Plaque still at Wimbledon, and so is Isner

WIMBLEDON, England — The plaque remains at Wimbledon, and three rounds into this year’s tournament so does John Isner. Not that he won’t always have a presence here, as much in myth as memory.

He is 37 now. Isner, nearing the end of a career that has produced highlights — that plaque? Wimbledon doesn’t celebrate the ordinary — but never a Grand Slam championship.

That glorious reward remained a possibility, albeit a distant one. But if you’re in the draw, and Isner definitely is, facing the young Italian Jannik Sinner on Friday, anything can happen.

After all, on Wednesday Isner, as always his billed cap turned backwards like he was a baseball catcher, stunned both Andy Murray and an almost obnoxiously but understandably one-sided crowd at Centre Court with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 victory.

“I did some good things,” Isner said in summary. One of those was defeating Murray for the first time in nine matches.

As pointed out, in a sport where it’s one person against another head to head and shots that normally clear the net miss it by inches, anything can happen.

So much of life is timing. As is so much of tennis. Isner is 6-foot-9, as one might suppose able to angle and power serves (as much as 157 mph, they say) out of sight.

If he had arrived at Wimbledon in the early 1980s, when grass court tennis was a serve-and-volley competition, when Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg were boring and impressing us, who knows how many titles he might have won?

But the pooh-bahs decided there had to be an ace and a reason for ground strokes. So the famed lawns at Wimbledon and the balls both were redone. Sure, there still are aces, but there also are drop shots, and when the guy on the other side of the net is as tall as an NBA center, you hit low and keep your hopes high.

Isner, who grew up in North Carolina where basketball reigns, went to Georgia to play tennis, and could hit the serves and overheads, if never the jackpot, although he was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2018.

Not that his victory over Murray wasn’t important. Isner called it the top of the list. Murray achieved godlike status in 2012 when he became the first Brit (Murray is a Scot) to win Wimbledon in 77 years. Then he won it again.

“I’m not the player he is,” Isner said of Murray. Whatever, he was enough of a player against Murray, who admittedly has been fighting his way back after hip surgery.

“Yeah, I played in my mind incredibly well,” said Isner. “Of course I served well, but I was thinking outside of my serve I did some good things. Of course, I didn’t win many baseline rallies with Andy, but I think I did what I needed to get a (service) break in the first and fourth set.

“My serve carried me from there.”

It was the 2010 Wimbledon in which Isner had his greatest effect on the game and event in an affair of fate, fable and exhaustion. He faced Nicolas Mahut, another spectacular server.

Play started on a Monday (opening day) and ended on Wednesday. Serve. Ace. Serve. No return. Ad infinitum. But fascinating and historical. A 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 win. A plaque on the brick wall, “The longest match was played on court 18…”

A plaque removed and replaced. A revision in the rules of fifth-set tie-breakers. A disenchantment.

“That’s all I ever get asked about,” said Isner.

Of course.

After a dark and stormy night, the sun shines at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — "Ladies and gentlemen," said the guy with the microphone at courtside, "Andy Murray."

Indeed, it was, specifically, Sir Andrew Baron Murray OBE. Except instead of entering, he was departing.

A quick turn, a wave of appreciation to fans who had just seen another one of their favorites lose in semi-rapid fashion — Leylah Fernandez was the other — and the BNP Paribas Open was without another top attraction.

That's the way it is so often is in tennis, where the talent is relatively balanced — especially with no Serena, Roger or Rafa — and a double fault or wide backhand may be the difference between staying around or moving on.

It's been said perhaps all too often: Tennis is as much a sport of names as much as games. It's Hollywood in sneakers, a legitimate analogy down here in the desert where streets are names for Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra.

The star system is paramount, and that is why Leylah Fernandez, who got prime time during the U.S. Open, got most of the cheers Tuesday on Stadium Court One, even though Shelby Rogers got their match, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4), to advance to the quarterfinals.

A short time later, Alexander Zerev, who was a finalist in this year's U.S. Open, which did get him some status even if it didn't get him the title, defeated Murray, 6-4, 7-6. Promoting a tennis tournament ain't easy even if the tournament's held at Larry Ellison's expensive and magnificent facility near Palm Springs.

This comeback year — the BNP used to be in March, until it was halted by the Covid-19 surge in 2020 — it happens to be the same time and not too far away from the Giants-Dodgers playoffs.

Then on Monday night, it had weather woes. Up in L.A. for Game 3, there was high wind. Down here, we had rain in the desert. In October. Tuesday, as a sparse few spectators huddled under stairways and entrance tunnels, I was tempted to borrow from Snoopy, the familiar beagle and begin a story, "It was a dark and stormy night...”

Of course, Tuesday, like the lyrics of a song, the clouds were gone from around 10,000-foot Mount San Jacinto, skies were blue and the athletes and fans could shed their jackets and their doubts.

Poor Francis Tiafoe, the American. He got soaked literally and figuratively, beaten by Hubert Hurkacz, 6-3, 6-2. The match started in a downpour at 6:10 p.m., and after starts and stops and splashes and drips ended in a mist at 9:15.

Tough luck for the contestants and fans, but the next morning the courts were dry, and Rogers was en route to a victory over Fernandez.

"She's had such an incredible season," Rogers said of Fernandez.

Rogers' season was maybe less incredible, but it included an upset of the world's number 2 ranked female player, Ash Barty, in the U.S. Open.

"I thought it was an incredible battle (Tuesday). And we both played really well at times. It was a sort of tug-of-war at times. It was really about who was dictating play."

But it usually is. Once in a while, a great counter-puncher takes the match. Usually, it's the player who has control.

So often in sports the comments deal with possibility and no reality, about what might have been had a ball not gone out. So perhaps it is best to ignore the idea that Murray, working his way back from two knee surgeries, would have returned to the top 100 with a victory over Hurkacz.

"I don't want to get back to the top 100," Murray said. "I want to get back to the top 10."

Laylah Fernandez is almost already is there.

Sports off the edge: tennis bathroom breaks, golf harassment

No, it’s not your imagination. The sports world has gone off the edge.

Tennis players are unable either to control their bladder or their manners.

Golf, which didn’t have spectators for a year, may ban some of the ones now allowed.

And a few baseball players are acting like the spoiled rich kids some observers have long accused them of being.

This didn’t happen in the days of wooden racquets and iron men (and women), but sometime in the last few years the most important part of a major tennis tournament became something called the bathroom break.

You know, you’re out there on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, just you and your opponent and 23,000 impatient spectators, when suddenly you need to go.

The problem isn’t an issue of when nature calls. It’s when out of sight, you possibly do the calling, on a cell phone, to your coach in the stands for advice or when you simply stall away — no double entendre implied.

Please don’t (ha-ha) mention the location of the U.S. Open Billie Jean King tennis complex, Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Maybe, the way accusations flew, it should be Sing-Sing.

After he was beaten Monday night by the young Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in a first-round match that lasted nearly five hours, Andy Murray complained about Tsitsipas’ several and lengthy breaks.

The rule is that players are permitted a “reasonable” amount of time, obviously a subjective view.

Commenting for ESPN, Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam tournaments, had a valid point about the maneuvers that perhaps helped Tsitsipas get some of his points.

“It’s so vague. Another vague rule in tennis. And I think that’s what Andy was complaining about,” said Evert on Tuesday,

"Let me tell you, eight to 10 minutes, that gives the player time to sit with himself, to figure out what he needs to do, to reset if he needs to, to reach into his bag and get a phone call. Or reach into his bag and read a text. It opens the door to a lot of things that maybe aren’t fair in tennis.”  

There are no secrets in golf. And almost no restrictions on spectators, who because of the game’s nature literally can stand next to a player to cheer him. Or harass him.

This supposed feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau became so worrisome to Steve Stricker, captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team for which both will play, that a detente was reached.

Among the players, if not the fans.

That was great competition between DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay, who went six extra holes Sunday in the BMW Championship. DeChambeau had his chances, but Cantlay finally won with a birdie when DeChambeau missed his.

Then, as DeChambeau headed up a hill to the clubhouse, a fan shouted, "Great job, Brooksie!"

DeChambeau made a move toward the fan and angrily shouted, “You know what? Get the f--- out.”

A day later, the PGA Tour announced it might eject fans who taunt the players by acting disrespectfully. “Fans who breach our code of conduct are subject to expulsion from the tournament and loss of their credential or ticket,” said the Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan.

That sort of regulation has long been in effect in baseball, where fans traditionally are loud and nasty. It’s understood by the guys on the diamond they must suffer the slings and arrows of the people in the stands.

This realization finally came to Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez, two members of a New York Mets team that several weeks ago went into the tank and, in fine East Coast fashion, was booed loud and long.

The heartbroken young players responded by offering a thumbs down sign when the Mets finally won a game. Management put a stop to such nonsense.

The players apologized, and everyone lived happily ever after. Didn’t they?

Wins for tennis's Big Three and farewell to Andy and Serena

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

WIMBLEDON, England — It’s their tournament, isn’t it? I mean, they do call it the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships. So if a Brit who isn’t even entered in the singles gets the same attention as Roger, Novak and Rafa — please, you don’t need last names — then fine.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019 The Maven 

Serena rallies — and now it’s mixed doubles with Andy

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

WIMBLEDON, England — The defending champion, Angelique Kerber, had been beaten an hour earlier. And now Serena Williams was getting pummeled in the first set of her match by an 18-year-old qualifier. You wondered if this Wimbledon, having already lost Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams, was about to go off the rails.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019 The Maven 

A Wimbledon of pain for Murray and joy for Querrey

By Art Spander

WIMBLEDON, England — Yes, Andy Murray, the defending champion, the Olympic champion, the No. 1 player in the world, was hurting. You could see it in his walk. You could see it in his grimace.

But maybe what you couldn’t see was the progress of Sam Querrey, who for the first time in a career that’s been going more than a decade has made to the semifinals of one of tennis's four biggest events, arguably the biggest of those four, the All-England Championships.

Querrey, the hang-loose guy from southern California, beat Murray 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday in a quarterfinal that maybe, considering where it was held, on a Centre Court surrounded almost entirely by Murray fans, was a shock. Or, acknowledging Murray’s aching right hip, wasn’t shocking at all.  

Murray had made it through four rounds, had the lead in this round, needed only one more game to advance. But either the hip that he said has bothered him for years, if not as seriously as in the last month, or Querrey wouldn’t allow Andy to get that set.

Injuries happen. You play with pain. That’s a cliché of sport, a truism. Or if you’re unable, you withdraw. Which is what Novak Djokovic did in the second set of his quarters match Wednesday against Tomas Berdych because of his right elbow. “Unfortunate I had to finish Wimbledon that way,” Djokovic said.

He was the 2015 (and ’14 and ’11) winner. Murray was the 2016 (and ’13) winner. So the men who took the last the last four Wimbledons (and five of the last six) are out of ’17 because of injuries. The body takes a beating. You gut it out, or you pull out.

“If you play,” Venus Williams said here a few years ago, “you’re not hurt. If you’re hurt, you don’t play.”

Murray was hurt, and he did play. No champion wants to let his title go without a fight. “I tried my best,” said Murray, who will not slip from the top of the rankings. “Right to the end. Gave it everything I had. I’m proud about that.”

And then he said something that shouldn’t be overlooked, about the competence of his opponent. “Sam served extremely well at the end of the match,” said Murray. “You know. Loosened up. Was going for his shots. Nothing much I could do.”

There was plenty Querrey could do. As Murray said, Querrey served well. He had 27 aces, compared to Murray’s eight. That’s always been Sam’s game, power.

He’s always had potential, too. Standing 6-foot-6, he turned pro out of Thousand Oaks High instead of going to USC, mainly because his father, Mike, thought about his own decision.

Mike was a ballplayer. He had a chance to sign with the Detroit Tigers out of high school but instead enrolled at Arizona. “I didn’t want to ride the bus to Shreveport.” Mike told the New York Times. After college, he married and went to work in Northern California, where Sam was born. Then Mike tried to restart his baseball career, but he couldn’t.

The memory haunted him. He didn’t want Sam to make a similar mistake.

Sam’s career has been acceptable. But it was supposed to be remarkable. Finally last year he beat Djokovic, the defending champion, in Wimbledon’s third round. Now he beats Murray, the defending champion, in the quarters.

“It’s a really big deal,” said Querrey. “For me. It’s my first semifinal.”

Where on Friday he’ll meet Marin Cilic, who beat Gilles Muller, the guy who upset Rafa Nadal.

In the other semi, Roger Federer faces Berdych. Federer has won 18 Slams, won Wimbledon seven times. Cilic won the 2014 U.S. Open. Berdych was a Wimbledon finalist. They’ve been there, done that.

Sam Querrey still is trying.

"I was probably a little more fired up (Wednesday), especially in the fourth and fifth sets," said Querrey. ”There’s a little more on the line.”

Querrey said he didn’t intentionally attempt to take advantage of Murray’s injury. “Not at all really,” affirmed Querrey. “I kind of noticed it a little bit from the beginning. But I just stayed with my game. I tried to stay aggressive. I didn’t want to alter my game and get into those cat-and-mouse points because that’s where he’s really good. 

“I just kept my foot down and just kept trying to pound the ball.”

And Murray couldn’t respond.

“Not many people get to play tennis professionally,” Querrey said, “let alone play at Wimbledon, play on Centre Court, play against Andy Murray. It’s something that few people get to do, so it’s really special. Really proud.”

He should be. As Andy Murray, battling against his body, should be.

Querrey up against Murray — and all of Britain

By Art Spander

WIMBLEDON, England — Playing Andy Murray at Wimbledon? It would be like playing Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Or the Warriors at Oracle Arena. “It’s going to be tough,” said Sam Querrey. “He’s defending champion, No. 1 in the world. He loves playing here. The crowd is going to be behind him.”

Querrey faces Murray Wednesday in a quarterfinal at Wimbledon. Which Murray won last year. And in 2013, then becoming the first British man in 77 years to be singles champion of the All England Lawn Tennis Championships.

So everything and presumably everyone will be against Querrey, the 29-year-old from Southern California — where, as Sam correctly pointed out, there’s baseball and football and basketball. ”I doubt people in L.A. even know what’s going on over here,” he said.

What’s going on is the oldest (115 years), most important tournament in the world, as much a part of an English summer as strawberries and cream and evenings that stay light until at least 10 p.m.

Murray, the home-country kid (well, he’s from Scotland but at the moment that’s still part of the United Kingdom), defeated Benoit Paire of France, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4, on what is known as “Manic Monday” in one fourth-round match. Querrey defeated Kevin Anderson, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-3 in another quarterfinal.

And Querrey was into the quarterfinals for a second straight year. And Murray for a tenth straight year. “It’s really impressive,” said Querrey. “I mean I’ve done it twice in my life.” 

Querrey is on the outside looking in. Men’s tennis has been the property of the Big Four: Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, who in a marathon match Monday was upset by Gilles Muller, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13.

A few years ago, when he passed up a scholarship at USC to turn pro out of Thousand Oaks High School, Sam was projected as one of the future greats. But in 2009, while at a tournament in Bangkok, he leaned on a glass coffee table, which shattered. His arm was cut severely, and he missed time during recovery.

So he never made the ultimate step. Not that he stopped trying to do so. Querrey said he gladly would accept the pressure the 30-year-old Murray faces, especially at Wimbledon,

“Yeah,” said Querrey. “Because that would mean I’d probably be No. 1 or No. 2 in the world, have a ton of money, have Grand Slams. Life’s pretty good. I do know that comes with a lot more.

“I’m very happy right now with my life. Yeah, I’d love to be at the next level.”

He could approach that with a win over Murray, as difficult as that would appear to be.

“He’s earned it,” Querrey said about Murray. “I’m sure he feels the pressure sometimes. He’s done an incredible job of backing it up and living up to and winning Wimbledon. He’s accomplished all that a player can accomplish.”

For two weeks, the Wimbledon fortnight, there’s no individual in Britain who gets more attention. Not the prime minister. Not the Queen. Not even the soccer player Wayne Rooney, although his return this past weekend to Everton up in Liverpool, after 11 years at famed Manchester United, was maybe only two notches below. As they say, timing is everything.

“The entire country seems like they watch Wimbledon,” said Querrey. “In the U.S., whether it’s football, baseball, basketball, tennis, a lot of people watch, but it’s not 100 percent of America, even the Super Bowl. It feels like everyone watches Wimbledon here with Andy Murray.

“But sometimes it’s fun to go out there and play where the crowd is behind the other player. I’m going to try and play aggressive, hopefully play well and can sneak out a win.”

At Wimbledon, with a nation watching and Murray on the court, even sneaking a glance at the chair umpire will require a special skill.

An official’s call and a rain delay unhinge Andy Murray

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — He was adamant in defeat, trying to handle the questions better than he did Kei Nishikori’s maddening drop shots, a man whose summer of success, a Wimbledon championship, an Olympics championship, unwound in a single afternoon on America’s biggest tennis stage.

Andy Murray was playing elegantly, happily. He had won 26 of 27 matches since mid-June, was in control of his game, the forehands, the backhands, the serves, and no less significantly because of an intensity that can lead to frustration, in control of himself.

Sure, Novak Djokovic might be there at the end of this U.S. Open, Sunday’s final, but Roger Federer hadn’t entered because of an injury and Rafa Nadal was upset in the fourth round. What an opportunity for the 29-year-old Murray, the No. 2 seed, to win the Open a second time, to win a fourth major.

But like that, the whole world seemed to go against him, from the closing of the new roof over 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium when rain began to fall, to a loud bong on the public address system that had the umpire calling a let, to a moth or butterfly fluttering around before the fifth set to getting broken at the start of the fifth set.

So Nishikori, the No. 6 seed, beaten in the Open final two years ago by Marin Cilic, eliminated Murray, 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 and goes to the semis. Murray, who got so angry at one juncture he slammed his racquet to the court, goes to Glasgow and a Davis Cup match. 

“I was in good position,” said Murray, “up a set and a break and had chances at the beginning of the fourth set as well. I could have won the match for sure.”

But he didn’t, and as we’ve seen so often, no matter what the sport, when the person or the team lets the extraneous stuff — the weather, the noise, the officials’ calls — get to them, get them rattled, they’re in trouble. As was Murray.

After the loudspeaker system acted up in the fourth set — Open officials explained the noise was a computer problem — the chair umpire, Marija Cicak, called a let and halted play. Murray protested.

“Stopped the point,” said Murray, “and I was curious why that was. (Tournament referee) Wayne McKewen told me it happened four times during the match. I only heard it once before, which was on set point in the second set.”

After the discussion in the fourth set, Murray lost seven straight games.

“Yeah,” said Murray, “I lost my serve a couple of times from positions when I was up in the game. I got broken once from 40-love, once from 40-15, and at the end of the match I think I was up 30-15 in the game as well. That was the difference.

“It was obviously different serving under the roof. I started off the match serving pretty well. It (closing the roof) slows the conditions down so it becomes easier to return. You know, he started returning a bit better. I didn’t serve so well, obviously ... Under the roof, he was able to dictate more of the points. He was playing a bit closer to the baseline than me and taking the ball up a little more.”

And using drop shots, which is the tennis equivalent of a baseball bunt, a ball that doesn’t go very far but doesn’t have to when the opponent, whether a third baseman or a tennis player, is all the way back, unable to return the shot.

“Yeah, a couple of them,” said Murray about being hurt by the drop shots. “I didn’t lose all the points. I won a number of them.”

Nishikori had lost seven of eight previous matches against Murray over the last five years, and when he got stormed in the first set, taking only one game, the pattern seemed certain to continue. Then came the rain, the roof and the Murray reaction — along with the Nishikori resilience.

With some 20 minutes to get the roof closed, Nishikori went to the locker room and got advice from his coaches, one of them Michael Chang, the Californian who at age 17 won the 1989 French Open.

“We talked about a lot of things,” said Nishikori, the only Japanese player to get to the finals of a Grand Slam event. “It was definitely my mistake I lost the first set. I was feeling a bit rushed. After the rain delay I changed something.”

He certainly changed the direction of the Open, ousting Murray.

“I have not let anyone down,” Murray insisted about his performance. “I tried my best. I didn’t let anyone down. Certainly not myself.”

He just let himself get distracted by a let call and a rain delay. Not very smart.

Rain on the new Open roof — and noise underneath

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — People seem to be fascinated by what’s over their heads. Didn’t the Drifters have a hit song in the 1960s, “Up on the Roof"? And every time there’s a new stadium that’s under cover, such as the Astrodome, bless its history, or an old stadium that’s under new cover, such as Wimbledon Centre Court, we’re enthralled.

When the Astrodome opened in 1965 with an exhibition game between the Astros (neé the Colt .45s) and the Yankees, there was a home run by Mickey Mantle and complaints that no one could see the ball through the then-translucent roof. Still, so enamored were we by the structure that it was proclaimed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Such naiveté.

Now there are domed stadia, ballparks and arenas, some of the coverings permanent, some retractable, from Seattle (Safeco Field, retractable) to New Orleans (the Superdome, permanent). And still we can’t get enough, especially the officials who have a new toy.

Centre Court at Wimbledon needed a roof practically since Victoria was queen of England. The 2000 men’s final, won by Pete Sampras, was halted so many times by rain it lasted seven hours. Naturally, when at last the $120 million retractable covering was ready, for the 2009 tournament, the weather was beautiful until early in the second week a few drops dripped. Elation. Close the roof. Thank you, Mother Nature.

So it was here at Flushing Meadows for the U.S. Open tennis championships. Five years running, 2010-14, the men’s final had to be delayed or postponed by everything from hurricanes to drizzles. Call in the architects. The new roof over the main court, at 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, was finished a few weeks ago. U.S. Tennis Association officials even had media previews of the closing and opening.

Hey, if you can’t interview Roger Federer, that’s the next best thing.

All day Monday and Tuesday, like people watching for an invading force, Open execs searched the skies for even a cloud. Nothing. Finally, Wednesday, it turned. A bit of rain Wednesday evening. A great deal of joy for the USTA, if not for Rafael Nadal and Andreas Seppi, who competed in the first indoor match ever for the Open. If not the last.

Thursday was wet, and play was chased from the outdoor courts for a long while. But not from Ashe, where the stars performed. Andy Murray, the No. 2 seed, beat Marcel Granollers in straight sets. Then Venus Williams won over Julia Georges. It was different, but it was tennis.

No roars from jets ascending from LaGuardia but a constant din, like 5,000 crickets chirping or neighbors talking gossip across the back fence. As at all roofed stadiums, whatever the sport, the noise was unavoidable, although not particularly irritating.

“I don’t think it was too different to the other night when I played,” said Murray, referring to Tuesday, when he played the late match with the roof open at the Open. “But when the rain came, it was certainly loud.”

Murray the Brit (he’s Scottish not English) not surprisingly was selected on that night in June 2009 to be part of first full match under the Wimbledon roof. There were gasps and then cheers when the mechanism was deployed.

Murray was not totally overjoyed by what he heard at Arthur Ashe Stadium, or more specifically what he didn’t hear. It’s as if the tennis is being played in a hangar.

“You can’t hear anything, really,” said Murray. “I mean you could hear the line calls but not so much when the opponents — you know, when he was hitting the ball or you were hitting the ball.

“We’re not used to it. That’s what make it so challenging. Because we use our ears when we play. It’s not just the eyes. It helps us pick up the speed of the ball, the spin that’s on the ball, how hard someone’s hitting it.”

Venus Williams, in her 18^th U.S. Open, was unperturbed by what others considered by the noise or anything else.

“You know,” she said about the pre-roofed Ashe Stadium, “there was a lot of noise last year. Over time you start to forget about the noise. So I think as a player, the higher the stakes the less you year. I do enjoy the quiet.”

To which one must add, “Shhhh.”

Newsday (N.Y.): Andy Murray wins 2nd Wimbledon title by beating Milos Raonic

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — It’s axiomatic in football and baseball that defense wins. Pitching, of course, is a major part of defense. If the other team doesn’t score, it’s impossible to lose.

In the Wimbledon men’s final, Andy Murray demonstrated that the concept is no less applicable to tennis.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Palm Springs Life: What's in Brand? Plenty in Tennis

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

Hollywood figured it out almost as soon as there were movies: Fame sells.

You didn’t need actors who knew Shakespeare — not that it wasn’t acceptable — but actors and actresses who were known. The two worst words for box office weren’t “No talent,” but “Who’s he?” The same thing for golf and tennis.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Delbonis and the desert: a bad combo for Andy Murray

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — He once beat Roger Federer, and that was three years ago when Federer still was near the top of his game. Nobody had heard of Federico Delbonis until then. He was 22, trying to work his way up the rankings, a no-name from Argentina.

Few have heard of him since. Then, whoosh, Delbonis struck again. Handled the serves and psyche Monday of the man ranked No. 2 in the world, Andy Murray. This plot of desert land 15 miles east of Palm Springs seems as alien to Murray as the surface of the moon.

“It’s just the conditions here,” said Murray. He didn’t mean the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where the annual BNP Paribas Open is held annually. He meant the Coachella Valley, where the sun shines — the high temperature was 79 — the wind blows, there are a zillion swimming pools and maybe a half-zillion golf courses. Most visitors are enthralled.

But not Murray, who fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) to Delbonis, ranked 51 slots below him.

“I think a lot of the results I have had here over the years,” said a slightly perplexed Murray, “suggest I haven’t played my best here.”

He’s a Scot, but he once trained in Spain and spends a great deal of time in Miami, where the tennis tours go next. The dry air here, the slower courts, Murray contends, affect his game of booming serves. The man won Wimbledon, in 2013, the first British male in 75 years to be a champion at the All England Club. But it’s apparent he won’t be a champion here.

“I got into winning position,” said Murray, who had a 4-1 lead in the third set, “and didn’t take it. I think one of the reasons is because I didn’t serve like I should serve.

“I have the capability to serve 135 mph, but my first serve speed would have been 100, 105. I didn’t feel comfortable going for my serve. I felt like every time I went for it, I missed it. I didn’t have control of that shot at all.”

And so in his first tournament (other than Davis Cup team competition) since reaching the finals of the Australian Open, the 26-year-old Murray places only two matches.

Delbonis grew up on clay, and while there are hard courts at Indian Wells, they are not as slick or fast as, say, Flushing Meadows or certainly the grass at Wimbledon. “I feel good,” said Delbonis, “the surface is not too fast. For me, I can slice in that kind of court.”

He certainly sliced up Murray. It’s like facing a knuckleball or slow-curve pitcher when you like to hit fastballs. And no matter what you try, you still can’t make solid contact.

“I made adjustments,” said Murray. “For one, I stopped going for my first serve. I tried to get a higher percentage of serves in, which maybe was not the best decision. I did manage to get myself into a winning position. Also I started returning from way farther back ... I think with the return it worked. The serve didn’t work so much.”

In any sport, it’s a question of forcing the other player or team to play your game. Delbonis did just that. Murray’s backhand is strength, along with the serve. Delbonis went to Andy’s forehand. There’s so much that goes into tennis, as there is into football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer. Keep the opponent off balance.

“Yes, of course,” Delbonis agreed when asked if his strategy was to play to Murray’s forehand. These guys have coaches who scout as well as teach. They know the other guy’s weaknesses, not that they’re always able to take advantage.

“I know his backhand is pretty good,” Delbonis said of Murray, “when he’s quiet in one side. I know I have to play, hit harder to his forehand to get a good hit or a good position on the court, to be aggressive or to move it to him, because it is one of the keys to get a good point.”

Murray, who had played outdoors for five weeks until arriving at Indian Wells, said he did not underestimate Delbonis. “I thought he moved better than what I thought,” said Murray.

If that sounds a bit confused, well, after another tough day in the desert, so is Andy Murray. Again.

Bleacher Report: Novak Djokovic Affirms Status as World's Best in 2014 US Open Win vs Andy Murray

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — It was warm. It was late. But heat and time couldn’t stop Novak Djokovic. Neither could Andy Murray. On a night that rolled into the wee small hours of morning, Djokovic verified his standing as the No. 1 men’s player in tennis.

He wasn’t perfect and had his lapses, but as John McEnroe — who was once in the position Djokovic now stands — pointed out on the ESPN telecast after midnight, all players have their lapses. The question is how many and for how long.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray QF Will Give 2014 US Open Its 1st Great Men's Match

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — Now it gets serious. Now the men’s game, existing almost in a vacuum while the ladies battered each other and the seedings — joyful confusion, you could call it — grabs its rightful place at the U.S. Open.

Now the big names display what they hope are their big games.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc. 

Newsday (N.Y.): Andy Murray knocked out in Wimbledon quarters

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — He was nicknamed "Baby Fed," when his coach at the time said Gregor Dimitrov was more advanced at his age than Roger Federer. It was difficult label with which to live, but suddenly at age 23 Dimitrov has become the tennis player that he was predicted to be.

He put an exclamation point on his potential Wednesday when he stunned defending champion Andy Murray in their Wimbledon quarterfinal, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved. 

Bleacher Report: Andy Murray Gets a Reality Check in Wimbledon 2014 Upset vs. Grigor Dimitrov

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

LONDON — What did they expect from Andy Murray? That he was another Roger Federer or Pete Sampras?

That he was going to repeat as Wimbledon winner?

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Andy Murray Fighting Back against British Media's Pressure at Wimbledon 2014

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

WIMBLEDON, England — Britain is a country great with words — hey, Shakespeare, Milton and Churchill were Englishmen — but not so great at games.

It’s a faded empire where once the sun never set, but now on fields and courts, it symbolically rarely rises.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray's Mental Toughness Sets Up Epic French Open Clash

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

Vince Lombardi used to say hurt is in the mind. So, too, is success. Also failure, not that we should call anyone who makes it as far as the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tennis tournament a failure.

There are so many pieces of advice on how one becomes a champion. Maybe the most accurate it this: You’ve got to believe.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc. 

Murray’s loss upsetting to a journalist

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — Timing is everything, isn’t it? We pose the question to Simon Barnes, the excellent sports columnist from the Times of London who crossed the Atlantic solely to bring to his readers the progress of Andy Murray as he tried for a second straight U.S. Open tennis championship.
   
Murray, the Scot, not only took the Open a year ago but this summer became the first Brit in 77 years to win Wimbledon, a feat that earned front-page headlines in every publication from John O’Groats (as far north as one can go and still be on the British mainland) to Land’s End (as far south).
  
Barnes arrived in New York just in time for Murray on Thursday to play in the quarterfinals, which against the other guy from Switzerland — Stanislas Wawrinka, not Roger Federer, who was long gone — figured to be a Murray victory.
   
It was not, however. Wawrinka, with great ground strokes and big serves, upset Murray, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. He also upset Barnes, whose sole purpose was to write about his countryman.
  
“It never fails,” said Barnes. “I’ve never seen him win a match, except at Wimbledon.” Those are not to be dismissed, certainly, and Barnes did have the exhilaration of describing Murray’s historic triumph in July.
   
Still, now and then, Barnes would like his paper to be rewarded for sending him to the four corners of the globe. Twice he went all the way from London to Australia, a journey of nearly 24 hours, to watch and cover Murray, who inconveniently lost the two matches Barnes attended.
  
But as bad as Barnes feels, Murray, 26, must feel worse. Murray was a semifinalist in 2011 and, of course, a champion in 2012, winning a Slam for the first time. He was ranked and seeded third and had won his previous 11 matches here at Flushing Meadows.
 
“I would have liked to have played a little bit better,”  said Murray, “but, you know, I had a good run the last couple of years. It’s a shame I had to play a bad match today.”
   
And that Wawrinka, 28 and making it to the semifinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career, had to play an excellent one.
  
“I thought he played great,” affirmed Murray. “He hit big shots. He passed extremely well. He hit a lot of lines on big points. He served well. That was it. He played a great match.”
   
A match that elevated Wawrinka into the semifinals.
     
“To beat him in three sets,” Wawrinka said in an understatement, “is quite good for me.”
   
Because in pressure situations, Wawrinka has been known to come apart like a cheap watch — not one made in Switzerland, however.
  

“Normally,” Wawrinka conceded, “I can be a little nervous and I can lose a few games because of that, but today I was just focused on my game. It was windy, was not easy conditions, but my plan was to push him to be aggressive, because I know Andy can be a little bit too defensive. I like it when he’s far back from the baseline, and today I did it well.”
   
Murray made no excuses, but he reached the summit of the mountain with victory at Wimbledon, where no British male had won singles since 1936. Surely everything else is Peoria. Even Flushing Meadows, where last year he knocked off Novak Djokovic in the final.
   
It’s hard for an American, a Spaniard, a Swiss to comprehend what winning Wimbledon means to a Brit, and to Britain, even if he’s a Scot, not an Englishman. Lawn tennis developed in Britain, where the Wimbledon tournament is as much a part of the nation as Buckingham Palace.
   
Over there it’s known simply as “The Championships.”
    
That would make Murray The Champion.
    
“It’s not about focus,” he said, responding to a question about competition after Wimbledon. “You know when you work so hard for something for a lot of years, it’s going to take some time to really fire yourself up and get yourself training 110 percent.
   
“I think it’s kind of natural after what happened at Wimbledon.”
   
Murray, one of the game’s big four for several years, was properly philosophical, and had the right to be, when asked about the last 12 months as he broke through with two major titles.
 
“I mean,” he said, “it’s been challenging both ways for different reasons. Physically, I played some extremely tough matches in that period. Mentally, it was very challenging for me to play — Wimbledon, the last few games at Wimbledon may not seem like much to you guys, but to me it was extremely challenging.
    
“I’ve played my best tennis in the Slams the past two, three years. I mean, I lose today in straight sets. I would have liked to have gone further. But I can’t complain. If someone told me before the U.S. Open last year I would have been here as defending champion, having won Wimbledon and Olympic gold, I could have taken that 100 percent.”
    
So could Simon Barnes, if he had not chased Andy Murray across the sea for the story.

Newsday (N.Y.): Andy Murray becomes first Brit to win Wimbledon since 1936

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — He raised his fist, dropped to the grass, which for so long had been his enemy, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The country from which Andy Murray lifted the curse had no such decision.

It unleashed a collective shout of celebration. After 77 years, the Wimbledon men's championship belonged to Britain, where it was created.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2013 Newsday. All rights reserved.