Blog

Tennis goes Bollywood for a new league of its own

December 9, 2014

“Team tennis” would seem to be an oxymoron but not these days. Witness the new International Premier Tennis League, which features former and current stars in four cities – Dubai, Manila, New Delhi and Singapore. The league, founded by Indian doubles champ Mahesh Bhupathi and modeled after cricket’s Indian Premier League, just finished the third leg of its tour, in Delhi. The season concludes Sunday, Dec. 14 in Dubai.

Already there’s been a lot of criticism – players are always complaining about the length of the season so why would they want to play in early December; tennis is an individual sport so what’s the point of a team approach; the scoring makes no sense (whoever wins the most games, wins) and you need a scorecard to tell the players.

Is that Novak Djokovic in for Marin Cilic? What team is Andre Agassi on again?

Fed’s (Davis) Cup runneth over

November 24, 2014

So Roger Federer and Switzerland finally have their Davis Cup. Fed defeated Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to win the opening singles match Sunday, Nov. 23 and give Switzerland the three matches (out of five) it needed against France.

"It's not for me. I've won enough in my career and did not need to tick any empty boxes," Federer said of the emotional win. "I'm just happy for everybody else. I'm happy we could live a great tennis historic moment in our country."

Yeah, uh-huh. Let’s not pull any punches here. Winning the Davis Cup was the only thing Federer hadn’t done in tennis. Tennis and thus, the Davis Cup may no longer be a big deal in this country, as American men’s tennis is somewhat in disarray. (If you want to see America win the Cup, check out my novel “Water Music,” part of “The Games Men Play” series, in which Iraqi-American prodigy Alí Iskandar delivers the goods.)

But tennis and the Cup are still a big deal internationally. With this win, Fed’s career is complete. It has to be satisfying, particularly as rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic helped the Spanish and Serbian teams respectively to Cups.

But Spain and Serbia have a lot of tennis depth. Switzerland has Feddy and Stan “the Man” Wawrinka. Credit “the Stanimal” with playing lights out against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga on Friday, then teaming with Fed to win the doubles Saturday. ...

Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick and ‘the good wife’

October 4, 2014

So the San Francisco 49ers face-off against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Oct. 5 for the first time in the regular season since the Niners traded quarterback Alex Smith to the Chiefs, signaling that Colin Kaepernick would be their guy.

The Niners seem destined for an embarrassment-of-quarterback-riches drama. This is the team that traded Joe Montana – possibly the greatest quarterback to date – to the Chiefs no less, because they had Steve Young.

When Alex Smith suffered a concussion back in 2012 and Kaepernick took over for him, leading the Niners to the Super Bowl, well, it was a bit like that moment in “42nd Street” when the star breaks her ankle, the ingénue goes on and the rest is theatrical history.

Even though Kaepernick has better statistics than Smith – and from a pure performance standpoint is a helluva lot more thrilling to watch, because he’s a running quarterback – the Smith-Niners reunion has led to the inevitable “Did the 49ers Make the Right Choice?” column.

Here’s the thing...

A blue Monday in the sports world

September 9, 2014

Well, it was a depressing sports day, wasn’t it? Let’s start with the least offensive aspect – the US Open men’s final. I didn’t see it, but then, I work for a living like many other people, so I wasn’t home for the 5 p.m. start and wasn’t about to distract myself at the office. By the time I got home, it was all over but the shouting – Marin Čilić defeating Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. An even bigger loser than Niskikori – CBS Sports, which must’ve been kicking itself over its star-less final. (Hey, the 5 p.m. start doesn’t help the ratings either, CBS.)

Perhaps the Eye Network can blame Novak Djokovic. I can’t help but think that this was his tournament to lose.

I can see Roger Federer – who is, after all, 33 – going down to the big, hard-serving Čilić. But as good as Nishikori may be, you expect more from the No. 1-ranked player in the world. Maybe it’s just me. But no matter my mood or what’s happening personally in my life or even how I feel physically, I’ve never allowed anything to interfere with my writing or my work. I know that everyone says at the end of your life, you won’t wish you wrote one more article but rather that you spent more time with your loved ones.

But here’s the way I see it: Not everyone can be a writer. Not everyone can win Wimbledon. Obituaries aren’t written about relationships. They’re written about accomplishments.

You have to look at Nole’s opportunities at most of the Slams since 2011 and wonder if he hasn’t squandered them, because of – well, what? We’ll get into that when we explore Chris Bowers’ new book, “The Sporting Statesman: Novak Djokovic and the Rise of Serbia” in an upcoming post. ...

The future of American tennis, and the nature of stars

September 6, 2014

With the return of the US Open – which concludes Monday, Sept. 8 with the winners of Saturday’s Fed-Marin Cilic, Nole-Kei Nishikori matchups – there’s been much bemoaning of the state of American tennis, particularly the men’s game and especially in the aftermath of Patrick McEnroe stepping down as head of player development for the United States Tennis Association.

I won’t comment on the latter as I don’t know anything about coaching or PMac’s accomplishments with the USTA or lack thereof. But I do know a lot about being a journalist, especially one who covered performances of all kind, and since PMac is an analyst for ESPN, I have to ask myself what a commentator is doing working for an organization he might be called on to critique. There’s a reason the framers established a free press. But nowadays everyone’s in bed with everyone else, because as Rafa would say, “It’s all about the money.”

On, though, to American tennis, which consists of Serena, the Bryans and a whole bunch of people no one watches. The arguments for its anemic state don’t necessarily hold water, however. ...

The vagaries of fame: For NFL commish, teen tennis star

August 30, 2014

In the Gee, Ya Think? Department, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has decided that perhaps he was a tad too lenient in the recent Ray Rice domestic abuse case.

Now those who commit assault of any kind, battery or an act of domestic violence will be suspended for six games without pay. A second offense will result in at least a year suspension.

Clearly, Goodell has seen the handwriting on the wall, and no, I don’t mean the evil of Baltimore Raven Ray Rice dragging his fiancée (now wife) Janay Palmer unconscious out of an Atlantic City elevator after beating her or the blame-the-victim farce of the Ravens’ press conference, in which Palmer also apologized for her role in the incident.

No, the penmanship Goodell has seen in his mind is on all those credit card receipts for season tickets. With fans up in arms over the assault, Goodell can’t afford a defection, no matter how popular football is. So let’s not hand the NFL any humanitarian awards just yet. ...

For Anna Wintour, everything new is old again… when selecting a TB (tennis boyfriend)

August 27, 2014

Each August, I breathlessly await the arrival of the gazillion-page September Vogue, not for the fashion, silly, but to answer the question that flits among my neurons all summer: Who will editrix Anna Wintour anoint as her new TB (tennis boyfriend)?

For as I said in a post on this site last winter about Maureen Dowd, RGIII and Jane Austen, an accomplished woman of good fortune must be in want of a PB (pretend boyfriend).

Or, in Anna’s case, a PTB or just TB. As we all know, Anna – who has featured many, mostly male tennis stars in the pages of Vogue – has been pretend-dating Roger Federer – aka Feddy Bear – for years, sending racks and racks of clothes over to his hotel suite when he’s in town for the US Open, presumably while Mrs. Fed looks the other sartorial way.

Then in 2011, Anna’s journalistic instincts got the better of her and she decided to play the hot hand...