdominal"), the mind (those damn Olympics!) or the courts that have held Rafa back. He said he didn't like playing late at night here. He certainly never seemed at home in New York.

This year that all vanished. By the second round, he was soaking up night matches. By the fourth round, he had his warm-up jacket zipped down momentarily for a post-match interview well past 1 in the morning. The crowd chanted cat calls. He smiled that adorable smile and loved it. During a changeover, he mouthed the words to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. He was happy and playing better than ever.

Most significantly, he burned, and fought for every point. As Mary Carillo told me before the tournament, that's all you need to do to tickle us. That great tennis he has displayed in Paris, London and Melbourne? We finally go our own taste of it. Considering that this was his last Grand Slam to win, it almost made it all the better. There was nothing even remotely Na-Dull about this performance. If Roger Federer is truly entering the twilight of his career, we're happy to be right behind you, Rafa. This was a beautiful thing to watch.

But in a stunning move, CBS has decided to abandon its coverage of the Men's Final in order to maintain its primetime lineup, and the rest of the match will air on ESPN2.

Dollars and cents wise, this obviously makes sense for CBS. Monday night is a big ratings night for them, and to get it pushed back more than two hours would translate into a lot of angry advertisers. But the USTA should take this as a big hint that it needs to end its relationship with CBS as soon as possible.

Let's go through the problems.

1. Last night, the men's match was called off just after 6 p.m. It had technically only been in a delay for just over 90 minutes. That relatively quick decision came from a tournament whose leaders love--just love--night matches. Obviously, making the fans and players wait and wait for a rain delay has to be considered (not a kind thing to do!), but finishing the men's final on Sunday night would have been the best case scenario for all involved (maybe except Novak Djokovic). And guess what happened? The rain stopped in New York last night at 7:30 p.m. Yes, it would have been a three-hour delay in total, but it also would have given tennis an opportunity to play in primetime. CBS gave away its primetime lineup to the women's final on a Sunday night two years ago--which was also pushed back due to rain--and obviously the 3.3 Nielsen rating wasn't good enough to justify that action again (last year, when the women's final was also pushed to a Sunday night, CBS happily gave up the rights to ESPN2). So the USTA pulled the plug pretty early last night, and I'm sure CBS was a big part of that decision.

2. No doubt CBS played a heavy hand in deciding that there would be a 4 p.m. start-time today, too. It's late enough to draw halfway respectable ratings, but early enough so tennis wouldn't eat into their ratings block again. Nevertheless, as of very early this morning, there was forecast for rain late in the day today. And guess what? It hit us, and it's hitting us pretty good right now. Had this match started at noon or at 1 p.m., the tennis would have been completed.

3. And this one really takes the cake: After contributing to the early cancellation last night, and locking up the--evidently wet!--late afternoon start today, CBS is abandoning its coverage. They're finished. The rest of the match will air on ESPN2. When was the last time a broadcast network gave up its coverage in the middle of a major American sporting event? I have no idea, but I'm assuming this hasn't happened more than once or twice over the last several decades. This match probably won't resume--at the earliest--until 7:30. We're in the second set. All signs seemed to indicate we could be headed for a good long match. Rafa won the first set, and we're at 4-4 and 30-30 in the second set. This actually provides a lot of potential for the U.S. Open and men's tennis. At least the ratings tonight would be through the roof--a primetime audience for an excellent tennis match! But CBS wants no part of it. They're cutting it off, and ESPN2 is left to pick up the rest of the coverage. This is truly mind-boggling. How are fans supposed to even know where to find it? I know because a friend IMed me. But other than word-of-mouth? You're finished. And the ratings will surely be ugly.

It's great that the USTA has had a relationship with CBS for so long. They've broadcast the U.S. Open for 43 years. And nope, there's no roof here and there probably won't be for some time, and the USTA has to sleep in the bed it made for itself. But with CBS pulling the plug this should send a loud-and-clear message that they really shouldn't be the home for the tournament any longer. This is the showcase event for tennis in the United States and CBS won't bother finishing airing it. If the USTA wants a broadcast home, they should call up NBC, which already broadcasts the French Open and Wimbledon. Or just put the whole thing on ESPN anyway, since viewers hardly know the difference between cable and broadcast anymore. Either way, this is a bad moment for tennis, and for CBS.

UPDATE, 11:17 p.m.: The rest of the match was aired on ESPN2, but it's a good thing that Rafa won that last set 6-2. If the match had lasted any longer it would have been kicked over to--wait for it--ESPN Classic to make way for the NFL on ESPN2. Now, maybe this match would have been deserving of showing up on ESPN Classic some day, but wow. The men's final getting kicked off to that channel? Does anyone even know how to find that channel? Not a clue over here! In any event, they were able to finish the match, but in this rather hilarious video taken by Pat Kiernan, we can see how elegantly and smoothly ESPN2 cut away from Rafa's trophy celebration to go to the football game (thanks to reader Eric Kuo for pointing us to it).

So when The Observer saw Anna Wintour and her cohorts — André Leon Talley and Grace Coddington, of course — we stopped by for some U.S. Open repartee with Anna, an avowed Roger Federer fan and close friend of the tennis great. 

Anna, we said leaning in, do you have a moment for a question?

"Maybe."

Success! We asked her about Novak Djokovic's stunning upset of her buddy Roger. She seemed sort of recovered!

"There will always be another tennis match," she told us. 

With Federer out, who is Ms. Wintour rooting for in the final? 

"It's rained out."

But, we said, there will be a men's final. It is going to happen.

"It's rained out," she repeated, playing coy.

Nadal? 

"It's rained out."

That's all she would give us. Is the Vogue editor too ashamed to admit she's rooting for someone so Na-Dull? If she knew that Lil' Wayne was pulling for the Spaniard, perhaps she would be swayed. 

But will anyone else?

The men's final will broadcast at 4 p.m. this afternoon on CBS. Unless this match goes four or five long and tough sets, there's a good chance you won't catch any of it. Tonight is also the debut of the Jets on Monday Night Football — which begins at 7 p.m. — and that's another small bite of the audience that will watch football on ESPN instead of a fourth set between Rafa and Novak on CBS.

There's reason for concern. Over the last two years, the ratings for the final Monday matches have been the worst of any Open men's final since CBS started keeping the records in 1977.

Last year, the Federer–del Potro match received a 2.3 rating and, in 2008, the Federer-Murray match got a 1.7 (the rating is the percentage of televisions that are tuned into CBS around the country). The Federer–del Potro match got a boost because that match — a 5-set grinder — ended after 8 p.m., and leaked into CBS' primetime lineup.

We can expect a similar result for tonight. Before we get all emotional about what this means for tennis, I feel like CBS deserves it, in a way. Last night's disappointing rainout was, I suspect, mostly the network's fault. The men's match wasn't supposed to begin until 4:30 and the cancellation was called at 6:18 p.m. That's not much of a wait, especially considering how USTA officials always proudly declare that they'll wait all night long to get a match started. They happily started two matches after 11 p.m. during this Open, after all. There's no question that CBS played a heavy hand in getting the match called — if they waited any longer their primetime lineup would have been wiped away in favor of tennis — and it shouldn't have been called that early.

At around 7:30 p.m., the rain came to a halt, and it never returned. The Men's Final absolutely could have been completed last night, and how much better would it have been for the sport if it aired on a Sunday night in primetime instead of a Monday afternoon when everyone is at work?

As Zack Woolfe wrote last year, the network's devotion to tennis is questionable. Last year, CBS happily handed the women's final over to ESPN2 when it had to be rescheduled for Sunday night. This year, during the first weekend, Andy Murray was on the verge of going down in a four-set shocker, and once 6 p.m. hit, CBS pulled the plug, and went to the News. Only fans of The Tennis Channel got to see the rest. Which is to say: Not a lot of people.

This morning, Pat Kiernan tweeted, "Just got AM weather briefing. USTA couldn't have picked a worse time than 4 pm for re-scheduled #USOpen final. Dry all day until then." Let's say it rains between 4 and 7 again: Will there be another cancellation? This is about to get absurd, and the USTA needs to figure out how much it answers to CBS.

For starters, he's playing better than he ever has here. He's beginning to look like a favorite. He finished at 1:16 a.m. last night and didn't complain about late night Open tennis like he has in the past. And, apparently, he's even loving the music on the JumboTron.

Yup, that's Rafa, mouthing the words to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," during the last change over in his thrasing of Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round last night. The evidenece is even clearer from ESPN's broadcast last night. Either way, he's loving it, and I'm loving it too.

This is the first singles match of the day that has been played on Ashe, which means that the Venus match, also technically a day match, won't begin until early this evening--probably after 6. There's a good chance that could be a two hour match--she's playing the Italian Francesa Schiavone who is a popular sleeper pick here in Week 2--which means Clijsters and Stosur won't begin until 8:30? After 9? The USTA has the option to move one of the two night matches onto Armstrong, but I don't think there's a chance that either Clijsters or Nadal will be moved to an outer court. Which means Nadal might not get on until sometime before midnight, and we know that Rafa does not enjoy playing too late here.

Get ready, folks. I'll be here all night.

To wit, here's an exchange he had with a reporter last year after he defeated Nicolas Kiefer in a match that ended well after midnight.

      REPORTER:  Do you like playing late at night, after midnight?

      RAFAEL NADAL:  What do you want to listen (smiling)? 

      REPORTER:  You don't like it so much so late?

      RAFAEL NADAL:  It's too late.  Right now, what time is it? 

      REPORTER:  1:15.

      RAFAEL NADAL:  1:15.  I have to dinner. Before 3:30 is impossible be sleeping.  Anyway, I think is a little bit late. That's my opinion, no? I would love to play at 7.

The USTA accomodated Rafa's wish on Tuesday, taking the unusual step of playing him at 7pm, before the women's match. and played him at 7pm. But tonight? Rafa is scheduled to go on the Ashe court after Venus Williams, meaning he could be starting anytime between 8:30 and 10. And if we get a rain delay at any point today? It might mean that he'll play even later.

Neverthlesss, Rafa's PR team is hard at work at making the New York thing work. In Page Six today, Rafa appeared in an about his Madison Avenue haircuts!

The Spanish tennis stud dropped by the Madison Avenue salon of Julien Farel, the official stylist of the US Open for the fourth consecutive year, for a haircut. "Some of the young women in the salon took some of Nadal's cut hair off the floor when no one was looking, to keep as souvenirs," said our source. "Can you imagine?"

And later this afternoon, the lady we're predicting will be this year's spoiler at the Open, Ana Ivanovic, will be playing the Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano on Armstrong.