Bill Simons
Paris
SABALENKA POSES MANY QUESTIONS: In 1937, American Don Budge faced German Baron Gottfried von Cramm in a key Davis Cup match at Wimbledon. Before the match, Adolf Hitler called Von Cramm to encourage him.
Athletes have long been drawn into politics. Elvis chose to enlist in the Army. Muhammad Ali chose not to.
Perhaps we have never seen a top athlete drawn, kicking but not screaming, into such a wretched political situation as Aryna Sabalenka.
Today, on court, the often dazzling Belarusian dismissed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina with power and some ease, 6-4, 6-4.
Then she went to the net and waited to shake the Ukrainian’s hand. But Aryna and the tennis universe knew full well that, these days, Ukrainians are not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian players. Some suggest this is sports, and there should be a handshake. Others say we will not offer good will to those whose nations are sending missiles to their cities and homes.
In any case, Svitolina was not pleased that, with some flair, Aryna had waited at the net for a handshake that was never coming. The crowd booed Elina.
Later the Ukrainian was asked whether Sabalenka standing at the net inflamed the situation, she replied, “Unfortunately, I think so,” Aryna replied she was at net on “just instinct.”
If ever there were a WTA player who personified Pete Sampras’s classic observation, “I’m just a tennis player, nothing less, nothing more,” it’s Sabalenka.
She has broad shoulders, a playful smile, and an endearing but almost adolescent personality. Dare we say that few would call this cheerful athlete a deep thinker? She’s appealing. She has fun.
Forget Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, Martina Navratilova and Serena – no other player has so unwillingly become entwined in politics. Her country plays a key role in Russia’s war effort, and the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has long used tennis to enhance his standing.
In Sabalenka’s first two press conferences, the world No. 2 was pressed by a young, passionate and unsparing Ukrainian reporter.
Aryna said she didn’t feel safe and decided to skip her next two press conferences. It was hard not to note that she said that she “did not feel safe” at a time when 5 million people have fled Ukraine and over 100,000 have been killed.
Not surprisingly, her press conference today was packed. Aryana looked like she was at her dentist’s office.
A writer noted that she thinks politics and sports shouldn’t mix, but there were so many pictures of her with Belarusian strongman Lukashenko.
She answered: “Well, we played a lot of Fed Cups in Belarus. He was in our matches taking pictures with us after the match. Nothing bad was happening at that time in Belarus or in Ukraine or in Russia.
“I said it many times already, I’m not supporting war. I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict…You have my position…I’m not supporting the war…I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a…25-year-old tennis player. And if I would like to be political I wouldn’t be here.” Well, that’s for sure.
A writer followed up, “You say you don’t support war. But do you still support Alexander Lukashenko? Aryna (who the other day essentially said that peace was in the hands of the Ukrainians) replied, “Like, it’s a tough question. I mean, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”
Sabalenka, who said she felt disrespected in her first two press conferences, confided that she hadn’t slept well, but did feel safe in today’s press conference. She still hasn’t been asked whether she signed a letter in 2020 supporting Lukashenko and whether the reports that she receives $200,000 a year from the Belarusian government are true.
But one thing is clear. Despite all the distractions, Aryana is playing fantastic power tennis, and she could prevail over her next opponent, Czech Karolina Muchova. She could face Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff in the final, and find herself posing with the French Open trophy by the Eiffel Tower. And that’s a whole lot better than posing with a dictator.
THE SOUND OF PARIS: Three flawless trumpeters in straw hats, a pounding drummer and eight adept cheerleaders offer the Theme from Rocky, Spanish songs, Viennese waltzes and assorted fanfares. They’re well-polished pros who fill the Court Centrale with an array of inspiring sounds.
TO EACH HIS OWN: While Novak Djokovic is a buddy of the Denver Nuggets’ Serbian star Nikola Jokic, Coco Gauff is pals with Jimmy Butler and is a huge Miami Heat fan.
JUST WONDERING: Why does Court Centrale’s P.A. system play American Christmas songs in June in Paris?
HAIRY QUESTION: Stefanos Tsitsipas has long flowing hair that gives him the appearance of a really buff, athletic hippie or a Greek god who somehow has a really exquisite backhand. But there’s a long tradition of tennis players with long locks shearing their hair: think Borg, Agassi, Hewitt, and Blake. All of this begs the earth-shattering question – how long will Stefanos keep his flowing follicles?
NOVAK ROLLS ON: Novak Djokovic hadn’t lost a set in this year’s French Open. And, coming into his quarterfinal match against Russian Karen Khachanov, he was on a 12-match Grand Slam winning streak.
But today he was surprisingly sluggish and error-prone. He dropped the first set but battled back, played a brilliant second set tiebreak that propelled him to a 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 win over the Russian. He’s now into his 45th Grand Slam semifinal, which is one behind Roger Federer’s record.
CZECH THIS OUT: Czech women seem to continually excel. Don’t forget that Barbora Krejcikova won Roland Garros in 2021. Today, Karolina Muchova, 26, who’s currently ranked No. 43 but once was No. 19, downed Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to become the seventh Czech woman to reach the French Open semis since 1990. She’ll face Aryna Sabalenka.
COCO’S SUPERPOWERS: Coco Gauff plays Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals tomorrow, and, with Jessica Pegula, she’s into the doubles semis.
When she was asked about superheroes, she said, “My favorite superhero is definitely Spider-Man. Love him. Love Black Panther. Then The Flash and Storm.” She then added, “Everybody has special powers within them. I think we
just need to find them. When we do find them, the world becomes a lot easier.”
SAY IT ISN’T SO: France’s Lucas Pouille returned to his home in Rennes and discovered thieves had stolen valuables worth more than 560,000 euros, or 600,000 US dollars.
QUOTEBOOK
“A clay court in the US is like a unicorn on a skateboard.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas
“I need to find my identity. Hopefully I can figure myself out so things are easier for me.” – Denis Shapovalov
“I should have started psychotherapy years ago.” – Serbian Dusan Lajovic
“Every bounce is a bad bounce and even when it’s a good bounce, you’re expecting a bad bounce.” – Daniil Medvedev
D-DAY REMEMBERED: In 1944 Europe was in the grips of Nazism. But on this day, June 6, on Normandy’s beaches, just 216 miles from Paris, gritty soldiers from the US and around the world launched the Normandy invasion that led to the fall of tyranny. Nineteen years ago we visited Omaha Beach. Here is our recollection of the heroes who changed our world.
*****
Touch the sand, a hard cold plain. Gentle waves break easy, muffling a distant echo within this sea – dark and foreboding.
Lazy lagoons capture still water. A gull swirls free, the sparrow offers a morning song above cruel hills. Waters, so murky, cling to their secrets by this flat, too-wise beach, where a mighty tide was turned.
The surly crimson pools are unseen; still, the knowing sands harbor a bitter truth, beyond our grasp.
This morning, steel clouds hide a horizon like no other; a horizon that wrought a vast gray armada for the ages: 5,423 ships, one goal.
On that day – “The Longest Day” – boys from Moline and Mobile, the sons of Brooklyn and Burbank, Phoenix and Philly, huddled cold in shivering clusters. Wide-eyed, bone-wet, tossed woozy by the uncaring sea – they puffed their last soggy smokes and whispered muted prayers, final invocations before destiny’s dawn.
What unforgiving fear did they feel? What gut-wrenching terror shook their souls before they strode forth – each one to meet his fate?
Some never reached shore. Packed heavy with battle gear, they sank, a fatal stone descending to an unsparing depth.
Some managed just a single step, dropping to that hard beach. Others scaled storied cliffs, subdued bunkers, or trudged on to wage war in the hedgerow maze, emerging to tell tales – a generation’s pride.
Today, the morning wind is cool. But nothing like the chill of horror that gripped the boys of Omaha on that wide, too wide, beach below cruel hills. Wretched little rises that had turned into imposing peaks; impenetrable bastions raining fire, fierce explosions, tearing flesh – the sea ran red.
Such agony – dreams and destinies ripped asunder – and a shout of death heard by that distant steeple. The mourning dove flees – the world ablaze – chaotic flames tell of the madman’s fury, a potent poison.
So step by terrible step, the battle is fought, the beach is won, a continent is conquered. Step by step, the Nazi knot is undone, and we wake from a twisted dream to again embrace that elusive thread, life’s fragile gift.
UNITED WITH ONE GOAL: When Inside Tennis asked what makes Ukrainians so tough on the battlefield and on the WTA circuit, Elina Svitlona replied, “It’s the spirit…We are united together…Nothing comes easy to us ever…All the girls like Lesia Tsurenko, Marta Kostyuk and Anhelina Kalinina, when we were young, had to overcome difficulties with money, places to practice, with coaches,…[But we have] this fighting spirit…and right now [we have] the power of being united all together for one goal: to win.”
