Arno

The U.S. Open night session traditionally starts at 7 pm in New York with a woman's match, which is followed by a best-of-five-set men's match. To be short: this has to change.

First option would be to shorten the so-called night session to one man's match, starting at 8 pm. It's good for tennis, good for the audience who has more time to get to Flushing and good for TV.

Some people may argue that eliminating the woman's match from the program is not a good idea.

Then, second option: start the evening with the man's match and close it with the woman's match.

The way it is now makes me feel like the woman's match is an opening act that no one really cares about and that lasts too long. And don't tell me that the second match would be played in front of an empty stadium. Equal prize money tells me that women's tennis is at least as popular as men's tennis.

Bob Costas, of NBC, said that Jamaica's Usain Bolt showed no respect for his competitors, the Olympics and the entire audience for breaking the 100m dash world record, his own world record, by just 300th of a second in the final on Saturday.

I totally understand Mr. Costas. It is exactly how I felt Saturday morning when NBC refused to show the 100m dash final live in the USA. It was broadcast more than 12 hours later.

NBC showed no respect for the competitors, the Olympics and its entire audience.

At least Bolt had a very good reason to showboat. He is an Olympic champion, the fastest man on earth. I can only imagine how it feels to dominate the most important race of the Olympic Games in front of the entire world. Well almost the entire world...

Costas' argument is that Bolt could have done better. Sometimes I wonder if people think before talking. 100m in 9:69 is not good enough for Mr. Costas. It must be that high standards apply only to others.

You must all know by now that Michael Phelps won eight swimming gold medals in the Beijing Olympic Games. That’s an all-time record.

The previous record was seven golds, set by American Mark Spitz in Munich in 1972. Numbers don’t lie, Phelps broke Spitz’s record, by 1 medal.

On August 16, Phelps beat Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by 100th of a second in the 100-meter butterfly final to claim his 7th gold medal, which means that Phelps broke Spitz’s record by 100th of a second, the smallest margin possible in the pool.

I don’t mean to minimize Phelps’ record. The man won 16 Olympic medals in his life, including 14 golds. He is probably the greatest swimmer of all time. What he did in Beijing is one the greatest feats in sport history. No question. No discussion.

But, even though what Phelps did had never been done before –he attempted it four years ago in Athens but failed--, it is barely better than Spitz.

Phelps broke seven world records in Beijing, so did Spitz in Munich.

As much as Phelps deserves to be praised and his achievement celebrated, part of what he did was to remind us how fantastic a swimmer Spitz was.

It could have been a nice gesture for somebody to invite him to Beijing. USA Swimming. FINA The IOC. NBC. Somebody.

For the first time since February 2, 2004, Roger Federer is not at the top of the world rankings. Rafael Nadal, who won the French Open, Wimbledon and the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing, is the new leader of the tennis world.

Federer’s streak of 237 weeks as world no.1 is the longest ever. Pete Sampras’ longest such streak was “only” 102 weeks.

Nadal is the 24th player, and third Spaniard after Juan Carlos and Carlos Moya, to reach the no.1 spot in the world rankings.

Russia’s Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva swept the medals at the Olympics in Beijing. With five Russians in the top 10 of the WTA Tour rankings, this sweep is no surprise.

Safina has had the best summer of her life on the tennis court. Don’t be surprised if she reaches the final of the U.S. Open, three weeks from now.

Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka won the doubles gold medal at the Olympics. Federer showed more emotion in one week of doubles play than in years of singles. He also proved that the best singles player in the world can easily dominate the doubles as well. Ask Bob and Mike Bryan what they think of the Swiss master. The American twins earned the bronze in China, Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson the silver.

Venus and Serena Williams claimed the doubles gold medal in Beijing, just as they did in Sydney in 2000. They beat Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final. Yan Zi and Zheng Jie managed to claim the bronze for China.

Fernando Gonzalez lost to Nadal in the final in Beijing. He now has 3 Olympic medals, silver and bronze in singles and gold in doubles that he claimed with Nicolas Massu in Athens, in 2004.

Novak Djokovic earned the bronze medal for Serbia. He went to the final at the U.S. Open last year, losing to Federer in the final. He may go all the way this year.

It has become quite popular, in the now much heralded blogosphere as well as in the old media of the Western world, to criticize, often harshly, the Chinese and the decision to grant them the rights to host the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Some of those critics are definitely legitimate. The Chinese government is not better than other governments across the world, and no one could be happier than me to see socialist regimes collapse, as they all do eventually. We could all use more freedom and respect for differences.

But, it is also legitimate to praise the Chinese will to please us, in the United States, when they do.

I guess that if you made it to this page, it is because you enjoy the Games and probably watch the swimming finals every night. And, you will agree, they have been pretty fantastic so far. Who would have thought that a swimming relay could generate so much excitement? Beating the French is always a source of great pride, that’s understandable.

But have you thought about the fact that the race took place at 5 in the morning in France and 11, that same morning, in Beijing? The only reason why you had the chance and pleasure to enjoy it “live on prime time,” (at least on the east coast) is because the IOC and the BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) agreed to schedule the swimming finals in the morning.

They also moved the gymnastic finals and that is a bigger deal. Gymnastic is a major sport in China. Li Ning, who won six medals at the Los Angeles Olympic games in 1984, was chosen to ignite the cauldron during the Opening Ceremony. The men’s Chinese team claimed the gold medal yesterday, at the end of a competition that started at 10 in the morning. And trust me, 10 am is no prime time in China.

But this sets a precedent. A dangerous precedent? Only time will tell. All we can do for now is imagine what it could be like in the future when China has become the true commercial superpower that many fear today.

The NBA is big in China. Yao Ming doesn’t receive all his All-Star votes from Houston Rockets fans. Most of them come straight from China, over the internet, after all. A few years from now, CCTV, promising 900 million viewers, may ask the NBA commissioner to have the All-Star Game played at 9 in the morning in New York, on Saturday. Who would refuse to expose its product to nearly 1 billion people? (It would be 3 in the afternoon in Western Europe). Certainly not the NBA. You imagine the Garden going crazy at 9 in the morning?

But it would be very ungrateful of us to even think about complaining.

But don’t worry too much. It is very unlikely to happen. The NBA All-Star Game will be played in Shanghai, China before Lakers fans have to get up at 6 in the morning to watch it live from New York.

Anyway, for now, I say thank you China.

Iranian swimmer Mohammad Alirezaei has pulled out of the Olympic Games on Saturday because of illness.
The 100-meter breaststroke swimmer was carried to a hospital in Beijing, according to the Iranian Swimming Federation officials.
Alirezaei was the first Iranian swimmer to book a spot in the Olympics.

That’s the Iranian official story. You can read it at here.

Others have suggested he wouldn’t compete because Tom Beeri of Israel was in the same heat.

That was on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, David Blatt and the captain of the Iran basketball team Mohammadsamad Nikkhah spoke and embraced moments after Russia defeated Iran 71-49. The level of basketball was horrible. Iran scored 5 points in the first quarter. But it doesn't matter here.

What matters is that Blatt, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and is now the coach of the Russian team, is Israeli. He visited the Israeli delegation in the Olympic Village twice, including a meeting and photo-op with President Shimon Peres.

Blatt declared that the Olympics are above politics. "Only in the Olympics can an Israeli coach shake the hand of an Iranian player," he said.

Russia's Natalia Paderina and Georgia's Nino Salukvadze must agree with Blatt. Paderina and Salukvadze hugged and kissed after the women’s 10-meter air pistol competition on Sunday. Paderina won the silver medal, Salukvadze took the bronze.

Their countries are at war in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia that has support from Moscow.

"This is the beauty of sport," Blatt said after the basketball game. "As soon as you start running you forget everything and remember that we are all the same. Unfortunately, politics is not in the hands of the regular people and the athletes."

Unfortunately, politics is not in the hands of the regular people and the athletes.

I hear that some people, who usually like sports and competition, don’t care much about the Olympics. To be honest, that doesn’t make sense to me. But I won’t attempt to change anybody’s mind. What would be the point of that? I can only tell you why I like the Olympic Games.

On Sunday, August 10, 2008, four of the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer, Ronaldinho and Kobe Bryant will all be in action on the world’s greatest stage.

American Michael Phelps may be the greatest swimmer off all time. He won eight medals in Athens four years ago, six gold and two bronze. On Sunday, he attempts to win the first of the eight races he’ll compete in, in Beijing, the 400-meter individual medley.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer has been atop the tennis world rankings for 236 consecutive weeks. He has won 12 Grand Slam titles. Only Pete Sampras bests that with 14. He is one of the greatest tennis players in history, but has never won an olympic medal. He’s made the gold in Beijing one of his goals for 2008.

Brazil’s Ronaldinho (full name: Ronaldo de Assis Moreira) has won the soccer FIFA World Cup in 2002, the Copa America in 1999 and the Confederation Cup in 2005. He has been named FIFA player of the year twice, in 2004 and 2005. He is in Beijing to help his country win the only soccer trophy it has never won, the Olympic title.

And finally, Kobe Bryant, will make his Olympic debut with the American basketball team. Bryant was named NBA MVP for the 2007-08 season. He is a 10-time NBA All-Star and won three NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. The USA was upset in Athens and couldn't do better than third.

Now, if you don’t like the Olympics, it may be that you don’t really like sports and competition after all.

On a side note, I only wish golf was an Olympic sport. Add Tiger to that list and you have yet another great Nike commercial.

Two weeks from now, when the Beijing Games are over and it is time to see if the US olympic team has managed to top the medal count for the 4th consecutive time, I hope no one will forget those names: Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward.

The three young women won the first U.S. medals of the Beijing Games, leading an American sweep in women's saber fencing. Zagunis took the gold over Jacobson, who won the silver. Ward took the bronze.

Fencing has been an Olympic sport since the Athens Games in 1896. And never before had one country put three fencers on one podium. For the first time ever, the same flag was raised for all three athletes on the medal platform. 26 Games, 0 sweeps. Zagunis, Jacobson and Ward will forever be the first athletes to accomplish that feat.

To be fair, the women’s saber event was added to the Olympic program for the Athens Games, in 2004. Zagunis won the gold that year, to become the first American in a century to win a fencing gold. Jacobson claimed the bronze. Silver went to China’s Tan Xue. The U.S. women have now captured 5 of the 6 saber medals.

The Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony is over. The media black-out in the U.S. is somewhat ironic. It will be hard for U.S. officials to complain about China withholding information when their own citizens are not allowed to watch the Ceremony before it’s edited and shown with a 12-hour delay on TV. I wish all those people who want to change China had asked NBC to show it live too. But for some reasons, it’s always easier to ask others to do things you're not willing to do yourself.

Also, the Youtube olympic channel is unavailable in the U.S. (and in several other countries where the rights have been sold). I feel like a journalist from the Olympic media centre in Beijing who cannot access the sites he wants to on the internet. This is trully frustrating.

The IOC said the Olympic Broadcasting Services will produce the YouTube channel content and will include highlights, news clips, and daily videos of the international games. YouTube, and parent company Google, will also help pull videos that violate the IOC copyrights on Olympics content. If nothing else, the Olympic Committee has managed to make Google care about copyrights. It may not have changed China just yet, but it did accomplish something.

Based on what I hear from people over the world, the ceremony was “fantastic, outstanding, modern, well-done.” I can’t wait to see it.

And for those who care about Olympic sports. The women’s sabre competition, that's fencing, starts at 10 pm ET on Friday. U.S. Rebecca Ward is ranked 2nd in the world is the favorite. U.S. Mariel Zagunis is the defending champion. And Sada Jacobson, the third American in the field, won bronze in Athens and is the world No. 1. The medals bouts are scheduled around 8:00 Saturday morning.

The men’s cycling road race also starts Friday night. It features many Tour de France’s riders, including George Hincapie and Levy Leipheimer.

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Watching the Opening Ceremony on NBC is painful. The show is great, inspiring and moving, but the coverage is lame and weak.

First, too many commercial breaks. I understand that GE spent a fortune to acquire the rights not to show the Olympics live and need a return on this massive investment, but that's not a reason to cut parts of the ceremony.

Second, I don't know if Matt Lauer was too busy or too lazy to read the media guide, or if NBC's China specialist fell asleep, but there is no symbol in the fact that the armed forces raised the Chinese flag. It is simply the rule in China. Only military people in uniforms can raise flags. It was also the case in Sydney, Australia.

Third, they managed to link Tai Chi and global warming. I was expecting a little plug for GE green products there.

Fourth, it would be nice if NBC hired somebody who knows something about sport to comment the parade of nation and tell the viewers who is being shown on the screen. They seem to know only American athletes.

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad started today in China with six women’s soccer games, two days before the Opening Ceremony, set to take place Friday night in Beijing.

As much as I like soccer, I don’t know if it really belongs to the Olympics. If you can’t fit your schedule between the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, you don’t belong. If the top players in your sport can’t compete in the Games, you definitely don’t belong. The latter point is only true for the men, then maybe they should just remove the men’s competition from the Olympic program. The FIFA World Cup is much bigger anyway.

A few hours later, the US announced that Lopez Lomong, former Lost Boy of Sudan, will carry the U.S. flag during the Ceremony. Some have said that China backed the Sudanese government despite its involvement in the “Darfur genocide.” A genocide that Lomong survived. He will compete in the 1,500 meter race on the track.

In related news, former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, who won a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, learned his visa was revoked by Chinese authorities today, hours before he was set to travel to Beijing to urge the Chinese government to help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section of Sudan.

Politics or social protests and the Olympics have always been intertwined. Giving the opportunity to Lomond to lead the U.S.team during the Opening Ceremony may not be a political statement, but if it is, it is definitely one of the smartest ever.

Awarding the Games to Beijing, China was, I think, a good idea. I am not saying that Toronto, Canada, Paris, France or Osaka, Japan would have been bad hosts, but so far, Beijing has done a very good job.

The venues look stunning and have been completed on time. The U.S. didn’t have to position an aircraft carrier off the coast of China for security reasons during the Games like it did four years ago in Athens, Greece.

Furthermore, China has become a powerful country on the sport’s map. It was the third best nation at the three previous Summer Olympics in the medal count, claiming 51 of them in 1996, 59 in 2000 and 63 in 2004.

China is still a communist despotic State. There is no denying this fact. We should feel bad for the Chinese people, but I don’t think that not giving them the Games would have changed that. Au contraire.

In 1980, the U.S. decided not to partake in the Summer Games in Moscow, Russia, because the soviet army was occupying Afghanistan. Not only did the boycott made no difference in Afghanistan, but situation is rather ironic today, isn’t it?

Elena Dementieva had to clarify a declaration she made after her semifinal loss to Venus Williams at Wimbledon about the possible up-coming family decision in the final. At the time of the press conference, Serena Williams was still playing in her semifinal. Dementieva blamed language difficulties for her initial comments being taken the wrong way.

What she said doesn’t matter. Whether she was right or wrong, meant it or not, is not the point here. The point is that Dementieva is fluent in Russian, her native tongue, French, which she learned in school in Moscow, and is capable of conducting post-match interviews in English, in all forms of English. English from the UK, from the US, from Argentina, China or Spain...

Marat Safin speaks Russian, Spanish and conducts his interviews in English. Roger Federer speaks French, English, German and Italian. Rafael Nadal has worked on his English as much as on his serve over the past few years but remains seemingly frustrated when he doesn’t understand a question.

Andy Roddick speaks English. Harvard educated James Blake speaks English. Venus and Serena Williams speak English. They all speak English and only English, whether they play in Paris or in Rome.

Until interviews, all interviews of tennis players after an historic win or a bad loss, are conducting in their native tongues I believe we should forgive them for a slip of the tongue.

Tradition is not something the All England Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Championships Wimbledon, is used to tampering with, you would think. Well, think again.

Things have changed at SW19 over the past few years. Major changes have been brought to the grass court event that did alter the game itself in a major way.

I am not talking about the retractable roof over Centre Court to be operational next year, or about the new Court 2 to open next year as well. Those are mere improvements. And improvements and tradition can get along without changing the game.

But the alterations to the 131-year-old event I am talking about are the grass, and the balls.

The grass is still green and apparently shorter. The balls are still yellow, but I am told heavier.

Tennis on grass was traditionally fast, the tennis played at Wimbledon the fastest of the four Grand Slam events. No more.

The red clay at Roland-Garros is still slow. The green grass at Wimbledon may now be the second slowest and it shows.

Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, has reached the final in London the past two years and looks as strong as ever after two rounds this year.

Andy Roddick has reached the final twice in London, in 2004 and 2005, but was eliminated in the 2nd round this year. His earliest exit ever here.

There is one American man, Bobby Reynolds, left in the singles draw after two rounds, while five Spaniards are still in it. Doesn’t that sound like something we would say in Paris?

After his win over Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin said it: “they changed the grass.”

A few years ago, a four-shot rally was unusual on grass. One serve, one volley was enough to win a point. Sampras won seven titles in such fashion.

Today, long rallies are the norm. Back-court grinders feel good and know they can advance far in the draw. The game has changed for the better.

This raises a question: How many titles would have Sampras won on the slow grass of London?

"I pick Rafael Nadal as winner and my second choice is Novak Djokovic, my third is Roger.”

This is five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg’s prediction for the upcoming Championships at SW19 (the zipcode for the The All England Tennis and Croquet Club, in London, England).

Who’s going to argue with Borg?

“Roger” is Roger Federer. He has not lost on grass since 2002, when he was upset by Mario Ancic in the Wimbledon first round, and could break Borg’s record of five consecutive wins here this year.

He has won 59 matches since that loss, claimed 10 titles on the green surface, an open era record he shares with Pete Sampras, including 5 in Halle, Germany, where he won again last week without being broken once (he won in Doha, Qatar without dropping his serves in 2005).

Despite Federer’s remarkable record on grass, Borg believes that Djokovic will upset him in the semifinals two weeks from today, before losing to four-time French Open champion Nadal in the final.

Nadal claimed the Artois Championships, a grass-court Wimbledon tuneup, played at the Queen’s Club in London, England, last week.

He became the first Spaniard in 36 years to win a grass-court tournament since Andres Gimeno won at Eastbourne in 1972 and the first player to win Roland Garros and the London Grass Court Championships in the same year since Ilie Nastase captured both titles in 1973.

Nadal recorded wins over Ivo Karlovic (three tie-breaks) in the quarterfinals, Andy Roddick in the semis and Novak Djokovic in the final in London.

"If he survives the first couple of rounds this year, I pick him to win Wimbledon," Borg said about Nadal's chance after the French Open final.

With a potential second-round match against Ernests Gulbis or John Isner, two tall, powerful and effective “service machines”, Nadal could be challenged early. But after that, until Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals and Andy Roddick in the semis, Nadal could cruise through the draw.

Gasquet came back from two sets down to upset Roddick in last year’s quarterfinals at SW19. Roddick reached the final twice here, in 2004 and 2005.

Once again, who’s going to argue with Borg?

A few years ago, Tony Roche, then his coach, said that Roger Federer was one win away from being the greatest tennis player ever. That one missing win was at the French Open, on the red clay of Roland-Garros.

Now that Federer qualified for his third consecutive final in Paris –he lost the first two to Rafael Nadal and will meet him again in Sunday’s final— he does not need that elusive win to claim the unofficial and somewhat controversial title of “Best Player Ever”.

Federer has won 12 Grand Slam titles in his career, two short from Pete Sampras’s record. He has won three Australian Opens, one more than Sampras, five Wimbledon crowns, against Sampras’s seven and four U.S. Open titles, as many as Sampras.

Sampras did it in 12 years, claiming his first Grand Slam title in New York in 1990 and his last, still in New York, in 2002, before calling in a career. Federer has done it in 5 years, winning his first Wimbledon title in 2003.

If a winning record was a sufficient argument against Federer, nine basketball players, including Robert Horry and Jim Loscutoff, would be better than Michael Jordan in the NBA. I may be wrong but I have never heard anybody saying that Jordan could not be dubbed “best player ever” because Loscutoff had won one more title than him with the Boston Celtics.

Federer has also played 16 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals, establishing an Open Era record. The second best in that consistency and endurance contest: Ivan Lendl, with 8! Sampras never played more than three in a row.

(Only Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg have played more than 15 Grand Slam semifinals.)

Sampras finished the year atop the world rankings six times, from 1993 to 1998. Federer has finished the year as World No.1 every year since 2004. But since reaching the No. 1 spot, on February 2, 2004, no one else has been able to catch up with him. He’s been sitting on his thrown for 227 consecutive weeks. Sampras’s longest streak: 102 weeks.

Despite his winless record on the Parisian red clay, that is precisely here, in Roland-Garros that Federer claimed his BPE title.

I don’t believe he will win on Sunday. Nadal is likely to win his 4th consecutive title, tying Borg’s record. Nadal has never lost at the French Open. He has lost only seven sets in 27 matches, three of them to Federer. Nadal is arguably the best clay court player ever, but we’ll tackle that issue another time.

But even if he comes one win short again, Federer, with at least three finals in each of the four Grand Slam events, has already achieved what no one else has done in the open era.

Thanks to his amazing consistency and endurance at the highest level, at a time when the competition is deeper than ever, Federer is already the best ever.

Russia’s Dinara Safina is Marat Safin’s little sister. Women’s names end with an “a” in Russian. Yuri Sharapov is Maria Sharapova’s father. This may be quite obvious to most of you, but you’d be surprised at how many people didn’t know that Marat and Safina were related.

Sharapova is still the only Russian to have been ranked World No.1 on the women’s side. Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin have done it on the men’s side.

Ana Ivanovic will be the first player from Serbia to be ranked World No.1 when the WTA Tour releases the new rankings, on Monday. She has qualified for three of the last five Grand Slam finals.

Ivanovic will meet Safina in the final in Paris. Safina will attempt to win the third leg of the family slam. Her brother Marat won the U.S. Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer has qualified for his 16 consecutive Grand Slam semfinal. The streak started at Wimbledon in 2004. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was 1-2 on the ATP Tour that year. His streak of Grand Slam semifinal stands at five. USA’s Pete Sampras never played more than three consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.

Federer is one of four men in the Open Era to win three of the four Grand Slams and reach the final of the fourth, along with Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl and Ken Rosewall.

He has always lost to the eventual champion since Wimbledon 2004.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal has lost 25 games in his first five matches in Roland-Garros this year. Sweden’s Bjorn Borg lost 26 games before the semifinals twice, in 1978 and 1980.