RealClearSports: Emotional Serena Finds Way to Persevere

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

WIMBLEDON, England — She proved she could. That's how Serena Williams viewed the win she got in the match she almost didn't play. The match that indicated she's as good as always.

The match that showed she can be as emotional as ever.

It's wrong for young people, and at 29 Serena still is young ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

Newsday (N.Y.): Isner wins Wimbledon rematch with Mahut

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England -- This time, it was just a tennis match, not a marathon. Wimbledon won't be putting up a plaque for John Isner-Nicolas Mahut II as was the case for their historic and extended meeting last year, and Isner, for one, is pleased.

The 6-9 Isner needed only 2 hours, 3 minutes to beat Mahut, a Frenchman, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (6), Tuesday. Or 9 hours, 2 minutes earlier than in 2010.

That match started on Tuesday and finished Thursday, Isner taking the fifth set, 70-68. A plaque on the wall of Court 18 notes the time and games.

The sequel was played on the newly remodeled Court 3, after three other matches, and started around 6:30 p.m. There are no lights on the outside courts at Wimbledon.

"Chances are if I don't win the third set," Isner said, "we're not going to finish the match and we're talking about a second day."

When an announcer from the BBC asked if that would have brought back good memories, Isner said: "I don't think good memories, long memories. I'm glad they put us on Court 3. I don't think they want to tarnish the legacy of Court 18."

Isner, worn down in that 11-hour spectacle, had no chance against the Netherlands' Thiemo de Bakker the next day, losing, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.

"It was a huge relief to put this one behind me," Isner said of the 2011 match. "I was a lot fresher. I was sort of lucky. His knee was bothering him."

Isner is known for his big serve, but he and Mahut each ended up with eight aces.

"Obviously, you want to be through to the next round," said Isner, who is No. 47 in the ATP rankings. "It's a nice feeling. Unlike last year, I don't have to sleep on this year's match."

Asked how he would compare the two, Isner, 26, said: "Nothing is going to live up to that match. Conditions were probably a little slower this time. I came out a little tight. I haven't played a grass-court match in a full year."

At the end, Isner leaned over the net and gave Mahut a hug.

"It was tough when someone had to lose the match last year,'' Isner said. "This time, he had nothing to hang his head about. One thing: I definitely don't want to play him in the first round again."

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/tennis/isner-wins-wimbledon-rematch-with-mahut-1.2974200
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Serena cries after Wimbledon 1st-round win

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — She hit the winning shot, and then the moment hit Serena Williams. Sitting courtside, she cried and cried and cried.

She was back where she wanted to be, defending her Wimbledon championships of the past two years. Back where she feared she might never be.

Williams completed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Aravane Rezai of France in her return Tuesday to the All England Club, virtually her return to tennis.

It was only her third match, all within the past week, after what Williams called "a disaster year," in which she missed nearly a year because of a severely cut foot, blood clots in her lungs that she said were life-threatening and a hematoma that had to be removed surgically.

"It definitely was so emotional for me," said Serena, at 29 the younger of the two sisters who have dominated the women's game for a decade. Serena has four Wimbledon singles titles, Venus, 31, has five. "You know throughout the last 12 months, I've been through a lot of things that's not normal. So it's been a long, arduous road. To stand up still is pretty awesome."

Williams, who is the seventh seed for this year's tournament, lost the first two games to the 24-year-old Rezai but won the next five. Asked if she were nervous before her first Grand Slam competition since beating Vera Zvonareva in last year's Wimbledon final, Williams said: "No. It was a little bit of not playing. I think I got a little tight. Not necessarily nervous."

Williams said Sunday that she injects herself with a drug called Lovenox, which combats deep vein thrombosis, before flying. She said she also has to wear "socks that aren't very attractive."

The experiences, stepping on a glass in Berlin a few days after her 2010 Wimbledon victory, and the medical diagnoses have changed Williams' perspective.

"I just learned you can never take any moment for granted," she said. "I've been doing so much just to try to appreciate every moment. When things happen, you appreciate people that are around you or may not be around. It's eye-opening as well as it makes you tougher."

Serena has won each of the four majors and a total of 13 majors overall.

"I'm hoping to play better," she said of her opener. "Now I feel like I can take a deep breath. I've been practicing better than I played today, so hopefully, I can get back to doing the right thing."

With no tears.

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/tennis/serena-cries-after-wimbledon-1st-round-win-1.2973636
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: San Francisco Giants mired in offensive slump

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

This isn’t a June Swoon, it’s an “Oh gawd, how do we get back to last October?”

It’s a season of Murphy’s Law baseball, with the people who aren’t getting injured unable to get out of slumps.

“It’s going to have to pick up,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We know it.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: New star McIlroy emerges in time for 2012 Open in SF

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

This Open is closed, shut tight, impenetrably by the new genius of a golfer, Rory McIlroy. Record numbers, remarkable play. And now the focus shifts to the West, to San Francisco, to the Olympic Club, where America’s golfing championship will be on display next year.


Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: McIlroy One 'Tough Guy' in Easy Open

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

BETHESDA, Md. — Over the hill at Capitol Hill the Senate was voting to reject the $6 billion credit to ethanol producers. Business as usual. Out on the course, Rory McIlroy was taking the lead in another major. Golf as usual.

There was a story in the New York Times that the pols, from President Obama to Speaker of the House Boehner will not be attending the U.S Open here at inappropriately named Congressional Country Club. "These days they would just as soon not be associated with the game of golf,'' said a long-time lobbyist.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Tiger's out of sight, but never out of mind at U.S. Open

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

What do you think Tiger Woods was doing Thursday? Possibly watching the U.S. Open as many others were, knowing he should have been playing, and would have been playing, were it not for that knee injury?

Was he sprawled on the couch, grabbing a potato chip or a Gatorade when he might have been grabbing a wedge?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: It's all about survival at the US Open

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

In the mind’s eye, there’s Payne Stewart standing in disbelief on the severely sloped 18th green at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, his 8-foot birdie putt attempt rolling 25 feet below the hole. Ah yes, the U.S. Open, agony and very little ecstasy.

That was then — and might be again next year when the Open returns to Olympic — but this is now, the 2011 Open at Congressional Country Club in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. The bewilderment and suffering are much the same.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Maybe It's Phil's Time, Maybe Never

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

BETHESDA, Md. — This is what you like about Phil Mickelson, a golfer never afraid to go after a tough question or a difficult hole: While others choose to revel in what he hasn't accomplished, Phil has found satisfaction in what he has.

Let's agree on this. In America, except to the cognoscenti, only two players truly matter, Tiger Woods and Mickelson. And with Tiger not at this 111th U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in the leafy suburbs of Washington, D.C., Phil finds himself a majority of one.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: San Francisco Giants find a way to persevere

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

“You move on because you have to.”

Bruce Bochy, the philosopher, said that Saturday. And later, when the Giants were smacked around by the Cincinnati Reds 10-2, you sensed the only place they were moving was down.

It was so bad ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Finals Are LeBron's Morality Play

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It has gone from a sporting event to a morality play. Or maybe since last summer it always has been one.

We're not thinking of basketball in June, which is what should be the focus. We're trapped in a time warp. We're still caught up in that announcement last July. We'll never forgive LeBron James.

He did what was right, joining a team ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Scrappy Giants getting by with what they've got

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

A veritable laugher by those offensively challenged Giants. A win with only a few grimaces. A win manager Bruce Bochy said was “important.” A win without anybody in the lineup batting higher than .290. A win because of that old, reliable pitching.

Every day is a party at AT&T Park, where the stands are full — Wednesday was the 27th consecutive sellout of 2011 — the games are torture and the town’s team is almost immune to the consequences.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Only Uncertainty in Tiger's Future

in ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

The contradictory words are employed too often in sports, disappointment and hope. Words at the essence of the games we play. Words from Tiger Woods, unable to compete in next week's U.S. Open.

Words which make us think about a future more questionable by the day.

We've heard the phrase, mostly in football where ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

Global Golf Post: The 5 Greatest U.S. Open Championships: #2 - Stories Behind the Story

in ,
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

Oh, yes, the tale of Francis Ouimet and the U.S. Open, as well-chronicled as the story of that other historic event in the environs of old Boston town, the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

Breathes there a golfer not familiar with Ouimet and his wisp of a caddy, Eddie Lowery, and what they accomplished in 1913 at The Country Club?

What we know about Ouimet ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Global Golf Post: Watson To Be Honored At 2012 Memorial

in ,




By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

DUBLIN, OHIO — Tom Watson was announced Sunday by the Captains Club as the honoree of the 2012 Memorial Tournament.

Watson won eight majors, including five British Opens, and is no less famous for losing a playoff in the British Open two years ago at age 59.

He follows Nancy Lopez, the 2011 honoree ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post


Global Golf Post: Who, What, When, Where and How Many

in ,
By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

DUBLIN, OHIO — It was the belief of my first boss, a gentle soul named Alex Kahn, sports editor of the Los Angeles bureau of the late, kind-of-great news service UPI, the writer is never the story. And don't forget that.

Sonny Liston might be the story, or Sandy Koufax, or in later years Joe Montana, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods. Not the person typing the words about them. Even now there remains a personal discomfort in ruminating about personal achievements.

But you stay around long enough ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Stricker eagles keep Memorial lead

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Steve Stricker had another one of those "how did that happen,'' afternoons Saturday for a second  straight round in the Memorial Tournament, Jack Nicklaus' baby at  his Muirfield Village club in the suburbs of Columbus.

After a hole-in-one on the eighth hole Friday, Stricker knocked in a sand wedge for a 2 on the par-4 second and a short putt for a 3 on the par-5 fifth, which in a stretch of seven holes over two days gave him three eagles.

His front-nine 31 wobbled off to a back-nine 38, but his 69 was good enough for a 12-under par 68-67-69 -- 204 and a three-shot lead over Jonathan Byrd after 54 holes. Matt Kuchar and Brandt Jobe were another  shot back in third.

Tiger Woods isn't here, and Phil  Mickelson barely is. He's tied for 25th, 10 shots back of Stricker, so Byrd was asked if maybe a change is under way in the game in the United States.

"I tell people Tiger has kind of given us a window,'' said Byrd, who won the season's opening event,  the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. "I think Tiger's situation, his injuries,  he would not say he's playing his best, he's giving us some time to get experience and win some tournaments. And it's exciting to see so many guys having a chance. I do think American golf right now has a lot of faces, and for a while, it was just one face.''

Stricker, a more pragmatic sort, disagrees.

"I think it's always going to be Tiger and Phil,'' was Stricker's observation.

"They're the drawing power. They're the guys, the face, I think, of American golf. Not to say we can't jump in there and grab some of that, too. But those guys, they're big time. We just kind of live in their little world.''

So far, they're living large. Of the top 23 players heading into Sunday's final round, all but six are Americans. They include Shaun Micheel, who won the 2003 PGA  Championship, and Dustin Johnson, who  could be this country's next great player.

Luke Donald, the  Englishman who is the new No. 1 in the world rankings, is eight shots back, and  Charl Schwartzel,  the South African who won the Masters, is nine adrift.

The last three majors -- South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open; Germany's Martin Kaymer, the 2010  PGA Championship, Schwartzel, this year's Masters -- were won by non-Americans,  causing some distress on this side of the Atlantic.

But Byrd sounded unconcerned. "There's a lot of talented guys out here right now,'' he said. "Guys playing with a lot of confidence, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson. A ton of  confidence, and they're young."

Stricker, 44, is not so young. He lost his game a few years ago and was voted  Comeback Player of the Year, not once but twice. "I can't believe where I am today,'' he said. "And it's a good thing, because I keep striving to get better.''

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/stricker-eagles-keep-memorial-lead-1.2930803
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Memorial Golf Uplifting in Columbus Gloom

in , ,
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- This is football country. This is disgraced-school country after what has happened to Ohio State -- the cover-up and the needed departure of coach Jim Tressel.

For a few days, happily, this is also golf country. The Buckeyes matter, but for the rest of a difficult week, they aren't the only game in town. Fore!

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Bad breaks are piling up for the San Francisco Giants

in ,
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

June has arrived with promise and reminders. June rhymes with moon, spoon, loon and, as those who remember the Giants’ bad old days, swoon. A tradition presumably abandoned.

After a May in which San Francisco lost its star catcher and six games during the final eight days, the new month couldn’t be as troublesome as the past when a quick start became a sudden decline.

Read the full story  here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company