When Novak Djokovic won his ninth consecutive match on hard courts against Rafael Nadal in a pivotal singles rubber between Serbia and Spain at the ATP Cup final Sunday night, he continued the mastery he’s enjoyed over the World No. 1 by winning 19 consecutive sets going back to the 2013 US Open final.
Djokovic’s 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Nadal inside a packed and loud Ken Rosewall Arena leveled the inaugural ATP Cup final at 1-1 and overturned the momentum Spain had established when Roberto Bautista Agut gave his country a 1-0 lead following his 7-5, 6-1 win over Dusan Lajovic in the opening rubber. Djokovic extended his ATP Cup singles unbeaten streak to six and improved his career head-to-head record against Nadal to 29-26.
It also meant the first ATP Cup, which began with 24 teams playing in three Australian cities amid the country’s blazing bushfires and ended with the final two in Sydney at the end of the 10-day tournament, would come down to a winner-take-all live doubles rubber that would decide which country would lift the title trophy. What a way to start the 2020 tennis season!
Looking back, Djokovic dominated Nadal from the beginning of their one hour and 55 minute match. He put the Spaniard on the defensive, both with his returns and during some prolonged and grueling rallies. After Djokovic broke Nadal in the opening game and later in the seventh game of the first set, he hit four consecutive aces to close out the first set. Djokovic maintained his level of intensity in the second set – he would finish with 12 aces and win 84 percent (41 of 49) of his first-serve points – and forced Nadal into a defensive posture that took him out of his comfort zone. As Djokovic later recalled, “I started the match perfectly with everything working for me.
“I was trying to take away as much time as possible from him. I was serving very well, definitely the best serving match I had in the tournament. Just extremely satisfied with the way I performed.”
Djokovic outpointed Nadal 75-59 and saved five of five break points.
Nadal was matter of fact in his assessment: “Happy the way that I was able to compete. I had my chances. I was very close. Not happy with the loss, of course, but the feeling in that second set is positive.”
Now, with plenty of flag-waving fans repping both countries and with the arena’s namesake, Australian Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall in attendance, it was game on for the champion’s trophy.
While Spain opted not to play Nadal in doubles because he had run out of energy, Djokovic still had something left in the tank to offer Serbia. He was in the Serbian doubles lineup, where he teamed with his longtime friend and teammate Viktor Troicki. Together, they proved clutch against Pablo Carreño Busta and Feliciano Lopez of Spain and won the decider, 6-3, 6-4.
“We won against a really, really good doubles team,” Djokovic said during Serbia’s team press conference. “It was a surprise that Nadal was not on the court, but nevertheless, we had to do the job and the job was done very well.”
Throughout, Team Serbia received tremendous and loud fan support, especially in Sydney, where there is a large Serbia population – and Djokovic fed off of the energy that their vocal cheers of “No-le” and “Ser-bia” created. As New York Times tennis correspondent Ben Rothenberg tweeted, “Every Serbia match felt like a home game, both in Brisbane and Sydney.”
“I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like this on a tennis court. ... You carried us to victory and we owe you a big, big thanks,” Djokovic said during the trophy ceremony in thanking the Serbian fans. “We are part of an individual sport where we play by ourselves. But even when we were playing singles, it never felt like it was only you out there. You always have a team in your corner giving you strength and focus. This was the highlight of the competition, along with the support of fans and the flags.”
As soon as Djokovic served out the final game of the match and the tournament, his Serbian teammates and their captain, Nenad Zimonjic, sprinted from the team zone on to the court and surrounded him and Troicki. Together, they broke into a celebratory group hug that was both genuine and giddy – and thoroughly enjoyable to see.
“I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life as definitely one of the nicest moments in my career,” said Djokovic following his team’s jubilant celebration. That says something coming from the 16-time Grand Slam champion who will begin his title defense of the Australian Open next week in Melbourne. Djokovic has lifted the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup seven times.
“Ive been very fortunate and blessed to have an amazing career the last 15 years, but playing for the team, playing for the country with some of my best friends for a long time, you can’t match that. That’s just too special.”
A version of this story first appeared on Tennis-TourTalk.com.
Screenshot photo courtesy of ATP world video stream.
Team USA / Celebrating its victory over France. (L-R) Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, captain Kathy Rinaldi.
It seems only fitting that the two most successful – and dominant – teams in the history of the Fed Cup competition, the United States and the Czech Republic, will decide this year's championship later this year.
The Czech Republic, which has won five the past seven Fed Cup titles, will host defending champion United States on November 10-11, likely in Prague. The Americans have captured 18 championships – most in Fed Cup history – and are looking to add to their impressive trophy collection. (The Fed Cup is the women's equivalent to the men's Davis Cup.)
Over the weekend, the United States advanced to its second consecutive Fed Cup final with a 3-2 victory over France in Aix-en-Provence by winning three of four singles rubbers on the red clay inside Arena du Pays d'Aix. World No. 9 Sloane Stephens, who went 2-0 against the French, was solid in her 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 20 Kiki Mladenovic on Sunday. It put the Americans ahead 2-1, needing just one rubber to advance. Then, No. 13 Madison Keys substituted for No. 16 CoCo Vandeweghe and clinched the tie for Team USA with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over No. 122 Pauline Parmentier.
"I think all the credit goes to the players," said U.S. team captain Kathy Rinaldi, who took over Team USA in 2017 and is undefeated in five Fed Cup ties. "They played some great tennis. We had some great matches and I think that really stands out."
After her tie-clinching win, Keys said that she was "really happy to get the win. Obviously, Sloane playing some great matches and getting that final win is really, really special."
Team USA has reached back-to-back Fed Cup finals for the first time since finishing runner-up in 2009-10 and last won consecutive Fed Cup titles in 1999-2000.
Meanwhile, the 10-time Fed Cup champion Czech Republic moved into the final round for the sixth time in the last eight years with an impressive 4-1 road victory over Germany in Stuttgart. "It was a very tough tie," Czech Republic team captain Petr Pala said after his team's triumph. "It was an outstanding performance from each of the (singles) winners. ... The tennis was unbelievable."
Pala's team is anchored soundly by World No. 10 Petra Kvitova and No. 6 Karolina Pliskova at singles. Against Germany, Kvitova beat both No. 11 Julia Goerges and No. 12 Angelique Kerber without dropping a set for her 29th and 30th Fed Cup rubber wins. Pliskova is 13-4 in her Fed Cup singles career. The Czech Republic doubles team with be very formidable with Barbora Strycova and Katerina Siniakova paired together. Both are ranked in the Top 20 in the world.
"They've shown the last five years they are the best," German team captain Jens Gerlach said of the Czech Republic team after Sunday's tie.
During his weekly The Tennis Podcast, co-host David Law of BBC5 Live gave props to Kvitova. "Petra Kvitova was in just the most devastating form," he said. "She absolutely thrashed Julia Goerges and Angelique Kerber in Stuttgart. I think it will be a very interesting final at the end of the year."
Like the Czech Republic, Team USA has an abundance of talent to draw upon. "I've always said that's the toughest part about being a captain is looking at the depth and looking at all of the players," said Rinaldi. "Hopefully, everybody is available and we're looking forward to it." Whether the Williams sisters – No. 8 Venus and former No. 1 Serena – will be a part of Team USA for the Fed Cup final remains to be decided. While either would be a welcome addition to an already elite lineup, the current quartet of players that beat France in the semifinals – Stephens, Keys, Vandeweghe and former No. 1 doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands – are all great competitors who want to win.
While there's a lot of time between now and the November final to finalize her team, Rinaldi looks forward to the challenge of facing the Czech Republic. The U.S. owns a 10-2 career win-loss record against the Czech Republic in all Fed Cup meetings. "We know going into the final is going to be tough," she said. "Czech Republic has tremendous depth as well. They have had a lot of success, so it should be very interesting."
Cover photo: U.S. Fed Cup team by Ashley Marshall/USTA. A version of this blog post first appeared in Tennis TourTalk (www.tennis-tourtalk.com).
Hoisting the Laver Cup / Roger Federer and Team Europe celebrates.
Throughout the tennis world, all eyes were focused on the O2 Arena in Prague last weekend for the inaugural Laver Cup. By all accounts, it was a huge success. For three days it was Europe versusthe World – even, if at times, it was more like Europe versus the United States. Still, anytime you have an event where Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are included – let alone teamed as magnetic doubles partners – we're all in.
"I could get used to playing on the same side of the net as @Rafael Nadal," Federer tweeted after he played doubles with Nadal.
At a time when the Davis Cup has failed to adapt, innovate and simplify its format, the Laver Cup – largely the brainchild of Federer – stepped in and made a statement. From its all-star team concept to its innovative scoring – in which the point value of matches increased each day – to the pitch-black court, it seemed tennis fans liked it. So, too, did television audiences – even if it meant for U.S. viewers having to wake as early as 3:30 a.m. on the west coast to watch it. (For those of us living on the east coast, tuning in to see the early matches was still very much a breakfast affair, starting from 6:30 a.m.)
Just as important, I sensed the players enjoyed participating in the Laver Cup, named after the Australian Hall of Fame great Rod Laver. There was plenty of camaraderie to go around for both teams. To see Federer and Nadal cheering each other on was pure delight. And, in seeing Federer offer some very sound coaching advice to his young teammate, Alexander Zverev, suggested to me that he has a very bright future as a pro tennis coach if he wishes to pursue that avenue.
"It's trying to thread the needle between a fun, unsanctioned event, but not an exhibition," wrote Sports Illustrated executive editor and senior writer Jon Wertheim. "But by and large, it succeeded. The matches were entertaining. The format worked. The players were sufficiently invested. We saw – yet again – that best-of-five is an excess. The black court looked cool. Federer and Nadal playing alongside each other was tremendous."
On the last day of competition, in which each victory was worth three points, the final match of the first Laver Cup came down to Federer facing the mercurial Nick Kyrgios, who shed his bad-boy image and seemed to embrace the team concept. The Swiss provided a nice coda for his memorable season as he won in three sets after facing a match point at 8-9 in the decisive match tiebreaker.
Final score: Team Europe 15, Team World 9.
"It was a feeling that was on the same level as the biggest moments I've had in my career," said Federer, following his 4-6, 7-6 (6) [11-9] victory over Kyrgios.
It prompted Christopher Clarey, tennis columnist for The New York Times, to write of Federer's reaction: "That is a major statement from a 36-year-old champion who has won a record 19 major singles titles, an Olympic gold medal and Switzerland's first Davis Cup."
Federer and Nadal / A magnetic doubles team.
While the Laver Cup was technically an exhibition – after all, it offered no ATP rankings points or official tour sanctioning – it hardly seemed like one. There were capacity crowds each day and the big arena atmosphere seemed reminiscent of the ATP Finals in London.
"People were questioning if this is going to be an exhibition," said Team Europe's Marin Cilic, after his team swept to an early lead in first day of competition, "but for none of us this is exhibition."
John McEnroe, the former World No. 1 and highly visible (and vocal) on the sidelines as coach for Team World – and never one for a loss of words – said of the Laver Cup: "You've got to be an idiot if you don't think this is something that could be great for tennis. I can't imagine there's a player that played – or didn't play, for that matter, and watched it – who wouldn't think this is something we should be supporting."
Imagine, what it must have felt like for the event's youngest competitors, the 20-year-old Zverev for Team Europe, and Frances Tiafoe, 19, and Denis Shapovalov, 18, for Team World, competing in the inaugural Laver Cup. Each got a taste for what it's like playing in front of a big, enthusiastic crowd on a big tennis stage. And, collectively, they represent the best of the #NextGenATP players.
All of that said, I have a simple suggestion for the future. Although the next Laver Cup will be held at the spacious United Center in Chicago (home of professional basketball's Chicago Bulls and pro ice hockey's Chicago Blackhawks) in September 2018, it is my hope that Team World will try to be more global in its selection of players. Granted this year, Kei Nishikori of Japan was injured, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina withdrew because he was not sufficiently recovered from the U.S. Open, and Kevin Anderson of South Africa was not available. However, each would help make Team World a more well-rounded squad to go along with Americans such as John Isner, Sam Querrey and Jack Sock, and Kyrgios of Australia. Of course, if Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are healthy, not to mention Stan Wawrinka, it's scary to imagine the potential depth of Team Europe. Perhaps, the organizers will have to rethink the current geographical concept in order to spread out the wealth of European talent that dominates the current tennis landscape.
Although the Laver Cup came just two weeks after the conclusion of the United States Open and a week following the Davis Cup semifinals, it's placement in an already crowded tennis calendar was welcome. For many of us who follow tennis in the U.S., the United States Open has always been a climatic peak of the season – especially in years when the U.S. has already been eliminated from the Davis Cup. So, witnessing the positive reception of the Laver Cup – whether in person or watching at home on TV – I can't help but think that added up, it gives us all a sense of the great emotion and wonderful team spirit that often is missing in our worldwide sport. Not to mention, thanks to Federer and Nadal, there were some pretty decent feel-good moments, too.
This is Cal Basketball / These athletes have a voice and a platform. Now, they want to be part of the solution.
Cal women's basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb is as competitive an individual as any you'll find in college basketball. Winning is important and she sets pretty high standards for her nationally-ranked team. While losing any game is disappointing -- especially when it's by two points in overtime as the Bears experienced during a 58-56 road loss against unranked Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon -- Gottlieb admitted afterwards that she's not sure she's "ever been more proud of these players or our whole team and staff."
Cal's student-athletes have a voice and a platform -- and, in Gottlieb, the women's basketball team has a mentor who encourages them to speak up and act out. In an ever-changing sports landscape, in which athletes are being encouraged to take a stand and become leaders in social activism, Gottlieb understands that her team "wants to be a part of the solution, and they took the steps that were in their power today."
In an interview with EspnW, Gottlieb said: "I trust our players to express themselves in ways that are proactive and productive and not destructive. Our players know they represent us all the time, whether it's at a protest, or in class or at church, or at the movies."
When the 18th-ranked Bears took the court for their warm-ups at the Walter Pyramid arena in Long Beach, Calif., the entire team -- all 10 players, eight of whom are African-American -- wore plain black t-shirts that brought attention to lives lost -- recently and throughout history. The names, which were written in Sharpie ink on strips of masking tape and affixed to each player's t-shirt, included: Emmett Till, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tayvon Martin and Oscar Grant. Each elicited "strong emotions from everyone."
"As student-athletes at Cal, our young women have a voice and a platform, and they chose to use it today."
Across the country in South Bend, Ind., the Notre Dame women's basketball team came out for their pregame warmups at home against Michigan wearing "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts last Saturday. Afterwards, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he was proud of the stand shown by his players. "They are students first and you want students at a university to be passionate about things, to be engaged in conversations about social issues," he said. "If there's anything I worry it's that our kids get too focused on the athletic side of it and don't do enough of the other things."
Back in Berkeley, which has been a hot bed for protests and has drawn associate head coach Charmin Smith and All-America candidate Brittany Boyd to the streets to participate, it's something echoed by Gottlieb, too. "We can talk about X's and O's all day," she said in a statement released after the game on Calbears.com, the university's athletic website, "but in reality there are bigger life issues and the moral consciousness of our players is something I'm proud of. I don't tell them what to think, but I do encourage them to think."
According to Gottlieb, earlier in the week, the team's captains -- including seniors Boyd and Reshanda Gray -- came to their coach and said that as a team they wanted to wear "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts next Sunday when the Bears play at home against Louisville, a game which is expected to draw their largest crowd of the season to Haas Pavilion. Then, on Saturday, following a morning shootaround, Gottlieb and the team "were quickly met with images from our campus that were disturbing."
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the images were enlarged photographs of lynched African Americans hanging from the university's famed Sather Gate with the words "I Can't Breathe" affixed to each.
"These images may have been to bring awareness to injustice, or they may have been an act of cruelty; either way, they elicited strong emotions from everyone. The entire team came to me. They were compelled to act. We met for 45 minutes about how to best use our voices. As a group, they decided to wear shirts ... and to stand and say that black lives matter; all lives matter."
Despite showing great fight to the end, Gottlieb labeled Cal's overtime loss to Long Beach State, which was the Bears' second straight defeat after opening the season with seven consecutive victories, as "brutal". Yet, she chose to stress the positives: "Our players wearing handmade shirts to symbolize something poignant and important is what I will remember proudly from today. I love this team and staff for who they are as people."
Waiting for her flight home Saturday night, Gottlieb had some time to pause and reflect. "Sometimes," she wrote on her Facebook page, "it's about so much more than the game."
Photos: Courtesy of Cal women's basketball Twitter feed.
This is Cal basketball / Lindsay Gottlieb (center) surrounded by her 2013-14 team.
"Never a dull moment" is how Lindsay Gottlieb, head coach of the University of California, Berkeley women's basketball team, summed up her team's 101-98 overtime victory over Oregon University on Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.
This is Cal basketball and, so far, it's been a season filled with bright moments and promises of future greatness orchestrated by the young and cerebral Gottlieb, 36, an Ivy League-educated (Brown) and self-described "basketball nerd," who is a believer in strong personal connections with her players and enjoys communicating with fans via social media (her Twitter handle is @CalCoachG).
Indeed, there's never a dull moment following Cal women's basketball. The Bears have become a nationally-recognized team through social media and by appearing often on both ESPN and the Pac-12 Network. They have fun off the court while also keeping their focus on the court. And, they count the best-selling author Michael Lewis (Moneyball) and the hip-hop music artist 50 Cent among their fans.
Their latest victory improved the Golden Bears' record to 10-3 in this still young 2013-14 season (2-0 in the Pac-12 Conference), and Sunday's contest was the highest-scoring women's game in Haas Pavilion history, both for Cal as well as the combined score of 199 points.
Against Cal, Oregon fired up 101 shots in their run-and-gun attack designed by former NBA coach Paul Westhead, 74, who once guided the L.A. Lakers (1979-81) back in the days of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Many of those 101 shots taken by the Ducks -- most of them from perimeter range -- went swish through the basket.
Reshanda Gray lunges off balance for a second-half lay up against Oregon on Sunday afternoon.
Fortunately for the Bears, junior forward/center Reshanda Gray scored a career-high 33 points, including 24 in the second half, to go with 13 rebounds, two assists and a steal before fouling out during the overtime period. Not bad when you consider that she hit just 2 of 7 attempts in the first half and couldn't buy a basket.
"I could have shut down in the first half when I was missing shots," said Gray, who before the game was presented with aplaque for her participation in leading the U.S. to a gold medal in last summer's World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
"Reshanda is so good and I tell her every second that she can be better," said Gottlieb, during her post-game interview. "So at half time I really got into her, not for missing layups but for not being as confident and finishing as she could, and look what she did! She turned around and put up incredible numbers."
Gray added: "It means a lot. It definitely wouldn't happen without my teammates."
Or without the support of Coach G.
After the game, Gottlieb tweeted: "Career high for this kid, love the smile the most."
On a Sunday afternoon filled with lots of smiles, my wife and I sat in the same lucky seats (Section 9, Row CC, seats 23 and 24) as we did on Friday night when Cal beat Oregon State 72-63. We bought a five-game season ticket before the start of the season to support the team. However, we've had so much fun attending home games we've decided to go to all of them.
Coach Lindsay Gottlieb stands for much of each game and isn't afraid to turn a timeout into a teaching moment.
After all, when you're just three rows from the court and sitting behind the baseline, not only are the sight lines excellent, you also hear the sound of the game -- the bounce of the basketball, the calling out of plays by Coach Gottlieb from the bench and the voices of the players, too. There's senior guard Mikayla Lyles, arguably the heart and soul of this year's team, yelling "Arms! Arms!" to her teammates, reminding them to keep their arms up when they're on defense. Meanwhile, on offense, Lyles contributed 12 points on dead-eye 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the three-point line against Oregon.
Buying into a "we" not "me" team concept, a variety of Cal players have stepped forward and provided valuable contributions that have enabled victories on the court.
On Sunday, it was Gray, who took control of her team's offense and made some key defensive plays, too. And, freshman forward Courtney Range rose to the occasion by scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, both career bests.
Two nights earlier against Oregon State, it was junior guard Brittany Boyd, who knocked in 25 points (13 above her average) from both inside and outside the paint. She added seven rebounds and seven assists for one of her most complete efforts of the season.
Hind Ben Abdelkader sinks one of her six three-point baskets against Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 15.
A few weeks before that, it was Belgian freshman guard Hind (rhymeswith wind) Ben Abdelkader, who shot out the lights against Cal State Bakersfield with an 18-point performance that included making six of nine three-point field goals, a best for her brief collegiate career. It earned the trilingual Ben Abdelkader (she's fluent in French, Dutch and English) the nickname La Bombe Belge ("The Belgian Bomber") from San Francisco Chronicle basketball writer John Crumpacker.
Throughout the season, the Bears have garnered steady play and leadership from senior guard/forward Afure Jemerigbe, who is averaging 10.9 points per game, and Sunday afternoon was notable because preseason All-America forward Gennifer Brandon, out since Nov. 15 because of unspecified personal reasons, returned to the team and provided spark off the bench. In just 22 minutes, the 6-foot-2 senior known for her colorfully-braided hair and friendly demeanor, scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds. Brandon earned one of the day's biggest ovations from the Haas Pavilion crowd of 2,071 when she entered the contest after 6:38 had been played, and her game-tying basket with 4:33 left in the first half made her the 24th player in team history to score 1,000 points for a career.
In the second half against Oregon, Cal went on a 21-11 run to go ahead 72-61. However, the Ducks' scrappy defense allowed them to climb back in the game and send it into overtime at 88-all. Fortunately for the Bears, Boyd broke a 96-96 tie and scored her team's final five points on a basket and three free throws in the last 43 seconds of the contest to secure the win.
"I think we learned a lot about this team this weekend," Gottlieb told the Chronicle after Sunday's victory. "That resilience was a trademark of our team last year, and now we know it's a trademark of our program."
• • • • •
Last year was a breakout year for the Cal women's basketball team. On the court, the Bears won their first Pac-12 Conference title (sharing it with Stanford) en route to a 30-plus-win season and they earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, led by senior Layshia Clarendon. Off the court, they launched their own website This Is Cal Basketball, which goes well beyond the Xs and Os of the game and been updated for this season. It's a rare opportunity for fans to learn about the lives of the Cal players away from the court -- what's important to each of them personally and as student-athletes -- and to realize up close that they're a wonderful group of young and mature adults who just happen to share the same zest for fun and success as Gottlieb, their passionate coach and mentor, on the court.
Peaking at the right time last season, Cal went on a four-game winning streak and won the Spokane Regional with an exciting 65-62 overtime victory over Georgia to gain a berth in the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans, a school first. Clarendon scored 25 points in the region final and played all 45 minutes. She and her teammates even starred in their own music video "Started from the Bottom." Suddenly, the Bears became the media darlings of the postseason and everyone wanted to write their story.
"My philosophy in general is that college athletics should be an enjoyable experience for the people involved in it," said Gottlieb, a native of Scarsdale, N.Y., during last season's journey to the Final Four. "I think you have to embrace this team's nature of being fun-loving. You have to empower them to enjoy the experience. I can do that because I'm so confident in their focus. They're creative, and they're smart kids. If anything, I think that when they're happier and enjoying it, they're more likely to play hard and play well."
In the national semifinals against fifth-seeded Louisville, after controlling the first half with good shooting and rebounding, Cal lost its ability to score and to control the boards. Their shots stopped going in. The Bears lost 64-57 to a better team in Louisville. Their wonderful 32-4 season had ended abruptly and seemed unfinished. However, even in defeat, the foundation for future success had been molded.
• • • • •
The Bears drew a record 10,771 fans to Haas Pavilion for their home game against No. 2 Duke on Nov. 11.
To prepare for this season, Cal made an overseas trip to China last August that gave the team valuable game experience and enabled them to bond together in a unique environment. Then, Gottlieb went out and scheduled pre-conference games against the two top teams in the country: No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Duke. Both games were nationally televised by the ESPN networks. And, although the Bears lost both games (by 33 points to UConn and by 12 to Duke), it gave them a sense of where they stood on the court and what they needed to do to improve. Against Duke, they drew their biggest home crowd ever at Haas Pavilion with 10,771 fans.
The Bears, who are 7-1 at Haas Pavilion (with an average attendance of 2,873 fans per game), hit the road for their next four games starting Friday at Colorado. Their national ranking has improved to No. 19 as they've put together a three-game winning streak since losing against UConn in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York last month.
With a conference title to defend and expectations of returning to the Final Four, the bar has been set high for the rest of the season for Cal. Gottlieb and her players wouldn't want it any other way. And, if last weekend's games are any indication, there won't be any dull moments, either. After all, this is Cal basketball -- and, these kids are alright.
A postscript: On Friday night, No. 19 Cal overcame a 10-point deficit twice in the second half and took the lead with just seven seconds left in the game on an Afure Jemerigbe layup for a come-from-behind 57-55 victory over No. 17 Colorado University in Boulder, Colo. The win keeps the Bears' (11-3, 3-0 conference) Pac-12 regular season winning streak alive at 18 consecutive games.
After the game, Coach Lindsay Gottlieb tweeted: "There's something special about a group of young people who refuse to give in. We make lots of mistakes, but we have warriors and that's cool."
Then, on Sunday afternoon, the Bears beat Utah 68-59 to remain unbeaten in Pac-12 play (4-0, 12-3 overall) as Brittany Boyd scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.
Cal team photograph and video courtesy of Calbears.com and thisiscalbasketball.com. All other photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013, 2014.
The rest of the sporting world is catching up to America.
In his weekly sports commentary this morning on National Public Radio, commentator Frank Deford opined about how America's love of team sports comes at a price.
I have a deep admiration for Deford, an author and writer whose reporting and commentary includes: senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, commentator for NPR and correspondent for HBO's monthly sports magazine 'Real Sports'. Today, Deford said: "I've always thought that one of the best things about American sport is that we aren't dominated by one team game, as so much of the rest of the world is soccer-centric. That's why we can have our own American dream. The dream of most other countries is simply to have their national soccer team do well." (Note to my friends around the world: What you call football, in the U.S. we call it soccer.)
Deford is absolutely right. In America, we've always focused our devotion to team sports ~ baseball, American-style football, basketball and ice hockey come to mind ~ and we've turned college sports into a big multi-million-dollar business. Can high school sports be fare behind?
Looking up at No. 1 /
Vamos Rafa!
Meanwhile, I have found through many friendships I've made on Facebook that in other nations, their sports affection and devotion are monogamous. For instance, my friends either root for Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic, but not for both. It's either "Vamos Rafa" or "Ajdee Nole". Switzerland's Roger Federer, like his native country, is a neutral presence. And, on the football pitch, the line is clearly drawn between fans rooting for either Real Madrid or Barcelona. For Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. You see, there's no waffling among my international friends when it comes to showing one's rooting interest. It is pinned to their heart or worn on their sleeve for everyone to see ~ and I've grown to appreciate this.
Here in the U.S., Deford refers to American sports fans as "serial team fans". What this means is simple: You're either for the Yankees or the Mets if you live in New York, but dare not root for both. And, if you live in Chicago, you're either a Cubs fan ~ especially if you live on the North Side ~ or a White Sox fan if you're from the South Side. But you can't be a true Chicago baseball fan and root for both teams.
In a topsy turvy week that began with deadly tornadoes whipping through Alabama and beyond in the U.S., then continued with the splendid Will and Kate's Royal Wedding in London, and, finally, concluded Sunday night with President Obama announcing to the nation and the world the killing of Osama bin Laden, the U.S. has shown it has become less of a power in individual sports like tennis.
From the hard courts of Melbourne and Flushing Meadows to the red clay of Roland Garros to the pristine grass of Wimbledon, all of the reigning Grand Slam champions, except for Serena Williams at Wimbledon, are foreigners. Sure, the Williams sisters have mostly been injured on and off for the past year. But, even if they were healthy, who's to say the outcome of any of the Grand Slam tournaments would have been any different? Still, it's a far cry from the days when John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Chris Evert were part of a dominating American presence in the Grand Slams.
Roger Federer/
In search of his 17th
Grand Slam singles title.
Now that the tennis calendar has shifted to the European clay court season in the lead up to this month's French Open, the focus is clearly on rest of the world. The top four men's seeds at this week's Mutua Madrid Open ~ Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray ~ are from Spain, Serbia, Switzerland and Great Britain, respectively. After the first day of competition, all of the Americans except one had lost. The lone exception, John Isner, had to defeat another American, Mardy Fish, to advance to the second round. And, it was yet another clay-court disappointment for America's best player, Andy Roddick. The red clay that is a universal playing surface for much of the rest of the world, is still so very foreign to the American players. It seems they can't wait to get to Wimbledon so they can play on grass, or to return home to America for the summer hard-court season leading up to the U.S. Open in August.
Yes, it is painfully obvious that the rest of the world has caught up with America in sports as it has in many other respects. And, as Deford concluded his commentary this morning, he said: "The cliche is that there's no 'I' in team. But more and more, when it comes to tennis and golf, there's no 'U.S' in world champion."
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