After Atalanta

 Watching the semi-final between Mirra Andreeva and Marta Kostyuk, I am struck by how they both have women coaches to whom they are not related (i.e., their mothers are not coaching them, though Kostyuk's mother was her coach until 2022). I wonder how often this happens? From my fairly faithful watching of tennis, I would guess not often. But I have not run the numbers. I am also watching the Women's College World Series the final of which pits Texas against Texas Tech. I am not rooting for either team (I am just in it for the softball which has been good. I stopped having a favorite when UCLA was eliminated.) Both those teams feature men coaches. And no one talks about this, that I have heard anyway. (I am less faithful watcher of DI softball until regionals come around every May.) I know Texas coach Mike White is a former softball player, so at least he has played the game at a high level.  And then there are the ongoing conversations in the WNBA this season about the behavi...

 In less than 20 minutes, coverage of the men's final of the US Open will begin. TV media outlets that are covering the match are being asked not to show (to mute? to cut?) the boos that will be directed at the president of the United States who has decided to accept the invitation of Rolex (who may be trying to curry favor given the tariffs on Switzerland).  It is the USTA doing the asking , by the way. (Presumably the governing body of American tennis was asked by White House type folks.) I am not surprised. Few probably are. There are not too many sports governing bodies that have a political conscience. (Interesting conversations exist and persist around the WNBA and NBA and how players are leading the way in political stances vs the organizations themselves.) I truly hope people in attendance know this happening and that people pull out their phones and post--immediately and often.  Finalist Carlos Alcatraz made some comment about how it is good when presidents atten...

All the rhetoric about trans and intersex athletes affects the way ciswomen in general but, in this situation, cis women athletes, are being discussed--and criticized. This is not new nor is it a revelation. Activists and scholars have been trying to make people aware of this for years. But it was on display at this year's US Open, when one of the vocal proponents of banning trans women in sports, made comments about a cis woman playing like a man.  I missed Chris Evert's on-air comments about Karolina Muchova because I have made a concerted effort to watch the women's matches on ESPN3 where Mary Carillo has been doing actual good commentary. When I have had to listen to Evert (yes, I know mute is an option), it is just painful. In general, I don't see what her appeal is. The majority of her comments are guesses at what the players are thinking. But her comments this year (and likely in the past--there is some rich discourse analysis to be done I suspect) have been espe...

In case you needed another--I don't personally--but here's one for the holdouts**: John McEnroe thinks that the women just are not capable of enduring the 10-month season so changes need to be made. Note that he also thinks the men's season needs to be shortened as well but he didn't apply the same incapability rationale. "I think that it's asking too much of the women. They shouldn't be playing as many events as the men. . . . The women have it better in tennis than in any other sport, thanks to Billie Jean King [a founder of the Women's Tennis Association and pioneer for equal prize money for women]. But you shouldn't push them to play more than they're capable of." This pedantic statement illustrates how either absolutely clueless or especially nefarious McEnroe is. To invoke BJK in a statement that says how inferior female tennis players are is just--well clueless or nefarious. Mary Carillo, who will now have to refrain from slapping Mc...

Ok so I have decided to address the Serena Williams incident in the context of all the other interesting gender stuff that occurred at this year's US Open. We had all the "women's game sucks" comments from the print and television media. Commentators of course were not saying such things--preferring to highlight the interest that comes with not knowing who is going to win any given match. The men's game, at times in the not-so-distant past, have been subject to similar criticisms. But much of the "lousy women's game" discourse entailed some problematic blaming on fragile minds (and a little on fragile bodies). The Serena situation and Melanie Oudin's amazing run quelled some of that talk. But it has re-emerged with Kim Clijster's win last night. In the end, though, this was not--obviously--the big issue. Which I will get to--hold on. First, let's talk about smiles. I heard a lot about them this tournament. In addition to the usual talk ab...

Live-blogging--sorta--the quarterfinal match between Bondarenko and Wickmayer. Had never heard of the latter before this. I got down to the Pilot Pen this year after she had already been eliminated. Bondarenko is down a break. Leg is still heavily strapped. (Are we back to this strapping over the physio tape stuff? Haven't seen much of that at the Open.) Saw her and her sister play one set of doubles in New Haven this year. They retired in the second set but not sure whose injury prompted it--both had their legs strapped at different places. Um...Bud Collins what do you mean it's rare to see a woman volley well? Yes Wickmayer's stab volley was very nice but there have been plenty of other good volleys executed by women this Open. How does Bondarenko play with that large pendant necklace? Wickmayer's grunt reminds me of Seles's in its two-syllable-ness. Nice hat, Bud. Very daring to go with polka dots. How cute are those shorts of Wickmayer's? She wears Erke, a C...

Seriously, what is this about? When Steffi Graf ruled the court people didn't like it. When the Williams sisters were squashing everyone on their way to finals, people didn't like it. And now that things are up for grabs? People don't like it . Most admit that the Williams sisters dominate most of the time. But injuries and reduced non-Slam schedules mean they now meet before the finals. Though again let us recall that not too long ago the above-mentioned complaints about this frequent meeting in the finals and their dominance over other players. So now we have Dinara Safina at the #1 spot in the rankings and the US Open seedings. And what do they say? She hasn't earned it because she hasn't won a Grand Slam (and she has choked in a few slam finals of late.) But she's getting to slam finals and she's pretty entertaining along the way--on the court and off. Today she had to fight it out again, almost becoming the first number one seed to lose in the first rou...

Busy mom who recently has taken on more intense athletic regimen needs a responsible person able to shield young child from flash bulbs and people with microphones asking inane questions. Must be multilingual. That's right, folks. Kim Clijsters is back . I was going to go back to my posts about Clijsters's retirement where I am sure I made a prediction about a potential comeback. But I think I don't want to know what I said. I am pleased she is making a comeback. She has asked for a wild card into the US Open (and a few other tournaments) this year. I predict that she will get them. A Clijsters return will be a big draw and no tournament organizer these days is going to turn that down.