U.S. Open aces and faults
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan chest bump as they celebrate match point after their men's doubles first round match against David Goffin and Steve Darcis during Day Three of the 2012 U.S. Open. (Aug. 29, 2012) Credit: Getty
ACE. Doubles tennis featuring American twins Bob and Mike Bryan.
FAULT. Open officials’ decision to schedule the Bryans on 2,800-seat Court 17, leaving hundreds of fans shut out, while simultaneous matches in 10,103-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium and the 6,106-seat Grandstand began with roughly half of the seats filled.
ACE. Spectators’ rhythmic clapping in anticipation of a Hawk-Eye replay.
FAULT. The ruptured quadriceps tendon, suffered in a fall at last year’s Open, that kept 83-year-old tennis Boswell Bud Collins away from the previous three Grand Slam events. Collins, still fashioning the most colorful slacks in the sport, is back now and yesterday was signing copies of his book, “History of Tennis.”
By the Numbers
0 Pronounced “love” when a tennis score is 15-0, 30-0, 40-0.
0 Pronounced “zero” during a tennis tiebreaker: 1-0, 2-0, etc.
0 Pronounced “oh” when referring to a player’s record, such as Roger Federer’s mark in night matches at the Open: 23-0.
Furthermore...
Today is the 35th anniversary of Renee Richards’ first major tournament match in women’s singles. Before sex-change surgery, she had been Richard Raskind, once a star for Harvard’s men’s team. By 1977, she was 43 years old and a successful ophthalmologist, and had been fighting for more than a year for a right to play as a woman. She lost her first Open match to Virginia Wade in what was described by the late Washington Post reporter Barry Lorge as both “a grand gesture for human rights by some, and a freak show by others.”
