I love watching sports on TV, especially baseball and football -- that is, except when Virginia loses by 20 to a team it should wallop. But there have always been two sports I refuse to watch: golf and any form of car racing, whether it be stock cars, funny cars, whatever. I just don't see the point. I know both are extremely difficult, but I have zero interest in watching a sport where the crowd must be silent while well-dressed athletes (if you can call all golfers "athletes" -- see Daly, John) try to hit a non-moving ball into a hole in the ground. And, I may be alone in this, but I just can't get excited watching cars make left turns at high speeds.
Recently, I came to a conclusion about another sport's "watchability:" tennis. Like golf, it is a so-called "leisure" sport, and in my opinion, it is not one of the Big Five major American spectator sports (baseball, football, basketball, soccer and hockey). I never really paid it much attention when flipping the channels unless Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were dueling it out for a Grand Slam title. That is, until the 2007 U.S. Open started.
I didn't realize my roommates this year are such avid tennis fans, but when the TV was tuned to USA Network (and not ESPN) every time I would go to watch, I couldn't help but sit down and check it out. As it turns out, I was glued to a few matches myself. Here's why:
Radek Stepanek v. Novak Djokovic -- a match between two men whose names I couldn't pronounce. But I learned how to say them (Rah-deck Step-uh-neck and No-vack Jo-kuh-vich is my best phonetic spelling) while watching the 4-hour-44-minutebattle and I also realized just how in-shape these athletes must be to run around for such a long time. Djokovic, the No. 3 player in the world, pulled off the win in five sets on tiebreaks.
Roger Federer v. John Isner -- a match between two men who I know a little bit about. Last year, Isner was taking on Virgina then-junior Somdev Devvarman in the NCAA Men's Singles Championship, which Devvarman won on tiebreaks. Saturday, I watched the same Isner slam rocket shots past Federer, the most dominant player in any sport right now (yes, more dominant than Tiger; even Tiger admitted that). Federer went on to win in four sets after Isner took the first 7-6, but it was still a fun match to watch. Granted, anything would have been better to watch than Virginia's 23-3 loss to Wyoming in football. Don't get me started on that game.
(Sidenote: American tennis is on the rise, thanks in some part to Isner's performance, but with most of the credit going to an even younger rising star. Donald Young, only 18 years old, upset No. 13 Richard Gasquet before falling to Feliciano Lopez. Young has been tabbed as the next great American star, so keep an eye on him.)
So, yes, tennis is watchable. And now that the U.S. Open is down to the quarterfinals in singles matches, I recommend any non-believers check out the matches between the best players in the world, which are sure to come on both the men's and women's sides. (The best match in the women's bracket might be the today's quarterfinal draw of No. 8 Serena Williams against No. 1 Justine Henin.) And, because upsets are just as exciting as duels between two superpowers -- I might just be getting sick of Federer-Nadal championships -- I will definitely be watching as much tennis as possible during the end of this major tournament.
Eric Strow's column runs on Thursdays and he can be reached at sports@cavalierdaily.com
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