Posted on 08/30/2025 6:13:18 PM PDT by Rummyfan
The sports giant who refused the shot
I am writing this just a few hours before Novak Djokovic steps out on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis arena in the world, to compete in the first round at the US. Open.
Djokovic at 38 is aiming for his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam victory, taking his first step against Learner Tien, a young Vietnamese American literally half his age at 19.
It’s Arthur Ashe at night, the most dramatic and raucous event in tennis.
This promises to be an unusually competitive first rounder because Tien is a comer who has already beaten several top ten players, including former Grand Slam winner Daniel Medvedev and current world number 3 Alexander Zverev.
Many fear, myself included, that this could be Novak’s swan song, the end of a career that began decades ago when he came seemingly out of nowhere (Serbia) to challenge the two historic kingpins of tennis—Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal.
He was reviled for this. How dare he? In those days I was among the minority that rooted for Nole, as he was called, to win this extraordinary tripartite competition.. That might have been because of my often reflexively oppositional personality or because I enjoyed Novak’s sense of humor. He could do dead-on imitations of other tennis players from Nadal to Maria Sharapova.
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Agree on the joker. Most authentic, honest sports superstar in the world. He has principles and character. I liked and respected Roger, but Djoko is the best.
Didn’t they rename the stadium Arthur Marijuana Ash stadium?
One of the players this week - Casper Ruud I believe - complained of the marijuana smell permeating the Open grounds.
Why is that tennis venue named after Arthur Ashe? What did he do for the sport that made him that significant?
He won Wimbledon and the US Open and he was the first great black male American player.
I like him too! Australia did him dirty a few years ago. I hope he wins another major so that he passes Margaret Court.
You are correct! I loved watching him play; you are right, he was a gentleman. I couldn’t stand Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe.
In addition to what Rummyfan said, Ashe was the first black man to win Wimbledon. The first black person to win Wimbledon was a woman, Althea Gibson.
I’ve been watching everyday. He’s playing well.
Margaret Court! Everyone remembers Billy Jean King, but no one remembers poor Margaret Court, because she was beaten by a long-retired mid-tier male tennis player, Bobby Riggs. It was so silly, as a true male peer like Bjorn Borg would have reduced her to pea soup.
“He won Wimbledon and the US Open and he was the first great black male American player.”
Do you know who won Wimbledon and the US Open and was the first great white male American player and did not die of AIDS?
Just trying to figure out what the real qualifiers are in the sport of tennis.
No I do not.
Perplexity.ai states that it was Bill Tilden, in 1920. He died in 1953. Of course, Bill Tilden’s personal life became highly controversial due to his convictions for sexual misconduct with underage boys in the late 1940s.
Ashe got AIDS during heart surgery. I’ll take Ashe over Tilden any day.
You are so right!
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