Hello everyone…
• US hard court tour has begun Good Soldiers, their Tennis Channel listings here.
• Why do international players make up more than half of DI tennis rosters??
Mailbag
There were a lot of questions and conversations on social media about Novak Djokovic and his status at the US Open. Let’s avoid litigating the Covid protocol, its logic and its bad logic. Let’s avoid a semantic discussion about anti-vaccines, pro-choice and anti-science. Let us resist the easy game of turning this into a referendum on Djokovic against the USTA, as John McEnroe, who, of all people, should know better, seems to have done. Just a few points of fact:
1) Denying entry to unvaccinated non-citizens is not a USTA policy, much less a policy aimed specifically at Djokovic. It is a policy of the federal government that the USTA has chosen to follow without going back.
2) We have already obtained a vivid illustration of the chaos and chaos that nobody comes out looking good can occur when a tennis tournament is opposed by a government. The USTA can hardly be blamed for preventing the Australian Open fiasco. The USTA has essentially said, “Whatever they tell us to do, we’re not going to fight it.”
3) Read the policy and there are exceptions for unvaccinated non-citizens. A professional tennis player, even an accomplished one, would not seem to fit into those categories, prima facie. The USTA has also explicitly said that it will not seek exceptions or exemptions for any player.
4) Give Djokovic some credit on this point: he is aware of the politics, he has made up his mind; he is prepared to face the consequences; he’s not lobbying for special treatment. Comparing Djokovic to Muhammad Ali makes for a laughably awful hot take. But it should be mentioned that Djokovic is not martyring himself. They are his fans doing that in his name.
5) Does it make sense that Djokovic can play in 2020 and 2021 and not in 2022? Or that unvaccinated Tennys Sandgren can play while Djokovic can’t? In his face, no. But inconsistency is a way of life. Especially in a pandemic, where targets and data move.
6) We are at the end of July. The policy may change. Djokovic’s stance may change. Both are unlikely. To invoke the great sports cliché, it is what it is. Politics, again, government policy, not USTA policy, is X. Djokovic’s stance is Y. Consequence is Z.
So it goes.
7) I can’t remember a player (athlete?) as polarizing and magnetizing as Djokovic. Can we all agree that it is a remarkable fact pattern? Here is a great generational player, on the threshold of history, 35 years old. And he could miss two Majors this year, not because of injury or illness, but by voluntary decision. Some of you will say, “If only I got a vaccine that billions of people around the world got, not because they necessarily wanted it, but because there was a collective responsibility, and we wouldn’t be here.” Others will say “Good for him for sticking to his convictions.” Can we all pause and just marvel that despite all the permutations and combinations we considered in the GOAT race, who saw this coming?
[Osaka] she literally just dropped her coach… so did, for example, Pliskova earlier this month. Where were the op-eds on that?!
@saraelisgarvey
• Then, last week, two sources told me that Osaka abruptly parted ways with her team, she was reconsidering her organization, including bringing her father back; and in general she was re-evaluating her place in the sport and what tennis means to her. The coach, Wim Fissette, was quick to confirm the split on Instagram. I was able to corroborate that the coach, Daniel Pohl, relatively new to the company, also parted ways with Osaka.
I tweeted so much. And the answers came fast and furious and usually trifurcated. 1) The media sucks. 2) What about… Pliskova, Sinner and Halep, etc.? 3) Leave her alone.
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Let’s bombard this with the truth. We are all sensitive to Osaka, her challenges, her unique personality. But this has to be balanced against the judgment of the news and independent reporting. Here is a player who has won four Majors since 2018; that he wins tens of millions of dollars in addition to prize money; who, especially after the former No. 1’s abrupt retirement, has a huge influence on women’s tennis, now that the WTA Tour is about to close a nine-figure private equity deal. In the last 90 days she has not won a match. But she parted ways with the previous group managing her; she entered the management game herself; she signed a controversial player, a Wimbledon finalist who is also accused of domestic violence, and has now parted ways with her team.
It’s hard to make the objective case that this isn’t newsworthy. It is difficult to objectively argue that this should go unnoticed. It’s hard to objectively argue that his admirable admission of frailty should trump the coverage. And “whataboutism” fails, as it often does. Karolina Pliskova is not a four-time Major winner. Jannik Sinner doesn’t earn $60 million in income off the court. And all sorts of pixels, impressions, and airtime HAVE been devoted to the Sinner reshuffle, Simona Halep’s curious recent personnel moves, etc.
Biggest point: jay-vee or varsity? Independent coverage, not fan sites, not select social networks, not self-serving press releases, is a sign of strength, not weakness. Does a featured player miss events for refusing to vaccinate? Kyrgios’ domestic violence accusations? A legend who misses out on a historic occasion because the tournament doesn’t provide him with a fleet of cars? Those are not pretty stories. They may not reflect well on the player you support. But they are relevant. Failure to recognize them may protect the individual in the short term, but harm the sport.
Jon,
If they ever move away from the silly Europe vs. World at the Laver Cup, this is the year, and that’s how it’s done. (It’s my fantasy, so I’m going to assume everyone below will participate).
Team Old (or Team Rehab or Team Aches ‘n’ Pains or whatever you want to call it)
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
Stan Wawrinka
Marin Cilic
Substitute: Dominic Thiem
Captain: Juan Martin Del Potro (sorry Bjorn Borg, you were a legendary player, but you bring nothing to this event)
New team
The top six players you can get from anywhere in the world, preferably under 30 (or 25, even). Assuming the Russians can’t play in London, a team could look like this:
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Carlos Alcaraz
Felix Auger-Aliassime
jannik sinner
taylor fritz
Matthew Berrettini
Substitute: Hubert Hurkacz
Captain: Nick Kyrgios (yes that’s right) (thank you for your service McEnroe brothers but you never won and last time you beat them 14-1 – if it’s real competition it costs you your job)
Wouldn’t that be interesting, with all the star power and generational clash? And wouldn’t Team New have a real chance, despite a 72-0 deficit in the majors?
Srikanth
• The Laver Cup has all kinds of elements to recommend. It’s a net positive (excuse the pun) and should be commended. But it can also be improved. At a time when there is an American, a lovely guy but with two titles in his career, in the top 12, we need a new dimension in which to divide the teams.
And here’s the answer: we need a dodgeball-style eraser. In addition to fairness, it is a value. (Who would you rather have, Zverev or Tsitsipas? How much do you invest in Jack Sock doubles? It will be even more strategic when we do the right thing and add women. Done! Next!
hello jon
I was wondering how players/journalists/historians feel about the prestige of each major. The winner always says “this major is the one I always dreamed of winning as a kid”, but I take it with a grain of salt. For example, in golf, the PGA Championship has always been relegated to number 4 in terms of prestige, and the Open Championship was third, similar to the Australian Open players not always willing to travel long distances. IMHO I think Wimbledon should be number 3 because the average person doesn’t play on grass, Australia number 4 because many pros back in the day skipped it, France number 2, US Open number 1.
Cheers,
Eric Buckzin, Manorville, Long Island
• Big question. And I would say that this is a real virtue of tennis: the four Majors are quite distinct but there is no obvious hierarchy. For years, the Australian Open ranked a distant fourth by consensus. The Ringo of Majors, so to speak. But Tennis Australia deserves a lot of credit for catching up. Each Major has its many strengths and few drawbacks. Low and dirty thumbnails, I would say:
4) Australia– Features upbeat, well-rested players on a democratic surface. Pleasant atmosphere. Charming and easy city. Drawback: Climate change is the bane of this event, in the long run. More immediately: taking place in a remote location for most of the world might take away a bit of publicity, if not prestige.
3) Roland Garros: A glorious event in a glorious city. Disadvantage: clay is not the surface of choice for everyone. And it is the smallest place of the four.
2)Wimbledon: the history, the prestige, the tradition… the grass, a surface on which very few play.
1) US Open: The sheer scale. And the hard-court event at the end of the summer (which typically offers more prize money than any other Major) is a testament to both durability and tennis. Drawback: Chaos (and traffic) isn’t for everyone.
But again, I don’t think there is an obvious weak link or an obviously superior commander. Different tastes and different priorities. I’m not sure there is this kind of natural parity in other sports.
Jon, a simple question:
Is there a better doubles player on Planet Earth than Jack Sock?
Gregory S., Sag Harbor
• No, there is not.
Shots
Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios he has received a wild card to the 2022 Western & Southern Open, where he was runner-up in 2017. It will be Kyrgios’ sixth Cincinnati appearance and first since 2019.
New Balance and rising tennis superstar Coco Gauff have officially announced their first signature shoe with the brand. New Balance Coco CG1 is a ’90s-inspired silhouette built with the brand’s most innovative performance technology in a timeless design made to transcend sports and fashion. The current World No. 11 debuted the CG1 Pompey colorway on court last night at the Atlanta Tennis Open.
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