Last Thursday, on his 30th birthday, Andy Roddick announced that this year’s U.S. Open would be his last tournament. If you had told me that I would care about this, back in 2003 when he was a 20-year-old tennis whiz kicking ass in a trucker hat and winning
At 11 a.m. EDT on Monday morning, the 2012 United States Open Tennis Championship began play. At 1:23 p.m. a thunderstorm hit so hard that players who were bouncing a ball on court in preparation to serve just stopped, looked up, and walked off court. The stadiums
The U.S. Open Tennis Championships are two weeks away, but let’s consider now the current state of the American men. Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, and John Isner are the biggest names, of course, and you can read more than enough about them elsewhere. Here, I assess the rest.
I follow the tennis no one else does, the obscure and up-and-coming or never-to-rise. I write about the young Americans. Some days that means I just watch digital scores on my iPhone, refreshing them every few seconds, imagining what the actual match looks like. The major stuff I watch too,
Olympic tennis takes some getting used to. Usually tennis players compete for no one other than themselves, and so fan alliance concurs. We attend primarily to see who we like, not just who’s from home, so patriotic rooting can be a readjustment. Add to this an Olympic crowd at
Now that Wimbledon is done and the Olympics are a week away, we’ve had a nice window of extreme American tennis. After Wimbledon, there are seven weeks of U.S. ATP events (branded the “US Open Series,” as if that means anything to anyone—tennis branding is a disaster)
The eyes of the world—even Pippa’s!—were trained on Centre Court at Wimbledon yesterday for the epic final between then-six-time champion Roger Federer (he won, should you live under a rock) and no-time champion Andy Murray, the first Brit in 74 years to reach the final. This was
O loss! On the fresh grass of Wimbledon! And I don’t mean Rafael Nadal. Remember, this is the place to which you come to read about players about whom no one cares. Except for me. And you too—or at least your future self. Because I’m talking about
There was no blood drawn this week, no Perrier signs smashed, and although Melanie Oudin did not even play in a tournament this week, she is still the young American I am most excited about this Monday morning. Today starts Wimbledon, and the officials at the All England Club have
Oh, the stuff of legend! Young Americans make good! Young Americans break down! And not-so-young Argentinians draw real human blood! It was a very good week in the world of unwatched tennis. Let us start with big goofy Sam Querrey, who made it to the semis on the grass courts
What do you do this morning if you’re a young American stuck in Europe? First, remove your beret. The French Open is over, but Wimbledon is two weeks away. If you fly home, you won’t even have time to unpack your bags before you have to come right
Bye-bye Williams sisters and all that. It’s week two of the French Open now, and almost no American players are left. But just yesterday, there she was: Sloane Stephens, a 19-year-old sunbeam straight out of Florida and one of the last Americans standing. She’s black, with a smile
Venus Williams just told Vanity Fair that her biggest inspiration in life (other than her sister) is the band 311. My brain melts. If this isn’t proof that one of America’s leading tennis names is no longer young, I don’t know what is. Remember, she’s a
