NEW YORK – So I look at my watch, and it says 2:04 PM, Thursday September 3. And I say, “Are you sure? You mean it’s only the fourth day of the US Open, and my pick for the women’s title is heading for the airport. Next stop – Moscow. Last stop – Flushing Meadows, second round, where the world’s No. 4 tennis player, Elena Dementieva, got off while about 20,000 homebodies … [Read more...] about MAID OF MARIETTA CREATES UPSET OF THE WEEK
SCARLET LETTER “A” FOR ATROCIOUS
NEW YORK – If she were wearing a Scarlet Letter on the back of her singlet – say an A for Atrocious – would Dinara Safina feel a little better about herself? As it is, the sturdy Russian out of Moscow must be wondering why she’s still a resident of the US Open, despite her philanthropic attempts to hand an opening round victory to an unknown wild card, an Australian … [Read more...] about SCARLET LETTER “A” FOR ATROCIOUS
MAMA IS BACK, LOOKING FOR MORE TITLES
NEW YORK – A cool gray sky greeted 35-or-so thousand parishioners as another US Open arrived yesterday. But Jada Ellie Lynch’s old lady – a sunny-plus personality — was out there sweeping her favorite court and making people feel good in the gloom. Sweeping not with a broom, which she does as a housewife – but with a tennis racket again. They had missed Jada Ellie Lynch’s … [Read more...] about MAMA IS BACK, LOOKING FOR MORE TITLES
HEADING INTO THE 2009 US OPEN
NEW YORK – Two hands for beginners? Absolutely, says a Swiss gentleman named Roger Federer, who has dropped by Flushing Meadows intending to renew his long-term lease on the US tennis title. Both hands on the backhand? No. Roger is a slick purist whose thunderbolts flow from either side with merely the right hand involved. But, yes, two hands on the two diapers with … [Read more...] about HEADING INTO THE 2009 US OPEN
GRAND SLAM: THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY
Call me Bud C. That’s Bud the Curmudgeon. You can also call me grouchy, grumpy and cantankerous, too. That’s OK because it’s the way I feel when running up against the confusing, careless corruption of tennis language. What I have in mind is the game’s most precious and rarest accomplishment: the Grand Slam. It’s the quintessential quadrilateral, a gem so luminous and … [Read more...] about GRAND SLAM: THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY