First appeared on Blogcritics.
Then let’s look at the men’s side. What do we have here? Why we have Novak Djokovic (1) playing Rafael Nadal (2). Do we see a pattern here? Yes, once again they played tough matches to get to this point, but the truth is that is what was expected – no more or less. The fact that the number ones and twos are facing off in the finals to me signifies that there is nothing to dazzle me in this slam, no unexpected wunderkind who will rattle professional tennis’s cage, and it’s kind of disappointing.
Above all my father was a tennis purist. He felt the rankings were not “pure” in any sense of the word. Ranking was based on something other than great tennis in his mind – and more about which players were in the most tournaments throughout the year, thus giving more opportunities for victories and a higher ranking. So he would see certain people ranked two or three and scoff at it.
Now, I will watch the women and men’s finals because this is the U.S. Open, and one never knows when greatest moments will happen. But my father is probably grumbling on the other side, and I will be as I sit in front of the TV. The excitement that used to be found in early September in New York doesn’t feel the same anymore. Maybe watching the matches without Dad is part of it, and maybe I long for the days of Ashe, McEnroe, Connors, Sampras, Agassi, Graf, Seles, Goolagong, Navratilova, and Everet. It seemed back then it was less robotic, less of the expected, or perhaps I just saw the matches I wanted to see.
I’ll never forget watching the famous match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs with Dad. This wasn’t great tennis, and my father almost didn’t say a word through the whole thing. In the end – when King beat Riggs – my father got up from his chair and said, “The fix was in on that one.” We never discussed the match any further, but that was how Dad thought. All these years later, “the fix” seems to be that number one faces number two in the finals.
While I doubt anything nefarious is going on here, the bottom line is that we get what we expected in the finals – not perhaps what we wanted. By getting the expected we get less of what great tennis can and should be. So I will watch and hope to be dazzled, but I have a feeling that Williams and Djokovic will be taking pictures together at the end of play on Monday.
Fee-fi-ho-hum indeed. Photo credits- USTA; federer - getty images; nadal -AP
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