Bill Simons
A GREEK TRAGEDY: Tsitsipas is a great, vastly appealing young star who brings vitality, creativity and beauty to millions around the world. But rarely has such a vibrant athlete so misread the room and misunderstood the dynamic of his sport. Yes, we get it. His long breaks don’t violate the rules, they just take blatant advantage of a loophole and completely undermine the spirit of the sport. Fair play is at the core of tennis. Almost everyone in the sport and in the stands senses this. Ironically, this will probably cost Stefanos tens of millions of dollars. Far more importantly, this is costing him something far more precious – his reputation. He is so gifted. Often he is so giving. We hope he sees the light. But one senses there’s an element of self-sabotage in play here.
Tennis is just a game – no one dies. Still, this is a Greek tragedy.
SUCH A SHAME: Too bad the former prospect Tornado Alicia Black never made it to the very top. Otherwise we might have been watching Tornado during tonight’s frightful tornado watch.
ON THE OTHER HAND: Mouratoglou, who is Tsitsipas’ co-coach and who was involved in the infamous coaching incident with Serena in 2018, told Chris McKendry, “Stefanos was not cheating, and he plays by the rules.” Mouratoglou added that Stefan didn’t have a phone with him and usually leaves it at his hotel during matches. He added, “Stefanos likes to reset.” Plus, when he won the fourth set against Murray he had the momentum, not Andy. Patrick said, “He understands that players don’t like it and if I were a player I would be annoyed, but Stefanos was doing what was good for him. Rafa liked to take time to serve; that was good for him. And Andy was taking a lot of time between his first and second serves, and that was good for him. It’s probably too long [a time]. The ATP has to make a rule – three minutes, five minutes – and the players will follow that.”
HEY BUDDY, HAVE YOU EVER CHANGED OUT OF A WET SPORTS BRA? Sloane Stephens spoke to a male reporter about the brief time women are allowed to change their clothes off court and then quipped, “If you’ve ever changed out of a wet sports bra, which I don’t think you have, you would know how difficult that is.”
PHOTO CREDIT: BAZ IMAGES
JUST WONDERING: We doubt the semi-reclusive Stefanie Graf, the last winner of the Grand Slam, will be on hand at the men’s final in case Djokovic finishes his quest. But how special would it be if Rod Laver, the last man to win the Grand Slam, presented the trophy? BTW: The first player to win a Grand Slam, Oakland’s Don Budge, was on hand when Graf won in 1988.
QUOTEBOOK
“Elise Mertens is the unassuming assassin.” – Alexandra Stevenson
“Rublev always looks like he’s come through a washing machine.” – ESPN
“Nothing is unrealistic and everything is realistic.” – Sloane Stephens
“As great a champion as Coco Gauff is going to become, she still has a long way to go.” – Chris Evert
“Coco’s still learning to deal with emotions and pressure but she’s had an incredible experience at 17.” – Patrick Mouratoglou
“Has there ever been a forehand that Rublev hasn’t wanted to hit the living daylights out of?” – Darren Cahill
“I’m so stubborn. I just keep on hitting it harder and harder.” – Taylor Fritz
BODY WOES: Bianca Andreescu, who struggled Tuesday night with stomach problems, managed to tough out a win. Still, at times, it seems she has almost as many body woes as Rafa?
TATTOO UPDATE: An Argentinian fan got a tattoo of Victoria Azarenka. Vika said she appreciated it but she could not imagine going around for the rest of her life with a tattoo of someone. Azarenka scored her 42nd US Open win, the most of anyone in the draw.
STAT WATCH: Going into the Open, Djokovic has his 20 Slams. The rest of the field had four. Then three-time Slam champ Andy Murray and former US Open champ Marin Cilic lost…The absent Williams sisters have won 30 Slams, and the Open’s WTA field as a whole has won 21 Slams…There were 19 five-set matches in the first two days of the Open, the most in this century…Four qualifyers are through to the third round…Danielle Collins has won 14 of her last 16 matches.
PEOPLE COME, PEOPLE GO: There are fans at this year’s Open, but not linespersons. Chris Evert commented, “We’re taking away the human element that at times gives us human error.”
L.A. ROOMIES: Maxime Cressy and Mackie McDonald were roommates at UCLA. But there have been other Bruin roomies, including Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell, and Peter Fleming and Brian Teacher. Of course, the best roomies in tennis history were Serena and Venus, who shared the same Compton bedroom. And the Bryan brothers grew up together in Camarillo. Interestingly, when they went to Stanford they specifically were not roomies. But Mike so missed Bob (or was it the other way around?) that he went over to Bob’s room and slept on a mattress on the floor. Also, in Northern California Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs lived in the same Berkeley home.
PRIDE DAY: It was Pride Day at the US Open, so a reporter noted that many WTA players have come out, while no ATP players have done so. He then asked Daniil Medvedev how the players would respond if an ATP player came out. Daniil said, “Everyone would be super open if someone came out. The players would be happy for the guy.”
TWO INCREDIBLE NAMES: Denmark’s Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune and Holland’s Botic van de Zandschulp
TIMING: Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said that if the Open had been played two weeks later, Williams would have played.
GO FIGURE: Simona Halep, Ash Barty and Garbine Muguruza have all won Grand Slams on natural surfaces. All three have titles on the dirt of Roland Garros and the grass of Wimbledon. Halep and Barty noted that they’d both also won big hard court tourneys. Naomi Osaka has the hardcourt double. She’s won the US and Aussie Opens twice.
VIKA SPEAKS OUT: When asked about some of the leading voices in tennis coming out against vaccines, Vika Azarenka said, “The majority of people still are trying to be progressive and trying to find a solution moving forward, which in my opinion is part of being vaccinated.
“I want to start this conversation between our players, because to me it’s a bit bizarre that fans have to be vaccinated and players are not…It’s inevitable that it will be mandated at some point, like other leagues…I don’t see the point of stalling…We all want to be safe, we all want to continue doing our jobs…I respect everybody’s opinion as long as it’s not conspiracy theory. If you actually have decent knowledge and looked into research and have your facts and stats…that’s a different conversation. But…you need to be knowledgeable as to what you’re saying [and that’s] missing in a lot of players…We need to start this conversation.”
DON’T MESS WITH COVID? Gilles Simon said he didn’t want to get vaccinated. He said, “I am not very afraid of Covid. My basic philosophy is: If you are afraid of it, you vaccinate, otherwise, you don’t.” Then the Frenchman was forced to withdraw because his coach tested positive. He would not have had to withdraw if he’d been vaccinated.
THE OLYMPIC GLOW LINGERS: Djokovic didn’t come home with a medal from Tokyo, but he has fine recollections: “It was a great experience of sharing the Village and the dining room with 10,000+ athletes. It’s a very unique experience that you remember forever. You take a lot of positives out of it, putting aside the tennis performance…You can learn a lot. You speak life, you speak sports.”
THE BEAUTY OF MONOTONY: Ash Barty said, “You kind of have to be able to navigate your way through a two-week tournament, which is not easy. Sometimes in single-week tournaments you get a bit of a flow. You play every day. You get in this monotonous rhythm of warmup, practice, play. That same thing over and over.”
FAST START FOR AMERICAN MEN: In our best start in years, thirteen US men advanced to the second round of the Open. The youngest was 18-year-old Zachary Svajda. The oldest was Stevie Johnson, 31. Also advancing were Jenson Brooksby, Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, Maxime Cressy, Mackie McDonald, Jack Sock, Frances Tiafoe, Ernesto Escobedo, Denis Kudla, Marcos Giron and Brandon Nakashima. Today, Tiafoe advanced to the third round but Nakashima and Giron lost.
TWO TALES OF ONE CITY: Ash Barty said, “The US Open is a big party – it’s a tennis festival. You have to embrace it – otherwise it eats you up.” Lindsay Davenport was more succinct. She advised, “Play your match and get out of there.”
FAN APPRECIATION: Players are loving it that this year’s Open is open. Ash Barty said, “The city is buzzing again, as it should be.” Coco Gauff told the crowd, “With everything going on in the world, your support means a lot.”
