February 16, 2010 marks the 51st birthday of John McEnroe. Here’s his profile as it appears in my book THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS ($35.95, New Chapter Press, www.NewChapterMedia.com) continue reading »
February 16 2010 | Misc. Articles | No Comments »
KANGAROO VALLEY, Australia – Wending our way toward Melbourne and another Australian Open, which will be quieter this year. Unfortunately the Siberian Siren, Maria Sharapova, won’t be there to defend her title.
Closeup of a cluster of Jacaranda flowers on a tree in bloom
She was so terrific a year ago, winning 14 of 14 sets, looking very No. 1, crushing then No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarters, 6-4, 6-0 (perhaps making the retired mini-gem, Justine wonder if life among the musculars was worth continuing). Alas, Sharapova needs more time to rehab and train following right shoulder surgery. Not that shriekers won’t be heard – Venus and Serena to name two. But nobody’s in a vocal class with Maria, whose arias turn many off – or to earplugs.
January 14 2009 | Australian Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – So I’m sitting here, munching my crow burger, washing it down with stale coffee.
Roger Federer fans awaiting his semifinal, hoping that it will get played in spite of hurricane threats....
A guy from Switzerland, who owns a cow named Juliette, and also, for years, was used to cowing foes, is back at that business, silencing the doubters like me. We are delighted – at least I am – to eat crow (I’m told either sautéed or roasted is preferable), and bear witness that Roger Federer is yet capable of divine acts with a tennis racket.
Saving the best for last during a painful season in which he lost dozen times to lesser beings, won only two so-so tournaments, certainly appeared to have lost a step and strict control of his serve and forehand, Federer wowed a full-house at Ashe Stadium yesterday. And, yes, he had again cowed seven troublesome guys along the major route to continue as the U.S. Open champion. Five straight, leaving Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokjovic and now Andy Murray tattoed with his tire tracks.
September 08 2008 | US Open | 8 Comments »
NEW YORK – A patch of blue asphalt flooring Ashe Stadium became Scotland Yard Sunday. It belonged to a sharpshooting Scottish sleuth in short pants, who apprehended a strongarmed trouble-maker from Spain after a two day chase.
At the entrance to Flushing Meadows Park and the USTA Tennis Center, the David Dinkins Circle was dedicated on 2 September with hundreds of friends in attendance to honor his work with the parks and with the building of the Tennis Center. Shown here are David Dinkins, his wife and son, Billie Jean King and Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe.
Although Arthur Murray may have taught your parents dancing, the up-to-date Scotsman, Andy Murray, danced a highland fling to perfection in collaring Rafa Nadal, who has been pushing everybody in the tennis business around all year. Rafa had flattened Murray five straight over the last two seasons, but Andy was on his trail.
Murray, a 21-year-old out of Dunblaine, almost nabbed his man Saturday. However, a windy, wet harridan called Tropical Storm Hannah washed out some clues, and interrupted his semifinal pursuit at the U.S. Open with Nadal still on the loose. Andy was getting close, leading, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 2-3.
September 07 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – It’s still Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.
Rafa Nadal in a press conference
Or should I say Herr Roger, as he is addressed in the hometown, Basel. He does better in this sector, the Flushing section of the New York borough of Queens, than he ever did in Switzerland, and Roger says he feels “A little bit New Yorker.” Who wouldn’t?
Four U.S. Open titles are attached to his name – oh, yes, its Federer — and a 44-4 match record since he first appeared at the tennis Meadow eight years ago. That’s batting .916, pretty fair anywhere, and he says people recognize him on the street. It doesn’t happen to many tennis players. Maybe Venus, Serena, Billie Jean, Chrissie.
September 06 2008 | US Open | 1 Comment »
NEW YORK – Jelena “Jelly” Jankovic didn’t throw in the towel when she fell behind. But she knew how to use it to rattle her foe.
Bud filming a piece for ESPN
Jelly, the tennis player from Belgrade – a superb Serb – is no dummy. She had begun university, and was despairingly planning to go back for a degree in dramatic arts when her mom talked her out of that scenario and back onto the court — also out of a slump. After all there’s usually more money in tennis, if you’re a winner, than acting (aka waiting on tables), although the dark-haired zesty 23-year-old ain’t a bad thespian.
A few million dollars later, Jelly is on the largest stage in tennis, sharing the lead in her first major final, the U.S. Open, with Sister Serena, and one win away from queen bee status (temporarily anyway). That skinny but beloved figure, No. 1, is at stake today.
September 05 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – The Busher went home with $ 160,000, a surge in his world ranking and a newfound reputation as the De-luxembourger.
Empire State Building from 34th Street. The architect, William Lamb, was inspired by the sleek shape of a pencil in designing the Empire State
Building. Construction began March 17, 1930 and was pretty well finished by November 13, 1930. Including excavation, the ESB took one year and 45 days to build. Including the 103 floors and the 204' antenna, the height of the building is 1,454.'
Everybody at the U.S. Open was glad for the big man from the little country. Six-foot-6 Gilles Muller, on a left-winged serve and a prayer, had bombed his way through a string of upsets, including No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, and as a kind of serf – a qualifier ranked No. 130 – arrived among the nobility, the last eight.
Roger Federer was there Thursday to greet him with, “The luck stops here!” But, pumping his ranking up to No. 65, Muller won’t have to creep back down to the bush leagues for a while.
The folks were also glad for Federer’s 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), decision, his 32nd straight at Flushing Meadow, because he is one of the most popular tennis players ever to work this town, regardless of his alien status.
There are Swiss watches, bank accounts, chocolates, Alps and cheeses – but there is only one Roger Federer. Quality all the way. A modest but straightforward champion who has made the game look so smooth and effortless.
But his countless devotees are worried about him, too. He isn’t the same player who walked way from the Billie Jean King Center a year ago hugging his fourth trophy. A step slower, not as sure on his strokes and his serve that used to hit the corners and lines with greater regularity. Not finished as a great by any means at 27, but it will be very hard for him to win more majors.
Is he bothered by traces of the mononucleosis? If so he wouldn’t tell you. But he has made difficult work of No. 28 Radek Stepanek, No. 23 Igor Andreev and Muller.
September 04 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – Waiting for Fred (or a reasonable facsimile). That’s been the turgid status of the British sporting crowd for — let’s see? – 72 years. Yearning for another Fred Perry. Such are in very short supply.
Times Square
Although the Brits invented tennis as we know it, they haven’t been able to play the game for decades. The guys anyway. I mustn’t slight the gracious and graceful Virginia Wade, winner of the inaugural U.S. Open in 1968, and Wimbledon in 1977.
However, the most recent male Brit to win a major was the English-born Hall of Famer Fred Perry, taking both Wimbledon and the U.S. in 1936. Those were Great Depression days, and the tennis-minded Limeys have been depressed ever since.
September 03 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – People say, “Thank you!”
Reunion with Barry Lorge's family in front of Lusardi's in New York City, Katie, Bud, Claudia and Joseph.
Elena Dementieva doesn’t know them. They are strangers, but they know her: Olympic gold medalist in tennis. She encountered them during the one day she had at home, Moscow, on the way to Flushing Meadow from Beijing.
“You know, when you win a tournament, or a big match, people will say, congratulations, or well done,” says the tall, charming Russian blonde who has bashed her way into the U.S. Open semifinals for a third time. “But the Olympics is different. They are thanking you for doing something for our country. It feels very nice.
September 02 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
NEW YORK – Was it a birthday present for his father? Maybe a wedding gift for the lady he will marry later this month? Both of them were hanging on Mardy Fish’s every move below in the paved pit called Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Roger Federer in a press conference
More likely it was a “Happy Quarter-finals to Me!” party that he was throwing for himself at the sunny, breezy US Open yesterday. Mardy Fish is an amiable 26-year-old Floridian whose name comes up now and then, and you think he’s going to take off. But he doesn ‘t. He beat Roger Federer at Indian Wells and reached the final in March, and has been given Davis Cup chances that failed. Three years ago he tumbled to No. 227 – “I just couldn’t play” — but he had been a silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics.
September 01 2008 | US Open | No Comments »
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