Tiger takes on historic Merion

By Art Spander

ARDMORE, Pa. — The site is a work of art in miniature. "Merion the Small," it could be named, a course trapped by geographical restrictions in a leafy suburb of Philadelphia. Yet through the years, it has been large in the history of American golf.
   
It was at Merion, the 1930 U.S. Amateur, where Bobby Jones completed the fourth and final leg of the Grand Slam. It was at Merion where Ben Hogan, a year removed from his awful auto accident, hit that splendid 1 iron to get into a playoff for the 1950 Open. It was at Merion where Lee Trevino tossed a rubber snake before a playoff in the 1971 Open, in which he would beat Jack Nicklaus.
  
That’s how we think of Merion. That’s how we think of golf. Who did what and when. And so the question to Tiger Woods on Tuesday, two days before the 2013 Open is to begin at Merion, was more logical than it seemed in a crowded press tent.
   
When Woods shows up at a special tournament, an Open, a Masters, a British Open, does he feel a responsibility to respond to the situation, to play as we expected him to play in a major, stepping forward into the figurative spotlight if not into the literal lead?
   
Those who have watched Tiger, who have listened to Tiger, could have predicted the response. If Woods is not always consistent in his golf — who is? — he is in his answers. They remain unchanging.
  
“I think,” he reminded, “I just enter events to win, and that’s it, whether there’s a lot of people following or nobody out there. It’s still the same. It’s still about winning the event . . . just to try to kick everyone’s butt.”
   
It’s Tiger’s derriere which has been kicked in major championships of late. Not since the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines has Woods been first in a major. Some good finishes, but not the finishes Woods, “all about winning,” has sought.
   
A shade under 7,000 yards in this era of 7,500-yard courses, Merion has been judged the perfect place for Woods to get that win — he rarely has to use the driver, the worst club in his bag — but also, because it negates his length, the most difficult course for Woods to get that win.
  
“I don’t have an exact feel for it yet,” said Woods, “what we’re going to have to do and what we’re doing to have to shoot.” His practice rounds have been played on a Merion soaked by relentless rain, a Merion whose fast greens have been slowed.
 
“We haven’t dealt with teeing it up in a tournament yet with it raining and drying out and mud balls appearing.”
  
He has dealt with the Sergio Garcia Affair, and the media forces him to continue doing so. Garcia was angry with Woods when they were paired together last month at The Players. A few days later, at function in London, Garcia attempted to crack wise about Tiger, saying he was inviting him to dinner and would serve fried chicken – a comment that could be considered racist.
  
Garcia apologized, and Monday, Garcia and Woods shook hands. Queried, Tiger explained, “We didn’t discuss anything. Just came up and said, ‘Hi,’ and that was that . . . He’s already (given an apology). We’ve already gone through it all. It’s time for the U.S. Open, and we tee it up in two days.”
  
When he spoke, a couple hours after Woods, Garcia confirmed an Associated Press story that he had left a handwritten note for Tiger.
  
“And hopefully,” Garcia said, “he can take a look at it. And it’s a big week, and I understand that it’s difficult to meet up and stuff. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it. If not, at least he has read the note, and he’s happy with that.”
  
What Tiger was unhappy with 10 days ago was his play at the Memorial, a tournament that Woods had won five times but this year ended up in a tie for 65th, making some wonder if that was proper preparation for the Open.
  
“I didn’t play well,” Woods conceded about the Memorial. “I didn’t putt well. I didn’t really do much that I was pleased about. But it was one of those weeks. It happens, and you move on from there.”
   
Move on to America’s national championship. Move on to Merion, where the bunkers are large and the crowd will be boisterous. After all, this is Philly, where during a holiday pageant at halftime of an Eagles game the fans began to boo the poor chap dressed as Santa Claus.
  
“This is our U.S. Open,” said Tiger, "and obviously there won’t be as many people as there were at Bethpage, I think it will be just as loud and just as electric. I’m sure we’ll hear them.”
  
They will. He will. Merion and its history are special. Tiger Woods and his history are special. The game is on.

Serena's Just Here – And in the Final

By Art Spander

NEW YORK — She's just here. Serena Williams said that about herself. Said it before she destroyed bewildered Sara Errani in their U.S. Open semifinal.

Serena wasn’t considering the other three times she had crushed Errani. Or how well she had played during the Open before the Friday semi.

"I don’t even think about that. I don’t know," was her noncommittal response. "I’m just here."

In truth she’s there, about as far away from the rest of women’s tennis as is possible.

In truth, as John McEnroe and so many others have told us, Serena probably is the best women’s player of all time, and never mind the records. We don’t got to show you no stinking records, we just have to show you Serena on court.

Where she’ll be again Saturday evening, attempting to win a fourth Open when she faces Victoria (Vika) Azarenka in the final. Azarenka, first in the rankings, first in the seeding, defeated Maria Sharapova, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. 

Errani ain’t bad. In fact, she’s quite good. Earlier this year she made it to the finals of the French Open, losing to Maria Sharapova. But Saturday in the late afternoon sunshine at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Errani, the first Italian to get to the semis of the U.S. Open, was swept away, 6-1, 6-2.

In 1 hour and 4 minutes. An entire match between the No. 4 seed, Williams, and the No. 10 seed, Errani, in just over an hour.

Thursday night, in a men’s quarter, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin took 1 hour 24 minutes just to play the second set. That was tennis. This was an embarrassment.

This was Serena Williams imposing her will.

"I just try everything I could,’’ said Errani. “I think maybe she’s the best. For me, I think she is incredible. When she play like this, I think she is the best player in the world.’’

When someone employed an American phrase and asked the 25-year-old Errani if she were "out of your league," she shook her head and sighed, "I don’t understand nothing. Sorry."

When an explanation was provided, Errani said, "Big difference. She played a good match. She’s a great player."

A player who has won 14 Grand Slam titles, including in July, Wimbledon, where she beat Agnieszka Radwanska. A few weeks later, she took gold in the Olympic women’s singles. Now she’s on the verge of a triple.

"I think it will probably be the best summer I've ever had,’’ said Williams.

"Let me think," said with a hint of a smile. “Maybe not. It will be up there. Yeah, up there, because if you win the Olympics and Wimbledon and this, it would be kinda cool."

If she doesn’t win this, it would be kind of strange. Although Azarenka is No. 1, and is a stronger player than poor Errani, Vika has only defeated Serena once in 10 matches, or should that be 10 mismatches?   

"I don't have anything to lose," said Williams, trying to act the underdog. "I feel like I'm going up against ‑‑ I personally think ‑‑ the most consistent and the best player this year, being Victoria Azarenka. It will be a good challenge for me."

Then someone fired a question at her the way she fired those relentless serves at Errani: How can Serena not think she’s the best player in the world at the moment?

"I said this year," Williams answered. "I always believe that I'm the best obviously. I mean, on paper I think she's been more consistent, going much deeper in the slams than I have and being pretty consistent."

A year ago, Serena made it to the finals, had a meltdown and was a loser to Samantha Stosur. There won’t be a repeat. In 2011, because of the rain, Williams’ semifinal went late into the night and she didn’t get to bed until 4 a.m. on the Saturday she would face Stosur.   

"This year, I know it sounds weird," offered Williams, "but I have more experience than I did last year."

When she was still recovering from a slashed foot, a blood clot in her lung and a hematoma. In 2012, she’s been healthy. And battering opponents, who look like girls against an Amazon of a woman.

"My goal," said Williams, only half joking, "was to not get in any fights, But something happens, then, I try to count to 10. Hopefully I can make it."

Against Stosur, Serena screamed at the chair umpire and was issued a code violation. It was in 2009 when Williams spouted obscenities and threatened smash her racquet over the head of a lineswoman who had the gall to call a foot fault on Williams.

There’s been no reason to go ballistic in this Open, not when she wins, 6-0, 6-0, the infamous double bagel, over Andrea Hlavackova in the fourth round, 6-0, 6-4 over former Wimbledon winner Ana Ivanovic in the quarters and takes the first five games and 12 of 15 overall against Errani.

"She’s such a good hope for Italy," said Williams of Errani. "She’s s such a good fighter."

Unfortunately, she was on the same court as Serena Williams, who is just here.

Tears and cheers for Roddick's last match

By Art Spander

NEW YORK -- The end had arrived, and Andy Roddick, tears in his eyes, love in his heart, was blowing kisses to a cheering, standing crowd whose desperate cries of support couldn't hold off inevitability any more than Roddick on this fateful afternoon could hold off Juan Martin del Potro.

In the seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Roddick's wife, the model Brooklyn Decker, was weeping openly on the shoulder of Roddick's longtime trainer, Doug Spreen. To the side of the court, Del Potro was clapping on the strings of his racquet.

Emotion was mixing with history.

A match that had started Tuesday night before the rain swept across the Billie Jean King Tennis Center concluded on a sunny but grim afternoon when Del Potro, younger, quicker, beat Roddick, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open.

Last Thursday on his 30th birthday, Roddick, who won the Open in 2003, announced when he was out of the tournament this time, he was out of competitive tennis.  

He was retiring, conceding as much to injuries as age. He made it through three previous matches. But not through this one.

And as the forehands flew past and the deficit grew larger, Roddick began to think what the rest of us were thinking about, that this 55^th match in the Open would be his very last anywhere.

That his journey as a tennis pro was moments from the finish line.

"Playing the last five games was pretty hard," agreed Roddick. "Once I got down a break, I could barely look at my box."

At his bride. At Spreen. At Larry Stefanki, his coach, the onetime Cal star. Or at his parents, Jim and Blanche, whose presence called down echoes of when Andy and his brothers were kids and being shuttled from tournament to tournament by their mom.

"This was all new to me," said Roddick later. "You try to keep it as best you can. I had seen most things that this game had to offer, and this was entirely new . . .  It was fun. This week I felt like I was 12 years old and playing in a park. It was extremely innocent."

It was extremely revealing. Roddick said a week ago he could no longer practice as he must and play as he wanted. "I never wanted to coast," was his reminder. And he never did, not even in this grand finale.

The last point was a shot wide by Roddick, who walked bravely to the net where Del Potro, who will be 24 in a few days, embraced him in a brief goodbye.

"It was a tough moment for me," said Del Potro. "And for him also. Last point of his life."

Del Potro, the Argentine, won the title here in 2009 then had to undergo surgery on his right wrist, knocking him out of the sport for a while. In his next match, the quarterfinals, Del Potro faces the defending Open champion, Novak Djokovic.

"The crowd was amazing for both players," emphasized Del Potro. "I really enjoyed it that way, but it wasn't easy for me. I was nervous, but he made some misses. But anyway, it was an unbelievable match."

For Roddick, once No. 1 in the rankings, in 2003, before Roger Federer, before the injuries, before the tough defeats, it was a satisfying match, a match that he understood would be played over the years in his head.

Since the departures of first Pete Sampras and then Andre Agassi, Roddick was ordained to carry the torch for American men's tennis. It was the most difficult assignment imaginable. And ironically, he was the last American man in this Open.

"I would rather not have it that way," he said about his status this year, if not over the years. "I would have loved for a lot more of us to have still been in.

"But I never shied from the burden. It just is what it is. I understand we come from a place, which probably had more success than any other tennis country, where there are certain expectations. I feel right back at the end of the generation, so that was the way the cards were dealt. But as tough a situation as it is, in the grand scheme of things it's a dream. It’s something you want. That’s not hard.’’

Perspective. That's a word hurled around a bit in the world of sport. Roddick always had it. Why grumble about a life millions of others would relish? There's nothing worse than to hear an athlete griping about late hours and cross-country trips and signing autographs.

"I hear people who have some success," Roddick pointed out, "and complain about it sometimes. I don't get it. For every one negative, there are 10 positives. I don't think that's ever not been the case."

Roddick will go home to Austin, Texas, will help run his foundation and will pick up a racquet if only to recall the good times and great player he once was.

"There were a lot of tough moments but unbelievable moments. I mean, who gets to play in the Wimbledon finals, and who gets to play in an Open, and who gets to be part of a winning (Davis Cup) team? I said it a million times, but I realize the opportunities I had."

The opportunity we had, for more than a decade, and particularly Thursday, was to watch Andy Roddick play the sort of tennis that makes a nation proud.

Roddick can't beat the rain

By Art Spander

NEW YORK -- What a great headline: "ROBINSON CANNOT." It was in the Post, an allusion to the Yankees' Robinson Cano, who didn't dive for a ground ball out of his reach. That was Monday. On Tuesday, it was A-Rod who could not, the other A-Rod now in this town, Andy Roddick.

Somehow, some way, it always rains here around Labor Day, during the U.S. Open tennis championships. One year it's a storm from off the coast. Another year it's the remnants of a hurricane. If you can slog it here, you can slog it anywhere.

Unless you're playing tennis, outdoors, which is what Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro did for a while, as Roddick, in his farewell, battled into the second week and the fourth round. ESPN was all over the match,  Chris Fowler, John McEnroe, the Bay Area's Brad Gilbert.

Would it be the last hurrah for the 30-year-old Roddick, Open champion in 2003, who stunningly announced on his birthday, last Thursday, that when he's out of this tournament he's out of competitive tennis? Or would Roddick continue the 130-mph serves and the drama going into the fifth round?

Neither, it turned out. An hour into the Tuesday night match, which started late, play was suspended by rain, with the match at 6-6 in the first set and Roddick ahead, 1-0, in the tiebreak.

The plan was to restart Wednesday, but thunderstorms are forecast. In the previous four years, the Open has finished on a Monday, a probability this time. When Roddick will finish is anybody's guess. He's not supposed to get past Del Potro, the No. 7 seed – Roddick, once the world's No. 1, is seeded No. 20. And should Andy defy logic, almost surely the great Novak Djokovic would be his next opponent.

But Roddick is enjoying these moments. He knows the end is near, and he is at peace with the player and the person he has become.

In this town, he's the other A-Rod, along with the Yanks' Alex Rodriguez, and that puts him in an esteemed class. The Post, the Daily News and Newsday are tabloids, the few, the proud, with sports headlines on the back page no less powerful or meaningful than those news headlines on the front page.

There’s an intensity fueled by those headlines. Every day, all 365 of them, there has to be a subject to get the fans excited, even when in truth there's nothing. The Mark Sanchez-Tim Tebow issue is the stuff of dreams for the tabs. The other day in the Post, Sanchez was on the back cover and, because he apparently is dating Eva Longoria, additionally on the front. Hey, it was a holiday weekend and killings and political corruption just weren't that important.

Rodriguez, coming back to the Yankees after rehab – he had not played with New York since breaking his hand on July 24 – took the Post back cover. "IT'S UP TO A-ROD," according to the headline.

In a way, at the U.S. Open across the East River, that was also the situation. If it were not for Roddick and the awesome Serena Williams, who Monday beat the Czech brewer's daughter, Andrea Hlavackova, 6-0, 6-0 – the double-bagel as it's known – American tennis would be absent from the American Open.

Roddick, certainly, is as much a curiosity as a personality. How long can he last? Even Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who previous to Andy announced this would be her last competitive event, was in a prime seat at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where early most of the seats in the 23,000-capacity arena – prime or not – were empty.

The weather had been bad throughout the day. Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli only made it through four games (all of them won by Bartoli) before that match was postponed. So spectators properly were hesitant to show up, arriving late as they do for dinner in Manhattan.

The crowd was decidedly pro-Roddick, understandably when he was a homeboy against the Argentine Del Potro, and when Andy broke serve in the sixth game to lead 4-2, the biased cheers were apparent.

So was the oppressive weather, 77 degrees with 86 percent humidity, a dampness that had Del Potro – the 2009 champion – grumbling to the umpire, contending the court was slippery and then grabbing a towel to wipe the lines for emphasis.

Del Potro broke back, and so they were in a tiebreaker, but not for long as the rain returned. One point, to Roddick, and that was it.

Top-seed Roger Federer, who on Monday reached his 34th consecutive quarterfinal in a Grand Slam tournament, said of Roddick: "I’m thankful for everything he's done for the game, especially here for tennis in America.

"It's not been easy after Agassi and Sampras, Courier, Chang, Connors, McEnroe, you name it."

It hasn't been easy, but what is easy in New York, a town where Cano cannot but both A-Rods still are trying to show they can.

No End to Andy Roddick’s September Song

By Art Spander

NEW YORK -- Andy Roddick’s September song remains a melody without end. The days grow short, but at the 2012 U.S. Open, his last tennis tournament of a huge career, autumn remains somewhere beyond the backcourt line.

Roddick held off his announced retirement one more match on a humid Sunday at Flushing Meadow, playing to a crowd he said was as loud as he could remember and also playing to his own sense of purpose.

After his three-hour, 7-5, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, third-round victory over Italy’s Fabio Fognini, Roddick appeared almost as surprised as he was satisfied.

"I don’t have a lot of questions of how, why or when," Roddick told the packed house of more than 21,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. "I’m just trying to play point to point, keep my emotions together and appreciate this tournament."

The appreciation comes from the fans.

For a decade, Roddick, who turned 30 on Thursday, has been the male face of American tennis, outspoken, occasionally outrageous and always in touch.

After Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, there was Roddick, with the Open title in 2003, and appearances in four other finals, one at the Open, three at Wimbledon. There was Roddick in commercials. There was Roddick on the Davis Cup team.

So, when, stunningly, Roddick, beset by injuries, called a press conference on his birthday to say this tournament would be his last competition, the news was emotional, maybe as much for those who follow American tennis as much as it was for Roddick.

Each match could be his final match. In classic Roddick style, he’s keeping us in suspense by keeping himself in the Open. Maybe not much longer. His next opponent, Tuesday night, is Juan Martin del Potro, the number 7 seed and the 2009 champion. Still, sport has a way of defying logic.

"I’m normally good about putting my thoughts (forward), able to articulate," he said. "But this whole process, I’m trying not to overthink it, trying I guess to be as simplistic as possible. I’m trying to enjoy the process and, when I get out there, trying to compete also.’’

He’s competed. He’s succeeded.

Tennis and golf are different. There are no hometown teams. There are home-country heroes. Maybe Roger Federer belongs as much to the world as he does to Switzerland, but Americans -- “U-S-A, U-S-A’’ -- are partial toward Americans.

Since the early part of the 21^st century, Roddick has been their man. Our man.

Now, as Roddick pointed out, as it is his time to say goodbye to the venues and the pals, it’s the U.S. Open spectators’ time to say goodbye to Roddick. And they’re doing it in with clamorous joy.

"I’ve been surprised by the support," Roddick conceded. "I thought inside our world it would be something, but I don’t know that I expected all this and the crowd to react the way it has. It’s been a special experience for me. It’s been a lot of fun."

The first set, when the upper reaches of the stadium were mostly empty, Roddick was in front 5 games to 3. Then, as so often happens in tennis, a reversal and it was 5-5. The fans, almost out of desperation, shouted and screamed. Roddick responded.

The 25-year-old Fognini, who hugged Roddick at the net when the match ended, eventually would come to the locker room and ask for a signed Roddick tennis shirt, the LaCoste brand with the little crocodile on the front.

"Like one of the jerseys," said Roddick, "it’s customary to exchange in football (soccer matches)."

Fognini appeared to be overtaking Roddick after winning the third set, but Andy regained control.

"He has no pressure now," Fognini said of Roddick’s play. "He was really aggressive. He has nothing to lose."

Not quite true. He has a career to lose. He has fans to lose.

Following the on-court interview, Roddick was hauled up to the CBS-TV outdoor booth overlooking the plaza, the gathering point for the all-day party that is U.S. Open tennis. After removing his headset, Roddick was assaulted with booming cheers.

There will be more. For the ninth time, he is in the Open’s round of 16. For someone who failed to get past the third round this year at the Australian, French and Wimbledon, that is a great way to pull the curtain down.

"I love this place," he told the fans, blowing kisses and waving. "I love all of you."

Later, to the press, Roddick said, "I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face for three days. All of a sudden you’re kind of smiling, humming, whistling, walking around, and you feel pretty good about it."

Roddick came to this Open as a spectator in 1991. He will leave as a legend in 2012.

"I’d be an idiot not to use the crowd right now," he said about the biased cheers. "It’s a huge advantage. Each match is almost like it’s another memory."

When each match may be your final match, what else would it be?