\u2022 RIP Tad Taube<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Onward \u2026<\/p>\n
Reviewing post-event coverage by mainstream outlets, the story of the President\u2019s attendance at the U.S. Open was distilled down to \u201cTrump\u2019s attendance caused security line snafus and loud boos from the crowd.\u201d Videos and commentary posted on social media were less restrained. But the U.S. broadcasters\u2014and the USTA in their preemptive attempt at censoring\u2014seemed to think the best path was to pretend it wasn\u2019t happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a parallel with U.S. coverage of Spain\u2019s professional bicycle stage race happening now (La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a) in which athletic results have been directly affected by pro-Palestine protests. This has been a major news story in the European and UK press and on the Spanish network covering the race, RTVE. In the U.S., the coverage has been provided by NBC\u2019s Peacock (with analysts working remotely from a feed). Like ESPN, they seem to consider it their job to give no media attention to the protestors, not even mentioning what they were protesting about. In my view, sports journalists can and should cover how politics are affecting events, and this can be done without taking sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara, Lexington MA<\/p>\n
\u2022 Before this weekend, I was not familiar with the Spanish bike race controversy<\/a> you referenced. I am now learning about it. Thanks for pointing that out. <\/p>\n As for the USTA debacle, someone made an adjacent point to me that networks are encouraged not to show streakers on the field or fans holding obscene signs. Fair enough. But there\u2019s a world of difference between withholding attention from disruptive fans interrupting play and shielding the public from ticket-paying fans responding to the most powerful person in the world who is in attendance.<\/p>\n We all exist in our silos, and\u2014no news flash\u2014these are polarized times. But it\u2019s hardly a divisive political statement to say that censorship is bad, anti-democratic and anti-American. All the more so when the organization attempting said censorship has \u201cU.S\u201d as the first two letters of its name. (All the more so when the White House denies<\/a> that it issued the request.)<\/p>\n Again, the USTA was put in an unenviable position last week. President Trump came as a guest of a sponsor, not the tournament itself. There was little advance notice. The Secret Service had to coordinate on the fly with tournament security, etc. The long lines and the hassle ahead of the men\u2019s final are a by-product of visits by heads of state. (I write this on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly week in Manhattan.) And, if we\u2019re being honest, the USTA, not unreasonably, does not want to cloud its relationship with the federal government with potentially unflattering coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that \u201cpreemptive attempt at censoring,\u201d as the reader correctly puts it, was as cowardly as it was abhorrent. Rightly, it has been roundly criticized by legal groups<\/a> on both the left and right, in the U.S. and internationally<\/a>, on social media and on podcasts<\/a>, by prominent figures and ordinary fans alike. It made for\u2014far and away\u2014the biggest blast of negative publicity the USTA received during the U.S. Open. Worse, it undercuts the credibility of the USTA and its flowery messages of welcoming and transparency. (Spare us the next \u201ctennis is so accessible\u201d PSA, as you\u2014in writing!\u2014attempt to silence and cut off access.)\u00a0<\/p>\n And it was all so avoidable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jon, I know Laver Cup is coming up in San Francisco. I think you addressed this before [but] wouldn\u2019t Laver Cup be even better if there were women playing? Why not put Coco [Gauff] and [Aryna] Sabalenka and others in there?!<\/p>\n Todd D.<\/p>\n \u2022 First, yes, the Laver Cup is upon us. From the unseemly promotion departments, Served<\/a> will be there. So will Tennis Channel. Check your local listing.<\/p>\n As for your question, I\u2019ll bite. This issue arises every year, and here\u2019s where I stand. Would it add to the celebration of tennis and its lineage if there were a women\u2019s component and Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf were toasted alongside John McEnroe, Bj\u00f6rn Borg and Andre Agassi? Sure. For the sake of competitive balance, would it help if any\/all of the four (!) Americans in the top 10\u2014in addition to Naomi Osaka, Qinwen Zheng, Victoria Mboko, etc.\u2014could compete for Team World? Absolutely.<\/p>\n But why is this incumbent on the Laver Cup? If there\u2019s a business case to be made for adding women, someone should make it. If it\u2019s a matter of funding, make the pitch. Lots of private equity firms want to increase their sports exposure. There are plenty of sources of financing. Either an investor will stage a Laver Cup for women, or perhaps, will make deal terms agreeable to Roger Federer & Co. But frame this as an economic win-win, not as philanthropy or some sort of obligation.<\/p>\n Yannick Noah will serve as the Team Europe captain, and Andre Agassi will serve as the Team World captain at the 2025 Laver Cup. \/ Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Hey Jon,<\/p>\n Great work during the past fortnight (& a half!). Gotta disagree w\/ the call to stop the net-cord apologies. I don’t think it should be expected by opponents, but it’s a classy move to acknowledge a point wasn\u2019t entirely earned. Players also do it for mishits. BTW, I think another feather in tennis\u2019s cap is winning players applauding their opponents as they leave the court. I\u2019m sure there may be players who do it for PR reasons, but if nothing else it\u2019s a nice look for the sport & something you don\u2019t often see elsewhere. Hope you get some well deserved rest after the U.S. Open marathon. <\/p>\n Thank you, \u2022 I\u2019m totally down with players racket-clapping or otherwise acknowledging their opponents\u2019 insane winners. As for apologies for lucky net-cords, I suppose context matters. Some net-cord winners are luckier than others. A bit of luck at 5\u20131 is different from a bit of luck at 4\u20134.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the idea that players are duty-bound to apologize for good fortune? No! These are athletes in heated competition, not buddies at the $10 blackjack table.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seeing-eye singles. Shooter\u2019s bounce. Double doinks. There are terms for luck in other sports. The idea that these athletes, blessed with good fortune from the sports fates, stop playing and apologize? Absurd. Why should tennis be any different?\u00a0<\/p>\n Something to watch: If we do away with lets on serves, doesn\u2019t this create an opportunity to do away with the faux-apologies as well? Or will servers whose offerings clip the tape, dribble over, and win the point with a cheap ace be expected to raise a hand in insincere apology, lest they incur Ostapenko-ian wrath?<\/p>\n \ufeffHey Jon, Hope you are doing well. Sharing a mailbag takeaway submission for you to consider this week about Davis Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n This past weekend, I attended my first Davis Cup tie since 2009 and was thrilled to see Rajeev Ram finally get the Davis Cup moment he deserved. Team USA ultimately came up short, but Rajeev, Austin Krajicek and doubles stole the show with a dramatic three-set win, which felt like vindication for Rajeev given his surprisingly complicated Davis Cup doubles history.<\/p>\n I then learned that Rajeev has a 12\u20133 (80%) record in Davis Cup doubles over the last five years since his debut in 2021, going 4\u20131 with Jack Sock and 8\u20132 with Krajicek. He\u2019s also traveled to every away tie when given the opportunity, from Uzbekistan and Lithuania to China and Chinese Taipei. This speaks volumes about someone who has reliably showed up (and won) whenever he gets the call.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a shame that his Davis Cup success and loyalty has been overshadowed by a few bad lineup decisions from each of his captains. Cheers to Rajeev, Austin and doubles for finally getting their moment on home soil. I wrote more about it<\/a> after covering the event this weekend for Tennis Tribe. Many thanks and keep up the great work at Served and SI.<\/p>\n Hanlon Walsh<\/p>\n \u2022 Well put. Thanks for sending that on.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hi Jon, I really enjoy your tennis coverage. I understand, for obvious reasons, that the U.S. Open likes the two-week period with the Labor Day weekend being the middle weekend and that the ratings this year, particularly for the women\u2019s and men\u2019s finals, were really good. That said, it seems like every year that the tournament loses momentum at the end of it, starting with the women\u2019s semifinals on Thursday night, which is always head-to-head with the opening night of the NFL season. Then, the women\u2019s and men\u2019s finals are during the middle of the day (never optimal for ratings) on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, up against college football and the opening Sunday of the NFL season. Has the USTA had discussions about adjusting the calendar to maximize ratings?\u00a0<\/p>\n Thanks, Charles <\/p>\n \u2022 It\u2019s just so hard, given the tennis calendar and the difficulty\u2014both legal and institutional\u2014in changing dates. I agree that it is suboptimal to hold the finals during the first week of the NFL regular season. But it\u2019s hard to find a realistic alternative. And the ratings seemed to hold up awfully well. <\/p>\n A different point\u2014and less of a complaint than an observation: The changing metabolism of majors always strikes me. The first two rounds are sheer chaos. Even those of us paid to do so can scarcely keep up with all the results. (Wait, Karen Khachanov lost?) The pace slows a bit over the weekend, but doubles kick in, and the crowds swell. <\/p>\n Then, Monday and Tuesday roll around and, whoa, it\u2019s like a beach town after Labor Day. Tennis tumbleweeds. Where is everyone? Where are all the matches? Where\u2019s the energy? The outer courts are closed. Even the big courts are used mostly for doubles and juniors. The chaos is over, and fans might only see a few singles matches the entire day.<\/p>\n (Pause here to note the U.S. Open women\u2019s semifinals on the second Thursday night\u2014in contrast to the Thursday day session\u2014is, reliably, awesome.)<\/p>\n Then, the finals are held, history is at stake, the trophies get wheeled out, the celebs (and, on occasion, the President) arrive and the energy is back for the major\u2019s culmination.<\/p>\n Hi Jon,<\/p>\n I don\u2019t write in much, but I\u2019ve been reading your column literally since Day 1. I like how most commentators and journalists are trying to learn the correct pronunciations and spellings of players\u2019 names. However, why doesn\u2019t it go across the board? I like seeing Iga \u015awi\u0105tek and Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 spelled with all the right diacritics but why don\u2019t they write and pronounce Felix, as in Felix Auger-Aliassime, as F\u00e9lix. You were guilty of this in your last mailbag. He is French-Canadian; French is his first language. I think we owe him that respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff Butt \u2022 To the charges enumerated, I plead guilty. I try to bake in the diacritics into the spell check. Hence \u201cSwiatek,\u201d for instance, automatically becomes \u201c\u015awi\u0105tek.\u201d But that clearly did not happen. As for pronunciation, here\u2019s F\u00e9lix to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indulge this slight pet peeve, and preempting the obvious response, yes, the correct answer is it\u2019s not an either\/or. However, I\u2019ve heard commentators\u2014former players in particular\u2014make astute and insightful points about players. Then, fans negate the points because the commentator happens to have pronounced \u201cMoutet,\u201d \u201cKhachanov,\u201d or \u201cPavlyuchenkova\u201d incorrectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s an international sport. We\u2019re all trying our best here. In Paris, \u201cVenus Williams\u201d is \u201cVen-oos Wee-yams\u201d (two syllables). In Australia, she is VAY-nuss. In Germany, the British grass court major is \u201cPFVim-PEL-tun.\u201d A little grace goes a long way, especially when indignation over pronunciation comes at the expense of the actual points being expressed.<\/p>\n @jon_wertheim will [twist] himself into a pretzel before he mentions Casper Ruud\u2019s name! Truth is the mixed event was a dud until Iga [\u015awi\u0105tek] and Casper [Ruud] made it interesting! But Jon Wertheim will never admit that!<\/p>\n Wolf Austad<\/p>\n \u2022 Busted. The flagrant anti-Ruud bias resurfaces again! (That was a joke. Ruud is arrowing toward the Patrick Rafter\/Kim Clijsters\/Gustavo Kuerten\/Ons Jabeur category of universal affection. If you don\u2019t like him, consult a mirror, because the problem is you.)\u00a0<\/p>\n A) About mixed doubles, full credit to Ruud and, maybe more so, his partner, who won the Cincinnati title in singles and then played mixed doubles at the U.S. Open the next day. (Imagine how fast she must have been driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.)<\/p>\n B) Forgive me if we spent more time and space talking about the winners than the runners-up.<\/p>\n C) A number of you wrote about this last month, and I punted. But now that you have successfully goaded me: In the spirit of fairness, let\u2019s acknowledge that, at best, out of character, Ruud and \u015awi\u0105tek were chatting among themselves on stage<\/a> while the winners were giving their victory speech. (I was told they were talking about tactics and missed opportunities\u2014a glimpse into how invested they were in the match. And these are two excellent tennis citizens overall. But still.)<\/p>\n D) Realistically, both Ruud and \u015awi\u0105tek are not going to play more doubles during the season, but they were both excellent. And if they resumed their partnership at the next major, that would be swell.<\/p>\n \u2022 Patrick McEnroe and Michael Kosta make for a winning team:<\/p>\n \u2022 I hope this scans as neither braggy nor humble-braggy. This speaks far more to the subject \u2014her courage, candor, and the appeal of her story\u2014than anything else. But the CBS Sunday Morning piece on Daria Kasatkina<\/a> won an Excellence in Journalism Award for 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n More Tennis on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n
Troy<\/p>\n
St John\u2019s, Canada<\/p>\n