Posted in On the DL Podcast
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09/10 2010

DL431: Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Busted Racquet Talks US Open Tennis

Posted by Dan Levy.

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Chris Chase from Yahoo’s Busted Racquet — still one of the hardest blog names you’ll ever have to spell — joins the show to talk about the US Open semifinals and finals. But first, I tell a story about how my lawn and tree caught on fire last night. Fun stuff.

Chase and I discuss that current state of American tennis which, last we checked, could be described as “in disarray.” Did anyone see this coming? Chase explains how fickle a sport like tennis can be, which leads to an interesting conversation about the ability to project talent in a sport like tennis where the game is as much mental as it is physical.

Or, is it more mental that physical? Are the better players just more prepared mentally than others? And what role does the fact that players can’t talk to their coaches during matches have to do with their ability to handle the mental and emotional stress inside a match?

We hit all the hot topics from Federer-Nadal being the only real draw in the sport (and if that’s a bad thing, or actually something positive for the sport to grow from) to whether or not we’re chauvinists for talking about what the women are wearing. And by we, I mean the media, not actually we. Though I guess we do talk about it, in that we talk about those talking about it.

We discuss John McEnroe’s power (and importance) in the game, and talk about if he was right in suggesting that the rigors of the tour schedule are too hard on the players.

Oh, did you know that Venus Williams is 30 years old? Doesn’t it seems like she’s 50? It’s funny how we age our athletes on a different scale than in real life. Brett Favre (granted, a grandfather) seems like the oldest man on the planet, but he’s only 40. Andy Roddick? He’s six years past his prime!

And again, it comes back to the Americans…or lack thereof. We spend a lot of time throughout the show drawing parallels to golf, especially regarding the “young guns” that golf has right now. Are we paying more attention to those young players because we still have the established stars — Tiger, Phil, etc — to watch when it really matters? Would we care more about the up-and-coming tennis players if Federer were Sampras and Nadal were Agassi?

Last, who’s gonna win the US Open? Chase gives his predictions.

Thanks for listening.

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Posted on September 10, 2010 at 10:00AM

 

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  1. CS
    09/10 2010

    I haven’t found a way to email Chris Chase, but I’d like to think that a writer would know when to use the subject she rather than the object her. He wrote:

    Recently, her and Phelps were spotted together at a Los Angeles hotel.

    Yes, people understand this passive-voice sentence and no doubt plenty will think I’m a stick in the mud. But people learn what they are exposed to, and the more people are exposed to not-so-good writing and language, the lesser our language will be for it. It also may reflect badly on those not using it well, which could affect, e.g., their employment prospects.