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:  Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images. — : Hot, hot, hot Stefanos Tsitsipas – who became the youngest man to beat four top 10 players in a row earlier this summer at the Canadian Open – lost to the heat and Daniil Medvedev Wednesday at the US Open. Photograph by Getty Images.

The heat is on at the US Open

August 29, 2018

The US Open – the last of the Grand Slam tournaments, celebrating its golden jubilee this season – is one of sports’ greatest events and one of its most challenging.

For fans, that is due in part to the difficulty in getting into the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens. Then once inside, members of the New York City Police Department, along with the Open’s security and ushers, have a poor sense of what’s where. (We ourselves were dropped off on Northern Boulevard, which we surmised correctly would be the shortest walk to the Media Center.)

So unless you have the directional skills of a Lewis and Clark, it can be tough going. Equally daunting for fans but especially the players this year has been the soaring heat and humidity….

An illustration from the poem "Guy u Chawgan" ("The Ball and the Polo-mallet"), an illuminated manuscript in the collection of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, conveys the ancient Persian origins of polo as an ex… — An illustration from the poem "Guy u Chawgan" ("The Ball and the Polo-mallet"), an illuminated manuscript in the collection of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, conveys the ancient Persian origins of polo as an exercise for the imperial cavalry.

The Other Open

August 26, 2018

If you are a reader of this blog, then you know that I am writing a series of novels called "The Games Men Play" and set in the worlds of swimming, tennis and football. The first two, "Water Music" and "The Penalty for Holding," are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The third will explore the equestrian worlds of show jumping, polo and Thoroughbred racing. It's a tale of bloodlines and bloodlust set amid rival equestrian families and told in part from the viewpoint of a colt that is trying to become the first since Whirlaway to win the Triple Crown and the Travers Stakes.

With this in mind, I thought you'd enjoy a repost from WAG Weekly, the e-newsletter that's part of my editing day job, about the other Open starting today in the New York metro area….

The trophies from the US Open's men's and women's singles championships gleam against the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan. Tim Camuso/USTA

(US)Open season

August 24, 2018

The US Open begins officially Monday, Aug. 27, and unofficially Saturday, Aug. 25 when the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park hosts Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day….

Some members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison. — Some members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison.

Talking 'Turkey' about NFL protests

August 12, 2018

Wildfires still burning out of control in California. Some border babies still not reunited with their parents. Markets reeling from Turkey’s plummeting economy, pushed further down by Trumpian tariffs.

But thank God President Donald J. Trumpet has made us safe from kneeling NFL players….

Aaron Rodgers, seen here in action against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 19, 2014, is one of the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump's criticism of LeBron James. He thinks we should take a stoic approach. But should we? Photograph … — Aaron Rodgers, seen here in action against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 19, 2014, is one of the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump's criticism of LeBron James. He thinks we should take a stoic approach. But should we? Photograph by Mike Morebeck.

Trump, LeBron James and free speech

August 9, 2018

Aaron Rodgers is among the latest people to respond to President Donald J. Trump’s criticism of LeBron James. Rodgers thinks we should take a stoic approach to Trumpian attacks. But should we?….

Il Sodoma's "Marriage of Alexander and Roxane" (1517), a fresco in the Villa Farnesina. Alexander and Roxane figure in Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," a cautionary tale about demagoguery.

The battle for narrative in the age of Trump

July 28, 2018

Donald Trump controls the national narrative. Instead of complaining about it, his critics need to ask this salient question: How are they to wrest control of it from him?…

An inspiring event with Billie Jean King

April 5, 2018

Here I am with (left to right) judge and journalist Lisa Wexler, tennis legend Billie Jean King and WAG society editor Robin Costello at a benefit for Fairfield County’s Community Foundation: The Fund for Women & Girls at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich earlier today. The Foundation, which empowers underserved girls and women to do everything from leaving abusive relationships to starting businesses, raised a projected $110,000 — $10,000 from King herself. She is like that ...

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