Serena Williams already has everyone on tour scared to death. Just four tournaments back after a year away with illness and injury, and Williams is already such a strong favorite to win the U.S. Open that it’s hard to think of anyone capable of beating her.
Name one. Petra Kvitova maybe? She is the young player who won Wimbledon. Caroline Wozniacki is quickly disappearing, even though she’s still ranked No. 1. Kim Clijsters’ body is falling apart, and her desire to keep up this comeback is fading. Li Na? Nah.
Think how jealous golf must be now. Williams’ comeback has been so quick and easy, everything that Tiger Woods’ comeback has not been. So the PGA Championship ended Sunday with a playoff between two guys no one had ever heard of. If people tell you today at work that they were watching the PGA Sunday, you are being punk’d.
I can talk tennis all day long, and often do. And yet some of the people I talk to about it might rather I talk about something else.
Or with someone else.
That’s how it is with tennis, right? Sort of an addiction. Sort of a high.
I am a national columnist at FoxSports.com and a FoxSports1 TV insider, and have been a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times.
In 2010, I was the only American sports writer to cover the full two weeks of all four majors, and also to cover each of the U.S. Masters series events.
I’ve seen a lot of tennis, talked with a lot of players, coaches, agents.
I watched from a few rows behind the line judge as Serena rolled her foot onto the baseline for the footfault, a good call, at the 2009 U.S. Open. I sat forever watching a John Isner marathon, leaving for Wimbledon village to watch an England World Cup soccer game at a pub and then returning for hours of Isner, sitting a few feet from his wrecked coach.
I got to see Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling joke around on a practice court on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon, placing a small wager on a tiebreaker. Djokovic won, and Soderling pulled a bill out of his wallet, crumpled it into his fist and threw it at Djokovic, who unwadded it, kissed it, and told me, “My work is done here.’’
And when Rafael Nadal won the French Open in 2010, I finished my column, walked back out onto the court, and filled an empty tic tac container with the red clay. I’m looking at it right now.
Well, I don’t always see the game the same way others do. I can be hard on tennis, particularly on the characters in suits running it. Tennis has no less scandal and dirt than any other game. Yet somehow, it seems to be covered up, usually from an incredible web of conflicts of interest.
I promise to always tell the truth as I see it. Of course, I would appreciate it if you’d let me know when I’m wrong. I love sports arguments and hope to be in a few of them with you here.
Personal info: One-handed backhand, serve-and-volleyer.
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This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 7:35 pm and tagged with Serena Williams and posted in Serena Williams, US Open. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
I think it is sports journalists who want dominant players, not the fans. Casual fans might only watch for Tiger or Serena, but serious fans like to see parity in sport. Look at American football. It’s most intriguing dynamic is that every season feels fresh, and any given team may rise up on Sunday, or have a mediocre season but make an incredible play-off run. I think tennis suffers much more from the lack of strategic variance then from lack of dominant champions, at least when it comes to growing the fan base.
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. That is an extremely well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
Greg Couch is an award-winning sports columnist based in Chicago. He covers college football for BleacherReport.com, NFL for RollingStone.com and freelances at several other places, including The New York Times. Lots of tennis, mostly here. He has traveled the world covering tennis and is a member of the International Tennis Writers Association. A former sports columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, his tennis writing has been in the book "The Best American Sportswriting."
Tsitsipas is going to win the French Open. The draw looks like a Christmas present to him 8 hours ago
Yeah, he does. And you know I rarely believe in next gen players. I still think he needs to prove that he has some… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…2 days ago
Nadal needlessly played Indian Wells hard courts despite a bad foot. Why put that beating on a problem you thought… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…2 days ago
Nadal and Djokovic on the same side of the draw at the French Open. They’d play in the semis. I don’t see Nadal getting that far 2 days ago
Nadal should’ve quit when his foot hurt yesterday but his bigger mistake was weeks earlier when he played Indian We… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…1 week ago
August 16th, 2011 at 3:19 am
I still want Venus to win another one. She won’t after missing so much tennis since Wimbledon, but until she retires, I’ll still be rooting for her.
August 16th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
I think it is sports journalists who want dominant players, not the fans. Casual fans might only watch for Tiger or Serena, but serious fans like to see parity in sport. Look at American football. It’s most intriguing dynamic is that every season feels fresh, and any given team may rise up on Sunday, or have a mediocre season but make an incredible play-off run. I think tennis suffers much more from the lack of strategic variance then from lack of dominant champions, at least when it comes to growing the fan base.
July 14th, 2012 at 5:07 am
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. That is an extremely well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.