2017 US Open

[Don Wassall]

I watched the second set of Sloane Stephens' rout of Madison Keys, 6-3 6-0. What interested me was the ceremony afterward. Tom Ranalli was the only White person involved. Black female Katrina Adams just happens to be the president of the USTA. The person presenting the checks to Stephens and Keys was another black woman. So you had four black females and Tom Ranalli. Adams was beaming when she told the winner and runner-up, "You represent the future of diverse American tennis." "Diverse" of course in the USSA is a euphemism for overwhelmingly black, or when that's not possible, overwhelmingly non-White. The crowd, which paid something like 23k a ticket on average to watch the match, gleefully applauded Adams' racial cheerleading.

 

[La France Blanche]

Millions of White people who watched that were secretly thinking, "There is no future for my son or daughter in a 'diverse' faux-nation like this. We need our own country."

 

[Don Wassall]

Nadal wins his third U.S. Open and now has 16 major titles, behind only Federer's 19. Both had huge bounce back years in 2017 and split the four grand slam events. Nadal is five years younger than Federer but plays a more punishing style that takes more out of him physically. Will be interesting to see if he can catch Roger. Djokovic has 12 slam titles but has been a non-factor since last year's Wimbledon, hopefully he'll be back in the mix in 2018.

 

[Shadowlight]

In a surprising but at the end of the day correct move SI has put Sloane Stevens on the cover. As some of you know SI has cut way back on their tennis covers. And while I was extremely unhappy Stevens won I think it is important that tennis gets it's due. If it was up to me ,SI at a minimum would feature three tennis covers a year. One after the US OPEN and one after WIMBLEDON. And a third one thrown in whenever either after the French, Australian or anytime for a feature story.
Below, not counting Stevens, is a list of the previous 8 covers. Nadal only has one cover. Djokovic has no covers even after 12 Grand Slams.
That they had a Federer cover just two issues ago which makes me wonder if SI has come to their senses. I am still sceptic though as Stevens was an American plus her being black probably played a large role into the decision. But this has to be a bitter pill for Venus who was on the verge of beating her. And to add salt to her wound Venus surprisingly only has had one SI cover--the one prior to the eight listed below.
I do not have a firm grip on what will happen with men's and women's tennis next year but I sense the wholesale changes at the top will start to crystalize as new players jump into the spotlight.
I find it very odd that two players at the height of their careers were viciously stabbed. Who could forget that awful Monica Seles incident on the court and more recently Petra Kvitova in a home invasion.
Without Federer's two Majors this year the season would have been the most disappointing in ages. And he managed one more SI cover which now makes three( more like two and a half). Too bad the US OPEN left mainly a bad taste in my mouth.
http://www.sicovers.com/SearchResults.aspx?pc=Tennis