By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England — Maria Sharapova was starstruck, which tells you how big David Beckham is.
Beckham, pro golfer Ian Poulter and onetime English soccer ace Bobby Charlton were among the Royal Box guests as Wimbledon celebrated its annual sports heroes Saturday.
Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
LONDON, England — Novak Djokovic didn’t do it in the Australian, where he usually does it. Djokovic didn’t do it in the French, where he’s never done it.
And so this Wimbledon, to him and many others the most important tournament in tennis, Djokovic must do it, must win. Or else.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
WIMBLEDON, England — She won a match Wednesday, beat a woman, Kurumi Nara, even lower in the rankings than she is. Venus Williams kept herself in Wimbledon and kept the doubters at a distance, neither of which is a small task.
Williams was 34 a few days ago. That’s ancient in tennis. Her 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory in a match that began just after 11:30 a.m. put her into the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2013 Australian Open, a span of six events.
She still can bring it, but probably against women who never brought it.
These are strange times for Venus, who sits at No. 31 in the WTA standings — sister Serena is first — and is beset by an autoimmune disorder, Sjogren’s syndrome, that causes fatigue.
She keeps playing competitively, which is both admirable and perplexing. Watching her get bumped out of the Australian Open in the first round or the French Open in the second becomes unsettling.
We remember the way it was and cringe at the way it is.
Not that Venus or any other athlete is required to please us, if she can please herself.
Chris Evert, as the years grew and her placement in the rankings declined, asked rhetorically what was wrong with just reaching the semifinals or the quarters. All Evert knew was tennis. All Venus knows is tennis.
A week ago, the concern in sports was Lucy Li. Some insisted the 11-year-old from Northern California was too young to play in the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship. Now we worry about Venus Williams being too old to play tennis.
Venus called her victory “a step in the right direction,” although her game, a victim of time and Sjogren’s, has been going in the wrong direction.
Twenty years she’s been at it, reaching the summit, winning the titles. A long time, a far distance, reasons to remember the past more than to consider the future.
It was a cool evening in Oakland, almost 20 years ago, Halloween night 1994, when a 14-year-old from Compton with beads in her hair faced pros from the WTA in her debut. Venus beat Shaun Stafford, who predicted, “She’s going to be great for women’s tennis.” That Williams lost the next match to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario didn’t matter a bit.
So many possibilities. So much excitement. Now, so many questions, most dismissed by Venus, who at times acts and talks as if nothing has changed from the golden era of victories at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open.
Asked if she even considered the match against Nara could be her last singles ever at Wimbledon, Williams was perturbed. “No,” she said, “I definitely don’t think that way. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”
An odd phrase, in a way, when she will not agree to a summing up of her career.
Derek Jeter can take his victory lap. Venus Williams is taking her time, lingering as long as possible in the only world she has known since a teenager.
It’s basically one Williams in the spotlight, Serena, who is 32 but the tournament’s No. 1 seed. Venus is out there on the fringe, being questioned on what it’s like when she and Serena both are in the second week of major championship, as once they were.
“I think we motivate each other,” said Venus. “We want to see each other win. I guess I haven’t held up my end of the bargain. I tried. I just haven’t had the luck I wanted.”
Without the Sjogren’s, for which she was diagnosed in 2011, she’s a better player. However, tennis is a sport of the young, and healthy or not, a 34-year-old is at a disadvantage. The kid across the net has the reflexes you used to have. Perception is no substitute for reaction.
“Wisdom has served me well,” countered Venus when reminded of her age. “I’ve worn my sunscreen, so I haven’t aged terribly. My knees are very tight, not saggy. And the crow’s feet have been kept at bay. So I’ll give myself an A-plus.”
She looks fine. It’s her tennis that’s saggy, not the knees. Still, she’s not prepared to surrender to any opponent, including Father Time.
“I don’t like watching it on TV,” she said when asked what keeps her going. “I want to be out there. I’m not about the easy thing. Life is a challenge. For me, when I leave tennis, I want it to be on my own terms.
“I want to look back with no regrets. So far in my career I can do that. Everyone messes up. Everyone chokes. Everyone gets tight. Everyone loses matches they should have won. But as long as you walked out there and gave it your all, you can look back with no regrets.”
Yes, wisdom has served her well. Very well.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England — The big names held serve and their places at the top on Tuesday at Wimbledon, meaning those who prefer their tennis played by the rich and famous never had to hold their breaths. Unlike a year ago.
Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, both ranked No. 1, scored straight-sets victories in opening matches. So did Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, who, as the other two, are former Wimbledon champions.
Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
WIMBLEDON, England — Britain is a country great with words — hey, Shakespeare, Milton and Churchill were Englishmen — but not so great at games.
It’s a faded empire where once the sun never set, but now on fields and courts, it symbolically rarely rises.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England — The sun was shining Saturday, softening the gloom in the wake of that World Cup failure the Times of London called "England's Shame."
Wimbledon begins Monday, and with England's certain departure from the World Cup, tennis will take over the headlines.
Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
The question surrounding Lucy Li, especially for those worried about items as diverse as child development and the future of the LPGA, is whether she’s a prodigy or a pest.
When does a kid with phenomenal talent and an admirable work ethic go from phenomenon to pain? Never, we hope.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Special to Global Golf Post
PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA — Perhaps the question is: What do you want from the U.S. Open? A tournament that creates havoc and chaos, where a zillion over par wins and the end result is someone like the late Dick Schaap authoring a history titled Massacre at Winged Foot?
Copyright 2014 Global Golf Post
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — Greatness may be impressive, but it isn’t always exciting. Martin Kaymer made that clear when he took the U.S. Open, supposedly the most difficult of golf tournaments, and turned it into a boring romp.
There was no drama in this tournament. No Tiger Woods, either. But we can’t blame Kaymer, the 29-year-old German, for the Woods absence. Only for the rout.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — He's tied for second in the biggest tournament of the year, American's national championship, the U.S. Open. Erik Compton, who probably shouldn't even be playing golf, or anything else, is ahead of Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
Ahead of people blessed with the heart with which they were born.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PINEHURST, N.C. — He's been the star in residence at this U.S. Open.
So much has been written about Phil Mickelson returning to Pinehurst where 15 years ago he was beaten by a shot by Payne Stewart.
Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — Golf is a funny sport. In baseball, nobody takes away your runs. Football doesn’t delete touchdowns once they’re on the board. But in golf, you can pick up strokes — or lose them — before you walk out of the locker room.
Before you swing a club for the first time in any round.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — Think of a golf tournament as a mile race. Each round is a lap. You don’t have to lead the first day or first two or three days, but you’d better stay close, better not fall too far off the pace. The key is to stay within striking distance.
On the first day of the 2014 U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson, carrying the largest burden — and drawing the largest crowds — did just that.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — It’s not enjoyable. The U.S. Open, the golfing championship of the United States, was never meant to be.
It was meant to be a challenge, a terror, agony. It was meant to be difficult, very difficult.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
PINEHURST, N.C. — He was wearing green and, on the practice tee, wearing out what seemed like a gross of golf balls. Oh it was hot, 93 degrees, but Rory McIlroy, after what he’s been through of late, the lows, the highs, wasn’t going be deterred by the weather.
Or anything else.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
He is playing against history now, against the men who preceded him, against Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg, against Pete Sampras and certainly Roger Federer. And Rafael Nadal, French Open champion once more, also is playing against himself.
Each match and each tournament, especially any of the four Grand Slams, is a measuring stick, an evaluation of where he ranks among the great ones, and there have been many in the decades stretching back more than a century.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
Such an impossible dream — a bargain-basement $8,000 horse, virtually flying in, some sort of mythical Pegasus, to take the Triple Crown and save the troubled sport of racing.
"A fairy tale," said one of the colt's owners, Steve Coburn. But in this tale the wolf blows down the brick house. In this tale the frog never becomes a prince.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
This is what we wanted. This is what we always want, the best against the best.
Across the globe, this is what we have: San Antonio Spurs against Miami Heat, New York Rangers against the Los Angeles Kings and for the final of a French Open full of twists, turns and rain delays, Rafael Nadal against Novak Djokovic.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
Vince Lombardi used to say hurt is in the mind. So, too, is success. Also failure, not that we should call anyone who makes it as far as the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tennis tournament a failure.
There are so many pieces of advice on how one becomes a champion. Maybe the most accurate it this: You’ve got to believe.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.
By Art Spander
Featured Columnist
The nickname is more than an indication, it is a verification. The King of Clay is what they call Rafael Nadal, and we must walk gently.
The King. So few are bestowed with the label. Elvis, of course. Richard Petty. Arnold Palmer and the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Hugh McElhenny.
Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.