by Mitch Albom | Sep 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — Let’s get this straight. The guy has a mansion in Connecticut, and he drives to work each morning, 40 minutes down the New York thruway, and when he’s done he drives home and feeds the dogs and watches the VCR.
This is a foreigner?
Well, this is Ivan Lendl, commuting tennis star. The only thing he needs to win the U.S. Open today is his racket, his shoes, and the correct change for the toll booth.
“Why do you do so well here?” someone asked him, after he beat Stefan Edberg of Sweden on Saturday, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to today’s final.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 7, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
The suntan lotion cools my skin. The lounge chair is soft and inviting. Ah, summertime.My mind drifts to waves. My mind drifts to surfboards. My mind drifts to ice cream vendors in string bikinis. . . .What’s that noise?Perhaps I’ll go for a pina colada....
by Mitch Albom | Sep 6, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — It was a terribly perfect moment. Here was Billie Jean King, her hair neatly coiffed, and Virginia Wade, with a long pearl necklace, and Margaret Court and Tracy Austin and Althea Gibson and Hana Mandlikova and even Maria Bueno and Alice Marble — 14 in all, huddled in the stadium’s concrete tunnel, a gang of ex-champions in pumps and pantsuits.
Only one woman was missing.
“Is she coming?” an official asked.
“Yeah, she’s just cooling down for a minute,” came the answer.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 5, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
Well, gosh darn it, what are we talking about here? This is a football coach? Darryl Rogers, the guy in the blue shorts and the bony legs and the voice that sometimes sounds disturbingly like Kermit the Frog?
by Mitch Albom | Sep 5, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
What will happen in the NFL this year:The Giants will win the Super Bowl.The Broncos will lose it.The Lions will be lucky to reach .500.”Why?” you ask.”Wait a second,” I say.Eric Dickerson will lead the league in rushing. Kelvin Bryant will...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 5, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — Have you seen this commercial for Sports Illustrated? Two women playing tennis, one older, one younger. They exchange volleys, and you hear a voice whisper: “These young kids are always trying to beat me. . . . ” Then the older woman gets...
by Mitch Albom | Sep 3, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — She is the trusty sidekick, the co-star, the comic book character destined to be paired with someone bigger. Pam Shriver has won every Grand Slam tournament in tennis alongside Martina Navratilova. But she has not won any alone.
She tries. She advances. Then sooner or later, her doubles partner, the best woman tennis player on the planet, comes around to beat her. Sooner or later, Navratilova gets the trophy, and Shriver gets a handshake. This is the way it seems to go. Partners. Rivals. Sooner or later.
by Mitch Albom | Sep 2, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — AAAAYYEEEEEE!
Welcome to the wacky world of — LOOK OUT! — Tim Wilkison, who likes to — DUCK! — try for every shot, no matter how — YAAAH! — far, no matter how — BANZAI! — impossible, no matter how — COWABUNGA! — out of reach.
AWWW . . . FIDDLESTICKS!
Fiddlesticks?
Well, yes. He says “fiddlesticks.” But only when he’s angry. He also waves to the crowd, blows kisses to his wife, and wears a baseball cap. Not just when he’s finished his tennis match, mind you. While he’s playing.
Every point.
by Mitch Albom | Aug 31, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
FLUSHING MEADOW, N.Y. — “Come in, Mr. McEnroe. Have a seat on the couch.””Do I have to lie down this time?””Not if you don’t want to.””Look, I’m sorry about disturbing you on the holiday weekend,...
by Mitch Albom | Aug 29, 1986 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — So much promise. That has always been the rock around Aaron Krickstein’s neck. When he first showed those powerful ground strokes, when he turned pro at age 16, when he started losing and his ranking dropped like an anchor. “So much promise,” the people sighed. No wonder he used to speak with his head down in his chest. Have three words ever weighed so heavily? Do you remember 1983? It was here, at the U.S. Open, that Krickstein, then an amateur, showed the world that promise.
