Howdy. Vacation is over. We had a great time in Maine, mostly just hanging out and doing a little sailing with close friends who have a home in Blue Hill. Luke, who’s going to be 3 at the end of November, did well on the 10-hour drive—both ways. I finally got him off Raffi (although “Baby Beluga” is a pretty good song) and onto some serious cowboy music. He now knows most or all of the words to classics like “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” “Old Chisholm Trail,” and Marty Robbins’ classic, “El Paso.” He especially likes to repeat the dramatic, protracted end of the song, “Felina, good . . . byyye.”
If you’re a sucker for ballads and songs about outlaws and such, check out Michael Martin Murphey or Riders in the Sky. If you’ve never paid attention to the lyrics to “Home, Home on the Range,” you may find the version that includes the verse about the fate of the Indians very touching. It’s funny how many new doors a child can open for you.
I see from my inbox that the high season of tennis—Tennis Festivus, as we’ve called it here at TennisWorld—has rolled merrily on, oblivious to my absence. So, what do I find as the big welcome-back story today? A news item on Yevgeny Kafelnikov making his debut as a pro golfer.
And I had thought we were finally rid of that arrogant jerk (BTW: Anyone out there ever seen an uglier forehand than Kafelnikov’s?).
I suppose the downside is balanced by the good news out of Washington—make that by two pieces of good news out of the nation’s capital. Andy Roddick beat James Blake in the Legg Mason final. It’s great to see Blake back in the saddle again, and I’m also glad Andy won—somebody has to stay within shouting distance of Roger Federer on hard courts. What about Rafael Nadal, you ask? Well, it will be interesting to see how he holds up during the last, brutal leg of the Grand Slam season. We saw in Miami that he can play on hard courts, but let’s face it—Europeans have a long, rich tradition of packing it in at this stage of the season, when the heat, humidity, and distinctly American flavor of the tour can combine to overwhelm the sensitive Continental soul and psyche.
Americans have traditionally fared very well at the Washington tournament, before and during the Legg Mason phase of sponsorship. It’s been a staple on the calendar for some years now, and it’s played at one of the nicer, more intimate venues on the circuit—right in the heart of Rock Creek Park.
I bet the sponsors would have been a lot happier if I’d written these words a few weeks before rather than after the event, but there it is. Buy tickets for next year now, and make it part of your vacation; Washington D.C. may be the most beautiful city in America, and you’ll have plenty of other things to do there.