By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — It’s their tournament, isn’t it? I mean, they do call it the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships. So if a Brit who isn’t even entered in the singles gets the same attention as Roger, Novak and Rafa — please, you don’t need last names — then fine.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — Call it aura. Or presence. Or maybe the "it" factor, the mysterious intangible that is so much a part of a champion. The athlete knows what is possible, really what is probable. So does the opponent.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — So the new Serena has gone, departing with cheers. But the older Serena, the original, plays on. And unexpectedly in this Wimbledon, on came Alison Riske. Manic Monday, indeed.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams scored a quick, tidy third-round victory Saturday, leaving plenty of time in her post-match interview to discuss playing mixed doubles with Andy Murray — seemingly all that Britain cares about — and the stunning success of 15-year-old American Cori “Coco” Gauff.
Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — She has what all great athletes have, no matter their sport, no matter their age, the belief that even when even you’re making the bad shots, getting the bad breaks, somehow you’ll find a way to win — which is exactly what Cori Gauff did.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — The defending champion, Angelique Kerber, had been beaten an hour earlier. And now Serena Williams was getting pummeled in the first set of her match by an 18-year-old qualifier. You wondered if this Wimbledon, having already lost Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams, was about to go off the rails.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
WIMBLEDON, England — Stan Wawrinka, a Grand Slam winner, took his tennis defeat by an American with grace. Unlike the way The Sun, the tabloid, took England’s soccer defeat by America.
This was the day after, some 24 hours of regret for England’s team, beaten Tuesday night, 2-1 — or as The Sun printed it, 1-2 — by the United States in the semifinal of the Women’s World Cup.
This also was the day of success, Reilly Opelka of Florida upsetting Wawrinka, 7-5. 3-6. 4-6. 6-4, 8-6, Wednesday in a Wimbledon second-round match.
“He went bigger than me,” Wawrinka said, a statement that, since Opelka is 6-foot-11, could be taken literally. “And he deserved to win.”
So did the U.S. women’s team, albeit the way at least one American player, Alex Morgan, celebrated after her goal, America’s second, mimicking someone sipping tea, was unneeded.
In the United Kingdom they call instant replay VAR, or video assistant referee, and it was a replay that showed England was offside when scoring the apparent tying goal with eight minutes remained in regulation time.
Then the low penalty kick by England’s Steph Houghton was grabbed by goalie Alyssa Naeher to preserve the victory.
Or as the headline in The Sun put it, “LIONESSES LOSE TO V.A.R.MERICA”
Some clever people there, if some disenchanted ones. In The Sun, Martin Lipton called Houghton’s penalty kick “awful.” Hey, they did get to the semis, interestingly the same stage the men’s team reached in the 2018 men’s World Cup.
How far Opelka can go in this Wimbledon debut is problematical, especially because in the next round he faces Milos Raonic, who also has a huge serve and was also a finalist here three years ago.
Still, an another American male who actually can win tennis matches — the way American women win soccer matches — is to be appreciated.
Not that you expect to see him on a tennis court instead of a basketball court. And so Opelka, an inch shorter than 7 feet, was asked quickly enough, “Why are you here and not in the NBA?”
Without hesitation, Opelka responded, “Good question.”
To which the 21-year-old could only answer, “I wish I was. I regret it every day. And yeah, that’s pretty much all I’m going to say.”
Other than basketball is his favorite sport, other than tennis, which now is his profession. “I don’t play (basketball) much anymore," he said. "When I’m home I shoot every day. I go to the court and play all the time. But like I never played serious or anything.”
The 6-foot-9 John Isner, who’s been on the tennis tour more than a decade, was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year; he’s often said if as a kid he knew how tall he'd become, his choice would have been hoops. Opelka beat Isner in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.
The man has an advantage serving and a disadvantage returning. It was Isner who was locked into that 11-hour, three-day match against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, Isner winning 70-68 in the fifth set, when each player hit serves that couldn’t be returned.
Wawrinka, an even 6 feet, who has won the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, was asked if tennis would become the domain of the really big guy, such as the one who whipped him, Opelka.
“Against the big server, you’re not going to have a lot of chances,” said Wawrinka, “but no I don’t think. We’ve been thinking that for 10 years. But no, I don’t think we’re going in that direction.”
Who knows what direction Opelka is going, but beating a Grand Slam champ, even though Wawrinka is now 34, is hardly unimpressive.
“I had to adjust a lot,” said Opelka. "My mind was always thinking, especially after I lost the third set. He was in every return game.
“I played the big points really well on my serve, and that’s what good players do. They find other ways to win that you’re not always comfortable with.”
Comfortable and uncomfortable, as Opelka pointed out, don’t matter.
As they say in golf, it isn’t how; it’s how many or how much. Opelka had as much as he needed. Just as the night before, the U.S. women soccer team had as much as it needed.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
WIMBLEDON, England — He’s the almost man of tennis, ranking somewhere between famous and anonymous, a player with a big serve — he set a record once with 10 consecutive aces — and a great personality.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
WIMBLEDON, England — The question is whether the difference was the passing shots or the passing of the years.
If there is anything that sport emphasizes, it’s that an athlete’s days are limited, that in the end, no matter the talent, no matter the sport, Father Time — or Mother Time — always wins.
Copyright 2019 The Maven
By Art Spander
WIMBLEDON, England — So it was 91 degrees Saturday. Rafa Nadal was grousing about the Wimbledon seeding, which is not unusual, and 12 miles away the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, which is not only unusual but unprecedented.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO — Just another game. That’s what it was for the Giants. Another game and, yes, another defeat, if at home as opposed to the one the day before on the road.
For the Giants, it is obvious, it doesn’t matter who they play or where they play — or in many games, how they play.
In fact, Monday night they played well, relatively speaking. They had fine pitching, especially by starter Drew Pomeranz. He made only one mistake. At another time, the mistake is irrelevant. But for the Giants of 2019, there are no irrelevant mistakes.
The Colorado Rockies beat the Giants, 2-0, Monday night at Oracle Park. The runs came on a home run in the third by David Dahl with Charlie Blackmon on second. Blackmon had a bloop double and Dahl’s homer barely cleared the left field fence.
But those guys can hit. They’re both batting .300-something. Nobody on the Giants can hit, other than Pablo Sandoval. Which is why San Francisco scored no runs after scoring only two runs on Sunday against the Diamondbacks.
Two runs in 18 innings. Not exactly overwhelming.
Just another game in what sadly isn’t going to be just another season. It’s not even July and the Giants are 11 games under .500.
Attendance already is rotten (tickets sold Monday night, 30,018; people in house, maybe 20,000). Where do the Giants go from here?
The main man, Larry Baer, is supposed be back from his suspension at the end of the month to provide leadership. Is it too late to sign Bryce Harper? Sorry.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy came out to face the media after this one, as he always does every game. Poor Bruce, in this lame-duck season. Poor Giants, in this going-nowhere season.
Bochy has too much class to be rude or abrasive like Mickey Callaway of the Mets, a franchise at war with itself. So Bruce simply offers platitudes and occasionally, as when asked why in the fifth he pinch hit for Pomeranz — who equaled a career-high with 11 strikeouts — an explanation.
It was a necessity, that’s why. There was a runner on second — Joe Panik had doubled — and one out. Brandon Belt became the batter instead of Pomeranz and walked. But then Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson each struck out.
Yaz and Dickerson could be part of the new wave, if there is going to be a new wave. Each came up from Sacramento within the past few weeks. Might as well learn what they can do. When you’re not very good, why not make some changes?
The dreaded Dodgers keep hitting home runs and winning. About the only thing the Giants seem able to hit is rock bottom.
In the seventh, with Panik on first and two outs Yastrzemski doubled to left. Panik was sent home. You have to gamble now and then. The throw clearly beat the runner who was called out, but might have been safe. The Giants can’t win games. The Giants can’t win TV replay decisions, either.
“I didn’t look at it,” said Bochy. “It was that close. The ball beat him, but I don’t know about the tag.” The officials back in New Jersey, doing the review, knew about the tag. Or thought they did.
Pomeranz has been inconsistent this year, but he was sharp Monday night. So, unfortunately for the Giants, was Colorado starter Jon Gray, who in six innings gave up just four hits.
“I just simplified my approach,” said Pomeranz. “I quit trying to set up guys. I didn’t want to walk guys.” On Monday night, he walked two.
“On the home run, I was trying to stay in on him and it just kind of cut back to the middle of the plate. That’s the one pitch I’ll probably think about the rest of the night. That’s baseball. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes one pitch decides the game.”
Even when it’s just another game.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. — If you were taking a survey of the Athletics’ post-game comments from starting pitcher Brett Anderson. the word “frustrating” would beat the word “tough” by a two-to one margin.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The familiar line about aging in golf is that the ball doesn’t know how old you are. Your body does, certainly. And as in every sport, the ultimate winner eventually proves to be Father Time.
Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For Phil Mickelson it was a round of nostalgia. For Tiger Woods it was one of staying relevant. Others were leading this 119th U.S. Open on Saturday, but for a few hours early on Phil and Tiger were the attractions.
Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — It was misting, but it felt like rain. Justin Rose made the observation, which was on target for a chilly June morning at Pebble Beach.
Rose also was pretty much on target with his game. As usual.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Their working areas are among the most spectacular in the world. And yet golf pros sometimes concentrate so much on what goes on the scorecard, in effect they can’t see the forest for the tees.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — It’s the U.S. Open, America’s golfing championship, demanding, frustrating and, if the shots are pure and the bounces are fortunate, rewarding.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Tiger Woods was watching along with the rest of us. Kevin Durant had pulled up after another injury. It was a blow to the Warriors and certainly Durant. It also was a jolting reminder to Woods.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
CARMEL, Calif.—There will a U.S, Open, the 119th, starting Thursday, next door at Pebble Beach. So packed into Brophy’s.. a bar restaurant in the heart of this tourist town two hours south of the Bay Area, were he diverse segments of the golfing crowd, caddies in T-shirts, fans in all sorts of attire.
Yet nobody was talking Tiger or Jordan Spieth. Nobody was talking at all. They we screaming and groaning at what was happening on the many TVs scattered about, watching the Warriors, suffering the Warriors, celebrating the Warriors.
The Raptors are a nation’s team, but the Dubs are this region’s team, stars from Oregon to Santa Barbara, basketball champions who everybody finds a reason to embrace.
That game Monday night, Game 5 of the NBA finals, is one never to be forgotten.
Maybe the Warriors won’t complete the task, might fall short in trying to win a third straight championship and fourth in vie years. Maybe in the end, the younger, quicker Raptors replace the Dubs as the leader of the pack. Eras only last so long.
But that win Monday night, by a single point no less, 106-105. By a Warriors team without key players, without a chance, was one of great wins in their long history.
cc A win that proved nothing but also proved a great deal.
Friday night, after a second straight home loss to Toronto, the Warriors were done. Or at least I believed that was the case. Maybe literally the season wasn’t over, but truth tell it was over. Consecutive defeats and emphati defeats.
They would never play another game at Oracle.
And so now they will. The season stays alive. Another terrible injury to Kevin Durant—the general manager, Bob Myers, was fighting back tears when he made the announcement of the apparently torn Achilles tendon. More questionable calls against Draymond Green. Another big game by the Raptors’ Kawahi Leronard.
And yet, there were theWarriors walking away with the victory—you could say prancing away were it not for what happened to Durant— while the Canadian crowd, certain this would be the night of history, left the building more bewildered than distraught.
Fans carry their loyalty only so far. In the Warriors worst seaons, 17 wins,21 wins, the crowds felt a special kinship, sharing the pain, the agony if you will. Then came the boom years, the NBA record for victories, the titles. What had been appreciation turned into expectation and then disenchantment.,
We know now, thanks to one of the more courageous and meaningful triumphs, in Warriors history, there will be one more game at Oracle where the team has played for some three quarters of a Century.
But no one knew Friday night. Yet in the closing minutes, a loss to Toronto assured, the possibilityexisted that this was the end of NBA basketball at Oracle (formerly Oakland Arena) too many fans fled, not waiting to pay tribute to team or building.
Now there’s a new opportunity. Now the Warriors come back to what has been their home since the ‘70s, Now they can close it out and sew it up with a win, which also would extend the playoffs to Sunday, where right here along Carmel Bay, on a colf course that opened 100years ago, the final round of the Open will be played.
Here, along the Pacificx, there in the province of Ontario
‘I ever gave up on the Warriors,” said the man across from me at Brophy’s after the commotion died down,
He was wiser than most of us.
OAKLAND—Draymond Green made it sound simple enough and quite encouraging. “We just got to win the next game,” he said, “go back to Toronto, win Game 5, come back to Oracle, win Game 6 and then celebrate.”
An athlete has to think positively, has to believe, so Draymond’s enthusiasm, deserved or not, is both understood and for Warriors fans appreciated. No player is going to concede, especially after he’s become a champion.
And yet there may be nothing to celebrate.
The Warriors after Game 3 of the 2019 NBA finals on Friday night may never again play at Oracle Arena, their home for 47 years,
Kevin Durant, still declared out because of the injury to his right calf, may never again play for the Warriors, his home for three years,
Nothing lasts forever, particularly sporting eras. Change is a constant, if not the result of time, then of fortune—or misfortune.
The beginning of this season the Warriors were overwhelming favorites to win another championship.
From the season opener in October to the start of the playoffs in April, the Warriors were called invincible, their winning of a third straight title and fourth in five years inevitable.
But now, down two games to one to a Raptors team that appears physically and athletically superior; now without Durand and Kevon Looney and wondering what they’ll get from Klay Thompson, returning; now with Toronto holding the home court advantage, the words invincible and inevitable seem foolish.
On Thursday, in the cold light of day—well, outside of the arena, where Green, always the spokesperson, was confronted by a journalist about the Warriors problems.
“”They seem to have an answer for you guys,” the writer told Green, they being the Raptors. “Every time you hit a big shot (Wednesday night) they came up with something.”
Which, of course is how a team wins games and perhaps championships.
Will Klay, back after missing Game 3 and being missed on both defense and offense, make a difference?
“I think having Klay back is important,” said Green. “When you talk about missing Klay, Kevin and Kevon (no lack of first names beginning with the letter K is there?) “obviously everything will point to the opposite end. But they’re three of our top five or six defenders, and I think that’s equally or even more important than the offensive side of the ball.
“Like we still scored 109 points (Wednesday) night. That’s enough points to win. We have won with 109.”
Not when the opposition is scoring 123.
.The litany as preached by Warriors management (and that of most basketball teams, college on up) is defense creates offense. A rebound off the other team’s errant shot or a stolen pass, can be turned into, if not an easy shot, then an uncontested one.
The Celtics did it in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, the Bulls in the ‘80s, the Lakers in the ‘90s and early 2000s and now the Warriors. But Wednesday night the Warriors defense was lacking—the Raptors shot 52 percent, 44 percent on threes—and the offense was stagnant.
“Our defense was poor,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, an observation repeated after almost every defeat, “and in particular several times leaving Danny (Green) when we didn’t need to--and he’s a shooter who commands attention and respect.”
Green, Danny of the Raptors, was 6 of 10 on field goal attempts, and scored 18, Green, Draymond of the Warriors, was 6 of 14 for 17 points. But Draymond Green had little help on offense (other than Steph Curry’s fantastic burst of 47 points) and veritably no help at all on defense.,
Too many personnel moves (no Klay, no Looney), Too many mistakes, “Combination of all that,” said Kerr. “When you change the lineups and you’re without key guys you’re ending up with five guys on the floor who generally haven’t played together a whole lot. So while the effort was there the execution was not.
“And as we watched (Thursday) morning we saw all kinds of stuff that we did poorly that we have to clean up. We will be more comfortable (Friday) and much better.”
It they’re not, the Warriors will have seen the last of Oracle. And probably Kevin Durant.