Bach On Moog Synthesizer, Joyce On iPhone

MYER-ED IN HUMOR: Of the John Isner-Nicolas Mahut Wimbledon marathon, ESPYS host Seth Myers said, “No one has spent that much time on grass since Cheech and Chong.”  Added the SNL funnyman, “By the time the match ended, the ball boys were ball men.”
AND THEY SAY WE AMERICANS ARE A LITIGIOUS BUNCH: Lleyton Hewitt is [...]

When Piledriver Forehands Turn to Pattercakes

QUICK!  WHERE’S THE NEAREST SALVATION ARMY?: Hugh MacDonald said that Andy Murray “walks with the gait of someone who has just realized he left his winning lottery ticket in the trousers he donated to the charity shop.”
HAPPY IN VICTORY/HAPPY IN DEFEAT: After falling to Sam Querrey in the Queen’s final 7-6(3), 7-5, Mardy Fish said [...]

Notebook: ‘When You Can’t Move, It’s Difficult to Win’

CHRISSIE VS. MARTINA: In his new book “Rivals! The 10 Greatest American Sports Rivalries of the 20th Century,” author Richard Davies lists the storied Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova clashes among the fiercest rivalries in sports.  Here are the others: Ohio State-Michigan football, Yale-Harvard football, Duke-UNC men’s basketball, Red Sox-Yankees, Bears-Packers, Dodgers-Giants, Celtics-Lakers, Joe Frazier-Muhammad [...]

This Kerfuffle is Getting Out of Hand

Nikolay’s No Looker…Stockholm Sins...Quotebook

WILANDER TO STEP DOWN: Mats Wilander’s days as Sweden’s Davis Cup captain have come to an end.  The seven-time Slam champ, who cited “private reasons” for his decision to step down, has headed team Sweden since ‘03.  Said the Hall of Famer, “It was a difficult decision.”
MORE NEWS FROM SWEDEN: Swedish police say two tennis [...]

The Nutcracker (Starring Middle-Aged Men of Average Dexterity)

Geithner the Net Rusher...Scud Shops His Wedding...Quotebook

TCHAIKOVSKY WOULD BE HORRIFIED: The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber revealed that President Obama’s economic advisory team is a group of hardcore tennis fanatics.  Among the regulars are Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (”He can materialize at net so quickly it feels like he served from mid-court.”), the president’s chief economic adviser, Larry Summers (”Basically, he hits [...]

Numbers Game

Federer Ups Record Against Hewitt to 16-7; Moves On to 4th Round

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — Some numbers you just can’t ignore.  For Lleyton Hewitt, 7-15 was among them.  It was his record against Roger Federer coming into Saturday’s third-round matchup at the U.S. Open.  A subpar win-loss ratio that included a lopsided defeat to the Swiss No. 1 in the ‘04 final, in which Hewitt was [...]

Of Gorillas, Elephants and Other Beasts

AND NOW A WORD FROM COACH STEFANKI: After Andy Roddick’s clutch five-set win over Lleyton Hewitt, his coach, Larry Stefanki (who has worked with John McEnroe, Tim Henman, Marcelo Rios and Fernando Gonzalez, among others), said that Andy was now a man – that he showed great maturity at crunch time.  A quietly elated Stefanki, [...]

One of the Great Freak Facts in the History of Yankees in the Land of Wimbledon

NO SOUTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY SPOKEN HERE: When a reporter approaches a tennis expert at Wimbledon and says, “Let’s talk about the Andes,” he’s not referring to that towering mountain range in South America. He’s referring about a couple of Andys: Roddick and Murray.

Nebraska Football, Oklahoma Tennis and the Death of the ‘Roddickian’ Brotherhood

EVERYBODY BEATS ALEX BOGDANOVIC: Last year, reporters brutally kidded perennially defeated wildcard Alex Bogdanovic for losing seven straight first-round matches at Wimbledon, wryly noting that the fellow was incredibly consistent. He lost all the time. This year, after yet another loss, the press showed even less mercy, saying, “You have the worst record of any [...]

The Buzz – May Edition

Succumbing To The Seductive Tune Of Denial

SO JUST HOW OPERATIC IS THIS THING GOING TO GET?: The inexorable demise and fall from grace of the recently married father-to-be Roger Federer.
BUT THEN AGAIN…: Watch The Mighty Fed fulfill the fantasy of his most ardent fans by taking down Clay King Nadal at Roland Garros, beating Sampras’ record of 14 Slams at Wimbledon [...]