During the morning commute I listened to Frank Deford lament about the death of American tennis because there were no Yanks left in this year's Wimbledon tournament. Deford ascribes such significance to the event as to call it the "first crack in the edifice of the American Empire."
What sappy, self-absorbed, melodramatic crawp! Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that the Williams sisters dominated women's pro tennis? The sisters won 5 of the last 6 Wimbledons! Didn't Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras sneak in back-to-back US Open Championships just a couple of years ago? What is Deford talking about???!!! The way he makes it sound, US tennis is suffering a drought of biblical proportions. To compound his folly, Deford spends half of his commentary providing us with his reasons and excuses why American tennis has been lulled into hibernation.
It's exactly the type of sensational journalism that feeds the American stereotype. We experience a hiccup in American dominance in one of our traditionally strong sports and it's the end of the world. Frank...do us a favor - keep this type of drivel pent in until no American wins a major for at least 3 years.
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