Equal pay for equal work in tennis – second set

April 19, 2016

It’s an issue that’s not going away any time soon, because it’s not easily resolved. In the wake of a wage-discrimination suit brought by several women’s soccer players against U.S. Soccer, tennis has been held up as an equal opportunity sport. But that was debunked in a recent New York Times article that explored not only the gap between male and female players’ pay but the disparity in the attitudes of the sexes on the subject.

Noting that the Grand Slam tournaments – Wimbledon and the Australian, French and US Opens – have equal prize money, Billie Jean king, who fought long for that equality, said, “To have equal prize money in the majors sends a message. It’s not about the money, it’s about the message.”

Trust me, it’s about the money. Because the money is the message. ...

Andy Murray, clay-court specialist

May 15, 2015

Well, with all the talk of deflated balls and overinflated bladders and tummies, we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture – Andy Murray, married man, has become a superb clay court player.

Remember, folks: It was only a few short months ago that Murray lost to Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Australian Open and the “Whither Andy Murray?” articles began to pour in, mostly from British journalists who can’t bear the thought of any imperfection in the life of the Great Brit Hope. The trouble with that is that the pendulum tends to swing way over in the opposite direction when he wins. He won the Munich Open, his maiden clay-court title, and then at the Madrid Open, beat Rafael Nadal (shocker of shockers but then, maybe not, given Rafa’s current Hamlet-like mental state). Suddenly, it’s adios, Rafa.

Indeed, there are those who think Andy can not only make the finals in Paris but actually win. ...

The Big Four’s ‘special relationship’

February 6, 2015

The big news out of the Aussie Open is that the Big Four is back.

Andy Murray’s magnificent run – until he collapsed against Novak Djokovic in the final – has returned him to the No. 4 spot behind Nole (No. 1), Roger Federer (No. 2) and Rafael Nadal (No. 3).

Andy’s return has got some fans comparing the Big Four to the Fab Four. (Andy, they say, would be Ringo.) I guess that would make Fed, John; Rafa, Paul; and Nole, George.

As with the Fab Four, there’s been some tension within the Big Four. Nole has said that he’s going to reach out to Andy, who was reportedly upset at possible Nole gamesmanship in the Australian Open final. Nole has denied faking an injury in their final, a taut affair early on.

“If there is a chance, if he’s willing to talk, I’ll talk, no problem,” Nole told Eurosport.com. “I have nothing to hide. I’m not the sort of guy who is pretending, who is trying to do something behind anyone’s back or is saying bad things about anybody, especially about someone I have known for a long time. I have respect for him.”

Perhaps the opportunity will come Feb. 15-28 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. (Gee, how can we tell Dubai is the shopping capital of the world?) There Nole and Andy will be reunited with Fed, but no Rafa.

Though they’re all rivals now, Nole says, “I do look at (Andy), Rafa and Roger as my friends, honestly, because I see them so much, more than my parents and sometimes more than my wife. ...

Of weak thighs (and nerves) at the Aussie Open

February 1, 2015

First the final. And then the fallout, right? Andy Murray – who went down to Novak Djokovic but returns to the No. 4 ranking with his appearance in the final – suggested that he was rattled by Nole’s physical crisis during the match. Nole, for his part, said it was not gamesmanship but an actual weakness in his thighs. (Weak thighs: Is there anything in sports that can’t be turned into a sexual innuendo?)

So which was it – a momentary weakness transcended or another game that men play?

A little bit of both, I think. Tennis is the most solitary of games. There’s no teammate – unless you’re playing doubles – who’ll come over to say, “We’ll get ’em in the second half.” It’s all on you. And that can be crushing not only physically but mentally, which in turn can influence the physical. I don’t doubt Nole had a momentary physical crisis. But who knows what role a fertile mind played in that? And if that happens to give him some breathing room….

Rafanole interruptus

August 21, 2014

There will be no Rafanole this year at the US Open, which gets underway Saturday with “Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day” at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, Queens, N.Y.

The big news is that defending champ Rafael Nadal has pulled out due to the wrist injury that kept him out of the early portion of the hard-court season. There appears to be a pattern here: Rafa plays lights out to ace the clay-court season, peaks at the French Open, cries when they hand him the umpteenth trophy at Roland Garros in Paris, flames out at Wimbledon, gets injured, takes some time off and starts the whole cycle again.

This would seem to favor Novak Djokovic, but wait. After a trifecta of Ws (Wimby championship, world No. 1 ranking and wedding to longtime love Jelena Ristic), Nole burned out of tournaments at Toronto and Cincinnati. The New York Times, which seems to have no enthusiasm for Nole, noted that he’s been “fending off charges” that he hasn’t been practicing much since the wedding. Fending off charges? Really? Is he a criminal? What’s next, blame the wife?

Stan the man

January 27, 2014

Wow, you gotta hand it to Stan Wawrinka – the everyman who has played in countryman Roger Federer’s (aka Feddy Bear’s) shadow for so long – electrifying Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final. This is the first time that someone other than one of the Big Four (Rafa, Fed, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray) has won a Grand Slam since Juan Martin del Potro defeated Rafa in the US Open final in 2009. Yes, that’s right, four years of domination over.

Stan’s win over Rafa was huge, bigger than his win over Nole and not just because that was the quarterfinals. Nole, the former defending champ who has won the tournament four times (including three in a row) is nonetheless the Maria Callas of men’s tennis: There’s so much drama in his matches. Indeed, when the tennis experts cull the top 10 matches each year, several of his are always in there, because the outcome is never certain. Read more