Women likely will deliver unusual punch at the U.S. Open

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By HUBERT MIZELL

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 26, 2001

America's king sport, football, is nearing full collegiate/NFL buzz. Baseball promises September screams, with dynamic races, plus startling pursuit of Mark McGwire's exotic 70-homer record by a not-so-easy-to-like Barry Bonds.

As we rev for autumn's feasts, how about nibbling a spicy appetizer? Hopping the John Rocker subway, No. 7 bound for Queens. Alighting at Willets Point, not opting to turn left toward Shea Stadium, where Mets are underachieving, taking a more promising right to Flushing Meadow and the notably intriguing U.S. Open tennis championships of 2001.

Guys are strong, women sizzling.

Never, even in the trailblazing time of Billie Jean King or at Martina Navratilova-Chris Evert rivalry apex, has an Open bracket been so voluminously magnetic, offering Venus Williams and power sister Serena, a shockingly resurgent Jenny Capriati, tall and powerful Lindsay Davenport and the still top-ranked if backsliding Martina Hingis.

It's analysis we've heard on golf's Tiger Woods, but Serena is similarly accurate in assessing, "Venus and I raised the bar. People are playing a lot harder in general, and a lot harder against us. Everybody wants to beat a Williams sister."

Oh, about the fellows. . .

They're almost as marquee-rich. Story lines abundant. We wonder, will Pete Sampras, history's Mr. Major, ever win another as a gifted body frays at age 30?

Will this be the last grand Open opportunity at 31 for twice-champion Andre Agassi, about to be a father, maybe even Steffi Graf's husband?

Patrick Rafter has ruled two Opens, but the charismatic Aussie could well be nearing retirement at 28. Marat Safin won last year but his Russian temperament can be as erratic as Times Square cuisine. We'll see if Brazilian clay-court wizard Gustavo Kuerten excels on the hard stuff and if Florida kid Andy Roddick, at 19, is ready for Broadway.

U.S. Opens offer unique N.Y. pace, bombast and personality. Pews will hang heavy with celebrities. Jets rising from LaGuardia provide frequent background music. It's also bleacher-bum tennis. Almost for sure, we'll see a memorable five-set match that sweats beyond midnight.

In a hit-hungry town, the Open is a smash.

UPPERCUTS: It's heroic Olympic bookendism, Eric Heiden, winner of five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Games, returning as a 43-year-old orthopedic surgeon attending modern speed skaters in 2002 at Salt Lake City. ... Mark Roberts, the British loon who ran naked onto the court during an Anna Kournikova match at Wimbledon, has now been branded an "unemployed serial streaker," banned for three years from English soccer after interrupting matches with his pale ugliness. ... Pro Player Stadium (nee Joe Robbie to me) still seems a reasonably new facility but, since the Dolphins' playpen was christened, the NFL has embraced 12 new edifices with six more due by 2004, at a total cost of more than $4-billion.

READER'S SHOUT: E-mail from Byron Dee Jones of Gainesville offers, "Nope, still no major championship for Phil Mickelson, but it's ridiculous to brand Lefty as a PGA gagger. He was terrific, but David Toms was simply one shot better.

"I'm hearing rednecks say, "Tiger Woods is done. Never win another big one.' What slop. Jack Nicklaus won roughly one major in every four, so it's ludicrous to say Tiger, the Masters champ, is sinking at age 25.

"I still hear racist jokes about Woods. I'm a black man so my ears are quite attuned to such rot. A jerk at my home course was mumbling about Tiger's white girlfriends.

"Tell me, Hubert, since you've been around golf's greats for a long time, how is Tiger handling his life?"

MY WORD: Idiots will be idiots. My stomach is turned by the same pitiful "humor." Considering the heat of Tiger's spotlight, plus all that's expected of him, the demeanor of Mr. Woods gets at worst an A-minus from me. Anybody want to bet he'll win no more majors?

JABS: Who would've thunk -- certainly no Billy Bob on Earth -- that the Cowboys could become America's WORST Team? ... Speaking of Dallas, but during a more celebrated Texas Stadium time, splendid 1963-76 linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, re Korey Stringer's death, suggests, "You now have 350-pound people playing football. We didn't have guys with 48-inch waists or 30 extra pounds hanging over their belts. Their arms are as big as my midsection. I'll be surprised if there aren't more such sad stories." ... Charles Barkley's assessment of the sport that made him fabulously rich: "Basketball has really deteriorated. Guys throw around the term "great' like it was candy." ... Carl Torbush flopped as North Carolina coach, but his work as Alabama's rookie defensive coordinator is receiving preseason raves. In a recent scrimmage, the Tide ran 125 plays and scored not once. Yeah, but what does that say about 'Bama offense?

Whatever happened to Jimmy Arias?

-- To reach Hubert Mizell, e-mail mmizell02@earthlink.net or mail to P.O. Box 726, Nellysford, VA 22958.

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