My photograph of the facade of the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, which has been a big hit with fans.

Telling the stories of the US Open

September 8, 2018

Imagine a room with banks upon banks of cubicles, each of which contains a monitor, a laptop and a headset.

No, it’s not a telemarketing business but part of the Media Center at the US Open, which ends Sunday, Sept. 9 with the men’s final. While fans have been raving about the new “Louie,” as in the Louis Armstrong Stadium, or taking in the action at Arthur Ashe or the Grandstand or one of the other courts, members of the press have been hard at work at their designated cubicles, banging out stories for publications and media websites all over the world….

:  Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images. — : Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images.

The heat is on at the US Open

August 29, 2018

The US Open – the last of the Grand Slam tournaments, celebrating its golden jubilee this season – is one of sports’ greatest events and one of its most challenging.

For fans, that is due in part to the difficulty in getting into the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens. Then once inside, members of the New York City Police Department, along with the Open’s security and ushers, have a poor sense of what’s where. (We ourselves were dropped off on Northern Boulevard, which we surmised correctly would be the shortest walk to the Media Center.)

So unless you have the directional skills of a Lewis and Clark, it can be tough going. Equally daunting for fans but especially the players this year has been the soaring heat and humidity….

The trophies from the US Open's men's and women's singles championships gleam against the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan. Tim Camuso/USTA

(US)Open season

August 24, 2018

The US Open begins officially Monday, Aug. 27, and unofficially Saturday, Aug. 25 when the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park hosts Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day….

Il Sodoma's "Marriage of Alexander and Roxane" (1517), a fresco in the Villa Farnesina. Alexander and Roxane figure in Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," a cautionary tale about demagoguery.

The battle for narrative in the age of Trump

July 28, 2018

Donald Trump controls the national narrative. Instead of complaining about it, his critics need to ask this salient question: How are they to wrest control of it from him?…

An inspiring event with Billie Jean King

April 5, 2018

Here I am with (left to right) judge and journalist Lisa Wexler, tennis legend Billie Jean King and WAG society editor Robin Costello at a benefit for Fairfield County’s Community Foundation: The Fund for Women & Girls at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich earlier today. The Foundation, which empowers underserved girls and women to do everything from leaving abusive relationships to starting businesses, raised a projected $110,000 — $10,000 from King herself. She is like that ...

Is sexual harassment lookist?

December 7, 2017

In Larry David’s extremely awkward “Saturday Night Live” appearance a few weeks back, he worried that the recent rash of sexual predators was all Jewish – which is not true, but anyway, what I thought he was going to say was that they were all unattractive. (This was before Matt Lauer and Peter Martins, ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, were added to the list of sexual harassers.) ...

The week that was (again)

November 12, 2017

“What a week,” Robert Costa, moderator of PBS’ “Washington Week,” sometimes begins his broadcast. But really, he could just say that every week. Another mass shooting. Another celebrity – or 10 – accused of sexual harassment. Puerto Rico still mainly without power. It’s sort of like an evil “Groundhog Day.” ...