It has been sooooo long since American men have been in the mix on the ATP Tour. While the USTA may have had some initial concerns with the early exits of Alcaraz and Djokovic, and the absence of Nadal at this year’s Open, the extended runs of Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe to the semi-finals have been great for American fans. Tiafoe, in particular, is very entertaining and an easy guy to get behind.

On the women’s side, Emma Navarro is another player who you can root for. 2 years at UVA and she has vaulted into the top 10 of the WTA rankings now. She plays a very clean game and at 23, has her head on straight. Coco Gauff needs a reset. A few SU observations:

1. Allowing on-court coaching is a good idea. It is interesting to watch how players interact with their teams. In singles, the challenge as a player is to problem solve on your own – it’s an individual sport in singles. Alcaraz has a running conversation with his coach and team in every match, and you wonder if that hurts him in the end? Clearly, he is uber talented but you would think he could make some of these decisions on his own. Coco Gauff seems to have a lot of issues with her team and to the average fan, it has to be a net negative. I guess every player reacts differently but receiving constant direction and commentary would be annoying in my book.
2. The USTA is allowing too many people in each day. The National Tennis Center footprint is just not big enough and it becomes challenging to physically move around without shuffling along behind a lot of people. Hope they re-evaluate that next year.
3. The men’s game is definitely in transition now. Nadal will be gone next year most likely, and Djokovic is not playing many tournaments anymore. Plenty of talent in the pipeline and the game will be fine going forward – just different.
4. The winner of Medvedev vs. Sinner tonight is the likely winner of the Open. SU will be rooting for Tiafoe but those are really tough match-ups for him.

Yankees’ closer, Clay Holmes, below his 11th save last night – just a killer for the Yankees. Boone has to remove him from the closer’s role now and either do it by committee or, SU says, put either Gill or Schmidt in there as they are both returning this weekend. Gill may be the better option as he has pitched a lot of innings. The offense has actually been a bit better of late. The bullpen will cost them in October for sure. Let’s see if Boone finally makes the move. There are many on Twitter who are ready.

No.

In other news…

But seriously, who are we kidding? We have a sufficiently large body of work now that has to convince anyone paying attention in the Yankees’ front office. SU says no lead under 5 runs is safe going into the 9th inning with the bullpen in general and especially with the closer. Holmes leads MLB with 10 blown saves – a staggering number for a team right up there with the best record in baseball. You can pretty much say now that if the Yankees fall short of winning the AL East, it is on Holmes. He is a good guy and takes responsibility but apparently not cut out for this role.

The trade deadline is behind us. Mark Leiter Jr. is clearly not the answer although he is good for extra innings if you need to end the game quickly. SU says that they need to take one of the starters and put him in the bullpen. Gill is the more obvious choice given concerns over his innings pitched this year coming off surgery but he is likely their 2nd best starter in the playoffs behind Cole. Nestor Cortes would be interesting as his velocity will go up pitching out of the bullpen. Even Clarke Schmidt would be an option.

The battle for the AL East title will go down to the wire with Baltimore and it makes a huge difference. SU can easily see teams not pitching to Judge at all in the post-season, and the lineup really tails off after him. The return of Jazz Chisholm is a difference maker but we will have to see if he can avoid surgery.

For the Yankees, this is a winnable pennant year. No other team is that scary but they need to lengthen the effectiveness of the lineup and fix the bullpen before October. Unclear that either will happen.

For the 17 people that watch the Tennis Channel (globally), this was a crazy match point the other night between FAA from Canada and Jack Draper, the #1 UK player these days. Draper had the match point and was serving and volleying. Take a look: you have to watch about 45 seconds into the video to see the side angle.

It screams for umpires to have access to video replay on these types of plays – not in the rules today. But…. SU says that an experienced player actually knows what happened. If you watch Draper, he almost reaches out with his hand to catch the ball after hitting it as he knows it his racket and then hit the ground before bouncing off the net cord for a winner. The ball would have had underspin and not bounced so far forward off the net if he hit it cleanly. But it had overspin because it hit the ground off his racket.

He needed to ‘fess up there but decided to take the win. That will cost him in the locker-room longer term. Missed a chance to display good sportsmanship.

So, what are we supposed to do now? After 2 weeks of playing around with the Peacock channel and being able to pick and choose what you want to watch, are we back to watching the Yankees on Amazon or Apple TV? No longer able to flip around for a few hours? That cannot be fair!

The folks at NBC have to be thrilled with their huge Olympics investment for the 2024 Summer games. Maybe it was the time zone difference (vs. China or Japan) but the games this year just seemed easier to follow. SU favorites: table tennis (they are so good); track and field was crazy with the number of world records set and the close finishes; beach volleyball (they never get tired); tennis (SU enjoyed the Djokovic success there); and soccer. LA28 cannot get here soon enough but we have to wait 4 long years. It will be interesting to see how they schedule the night time events as fans in the East will not want to watch games starting at 11 pm.

While the US Men’s and Women’s basketball teams won the gold, they really did not shine in those final games. I mean France was featuring Evan Fournier who could not even get into a Knick game for almost an entire season! Steph Curry is all-World of course but that game should have been a blowout. For SU, what was striking on the US team was their inability to defend and rebound. You could not argue with the roster – all were deserving – but this team was bailed out by the old guys: LeBron; Curry; and Durant. And one more thing: stop complaining on every foul or non-foul call. Play the game and move on.

SU did not see that much of the women’s gold medal game but that team could not rebound and had so many turnovers. Again, a star studded roster and SU was not a supporter of adding Caitlin Clark to this year’s team. But adding her and Paige Bueckers among others in 2028 will be a super team with much better outside shooting. Play more up tempo and have some shooters out there.

The Yankees are tied for first place and that is a good thing for mid-August. No complaints there. And there are no super teams in the AL – this is a winnable pennant year for the Yankees. But the bullpen is absolutely terrifying – no-one is a sure thing. Clay Holmes for a 4-out, 50-pitch save yesterday? The key may be to get Clarke Schmidt healthy and then put one of the starters into the bullpen for the rest of the year and the post-season. SU feels the offense will be good enough – especially if they bring up Jasson Dominguez now. They should be able to score enough runs although the team is still up and down. No-one is that much better but they will need to win playoff games by 5 runs to feel comfortable for the fans.

True Yankee fans knew this was coming. The first half of the season was just going too well. Players were generally healthy and the starters were having one quality start after another even without Gerrit Cole. The bullpen, filled with new faces, was leading MLB. The roster had no bench but with Soto and Judge playing every day, and Verdugo exceeding expectations, you did not need to score that many runs. SU believes the record peaked at 48-19 or somewhere in that ballpark. A 71.6% winning pace which would translate to an overall record of 116 wins for the season.

David Cone always talks about “regression to the mean” and SU is a believer in that. The Yankee starters have mostly all gone cold now and the bullpen is very unreliable. Clay Holmes is not a true closer apparently and there are so many no names in there now. SU’s preseason over/under for the Yankees was 90 wins and that is starting to look a bit better as near the trade deadline. Jasson Dominguez has started his rehab assignment coming off an oblique injury and he might be a huge difference maker in the outfield for the final 2 months. He would inject some needed excitement and youth into the lineup. Ben Rice started well but is now under .200. DJ LeMahieu is running on fumes – just another bad long-term contract along the lines of Stanton.

Stanton becomes a key guy returning on Monday with no rehab stint. They just need someone to hit behind Judge. SU wonders why any team ever pitches to Judge? No one will hurt you coming up behind him in the lineup. Verdugo’s regression has been a killer. You figure he will bounce back but hard to know.

Cole has been up and down and hard to know if he is truly healthy. Gleyber Torres is showing signs of life but no doubt he is pressing in his walk year. The issue seems to be that there is very little on the way in the minors for the near term. SU does not believe this is Boone’s fault. If you look at the roster, there are no pieces to move in and out of this lineup.

The frustrating part is that there are no super teams out there for this season in the AL. Baltimore is better but still young. You have Soto for one year and it’s hard to imagine Hal will give him Judge type money for a long-term deal. So, this year is your best shot. But the roster needs a lot of upgrades. SU says watch the 3rd baseman on Tampa Bay, Issac Paredes, for a trade. The Yankees are desperate for an upgrade offensively and he would fill a big hole for them.

Prediction: Cashman goes all in with moves between now and Tuesday evening. Mostly relievers and position players – not starters. LeMahieu will be designated for assignment – and will be picked up by someone contending.

Thoughts? Is the play to just qualify for the playoffs and see what happens? Or do you really try and go for it? The next couple of days will be interesting.

Gleyber Torres was finally exposed last night by the YES Network. Now, keep in mind that YES never highlights Yankee players who are struggling, not performing, in a slump, etc. Never in a graphic on the screen. SU believes that Gleyber is a good guy and was an excellent player a few years ago early in his career. But he bulked up one off season to hit more home runs and has been a shadow of his former self since then. He is a free agent after this season and has been pretty awful all year.

SU’s beef with Gleyber is that he does not hustle running to first base on ground balls. Never. Typically, no one says anything about it. Last night in the 8th inning, after Judge’s grand slam, Gleyber hit a slow ground ball to shortstop. You thought initially if he ran hard, could be a close play at first base. Nope. He was about 2/3 of the way there when the throw arrived. Incredibly, after the commercial break, YES showed the replay of him running – er make that jogging – and there was some brief discussion about it. On the post-game show, they called him out on it. SU does not know if Boone commented but this has been going on all season. If you are hitting .300, you can get away with it. He is clearly pressing in his walk year. But it’s a really bad look. Just run hard. Derek Jeter was not the same player late in his career and he hit a million ground balls – always ran hard to first base. You know he was frustrated but he played the right way.

As noted last week, the Yankees are in trouble. The bullpen is a bunch of no name guys now with all of the injuries. The bench was already non-existent and the annual Stanton injury comes at a bad time. Dominguez would have been called up to replace him but he has an oblique injury and will be out 8 weeks. The Yankees signed JD Davis (DFA’d by Oakland – that should say it all) and he won’t be the answer. LeMahieu is hitting .170 with no extra base hits. Great first half record but the AL East is going to tighten up now as Boston is playing well.

The challenge for Cashman is that about 2/3 of the MLB Clubs are in the Wild Card chase and will not be sellers. So, fewer choices for upgrades at the trade deadline.

The Mets are on the upswing – looking so much better now. SU is glad to see that and they are an easy team to root for.

SU is not optimistic about the Yankees. Brian Cashman will be earning his salary in the next 5 weeks.

So, we start with the good news: the return of Gerrit Cole on Wednesday to start against Baltimore. Ok, that is it.

Now, today’s injury report: reliever Ian Hamilton goes on the IL with a lat strain – out 3 – 4 weeks. Cody Poteet who has been the 5th starter has a right tricep strain and will not throw for 1 – 2 weeks. Jasson Dominguez who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery is awaiting results from his MRI.

SU says that the bullpen is the team’s greatest weakness and they were already not that reliable. Yes, they have the best record in the AL and all that but the Yankees are below .500 vs. the AL East. They have feasted on the bad teams in MLB this year and there are many that fall into that category. Judge and Soto have carried them with assists from Volpe and Verdugo. The rest of the lineup – not so much. Starting pitching has been lights out and you know that will not continue all year. For SU, the goal has to be the World Series this season and I believe the bullpen is going to hold them back in the end.

Something to watch for.

The answers are: Maybe – at least for 2024; and man, could be.

Let me start with the Yankees. Great record, crazy good starting pitching and a bullpen that seems to be better collectively than they are as individual relievers. SU is not quite sure how they have been that good all year. And spare me the comments on being an overly entitled Yankee fan. I get the record is outstanding.

The issue for me is that the American League feels historically weak this year. Sure, Baltimore is really good (took 3 out of 4 from the Yankees) but then what? Cleveland, Kansas City, Minnesota – those are the powerhouse teams? We are only 1/3 of the way through the season and some teams may emerge at some point. But for SU, the Yankees’ 39 – 19 record is a direct reflection of the competition this year – not necessarily their greatness. Soto is a huge difference maker and Hal is already pleading poverty about signing him long-term after this season. The only saving grace is who else can afford him? You have to figure the Dodgers are tapped out now. Maybe the Red Sox? Cubs? Giants? Or will Steve Cohen go all in? SU can definitely see the Mets outbid the Yankees for Soto. Makes a lot of sense.

Clark Schmidt is now on the IL but Gerrit Cole may be back later in June so that takes care of itself. LeMahieu is back and that is big as he can play 1st base also. Gleyber Torres is either feeling the pressure of being a free agent after this year or his early years were just an aberration. There is no way the Yankees will re-sign him. SU note to Gleyber: please just run hard to 1st base. Once in a while – maybe once a week.

SU believes that Cashman will not stand pat at the trade deadline and will pick up some bench players and a reliever. They have plenty to make the playoffs – question is can they beat the Orioles in the post-season. The reality is that the best teams are in the National League: Phillies; Dodgers; and the Braves. Odd year.

Which brings me to the Mets. SU actually watched some of their games this week vs. the Dodgers. First of all, the Dodgers are not playing that well right now but they have some star players. The Mets were near .500 a couple of weeks ago but man, they look lifeless on offense right now. And when Ottavino is your closer well, you have big problems late in the game trying to hold a lead. They may get back to .500 if their schedule gets easier but they are not a good team. Sure, they have had some key injuries but this is a mediocre team that will be in a rebuild for a while. You have to figure they will be sellers at the deadline and will look to start over in 2025.

SU has been watching the Ranger playoff games. Very exciting. Florida is tough and seem to dominate the action for long stretches. The Rangers will be fortunate to get this to a game 7 but who knows? If you can get into OT, anything can happen.

The NBA finals will be interesting. The stars will be out. Boston is the clear favorite and they have the better roster but these games should be entertaining. The Timberwolves are not quite ready – they are probably one veteran short to getting over the hump.

The feel good New York Knicks (at least for Knick fans) just ran out of players this past week. At some point, you don’t have the players to make a stand. They fought hard to the end and you have to tip your hat to guys like Josh Hart who no doubt played through a tremendous amount of pain from his abdomen injury, and OG Anunoby who had his Willis Reed moment in making his first 2 shots but then just did not have the mobility from his hamstring to go any further.

This was a great playoff run against two high quality opponents in Philadelphia and Indiana. The Pacers shot close to 70% for much of the game yesterday and that was the difference. Of course, Brunson breaking his shooting hand in the 2nd half sealed the deal. But they were playing with 4 guards on the court most of the time and took this series to 7 games. As always, SU has a few observations and thoughts:

1. SU is rarely bothered by any sports announcers. I mean I can no longer listen to Dick Vitale, who, although a great guy, is just all schtick now. John Sterling had the same affect on me for the last 10 years. But for the NBA playoffs, Doris Burke finally got to me. SU has always liked her in past years but enough of Tyrese Halliburton “playing with such joy.” This guy is a top tier trash talker – that’s what he is. Great shooter – at least in this series – but does not stop talking out there. I like JJ Reddick and would prefer to hear much more from him and Mike Breen.
2. TJ McConnell is a veteran NBA player – 32 years old. He is the kind of guy you want on your team. Apparently, he is a free agent. Perfect fit for the Knicks and their style of play and MSG fans would take to him big time.
3. SU will be curious if the refs allow the Pacer guards to be all “handsy” and overly physical with the Celtic guards in this next series. Their physical treatment of Brunson was a joke. SU cannot remember any other NBA top tier player being manhandled like that. Can you imagine anyone putting their hands on LeBron? LeBron would dislocate his shoulder flailing his arms for foul calls on every possession. The constant bumping of Brunson as he started to move towards the basket should be called a foul every time. The Pacer guards dare the refs to do just that and once you see that is will be allowed, well why stop? Something to watch this next series.
4. Older Knick fans like SU will recall the 1968 – 69 Knicks’ team that pushed the Celtics in the playoffs until Walt Frazier pulled his hamstring muscle and played heavily taped in the deciding game 6 in Boston. But that season was a major step forward that set them up for their championship run in 1969-70. Sometimes you need to fail in order to be ready to go to the next level. This year does feel like that for the Knicks.
5. A lot of respect for Myles Turner. He had so many blocked shots against the undersized Knicks at the rim in this series. For SU, he plays the game the right way. SU is not a fan of the trash talkers – it’s why Brunson is so likable. I know the NBA is a trash talking League now (oh sorry, players “playing with such joy”) and that is why players who are different really stand out.
6. No more replays on foul calls. Just stop. And how about technical fouls for players that wildly gesticulate over every non-call? Just stop and get back on defense.

Bottom line for Knick fans: great season, gritty team and you can’t wait for next season. Now, the reality in the NBA is that it’s hard to keep teams together and there will be changes. But the core will be back in Brunson, Hart and DiVincenzo, and it’s up to management now to not screw it up. You have to sign Anunoby – he is a difference maker on defense and plays with a quiet confidence. Siakam was a killer once OG went out with his hamstring injury for the last 5 games. The Knicks had no one to match up with him.

For SU, it’s on to baseball and the Yankees are quietly having a great year. Of course, no injuries so far so there is that but the starting pitching has far exceeded what you would expect. Are they really 33 – 15?

Anyway, your thoughts on the Knicks?

Veteran sports fans who follow multiple professional or even college sports teams have to appreciate what the Knicks are doing this season. You won’t necessarily see it again – it’s just the nature of team sports and how people play the game. For example, the Yankees showed so little passion and fire in 2023 that SU finally stopped watching games the last 2 months of the season. Unheard of. It took so much disinterest from players not hustling, not running hard to 1st base and mindlessly hitting balls into the defense to get me to that point. Actually never happened before for me.

The Knicks this year just play hard every minute, every game. They don’t hang their heads when there are injuries or they’re not shooting well for stretches of the game. The defensive effort is still there. Sure, it’s coaching and Thibodeau has done a masterful job with these players. But it’s really about the players and collectively caring about one another and playing the game the right way all the time. You watch Josh Hart get close to 20 rebounds in a game – amazing for a guard.

Last night, Brunson was basically playing on one leg and just had no lift on his shots. Most of his misses were short. But he was out there playing major minutes and they came close down the stretch. They are just so undersized now with Robinson and OG Anunoby both out, and not being able to get defensive rebounds down the stretch did them in. It’s unclear if Anunoby can even come back this series as hamstring injuries tend to linger.

For SU, I will enjoy the passion and the effort from this team as it feels like it’s just so rare these days. SU refuses to be pissed off by the refs who have a tough job in the NBA. The pace of play is so fast and the players are so athletic. I will say that the challenge system is basically annoying. If you want to review plays in the last 2 minutes, that’s fine but during the flow of the game, just move on. The calls will even out in the end. Pace of play matters and some of the overturns on foul calls are just ridiculous. The one on Brunson last night where he was fouled twice at mid-court (not called) and then maybe lost the ball out of bounds where the defender had his elbow in his side. The Pacers’ guards are basically saying we will play you physically and dare the refs to call fouls on every possession. Of course, they won’t and then you set the tone for the game. Brunson takes his share of bumps, grabs and holds – no doubt. Unclear to SU why that is allowed.

Sooooo, enjoy the rest of this series and what will be will be. DiVincenzo took a big hit on his back, and he was not the same down the stretch. With game 4 on Sunday afternoon, we will have to see how mobile he is. The Knicks may want to consider a “load maintenance” game and rest several guys Sunday. I am sure they will not but when you play 7 players, you really need them to be close to top form.

Tyrese Maxey did his best Reggie Miller imitation against the Knicks last night in the last 25 seconds. Long-time (suffering) Knick fans will remember that playoff game where Miller pushed Greg Anthony to the ground on an in-bounds pass to hit a killer 3-pointer in a playoff game. Last night has to rank right up there with that one.

Full transparency: SU is only recently back on the Knicks’ bandwagon going back to last season. Too many years of Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury and Carmelo pushed me away for a long, long time. And as a NY sports fan, the Yankees’ collapses in the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox after being up 3-0 has hardened me against tragedies like last night. That was the all-time low point, and emotionally, just can’t go there again.

ESPN reports that “before these playoffs, there had been only three games in the past 25 years that had seen a team recover from a deficit of at least five points inside the final 30 seconds and win the game.” And now it has happened twice in the same series – and there are still potentially 2 games to go.

Look: of course, Mitchell Robinson cannot foul on a 3-point attempt there. Just can’t do it. And then on the game tying logo 3-pointers, he actually pulled back. The Knicks are the all-time gritty team – they play so hard and fight until the end. But SU has these observations:

1. Thibodeau is playing only 7 players now in his rotation. SU says that is crazy – especially with the load that Brunson has to carry. His shots were definitely getting shorter and shorter in the 2nd half. You have to give him a blow in each half. Precious Achiuwa played some quality minutes on Sunday but was MIA last night on the bench. Sometimes a bench player can change the flow of a game. If you don’t sub, much harder to make that happen.
2. Game 6 may be the first blowout of the series. It is hard to recover in just 48 hours when you are playing your starters so many minutes. Bogdanovic is done for the season. Maybe Alec Burks can give them a lift in game 6? Dust him off for a bit of scoring?
3. Embiid is hurting – he has no lift on his shot at all. You can’t expect Maxey to provide those types of heroics every game but the reality is that the Sixers are a deeper team. These teams are so evenly matched – I believe the Sixers have scored 1 more point than the Knicks in the series so far.
4. For Knick fans, you stole game 2 at home, and now the Sixers stole game 5. That is sports for you. Crazy.
5. Watch out for Dante DiVincenzo in game 6. He is due for a breakout game. It could be the difference.

Apparently, game 6 is 9 pm Thursday night (???) and then game 7 is Saturday. Quick turnaround now as we get late into the series. All the more reason to play another player in the rotation for the Knicks. Brunson is amazing but the offense has become stagnant with him dribbling around the top of the key for much of the shot clock. The Knicks are much better in transition and converting off their tough defense.

Bottom line: for Knick fans, this one hurts – a lot. Game 6 will test the resilience and grit of the team going back to Philly although a lot of Knick fans seem to make the trip down the Turnpike. If game 6 is close at the end, memories of game 5 will be fresh. Gotta love the NBA playoffs. SU still says the Knicks win the series but it may take 7 games. You know the NBA is hoping for 7 games given how some of these series have been no shows so far.

SU has to comment on the Yankees before leaving you today. Seasons are not lost in April/May but there have to be concerns about the offense against the better teams with good pitching. The Orioles are making a statement and they are really good of course. Maybe the tide turns tonight but very disappointing. Verdugo is away for a few days on parental leave and it immediately exposes the bench. Really lacking.