US Open Diary Day 5

© Getty ImagesDustin Brown in full flight against Andy Murray Friday.

Standout Player: From his dancing dreadlocks to neon shoelaces, Jamaican Dustin Brown stood out for many reasons on Arthur Ashe Stadium Friday as he took on Andy Murray. He also stood out because he wouldn’t sit down on changeovers – virtually unheard of in the professional game. His reasoning?

“I started this two or three years ago. When I play, I play my best tennis when I'm a little bit more emotional and awake and everything. I always have the feeling when I sit down that my pulse and everything just goes down, so I just don't do it anymore.”

Murray said: “It doesn't really matter how fast he goes because I can take as much time as I want at the change of ends.  I haven't played anyone that does it before.  It's a little bit different, but it doesn't really affect you."

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Best Foot Forward: Brown also had an explanation for his orange and pink shoelaces: “In January 2009 my friend and I played a future in Spain. We were packing at his house, and I found a bag with a bunch of weird neon colors. I said, If we play finals in the first tournament of doubles, we got to put them in the shoes. He's like, ‘I don't know’. 

"Then we played finals, and he's like, ‘Okay, let's put them in’.  We lost the finals.  I kept them in there, and since then my ranking went from 450 to within the Top 100. So every time I buy a new pair of shoes, I order the shoelaces.  I don't go on the court unless they're in the shoes.

Harrison Heartbreaker: American 18-year-old Ryan Harrison whipped fans on Grandstand into a frenzy when he rallied from 1-3, 0/40 to hold three match points at 6-3 in the fifth-set tie-break against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky. But last week’s New Haven champion worked his way back to 6-all and then Harrison double faulted to hand Stakhovsky his first match point, which he duly converted.

Despite the disappointment, Harrison remained philosophical about his US Open adventure, which began almost two weeks ago in the qualifying rounds. "I've always believed that I could compete at this level, but to go out there and actually execute... I'm extremely proud of [that]... In all honesty, I could have lost second round quallies.  I mean, I was in full leg cramps down 3-0 in the third set, and I fought through that."

Tweeting Swede: Robin Soderling stopped by the ATP World Tour booth Friday for an interview and autograph session and spoke about why he uses Twitter. “It’s a pretty nice way to communicate with fans. When I started I didn’t realise there were so many [people] who really cared. It’s pretty easy. It only takes a minute and I know there are a lot of people who read it.”

Quote Of The Day: "It was [a] nice atmosphere. Except that 99.9 per cent of the people were against me." - Sergiy Stakhovsky, about the atmosphere on a packed Grandstand court for his five-set battle with 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison.