Bill Simons
New York
REFLECTIONS ON JOKE A BITCH: Increasingly, prominent AI and auto dictation systems get things terribly wrong. So when you tell them names, on occasion they come back with some wild versions of the player you were talking about. So, Jannik Sinner is said to be Unique Center. And here are some other examples:
Djokovic is Joke a Bitch.
Belinda Bencic is Belinda Benches.
Iga Swiatek is said to be English Attack.
Jessica Pegula is Just a Couple Gula.
Coco Gauff is Coco Golf.
Casper Ruud is Casper Road.
Daniil Medvedev is the Neil Meant to Death.
Marat Safin is Murat’s Assassin.
Frances Tiafoe is Frances TFO.
THE BEAUTY AND BRILLIANCE OF GAUFF: We know many things about Coco Gauff. She’s just 21, but it seems as if she’s been around for a decade. Despite all the core problems in her game, she’s already won two Slams and is No. 3. Then again, her speed and court coverage, her athleticism, resilience and fighting spirit are truly elite weapons.
The game’s foremost fashionista not named Naomi is hard not to like. Happily, in many ways, she’s just the girl next door. But most of all, her emotional intelligence astounds. She’s vulnerable, transparent, insightful, self-aware and courageous.
Twice during first-set changeovers during her Ashe match Thursday night against Donna Vekic, she wept and seemed close to having a panic attack. After winning the match 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, despite eight double faults and 18 unforced errors, she was asked, “How does it feel to have been so vulnerable like that in a room of 24,000 people and millions watching at home?”
Coco offered a poignant reflection: “It feels human. I think people kind of disregard that side of athletes, the human side of things. People say so many things, like, ‘You’re No. 3…[but you] should be better.’ But I feel if I stopped and didn’t pick up a racket tomorrow, I’d have a career that many would dream of.
“When I’m out there, I kind of give in to the pressures, but I feel that’s normal. Every athlete who’s been on a pedestal has felt that pressure.
“But it just shows what it’s like to be a human. I’ve had bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that. Today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on a court.”
COCO’S RADICAL DECISION: Obviously, decisions matter. As a boy, Nadal chose to be a lefty and then went on to be the best southpaw in tennis history. Pete Sampras went from having a two-handed backhand to a one-hander. Bjorn Borg chose to retire way too early. A crazed German decided to stab Monica Seles.
Deep into their careers, iconic players have made fateful decisions. After a wretched French Open loss, Serena hired Patrick Mouratoglou to coach her. Her career soared. Federer went to the much bigger Wilson racket. Rafa significantly changed his serve just before the 2010 and 2017 US Opens. He won both.
But never, before this year’s US Open, have we seen such a radical decision on the eve of a Grand Slam: Coco’s move, just days before the Open, to revamp her serve.
SEMI-BAD: The 2023 US Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton and the 2024 semi-finalists Frances Tiafoe and Emma Navarro all fell to European veterans. Shelton injured his shoulder in a fourth-set fall against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and threw in the towel before the fifth set began, leaving in tears. He said it was the “worst pain in my life,” and then added that he has lots to be grateful for, he had a great summer and we’re not going to hear him pouting.
Tiafoe, who lost in straight sets to Jan-Lennard Struff, said his loss was very hard to swallow. He mused that he didn’t know where he’d go from here. He’s still planning to play the Davis and Laver Cups.
Navarro does have a wealthy family, but before the Open and again Friday night, she’s had poor results. Unlike at Wimbledon, she lost to Barbora Krejcikova. Another Emma, Britain’s Raducanu, also lost. She fell to the resurgent Elena Rybakina 6-1, 6-2.
JELENA’S NOT HAPPY: Apparently the one person Jelena Ostapenko spoke to following her confrontation with Taylor Townsend was Aryna Sabalenka, who disrespected Coco Gauff after losing to the American at the French Open.
For her part, Sabalenka said, “She’s nice. She just sometimes can lose control. She has some things in life to face, and some struggles.
“I was just trying to help her…face it in a more mature way…helping her to settle down…I was someone she could speak to and just let it go…I think she can just lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough. I really hope that one day she will figure herself out and she will handle it much better.”
Sabalenka, who was criticized for not giving Coco Gauff enough credit after the French Open final, added that there are off-court things that are affecting Ostapenko’s tennis. “I’m pretty sure,” Aryna contended, “looking back, Jelena’s not happy with her behavior.”
FACING RACE: Some people would rather just not talk about race: “Let’s just focus on sports, puh-leez.” Some find such discussions difficult and filled with mine fields. Others insist that race issues have long been at the core of American life and history. To say the least, the topic is divisive.
In any case, dare we note that slavery was foundational for our country. And slaves were severely punished if they learned to read. Then, for decades, Jim Crow laws, with their separate but equal approach to schools, punished blacks when it came to education. And there still are issues relating to education.
It’s no accident that in Taylor Townsend’s press conference the other day, a Black reporter said that calling a Black person uneducated was a dog whistle – a coded racist message.
But, hold on, Jelena Ostapenko’s backers noted that her homeland is virtually all white. It’s said there are just a few hundred Blacks and Africans in Latvia. There are 63 people of Nigerian and Cameroonian origins with residency permits. How would she know about racism?
Ostapenko refused to talk with the press about the incident and then lost in doubles, so she’s gone. But on social media, she double-downed, and again didn’t realize the inappropriateness of her take on the popular, intense and extremely articulate Townsend. Ostapenko wrote, “Wow how many messages I received [saying] that I am a racist. I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world. For me it doesn’t matter where you come from.
“There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can use it in a disrespectful way to your opponent.
A while ago at Wimbledon, Ostapenko had a dicey on-court confrontation with Ajla Tomljanovic and said the Aussie had “no respect.” And there were some here at the US Open who suggested it was Ostapenko who was not educated.
COMING BACK: One of the most charismatic elders in the game. Gael Monfils, 40, announced he’ll be coming back next year. Also, Alcaraz’s hair is coming back, too. Some claim that by the end of the Open, the Spaniard will need another haircut.
SHELTON’S LOVE POPS A QUESTION: On occasion, players come into the press conferences of other players to playfully interrupt or even ask questions. Plus, there was the time in 1995 when, during a presser, Jeff Tarango’s wife infamously slapped the ump who had kicked her spicy man out of Wimbledon.
But we don’t remember a player’s girlfriend ever coming into a press conference to ask her man a fun-loving, completely snarky question.
Deep into Ben Shelton’s presser, soccer star Trinity Rodman popped this question: “So how did it feel not being able to serve higher than 135 [mph] today? You like to serve big and it wasn’t breaking 140 [mph] today.”
SERENA, SIMONE AND MT. RUSHMORE: Coco Gauff observed, “Simone Biles, who was watching in Ashe Arena last night, is one of the greatest athletes. It’s her and Serena for me on my Mount Rushmore of athletes…Everything Simone went through on the mental side of things in the sport, it’s something I follow closely and try to learn from.”
FINE REFLECTIONS ON DANIIL: Daniil Medvedev was fined $42,500 for his epic first-round meltdown. That’s 40 per cent of the $110,000 he earned.
SO MUCH FOR A TASTY STORY: When we heard that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were at the same restaurant last night, we ate it up, hungry for a tasty story – bitter enemies come together and dine happily. But then our hopes were crushed. Carlos and Jannik were at the same New York eatery just by accident.
– Also reporting: Lucia Hoffman
