Bill Simons
BNP PARIBAS SETS DATES: California’s widely popular BNP Paribas Open has set its dates for play. After an absence of two and a half years, it will be played October 4th to October 17.
ROGER STILL KNOWS HOW TO TWEAK THE BRITS: Before his 2010 Australian Open final against the still green Andy Murray, Federer played mind games with Andy, saying the Brit had pressure on him to “like win the first [major] for British tennis in…like, 150,000 years.” Today, after it was announced on Centre Court that Roger would be playing Brit Cameron Norrie in the next round, the crowd jokingly booed Roger. Federer then subtly reminded them why they might just root for him: “I hope the crowd is going to get into it…I understand if it’s for him. And if it’s for me it’s because of the last 20 years and all of the big matches I’ve played here.”
DAZZLING WIMBLEDON DUOS: There’s only one Wimbledon. But the All England Lawn Tennis Club this year has lots of duos. The draw features two Madisons – Ms. Keys and Ms. Brengle. A couple of American cups of cocoa – teen Gauff and the elder Vandeweghe. Two Rogers – that would be Roger Federer and Shelby Rogers. A Mertens and a Bertens – that would be Belgium’s Elise and Holland’s Kiki. A Denis and a menace – American Denis Kudla and the slippery grass that has so impacted the tournament.
Here, there was a Mr. and a Mrs. Monfils – that would be Gael and his bride-to-be, Elina Svitolina. Similarly, there’s a gale – Monsieur Monfils – and a bolt – Aussie Alex Bolt. There’s no Goran this year but there’s a Garin and a Giron – Chile’s Cristian Garin and American Marcos Giron. And, of course, there’s a famous Novak – Serb Djokovic – and a not-so-famous Novak, Austria’s Dennis Novak. And, lest we forget, there are two Murrays – Samantha and Sir Andy.
AMERICA’S OLYMPIC TEAM: Most of the big names in American tennis have chosen to pass on Tokyo. The highest ranking man on the team is No. 52 Tommy Paul. The leading woman is Australian Open finalist Jen Brady. Here’s the lineup: Men’s singles: Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Tennys Sandgren, and Marcos Giron. Men’s doubles: Austin Krajicek and Sandgren. Women’s singles: Coco Gauff, Jen Brady, Jessica Pegula, and Alison Riske. Women’s doubles: Nicole Melichar and Gauff. Mixed doubles: Rajeev Ram and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
THE GOAT AND ARTISTIC IMPRESSION: Federer backers say Roger’s beauty, his grace and his role as a tennis ambassador should be a part of the debate on who is the GOAT. In this context, Chris Fowler recalled Maya Angelou’s comment, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” In a similar vein, Germany’s Tennis Magazin reported that Oscar Otte said, “For me, Federer is the GOAT. I admire him for the way he acts. He has built a perfect image of himself, not like Djokovic who caused controversies.”
NOT TO BE NEGATIVE BUT: Richard Gasquet has lost 56 consecutive sets to Federer and Nadal. Six of the top seeds are out of the women’s draw…Ash Barty double-faulted three times in the first game of her match against Anna Blinkova and had nine double-faults in the match. Nonetheless, she won. But that’s nothing compared to Anna Kournikova, who hit 31 double-faults in a 1999 Australian Open match and still won. She hit a record…During her second-round loss to Madison Brengle, Sofia Kenin had the most unforced errors per minute ever. She had 41 errors in just 45 minutes.
FABULOUS FRITZ: At the French Open Taylor Fritz heard his knee pop. He knew it was bad, he couldn’t stand and he had to leave the court in a wheelchair. Now just three weeks later he contends, “this is the quickest anyone’s returned to a sport that requires change of direction… I have already done more than I think myself or anyone else expected…[Now] I’ve played nine sets in 26 hours, three weeks out of a knee surgery. Maybe this is a crazy run, but I see no reason why it should stop.” Fritz re-buffed the comeback effort of his fellow Southern Californian Stevie Johnson to prevail in five sets to reach the third round of a major for the seventh time. He’ll next face Alexander Zverev.
GO FIGURE: Novak Djokovic is one of the most prohibitive favorites in recent Wimbledon history, but the women’s draw is wide open…Britain has three men through to the third round for the first time since 1990 – Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, and Dan Evans.
FIRST NAMES SECOND: Tommy Paul may have withdrawn from Wimbledon, but there are plenty of other players whose names are both first names. Taylor Fritz, Shelby Rogers, Jordan Thompson, and Dennis Novak.
SNEAKY TACTICS: Federer used to have his SABR – “Sneak Attack by Roger.” Now Nick Kyrgios has his own sneaky ploy, a fake underhand serve.
COCO REPORT: Coco Gauff was a phenom and the youngest player in the top 100. She still is. There’s a reason her match was put on Centre Court. She was nervous at the start, but you could hardly tell. Moving well and displaying her upgraded game, the 17-year old hit nine aces and beat Russian mother Elena Vesnina, who is twice her age, to reach the third round.
QUOTEBOOK:
“It’s like rewinding the clock. Tennis is back, and we have Andy Murray on Centre Court to entertain us.” – Radio Wimbledon
“Wimbledon titles made him a hero. These matches make him a legend.” – Chris McKendry on Murray
“They should not have even allowed him to play this year.” – Brad Gilbert on the problematic Frenchman Benoit Paire
MY MAN FRANCES
by Michael Mewshaw
Genuine journalists are supposed to be neutral, objective. But in point of fact we all do have our favorites, our secret preferences. Mine is Frances Tiafoe.
Normally I would have been in the press box at Wimbledon when he whipped Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round, and I’m afraid I would have been violating my journalistic standing as I cheered for Frances. Although he’s still young, it seems to me a long time since he won the Orange Bowl at the age of 15, and I’ve been following his erratic progress, waiting for him to break through, carping and complaining when he has all too often raised my hopes, then dashed them.
In this instance my personal involvement requires some explanation. Although Frances is a black man of Sierra Leone ancestry and I’m a white guy with an Irish passport, we both grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in the blue collar suburbs of Washington, DC. Frances, whose father was a maintenance man at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, and who slept in a maintenance room as a child, certainly faced far greater odds than I did. But anybody who rises from PG County can take pride in his accomplishment.
Frances got out due to his tennis excellence; I escaped through education and writing. But against all odds our paths crossed.
Frances’ twin brother, Franklin, went to DeMatha, the same Catholic high school I graduated from long ago. Franklin wasn’t then in a position to pay for his tuition, and the school turned to me to serve as his benefactor. I happily did so, especially since I had become friends with the Dematha tennis coach, Damon Austin. Later, the first year that Frances played Wimbledon, I approached him after a match and introduced myself and he thanked me for my help with Franklin’s education. I told him the pleasure was all mine.
Since then, I have silently rooted for Frances, enjoying him at his best, suffering with him during his slumps, but always waiting for the moment that has now come – a big win over a top 5 player at a Grand Slam event. My delight at his victory was doubled by the thought that his coach, Wayne Ferreira, a white South African, has been instrumental in his success. It demonstrates what I trust is the future of the game, the thing that Arthur Ashe started calling for – the idea that gifted black athletes will take up tennis and achieve success in what has long been regarded as an upper crust white game. Here’s hoping that a fellow from PG County is the one who will lead the way.
Due to COVID, I’ll be covering the action from a remote village in southern France, a place called Cheval Blanc – White Horse, the kind of rampant beast that Frances Tiafoe rode to victory today. Keep it up and make PG County proud.
