One 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. ...
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Read MoreWhen I wrote the headline “Parting thoughts on the US Open,” I lied. I’m still haunted by the men’s final, in which Novak Djokovic had to play not only Roger Federer but his idolatrous status and a hostile crowd to prevail for the title.
The meme all this week has been “Where’s the love for Nole,” plumbed by many of the same publications – that means you, New York Times – that couldn’t get enough of Feddy Bear and Serena. The reaction to the reaction has been all over the place ...
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Read MoreIn the end, I think Stan Wawrinka did Novak Djokovic a favor. By beating Nole in the French Open final, he took the Grand Slam pressure off of him and enabled him to say, “You know what? The heck with it. I’m slamming that door (pun intended) and going for it at Wimbledon and the US Open.”
All the talk was about Serena, but Nole actually came closer to winning the Grand Slam as he lost in the French final but won the other three (US Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open) whereas she won the French, Australian and Wimbledon but lost in the US semifinals. ...
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Read MoreDid I mention I've been penning reviews for The Gay & Lesbian Review? It's a bimonthly publication of history, culture, and politics, and I have two reviews out now discussing works that explore ancient Greece. (A favorite topic, you know.) Peruse my musings on "Power and Pathos" as well as "Darius in the Shadow of Alexander." Look for me in The G&LR's September/October issue.
Read MoreThough I consider myself a bonafide feminist, I must admit that I rarely follow women’s sports. I just find men more powerful and thrilling. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want women to have the same opportunities and compensation for equal work.
Which brings me to Serena Williams. No doubt there are those who are secretly and openly gleeful at her loss in the US Open semifinals to the appropriately named Roberta Vinci. Some of these gloaters are racists. But many others either don’t like her or are sick of the media overkill that trailed her quest to become the first woman since Steffi Graf to achieve a calendar-year Grand Slam – a quest that also died with Vinci’s victory. ...
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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. ...
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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. ...
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