It’s the end-of-the-year, Asian swing of the men’s tour in tennis and as usual it’s fraught with drama.
Will Nick Kyrgios – tennis’ reigning bad boy, on the brink of a suspension after swatting a ball into the stands during his losing quarterfinal match at the Japan Open and being fined at the Shanghai Rolex Masters for his outbursts about the court, the ball kids, the everything – be able to rein in his temper? (Oh, Nick, so attractive and so talented. Just shut up and play, huh?) ...
Read more
Read MoreIt warmed my heart recently to hear that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will resume the greatest rivalry in tennis next week at an exhibition match in Thailand.
According to Tennis World, Lawn Tennis Association President Suwat Liptapanlop said Djokovic and Nadal will boost Thai tourism:
“Both players will go shopping at the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) hall in the afternoon of Oct. 1 and they will meet (Prime Minister) Prayut Chanocha at Government House at 11 a.m. on Oct. 2.” ...
Read more
Read MoreThe New York Times – the Paper of Record, particularly for the Federinas of the world – just can’t let it go.
The Sunday Times ran an opinion piece by former New York Times Magazine editor Gerald Marzorati – author of the forthcoming tennis memoir “Late to the Ball” – about how the booze-fueled pro-Fed crowd at the US Open final was really expressing its anxiety about Feddy – and themselves – aging. (And here I thought the booze-filled crowd, whose venom was directed toward Fed opponent Novak Djokovic, was really expressing how booze contributes to uninhibited ugliness.) ...
Read more
Read MoreOne week after the US Open, there’s no rest for the weary men as most of the top stars are in action in the semifinals of the Davis Cup.
The big exception is Novak Djokovic, who’s sitting this one out. Can you blame him? No one goes deeper into matches than Nole. Everyone needs a break from time to time, and, frankly, I envy him his.
That said, everyone else seems to have something to prove this weekend. Rafael Nadal, after a dismal year, is seeking redemption for himself and the Spanish team in their defeat of the Danish. Andy Murray is burnishing his Davis Cup legacy in an attempt to earn a berth for the British in the finals against Argentina. ...
Read more
Read MoreWith the US Open drawing to a close this weekend, we turn our attention to the resumption of the Davis Cup competition with several stars, including Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, in play for their respective countries.
One star on the sidelines for Australia is trash-talking, break-taking, umpire-arguing, racket-throwing, crowd-criticizing, sock-changing Nick Kyrgios, who’s been left off his country’s Davis Cup team to work on “personal development.” Translation: He’s been sent to the time out corner. Indeed such is his status as tennis’ reigning bad boy that former reigning bad boy Bernard Tomic – he of the motorcycles, lap dances and fistfights – has been pressed into service for the saucy Aussies. ...
Read more
Read MoreWell, God has finally dropped everything else, and the planets have aligned (including my beloved little Pluto).
The New York Times has finally bit the bullet and done it: It’s running a piece on Novak Djokovic in the Men’s Style section Friday.
That must really have killed The Paper of Record (which could also be called The Paper of Roger Federer). Apart from the inexhorable Serena Slam watch, The Times’ US Open coverage has been much Roger, much of the time. The Gray Lady is like a royalist longing for the Stuart Restoration, just waiting for the once and future king (that would be Feddy) to rid the world of that Cromwellian imposter (that would be Nole) and assume his rightful title as US Open/Wimbledon/French Open/Australian Open champ and eternal No. 1. (And how fascinating is it that one of Nole’s Peugeot commercial echoes this meme?)
But the Nole article by David Shaftel, who apparently interviewed Nole during the Rogers Cup, is titled “Novak Djokovic is No. 1, Like It or Not.” And we know that for The Times, the answer is Not. ...
Read more
Read MoreAndy Murray went down to Kevin Anderson in four sets on Labor Day evening at the US Open. You knew this one was going to be trouble, because Andy had already had a match in which he was down two sets and had to rally and the chances that he could do it twice were not good, plus Anderson was the one who took Novak Djokovic to five sets at Wimbledon.
He’s a big guy with a big serve, and guys like him can upset the more complete players in the earlier rounds of a Wimbledon or a US Open, where a serve counts for a lot and where luck, let’s face it, counts for everything. ...
Read more
Read More