Surprises and upsets are the normal fare at sporting events, but do they determine outcomes? Usually not: this year’s French Open, which concluded yesterday, pitted the no.’s 1 and 2 seeds against each other in both the women’s and men’s…
New Jersey’s own Tommy Paul and Maryland’s own Frances Tiafoe made it into the second week, and thus the quarter-finals, of the French Open. This is good news for American tennis, considering no American man since Andre Agassi in 1999…
The French at Wimbledon Were you to ask anyone at SW 19 when was the last time a Frenchman won the All-England Championships at Wimbledon, classiest tournament in tennis, you would get a blank stare. Without a copy of Bud…
The way Novak Djokovic won that first set with an unreachable diagonal forehand was not quite representative of the competitive level at that point. It was a tiebreak, meaning the two seeds had stayed close all the way, including some…
We were discussing some of the finer aspects of Frances Tiafoe’s game when we got the word that a member of our informal Maury Wills Athletic & Social Club, aka the East Side Racquets, which meets on the courts near…
The two toughest matches for Rafael Nadal at this year’s French Open, which ended yesterday, were the quarters against his rival Novak Djokovic and the semis against the young challenger Alexander Zverev. Djokovic was the defending champion, having beat Nadal…
We should get a time violation on this, but The American Spectator’s French Open coverage, such as it has been from afar, would be remiss if it didn’t take note of Barbora Krejčíková’s astonishing achievement in taking both the singles…
The question was which of the young guys would challenge which of the old guys. It would not be the old guys batting down the young guys and then settling the matter between them. This time they allowed as how…
In many respects all is well that ends well in the world of professional tennis. The French Open, formally the Internationaux de France, played on the west side neighborhood near the Stade Français, a major football (soccer) venue, continues under…
