A wide-open French Open

May 23, 2015

Who will it be? The once and future king (Rafael Nadal) or the kid bro all grown up and in the driver’s seat (Novak Djokovic)? The maestro (Roger Federer) or the Murrah (Andy Murray)?

One of the new guys perhaps – the teen dream (Borna Coric) or the princes in waiting (Kei Nishikori, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov)? Or will one of the vets (Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, David Ferrer) flash the old brilliance?

This year the French Open, which starts Sunday, May 24 and ends Sunday, June 7, is both Novak Djokovic’s to lose and anybody’s guess. There are several factors at play here.

Nine-time winner Rafa is seeded only sixth, thanks to a dismal season. (He would’ve been seeded seventh but an injured Milos Raonic dropped out.)

Wimbledon seeds according to the player’s performance on the surface (grass), not based on his ranking. So last year Nole was No. 1 even though at the time he was ranked No. 2.

But Wimby is Wimby. The French Open seeds according to the rankings and, even before the draw came out, you just knew that Rafanole – as their rivalry is known – would be renewed. Sure enough, they are set up to meet potentially for the 44th time in the quarterfinals, with one of them set potentially to meet Andy in the semis.

Meanwhile, Feddy would appear to have the easier path to the final but not so fast. There are people on his side of the draw like Berdych, Gael Monfils and even countryman Stan Wawrinka who could prove nettlesome.

So there are lots of questions:

Can Andy continue his sparkling play on clay?

Can Fed continue to dazzle at age 33?

Can Rafa recapture the magic in Roland-Garros, site of nine of his 14 Slam titles? ...

Fed’s (Davis) Cup runneth over

November 24, 2014

So Roger Federer and Switzerland finally have their Davis Cup. Fed defeated Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to win the opening singles match Sunday, Nov. 23 and give Switzerland the three matches (out of five) it needed against France.

"It's not for me. I've won enough in my career and did not need to tick any empty boxes," Federer said of the emotional win. "I'm just happy for everybody else. I'm happy we could live a great tennis historic moment in our country."

Yeah, uh-huh. Let’s not pull any punches here. Winning the Davis Cup was the only thing Federer hadn’t done in tennis. Tennis and thus, the Davis Cup may no longer be a big deal in this country, as American men’s tennis is somewhat in disarray. (If you want to see America win the Cup, check out my novel “Water Music,” part of “The Games Men Play” series, in which Iraqi-American prodigy Alí Iskandar delivers the goods.)

But tennis and the Cup are still a big deal internationally. With this win, Fed’s career is complete. It has to be satisfying, particularly as rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic helped the Spanish and Serbian teams respectively to Cups.

But Spain and Serbia have a lot of tennis depth. Switzerland has Feddy and Stan “the Man” Wawrinka. Credit “the Stanimal” with playing lights out against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga on Friday, then teaming with Fed to win the doubles Saturday. ...

The future of American tennis, and the nature of stars

September 6, 2014

With the return of the US Open – which concludes Monday, Sept. 8 with the winners of Saturday’s Fed-Marin Cilic, Nole-Kei Nishikori matchups – there’s been much bemoaning of the state of American tennis, particularly the men’s game and especially in the aftermath of Patrick McEnroe stepping down as head of player development for the United States Tennis Association.

I won’t comment on the latter as I don’t know anything about coaching or PMac’s accomplishments with the USTA or lack thereof. But I do know a lot about being a journalist, especially one who covered performances of all kind, and since PMac is an analyst for ESPN, I have to ask myself what a commentator is doing working for an organization he might be called on to critique. There’s a reason the framers established a free press. But nowadays everyone’s in bed with everyone else, because as Rafa would say, “It’s all about the money.”

On, though, to American tennis, which consists of Serena, the Bryans and a whole bunch of people no one watches. The arguments for its anemic state don’t necessarily hold water, however. ...