2018 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York U. S. A.

[seano]

2 well written articles by Cindy Shmerler on Tennis.com and an Op Ed in the New York Times by Martina Navratilova.

[bottle]

I really felt sorry for humble, young Osaka. Her big moment was spoiled by Serenas outbursts. Oskaka earned the win. She played a number of devastating matches to reach the final. She is only 20. A breath of fresh air.

I do not dislike Serena. She has also been the target of attacks and had no easy time growing up.

Now I can accept this one. Because of the sentence "I do not dislike Serena." Some of the other comments by other people however are totally unacceptable, particularly when someone, a real hater, has been inveighing against Serena in this forum for years and years. I'm sure my late step-father would have too. And one of my two sisters-- I was shocked-- used to say the overly predictable things about the Williamses but I think unlike the posters here I find so objectionable finally outgrew it. That would be, "They're both men." Of course these "critics" would never point out that the body types of the two women are completely different. And I can't imagine how they rationalize Serena having a baby. Virgin birth? Immaculate conception? Liberals carried a baby into the hospital after recovering it from a mother they murdered?

They wouldn't make any kind of distinctions about anything having to do with these two amazing sisters and their genius father. What it really boils down to is they are jealous haters, and without love, one shouldn't criticize anyone or anything.

I'm not kidding. If you don't have something nice to say, then say nothing at all. I've never heard a positive word about Serena or Venus or Richard from any of these skinflints. They can't find ANYTHING to like? Serena's serve? The backswing on her ground strokes? No they can't, and so, to me at least they have no credibility whatsoever. A good example of my point is the late James Agee, the film person. He used to write devastating reviews of awful movies, and after one of them I don't think the movie survived. The reason he had so much power is that he always found SOMETHING to like.

Sorry now, but this is about tennis players, and I feel compelled to go one step further (many of you will say "deeper"). When a guy says that he is a lousy writer, the first thing that comes to my mind is that he is a lousy reader, too. And if I were Georgia Tech University, he is the last person I would ever want to be represented by. When he finds wonderful writing which gratuitously discusses Serena Williams' "smell," he might as well be a World War II German member of the Wehrmacht talking about "stinking Jews" without ever mentioning of course the smell of blood on his own hands. This dude is right that strong smell can be an ingredient of great writing as in JOURNEY TO THE WHITE SEA by James Dickey. There, an American aviator downed in wartime Japan hides in a Tokyo sewer and the smell of it is part of what makes the book so great. There's another small novel called DAS PARFUM, which also uses smells to produce written magic. But when somebody in this forum for no reason starts talking about how Serena Williams smells, with him knowing absolutely nothing about the subject, IT CANNOT GO UNANSWERED.

Is this too strong for this little forum? No it is not.

[bottle]

Favorite Phrase from the Independent Article

"fraction of a man."

Applies to so many people, most of whom appear to be males of the type who constantly pander one to another.

[tennis_chiro]

I think they should revise the Code of Conduct. If you are going to continue to penalize coaching, it should be separate from the penalty schedule for obscenity and temper tantrums/racket abuse. The first warning in the new separate coaching penalty schedule should go to both the player and the coach (believe me, the coach will feel those penalties a lot more). Second instance should be point to player and threat of suspension for coach. Third instance should be game and removal of coach from view of court. As well as possible suspension like technical foul accumulation in the NBA. So a player could get a coaching warning and a racket abuse warning and still not incurr a point penalty.

don

[stroke]

Serena has done a great job of rewriting the narrative about what happened out there, but pandering(thanks stotty) to her is not the answer. That was done in her post match press conference.

[stotty]

I had written a much less coherent version of what the column down below states.

The US Open should have been smarter about who they put in the umpire's chair. After all that had happened, they should have known better. It should have been a woman and ideally an African American woman in the chair that night.

Why African American? Why pander to Serena's needs? Why not Japanese American? I would have opted for a Swiss umpire and had done with it.

[arturohernandez]

I had written a much less coherent version of what the column down below states.

The US Open should have been smarter about who they put in the umpire's chair. After all that had happened, they should have known better. It should have been a woman and ideally an African American woman in the chair that night.

I know that most of us would like to think that color and race don't matter on the tennis court. But they ultimately do in some way.

In any case, this column captures the entire context the best for me. You could also watch the OJ series on ESPN which I think is equally fascinating.

Was OJ innocent or guilty? It really depends on who you ask and that depends on their perceptions about justice.

Saturday night was just another case of this unfortunate reality in the US.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/serena-williams-us-open-final-umpire-naomi-osaka-flushing-meadows-a8529611.html

[bottle]

Oh, that one, not the other one. I think of him as something pinched, a white raisin or very small prune. For best perspective, avoid the clowns altogether and go to John McEnroe. The referees should stay out of it and let the players play. Or to rephrase a Hungarian proverb, God should keep his big brass-studded cock out of it.

[stroke]

By the way. Just so there is no misunderstanding. Whether you agree and disagree with me is totally irrelevant. I always look forwards to your comments and thoughts. Always...always...always.

ha, no misunderstanding. But on Serena, your take was too good, cut and paste. I cannot express my thoughts as well, great writing.

[stotty]

Pat McEnroe termed Novak right now as erilly composed and said when he gets there, no where to go for his opponent. I agree with that and love that assessment of Novak at his best. When he is there, he is playing tennis at a higher level than anyone ever has, even Fed.

True. Roger once said that once Novak starts moving well and blanketing the baseline, he's the most difficult player to beat.

[stotty]

Stingy is exactly the right word.

don

I stole the word of Jim Courier who last year used the same word to describe Bjorn Borg's style of play on a clay court.

[stotty]

By the way. Just so there is no misunderstanding. Whether you agree and disagree with me is totally irrelevant. I always look forwards to your comments and thoughts. Always...always...always.

We all know this by now, don_budge. It's great to have diversity of opinion and the freedom to express it. How lucky are we.

[don_budge]

Db, your take on Serena and her essence, I agree completely. As I am sure you know, I do not agree about Nadal. I do think he is a great champion and has nothing in common with Serena.

PS . And there was absolutely nothing wrong with Nadal's behavior in the semis. Nothing!

The ceremony was the worst part for me. I can, to an extent, accept what went on during the match in the heat of the moment, but the ceremony was awful, and poor Osaka was left meek and almost looked ashamed to lift the trophy.

By the way. Just so there is no misunderstanding. Whether you agree and disagree with me is totally irrelevant. I always look forwards to your comments and thoughts. Always...always...always.

[don_budge]

Bedtime for Stotty...late over here...not the most attractive game to watch.

I chose sleep. Didn't see a point of it. No regrets. I guess I am not a fan at all. As a student of the game I am inclined to believe that this fairy tale is over. Good night Roger Federer Era.

[tennis_chiro]

Just finished watching the recording of the Women's Doubles Final. These ladies can really volley. And the volley technicque from all four is so good. I wonder how much of Vandeweghe's volleys has to do with coach Pat Cash, one of the all time great volleyers on the men's tour and a Wimbledon champion in 87. If you get a chance to watch it, it's really entertaining.

don