Bleacher Report: The Dustin Johnson Roller Coaster Is on the Upswing Again at 2015 U.S. Open

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — It’s not always what you’ve done lately, especially for Dustin Johnson, whose present will always be linked to the past.

Here he is, tied for the clubhouse lead after Thursday’s first round of America’s golfing championship, the U.S. Open. Yet the questions that surround him deal as much with what he has done as what he might do.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Cilic-Nishikori Final at 2014 US Open Shows Rough Road Ahead for Men's Tennis

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — They figured it out a long time ago in Hollywood and just across the river from here on Broadway: You need a star. It didn’t really matter if a famous actor could act, only if he was famous.

Whether that was because of what he did on or off the screen was insignificant.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Men's Tennis Begins New Era with Kei Nishikori-Marin Cilic Final at 2014 US Open

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — Up at the Stadium, they said farewell to Derek Jeter on Sunday, gave the Yankee shortstop of 20 years his special day, a couple of weeks before retirement. Twenty-four hours earlier and a few miles away, across the East River, we said goodbye to an era in tennis.

So long to a Grand Slam men’s final which had Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray. So long to what we knew. So long to what we expected.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Roger Federer Misses Last Chance to Win a Grand Slam Title at 2014 US Open

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — Suddenly, Roger Federer looked older. It wasn’t so much the creases in his face, the age lines. It was the creases in his game. It was the inability to handle Marin Cilic, to whom he never before had lost.

It was the comments after his defeat, the lack of belief to do what he had done for so many matches over so many years, which is make a comeback.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

Bleacher Report: Dominant Serena Williams Silences Skeptics in 2014 US Open Semifinal Rout

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — She’s rolling now, crushing opponents and symbolically all those who doubted her. (Blush!) A season that seemed destined to go nowhere for Serena Williams, a season that made some of us suggest that at almost 33 years old her best days were over, is now headed to the stars—and the record books.

Was she ever any better than she was Friday afternoon in a semifinal of the U.S. Open? Was she any more dominant, more overwhelming more — yes — awesome? Maybe, but probably not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.