Was Eugenie Bouchard’s twirl sexist?

January 23, 2015

They got their knickers twisted Down Under after courtside reporter Ian Cohen asked fetching Canadian tennis player to do a little twirl, showing off her pink and yellow dress following her second-round win at the Australian Open.

Was it sexist? Sure. Was it ageist when she called him “an old guy”? Probably.

We see people in shorthand. She’s pretty, and that will always be part of her play.

But many fans enjoy it, too, when Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray change their shirts, or Grigor Dimitrov does a faux striptease. Tennis players are sexy people, male and female.

I have no objection to the enjoyment of female sexuality as long as we can enjoy male sexuality as well. The problem is our society tends to be a bunch of Ian Cohens, asking pretty girls to twirl. (To be fair, courtside reporters often ask Nole to dance...

The “I” of the (championship) storm

January 20, 2015

So it’s to be the Seahawks and the Patriots, two self-satisfied teams that I loathe.

Really, the only thing worse for me would be watching the Boston Red Sox play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Or perhaps Roger Federer playing Roger Federer for the Wimbledon title.

It’s hard to say which was more painful – the Green Bay Packers’ collapse against Seattle, or the Patriots’ mauling of the Indianapolis Colts.

Both Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck, the Packers’ and Colts’ respective, put-upon QBs, talked about the importance of teamwork before their games. And the role of teamwork, or lack thereof, was especially key to yesterday’s losses. They reminded us that while stars can win games, teams win championships. While their paths to defeat were different, in the end neither Rodgers nor Luck had the guns.

That’s why there’s no “I” in team. Although that’s usually meant as an admonition – the “I” as ego.

But the “I” also stands for the individual. In my upcoming novel “The Penalty for Holding,” New York Templars’ head coach Pat Smalley – a gridiron Capt. Bligh if there ever was one – likes to remind his headstrong, long-suffering quarterback, Quinn Novak, that there’s no “I” in “team.” ...

Rafael Nadal – a man for all seasons?

January 4, 2015

Rafa’s back – at the Mubadala World Championship in Abu Dhabi, where he promptly lost to Andy Murray 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals. It was the first time Andy – who also knows a thing or two about coming back from an injury – beat a top-four player since he defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final. Andy won the exhibition tourney after Nole withdrew with a fever from the unofficial season opener. Nole had beaten Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2 in the other semifnal.

Rafa – who’s on the comeback trail from an appendectomy after missing the U.S. Open with a wrist injury and suffering a back injury in last year’s Australian Open – is unfazed by the poor showing against Andy. And I don’t think at this point there’s any reason for concern. Entered in next week’s Qatar Open, Rafa is using these tournaments as tune-ups for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 19.

Still, there is something troubling about the pattern that has emerged from Rafa’s intense style of play. He goes great guns through his favorite, clay-court season, then collapses at Wimbledon or US Open time. It’s a balancing act...

Rafael Nadal and Michael Phelps: The big reveals

December 22, 2014

Both Rafael Nadal and Michael Phelps took big steps in revealing a little more of themselves this past week.

Rafa – on the comeback trail again as he prepares for the Australian Open – was named spokesmodel for Tommy Hilfiger. If his underwear ads turn out to be half as sensuous as his videos for Armani – stripped down to ripped jeans under a waterfall – well, then, all I can say is “Rrrrrrrrrrr.”

Michael, who knows a thing or two about stripping down, found himself in an emotionally vulnerable moment, pleading guilty to drunk driving. He was given the maximum sentence of one year in prison, which was suspended in favor of a supervised probation that includes random drug and alcohol testing and mandatory attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. ...

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. ...

Knocking Woods

November 22, 2014

The single most interesting thing about Tiger Woods is that his ex-wife once took one of his golf clubs to him.

And the reason that’s the single most interesting about him is that character is destiny.

That the ex-Mrs. Woods took a golf club to his car as he tried to speed away from her five years ago this Thanksgiving after his infidelity came to light says much more about his character than it ever would about hers.

Woods cheated on his then-wife, Elin Nordegren, with a bunch of other women, each of whom, unbelievably, thought she was the only other one. (Ladies, ladies, you know the old saying: If he cheats on his wife with you, what makes you think he won’t cheat on you? And by the way, I have a bridge to sell you.)

At first glance, it’s hard to understand what they saw in him. His is not “the face that launch’d a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.”

But then, as Elizabeth Taylor once shrewdly observed, “there’s no deodorant in life like success.” And few have been more successful than Woods, hitting all those little white balls around all those greens over all those years for all those millions, donning all those green jackets and afterward answering all those questions with responses that promised much and delivered nothing. ...