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It was the weekend of comebacks at the U.S. Open — a fitting tone for a city that has made one helluva COVID comeback. The Twilight Zone version of the fan-less Open concluded Sunday in a fifth-set tiebreaker in four hours. Austrian Dominic Thiem rallied from two sets down to post a five-set 2-6, 4-6, …
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Late in a disastrous first set, Naomi Osaka scattered a forehand long and stared up into the Flushing blue sky. Two points later, Osaka was broken for a third time by Victoria Azarenka and lost the first set 6-1 in 26 minutes without serving an ace. Her serve had abandoned her. Someone apparently was looking …
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One of the toughest decisions the USTA faced in arranging the US Open in a pandemic was banning Billie Jean King from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. King, the pioneering tennis legend who had the Flushing Meadows facility named after her in 2006, was not given a credential for the Open. King is …
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Serena Williams started out like a ball of fire, but ended up flaming out in the U.S. Open semifinals Thursday night under a closed roof at Ashe Stadium. Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles still is safe and Naomi Osaka has been left standing at the altar. Osaka held up her part of …
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Given that I’m assigned to cover sports as delivered by TV, two recent developments have become dominant, repetitive themes: 1) If you don’t have a bet or bets on the games, you’re out of touch with sports, especially how they plan to sustain viewership and TV billions by suckering the young and vulnerable. How would …
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The US Open will continue its tradition of putting on a 9/11 tribute on Friday, with “Hamilton” star Christopher Jackson singing a medley of moving tunes. The tournament has been running without live fans due to the pandemic. But Jackson has recorded “a unique arrangement of ‘(America) My Country ’Tis of Thee,’ ‘Lift Every Voice …
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One of Novak Djokovic’s close friends is seriously worried his 2020 US Open snafu is only the tip of the iceberg. Retired Slovak tennis star Daniela Hantuchova pulled no punches while speaking about her longtime friend on Amazon UK’s broadcast of the event and alluded to a larger anger management issue that Djokovic needs to …
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Serena Williams is known as one of tennis’ all-time revenge players. If an opponent beats her, look out next time. Just two weeks after losing to Greece’s Maria Sakkari in three sets on these same grounds in the Western Southern Open, Williams reversed the decision, also needing three taut sets to do so. After dropping …
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The US Open lineswoman from Kentucky hit in the throat by Novak Djokovic’s tennis ball is taking Labor Day off, according to a tennis source. The injured lineswoman is Laura Clark of Owensboro, Kentucky, according to the source. The incident caused the disqualification of Djokovic, who was the heavy favorite and top seed to win the …
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There was always going to be an asterisk next to the U.S. Open championship played without fans and under a pandemic/bubble environment. Now you can draw a bigger, fatter asterisk after the USTA’s decision Sunday to disqualify Novak Djokovic for accidentally hitting a ball after a point that struck a female line judge in the …
It was the weekend of comebacks at the U.S. Open — a fitting tone for a city that has made one helluva COVID comeback. The Twilight Zone version of the fan-less Open concluded Sunday in a fifth-set tiebreaker in four hours. Austrian Dominic Thiem rallied from two sets down to post a five-set 2-6, 4-6, …
