Bill Simons
NEW YORK
That New England guy who lived out in the woods by himself was wrong. Henry David Thoreau’s 19th-century claim that, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” is a bit much. But it does make a point. There’s a lot of nine-to-five “dull” in our lives. So, we like sizzle. Pizzazz pleases, a splash of mystery intrigues. Superstars capture our imagination. For better or worse, America is a celebrity culture.
And today, on a Big Apple stadium named for Arthur Ashe, who was about as low-key a luminary as you can get, two of the WTA’s three great celebs of our era met in a fourth-round battle.
Okay, the singular Ms. Serena has retired. Still, she hovers. Every time Naomi Osaka steps out on Ashe, it’s hard not to flash back to 2018 and the most tumultuous final in tennis history, when Williams claimed she was not a cheat and, even though Naomi was triumphant, she wept, overwhelmed. It was complicated.
Then again, Osaka’s life has long been complex and nuanced. Her Haitian and Japanese parents endured racism in Japan. They came to gritty Queens, where Osaka’s mom worked two dreary jobs. When Naomi became a great junior who wanted support, the USTA was slow to grasp her greatness. So she committed to Japan. Her out-of-the-gate excellence, her transparency and innocence, inspired. Her coach Sascha Bajin suggested, “The whole world can learn from her innocence.”
Yes, Naomi would go on to win four Slams, but she soon became entwined in life’s unforgiving realities. She bravely fought for racial justice. After she broke down at a Paris press conference, she kickstarted tennis’ effort to address mental wellness. Giving birth to her daughter changed everything.
You’d think it would have been easy for the No. 1 player in the world to come back and seamlessly rise again, from No. 833 to the top. But Naomi’s draws were brutal. Luck matters. Her rust didn’t vanish. Her partnership with her high-profile coach Patrick Mouratoglou was clunky. She broke away from her long-time partner, rapper Cordae. But she didn’t break into the top. There were so many couldas-shouldas-wouldas. Why didn’t she beat Iga Swiatek at the 2024 French Open? In seven Slams she didn’t get beyond the fourth round.
When Osaka fell early to Emma Raducanu in Washington DC, broadcasters didn’t hold back: she’d better turn things around or she soon might be out of the game. And with that, she promptly played well in Montreal. En route to the final, her confidence soared.
As for Coco Gauff, one thought all would be well with the world’s wealthiest woman athlete. Her French Open title run astounded – just ask world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. But with Coco, drama often visits. After all, she rose to No. 2 in the world despite having huge flaws.
So, when serving guru Gavin MacMillan became available just before the Open, she jumped in and hired the biomechanical whiz who’d rescued Sabalenka’s career.
This was crazy. You don’t restructure your serve just before the most important tourney of the year. But Coco is stubborn, and she’ll do anything to improve her game. She has a vision of greatness. She didn’t want to waste any time and keep serving the wrong way – no time to lose.
But it was all too much. Early on, she shook during changeovers, and wept after her second-round win. But Coco is a fighter, and she managed to get to a fourth-round heavyweight bout versus Osaka.
Maybe it would be Naomi who’d feel the pressure. It was her biggest match since coming back from maternity leave. But it was Coco who came out slow. Nervous, tentative and out of rhythm, she dropped her opening serve and eight of the first nine points. Surely she’d come back to make the match worthy of all its hype. But it was not to be.
Right from the start, Osaka, playing in a sparkling, purple outfit with a puffy skirt, hit a purple patch. She served big, and repeatedly won on her first serves. Patient and confident, she wasn’t hungry to blast winners. She repeatedly prevailed in baseline battles.
It was all one-way traffic – a TKO. Gauff didn’t get a single break point. The huge crowd craved a battle with sizzle. All they got was an afternoon stroll with too much fizzle. In just 64 uneventful minutes, Osaka marched to a seamless 6-3, 6-2 win.
In 2019, when Naomi trounced 15-year-old Gauff, she poignantly insisted that the teen do the post-match interview with her. Tears flowed and the match remains as one of the US Open’s most memorable third-round battles. Today, as the humbled Gauff, in her neon orange shoes and headband, headed quickly off court to the locker room, questions immediately surfaced.
Was it a mistake to try and fix her serve on the eve of the Open? We sometimes forget that Gauff is just 21, and has a decade and a half of elite play in front of her. Still, her critics wondered whether this vastly gifted athlete, this fierce warrior, with her sublime backhand, speed and court coverage, can be a dominant player while still being saddled by a problematic serve and a forehand that’s not always her friend.
Gauff confided that she’d put too much pressure on herself, and after the match she broke down with her team. But she noted that most WTA players peak at around 25 and, “It gets me excited to realize if I have four more years of working as hard as I am and actually doing the right things…where my game could be.”
A TAYLOR-MADE ITEM: Taylor Townsend is still in the doubles draw, but she’s receding from the spotlight. Still, we want to note the following:
Taylor Fritz is still the biggest Taylor in American tennis, but Townsend sure made a dent this week.
A singer named Taylor, James Taylor, made millions from with a song titled, “You’ve Got a Friend.” With her poise and play, Townsend made millions of friends this week.
The Animals’ rock anthem tells us, “My mother was a tailor.” Among the 25 mothers now on tour, Taylor has the highest profile.
In The Who’s rock anthem “Tommy,” Peter Townshend tells us that the pinball wizard has “got such a supple wrist,” and of course Taylor has great hands, as well as great focus. And Townshend tells us that the pinball wizard “ain’t got no distractions, can’t hear no buzzes and bells.”
Obviously, the most famous Taylor on the planet is Swift. And Townsend has worked hard on her speed and is surprisingly swift.
SUPERMOMS: A mother has reached the quarterfinals of every major this year. Elina Svitolina at the Aussie Open and the French Open, Belinda Bencic at Wimbledon and Naomi in New York.
NO LOVE FOR DOVE – WE SMELL A TREND: Early this summer, France’s Lois Boisson came to our attention when she was accused of playing without deodorant. Today’s big promotion in the Bud Collins Media Center was getting a free stick of Dove deodorant. But amazingly, reporters, who love anything for free, were bypassing the freebies.
VENUS IS STILL IN ORBIT: Venus Williams and her fleet Canadian partner Leylah Fernandez downed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shaui. They could face Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova in the quarterfinals. And here’s a note to the US Open bosses: please put that match on Ashe.
WIMBLEDON RE-VISITED: After throttling Brazilian Beatriz Haddid Maia 6-0, 6-3, Amanda Anisimova will next play Iga Swiatek who beat her 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final.
CZECHIA THIS OUT: For the first time there will be three women players from Czechia in the quarterfinals: Wimbledon champs Barbora Krijcikova and Marketa Vondrousova, plus Karolina Muchova. Tomorrow Czech Jiri Lehecka will face Carlos Alcaraz.
BTW: All four players in the 1986 US Open finals – Ivan Lendl, Miloslav Mecir, Martina Navratilova and Helena Sukova – were born in Czechoslovakia. The development led to a panic in the top echelons of American tennis and the USTA soon launched a player development program.
– Also reporting: Vinay Venkatesh
