Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.
Commenting on our U.S. Open coverage, a reader observes that a penalty is not the same as a warning during match play and we spun the beginning of the drama in the women’s final, when the queen of Queens — six-time winner Serena Williams — scolded umpire Carlos Ramos for enforcing the rules and turned […]
In a major boost for American tennis in the year’s last Grand Slam, it was Yankee Doodle Dandy in the three doubles draws. Mike Bryan won in the men’s doubles, ably aided by Jack Sock standing in for injured brother Bob. This makes it two Slams in a row for the team that also won […]
The United States Tennis Association, owner of the U.S. Open, held at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona, by tradition honors our servicemen on the tournament’s second Monday, Labor Day with a ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Ashe himself needs no special day of remembrance, but the rest of us do: a […]
John Isner cannot wait to be a first-time father, and claims that if his wife Madison McKinley goes into labor before the baby’s due date, September 22, he’s outta here. This might be a shame for American men’s tennis, because with his admirable five-set win over Milos Raonic on Sunday, Isner is the only American […]
What you have to do against Frances Tiafoe is stand your ground. He is going to hit hard, and then harder. But he has learned a lot of strategy since exploding out of the juniors, and he can do much besides aim for the lines if necessary — move to the net, endure the long […]
Temperatures stayed high at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y., upper 90s on the grounds and well over that on the courts. The newly rebuilt Armstrong Stadium, like Ashe Stadium, gets quite uncomfortable in these conditions because of their retractable roofs. These are marvelous feats of engineering, and of course they serve […]
Fast, with a good eye, a classic left-handed sweep, and equal facility from either wing, Adrian Mannarino is a tough competitor of the old school, whose dictum is “Be sure yours is the last ball to go over the net.” René Lacoste, who subverted Bill Tilden’s dominance of the sport in the 1920s, was the […]
Andrey Rublev, who looks rather like a handsome ruthless Soviet commissar preparing the assassination of a Spanish anarchist in Barcelona, c. 1937, as described in a novel by Alan Furst, stares across the net as a hawk would a sparrow. The sparrow in question, however, is Alex de Minaur, the hottest thing in teenage tennis […]
Andy Murray stayed calm. Despite a spectacular display of talent, Mackenzie McDonald was unable to fluster three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, who rallied from a set down to prevail in the wee hours and advance to the second round at Washington’s legendary summer tennis tournament. But you have to give credit to the UCLA […]
French police searched the domicile of Alexandre Benalla the other day, and the question is whether they found anything to embarrass his former employer, the president of France. Until a few days ago Mr. Benalla worked under Patrick Strzoda, President Emmanuel Macron’s directeur de cabinet, a high-level job somewhat akin to top secretary, which among […]
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