Wimbledon opened and the Portuguese kid shut up. That made the story of the first day a non-story, really, leaving numerous journalists in the lurch. The press was ready to pounce on the kid, 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito, following up on her loud and obnoxious behavior at the French Open. There, she screeched and tried to unnerve opponents with various unsporting … [Read more...] about SILENCE MAY BE GOLDEN BUT DE BRITO MAKES IT SEEM ZINC TO REPORTERS LOOKING FOR A SENSATIONAL FIRST DAY STORY
ANOTHER OPENING DAY AT THE BIG W, WHO’LL THROW OUT THE FIRST BALL?
WIMBLEDON – I keep hoping that someone someday – perhaps the Queen or Prince Charles – will throw out the first ball from the Royal Box, and declare: “Wimbledon, aged 132, is hereby open. May the best woman and man win. Play tennis!” Won’t happen, of course. Just the wandering of a misguided American mind. Queen Elizabeth II, a horse racing junkie, cares not for … [Read more...] about ANOTHER OPENING DAY AT THE BIG W, WHO’LL THROW OUT THE FIRST BALL?
QUEASY KNEES REMOVE THE CHAMPION RELIEVING EX-CHAMP ROGER
LONDON – Rafa has sore knees; Roger’s spirit soars. Maybe because the guy who stole his Wimbledon crown is absent? “There’s a lot of weight off my shoulders since Paris,” he says. It’s an 180 pound weight named Nadal. And so another Big W commences, bigger than ever, where the T-word (tendonitis) is a TKO to Rafa and his faithful, lamenting his inability to even make … [Read more...] about QUEASY KNEES REMOVE THE CHAMPION RELIEVING EX-CHAMP ROGER
HISTORY WAS ROGER’S BUSINESS AS HE CATCHES UP WITH SAMPRAS
PARIS – When Roger Federer walked onto the umber-toned earthen tennis court at Roland Garros yesterday, he looked at the man accompanying him to the final and was pleased. The guy was not Rafael Nadal, who had beaten him here the last four years. Instead he was Roger’s benefactor, the man who had removed Nadal from Federer’s path a week ago: Robin Soderling. This was … [Read more...] about HISTORY WAS ROGER’S BUSINESS AS HE CATCHES UP WITH SAMPRAS
FIVE YEARS LATER KOOZY ADDS SECOND MAJOR; SAFINA SHAKEN BY FINALITIS
PARIS — Dinara Safina wore the face of a woman who had just watched her home burn down. And she had forgotten to insure it. Or maybe she let the kids play with matches. Well, a tennis court is pretty much Dinara’s home, and none is more desirable to a European than Roland Garros’s primary clay rectangle where she, the planet’s No. 1, went down in flames trying to win the … [Read more...] about FIVE YEARS LATER KOOZY ADDS SECOND MAJOR; SAFINA SHAKEN BY FINALITIS