I should have known my lack of enthusiasm wouldn't last during the U.S. Open. There's always something coming down the pike that sucks you in. I'm not sure which storyline is the most intriguing, so please, help me decide.
It's Like, a Pandemic
Obviously, it was risky to continue on with the Open given the circumstances, and it was too risky for the likes of Rafa Nadal, Ash Barty, Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu and a bunch of others. Maybe they saw something others didn't. Like this situation with Benoit Paire testing positive for coronavirus shortly before play was to begin. These tennis players had been together in a bubble already for two weeks, playing the Cincinnati tournament in New York just as a precaution. Of course, the new problem with someone suddenly testing positive is figuring out who they've been in contact with.
So here's, in a nutshell, what happened: Kristina Mladenovic was determined to have close contact with Paire, and although she was allowed to play singles, she and her doubles partner Timea Babos -- the top-ranked team -- were pulled from the draw and Mladenovic was made to quarantine. It is worth noting that Babos left the country before anyone could tell her she had to quarantine in place. Adrian Mannarino, also shown to be exposed to Paire, was allowed to play his match the day before Mladenovic was taken out of the doubles draw. Daniil Medvedev is still in this tournament and was shown to have been exposed to Paire. So I don't get it. But this New York Times story lays it out pretty well.
It would seem, then, that there is some inconsistence in how these decisions are made and when. Apparently, the USTA worked with NYC and state health officials before working with the county in which the players are staying. And then, the other day, I read that the French Open is wanting to have a similar player bubble AND spectators in the stands. So yeah. Should go GREAT.
Conspiracy Theory Tennis Twitter
Novak Djokovic had one job. And it was a pretty easy one, because (and I am not trying to be rude) there were zero Grand Slam winners in the top five seeds of this tournament. All he had to do was go out there and be Novak Djokovic against players who definitely are not him. And then he hit a lineswoman in the throat with an errant ball struck in frustration.
I mean, that expression? That's most tennis fans about Novak Djokovic, who talks constantly of wanting to be liked, but then creates a super-spreader tour event and then tried to talk his way out of consequences by saying, "hey, she didn't go to the hospital ..."
He did apologize. This is true, and it was a full apology. He accepted his punishment and left. But then tennis' version of Q-Anon decided that this incident needed further examination. Some theorized that the lineswoman hit the deck intentionally and overreacted to get Djokovic in trouble. Have you ever been hit in the throat without having the opportunity to protect yourself from impact? Me neither, but it probably hurts. What can I say? Twitter is a cesspool.
Also disappointing were some commentators suggesting that the problem was the presence of linespeople in the first place, because they aren't on all courts.
Had to be Brad Gilbert.
How to Talk About Racism
The shooting of Jacob Blake may have rendered our lawmakers into a malaise, but at least athletes had something to say about it. This is a crazy thing to be typing, by the way. It's not normal to understand, as we all do, that something is deeply wrong with policing in America and to do nothing about it, especially when you are among the people who can do something about it.
When the Milwaukee Bucks said, "aw, hell naw, Karen" and refused to play until someone did something, it started an unbelievable cascade of players sitting in protest, from men's and women's basketball, to BASEball (emphasis mine, because, like, what?), to tennis. In the bubble, Naomi Osaka refused to play her semifinal, prompting the entire Cincinnati tournament to pause.
Osaka showed up to the U.S. Open with the goal of highlighting the stories of black people who died at the hands of police, or people playing police, as was the case with Trayvon Martin. She did this by displaying their names on her mask. Where her mouth is. And of course, what she's doing is just powerful, but it's clear that some white people don't know how to talk about it. During her match against Shelby Rogers, Chris Evert noted that perhaps Osaka's renewed resolve in highlighting racial injustice was translating into her game. This made my head hurt for a moment, but then at least Cliff Drysdale immediately said, "I don't know about that," and the swelling went down. Then after Osaka won, she had a post-match interview with Rennae Stubbs, who is an astute observer of the game. After some talk about the game, she noted, in a rather light and casual tone, that she had incorrectly guessed which name would be highlighted on Osaka's mask on this night, like she had missed a question in JEOPARDY! during a bar's game's night, and I don't remember what happened next, because my head came off my body in an explosion. This isn't a game. These are dead black people who didn't have to die and my god, woman, ask about the person if you want to do this right! Gah!
I stayed with the match long enough for another interview with Osaka, who was presented with a video of Martin's mother and Ahmaud Arbery's dad thanking her for using her platform to highlight their children, and just like that, I was bawling. It was a beautiful moment and opened the door for a conversation about why she was doing what she was doing.
That's when I had a mini-revelation (well, after I roasted Stubbs and Evert on Twitter). This is literally new for a lot of white people. They are only now coming to understand what it's like to be black in America. Sure, you can ask why this is new to people and that's a different and longer conversation, but there are many who really don't know how to have this conversation. They want to help, and learn, and grow, and they have empathy for others. But when it comes to talking about race and racism, it can get awkward, I think. And sometimes, they'll say the wrong thing because they don't know how to say something substantial, or what's acceptable or they're nervous about saying the wrong thing. And then they imply that taking a stand against racism is good for a tennis game, or they maybe don't want to ignore the mask on your face but aren't sure how to address it. I'm just saying that we've (I've) gotta show some grace here, I think. There's going to be a lot of stumbling and fumbling around white people talking about racism and yeah, it's past time they did it. They're obviously not going to get it right.
But at least they're not ignoring the issue. Which is better than our own government.
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