Stan Wawrinka and the court of Mercury

July 22, 2015

French Open champ Stan Wawrinka is among those going au naturel for ESPN’s 2015 Body Issue.

“My body is for my tennis, it's for my sport,” the man they call “Stanimal” told the mag. “I'm not a model at all. I don't work out to go to the beach, I work out to play well and to do well on the court.”

Precisely. We each have the body we need for our work. That doesn’t mean we should abuse it. But that idea should disabuse of the need for a cookie-cutter look. We can’t all be models, nor do we all want to be ...

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Whither Rafael Nadal?

July 5, 2015

Another Wimbledon, another Rafael Nadal loss in the early rounds to a low-ranked serve-and-volleyer who’s destined to be a trivia answer in the Who did Rafa lose to? category. Dustin Brown this year, Nick Kyrgios the year before, Steve Darcis the year before that and Lukas Rosol the year before that. Except for Kyrgios, who has a mouth on him, none of these players is ever going to be a champ.

But Rafa is – was. What has happened to him? Is it age? (He’s 29 but then, Roger Federer’s 33.) His very physical game? A new racket? Loss of confidence and his famous mental toughness? All of the above? ...

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The New York Times’ Fed love

June 29, 2015

What’s with The New York Times’ love affair with Roger Federer?

“Against the odds, Federer bids for an eighth Wimbledon title,” the paper noted in a headline on the eve of Wimbledon’s opening. The article was accompanied by a photograph of Feddy winning in 2007. For the Grey Lady, time stopped in 2007. Honestly, it’s as if The Times were Anna Wintour.

Unfortunately, for Fed, The Times and Anna, along came Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who proved to be Fed’s real rivals, not merely his opponents. In a sense, however, they came along too late. ...

Five questions for the men as Wimbledon gets set to begin

June 28, 2015

Can Novak Djokovic overcome the devastation of losing to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final and defend his Wimbledon title? He is said not to be one to dwell on loss. Still, this one had to sting like no other. Can he put aside that sting as he did when he lost to Roger Federer in the French semifinals in 2011 then went on to win Wimbledon and the No. 1 ranking?
Speaking of Fed, can he summon his glory days to win his 18th Slam?
Can Rafael Nadal – who won one grass tournament and lost early in another recently – regain the form that made his Wimbledon matches with Fed so memorable? ...

Tennis, everyone

June 26, 2015

Just in time for Wimbledon (June 29 through July 12), teNeues offers “The Stylish Life: Tennis,” a new coffee table book that ranges over the art, fashion and personalities of the modern game that began in the late 19th century. It’s a book that had me at the back cover.

The photograph (also reproduced opposite the Table of Contents) depicts the green tennis courts of Italy’s Il San Pietro di Positano resort spilling onto the jagged, pristine blue Amalfi Coast. That photograph and the reproduction of a Roger Broders poster circa 1930, with its clay courts tumbling onto a periwinkle Mediterranean Sea in Monte Carlo, are precisely what I imagined in “Water Music,” my debut novel, when my athlete-heroes vacation on the island of Mykonos. ...

American Pharoah among ESPY nominees

June 25, 2015

Kudos to Novak Djokovic, Aaron Rodgers and American Pharoah, all among the nominees for ESPYS (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly).

AP got the nod in the Best Championship Performance category, along with San Francisco Giants’ ace (and World Series star) Madison Bumgarner, Florida Softball’s Lauren Haeger and LeBron James. No word yet on whether the Pharoah will attend, although his jockey and fellow nominee Victor Espinoza will no doubt be there.

Nole got two noms – Best International Athlete along with Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton, the LPGA’s Lydia Ko and soccer’s Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo; and Best Male Tennis Player, along with Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic. Aaron was also a double nominees as Best NFL Player (along with Tom Brady, Antonio Brown, DeMarco Murray and JJ Watt) and Best Male Athlete, with Watt again, James and Stephen Curry. ...

Top ten reasons why American Pharoah is one athlete who will never disappoint

June 13, 2015

Number 10: No fizzing out in the French Open finals. (Sorry, Novak Djokovic.)
Number 9: No flaming out in the quarterfinals. (Sorry, Rafael Nadal.)
Number 8: No meltdown over blisters, stray feathers, etc. (Sorry, Andy Murray.)
Number 7: No loud plaid shorts. (Sorry, Stan Wawrinka.)
Number 6: No left-handed compliments to rivals. (Sorry, Roger Federer.)
Number 5: No steroids. (Sorry, Major League Baseball.) ...