RealClearSports: Greatness on a Monday Night

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It was Jimmy Cannon who wrote that it all comes down to man being great at something. He was referring specifically to Joe Namath, but the words are inclusive in sports, and the idea must be expanded to include women.

In the end, after the scandals and the embarrassments, the games and those who play them at the highest levels are what keep us from turning away, from giving up. We’re stubborn and maybe stupid. We’re also dreamers.

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© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Serena Makes a Mess of Everything

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEW YORK – She was outplayed, and Serena Williams came close to making that concession in as many words. So in a way the other words, including the pointed, bitter ones she spewed at the chair umpire during the match, could be considered incidental.

Except nothing Serena does, from the way she sports those shredded shoulder T-shirts after matches to the manner she avoids direct answers to most questions is incidental.



Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: In the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11, we've grown stronger

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It was supposed to be the men’s singles final today, but fate and the weather have upset the schedule. On this painful anniversary, on a court in a complex only a few miles from ground zero, it will be the ladies who take the stage at the U.S. Open.

Aside the Long Island Expressway from Manhattan to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a route contestants, officials and media travel, there is a billboard with only three words: “Honor. Remember. Unite.”



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Roddick Takes Step Down in Venue, Steps Up His Play

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEW YORK — When you're used to the red carpet, what happens when you have to get your feet wet?



Symbolism is as much a part of sport as everything else in life, or, to borrow that military reminder, rank has its privileges. Tennis, it follows, has its courts.

The stars get the best venues, which they expect ...

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© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: The (Too) Long Nights at the Open

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

NEW YORK – “In a real dark night of the soul, it’s always 3 o’clock in the morning.” That’s from F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it came to mind during a changeover and between yawns as Roger Federer battled Juan Monaco.



New York is the city that never sleeps. Nobody wrote it’s the city where it never rains, because Tuesday the U.S. Open Tennis Championships were washed out and there was no play. Well, there was, for 1 hour, 12 minutes.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011