Running tennis thread 2024

Leave me alone. I don't want all this attention and scrutiny.

(wears dress that will be shared eleventy billion times on social media)


Seen this story play out too many times.


And since we're talking about outfits, I'd be remiss without pointing out the "My name is . . . ?" outfit Margaret Court wore to the Mother's Day Massacre against Bobby Riggs. Name was on each side of the collar.

Picked the wrong day not to want to be anonymous.

 

Here’s some high-level tennis: Tommy Paul bageled Max Purcell in the second set today, putting up 11 winners and ZERO unforced errors.

After Paul broke his serve in the first game of set 3, Purcell retired, though he was showing no signs of an injury and didn’t call for a medical timeout. I think he was suffering from a kicked ass.

 

Well, we don’t have Naomi Osaka’s bows to kick around anymore.

 

Going tomorrow with some law school friends and spouses — been a tradition the past few years to do the first Friday and then a fun dinner in Manhattan. Let’s just say that I would bet the over on Honey Deuces consumed

 

Excellent plan. What's your ideal of a fun dinner in Manhattan. Before the pandemic, my daughter in law's big job in advertising got us good tickets for the second week. She's a mom now and that's all gone, but that used to be how we did it. My son is a culinary adventurer, so our last excursion was to a Georgian (not the state) joint in the Village, People watching was fantastic, food less so, Wine was good though,

 

With the size we have (going to be 16-20 tomorrow), we have traditionally done a family style place. Usually something like Carmine’s but I got us a private room in a Tex-Mex place in Midtown West. As much of a foodie as I am, after a day in the sun and with such a big crowd, we learned the hard way that fine dining is not the right call.

Mrs. W. will never forget the recommendations you gave us for great dinners in Boston (Saltie Girl might be in our top 5 meals ever), so I owe you a debt of gratitude and a great bottle of red.

 

Two sets in and Alcaraz looks terrible -- spraying balls all over the place, looking confused and often listless. He's down 6-1, 7-5 to Botic van De Zandschulp, who's playing quite well. He's getting to just about everything Alcaraz can throw at him, running down balls you wouldn't think he could reach and making Carlito hit the extra shot, and dominating at the net -- winning 22 of 26 points when he comes forward. But the story really is Alcaraz playing not just unlike himself, but like a less-than-mediocre tour player for much of the match.

In the first set Alcaraz had eight unforced errors and ZERO winners, the opposite of Tommy Paul's flawless second set this afternoon.

 

WOW!

Carlos Alcaraz is out in round 2, beaten in straight sets by 74th-ranked Botic van De Zandschulp, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. Alcaraz was way, way, way below his usual standard, and Botic was really, really good. The thing he did best of all was stay calm. The crowd was 100 percent against him, and anytime Alcaraz made a little run or hit a great shot, the place went absolutely nuts, and a couple of times it felt like "OK, here it comes." But Botic's expression never changed and he responded to everything with solid play, terrific defense and strong net play -- plus a couple of late aces -- and kept his composure while Alcaraz made the mistakes.

At one point, Mary Joe Fernandez (I think it was) said, "He looks almost comatose," and to me he actually looked bored at times. Obviously, that wasn't the case (he admitted to "some nerves" in the post-match interview), but it's an indication of how well he controlled those nerves.

"If you want to beat one of these guys," he said, "you have to be unbelievably calm and keep your head, otherwise they take so easy advantage of it."

FYI, Botic is just 11-18 in main tour matches this year and his best performances are two runner-up finishes in lower-level Challenger tournaments. During the match, the McEnroes were saying Botic had told them he was thinking about quitting tennis.

 

Oh great, another easy path for a Djokovic major

 

My one good US Open story:

When I worked at the Rome News-Tribune the guy who ran the local tennis association occasionally did a column for us. One year he sent back a dispatch from his trip to NYC for the Open. He was at a sports bar or restaurant showing game on a Saturday, and asked if they could get Larry Munson’s broadcast. The waiter looked at him bewildered and then finally asked “Didn’t he die in a plane crash in the 70s?”

 

Wow CoCo was not looking great in the 2nd set, down 3-6, 2-2, and I check in and she won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Svitolina was serving well and hitting heavy groundies. Good win for CoCo against a tough opponent.

 

Svitolina fell apart and Gauff got more consistent with her serve. The frustration factor shifted from Gauff to Svitolina in a heartbeat.