Category: Sports

The youthful Naomi Osaka swept Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the US Open final. This was considered an upset but maybe it was a signal that one era is over and new era is beginning.  Williams made it to her second major final in a row this year but she lost both finals in dominating fashion.  At Wimbledon, Angelique Kerber swept past Serena 6-3, 6-3 and Osaka game was no different as she was easily the better player in this match.

Serena Williams managed to finish in two straight finals but at the age of 36 years, she have exceeded the age where most Tennis players decline in their skills and rating but she managed to still be one of the best in the world returning from her pregnancy.  For Williams, it is about getting to 24 Major titles to tie her with Margaret Court, but that 24 is proving elusive.  Williams still is competitive but she is no longer the Queen of Tennis and before her pregnancy, it was often it was Serena vs. the rest of field but now she has come back to the field.

Osaka is 20 years old and she told the rest of the Tennis world that she is not just a champion but she may be ready to take over the Woman Tennis world.  Not only did she blow away Serena in the finals but before that, she blew Madison Keys off the court in semi-final.  Much of the post-match centered on Williams’ trouble with Carlos Ramos, the chair judge, who called a coaching violation on Williams for receiving coaching from her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou and later, they got into another row in which Ramos rewarded Williams a game penalty and it took attention from the Osaka’s victory.

The US Open may be known years from now as the Open that marked the end of Williams sister era and the beginning of new era in which younger players now begin their own reign led by Naomi Osaka.

Naomi in the first round of the Open

There is that moment in which an athlete ages before your very eye and you wonder, is this the end of a great career? I’ve seen this in boxing where a fighter literally ages in front of you, where punches seem slower and often misses their target when a year earlier, they connected with ease.  When Roger Federer lost to John Millman, it was more than a shock, the audience witness a great Tennis player age in front of them.

Federer won the first set with ease and appeared to be winning the second set before he got broken and then lost in the tie breaker. Throughout the final three sets in which he lost everyone, there were times that he had Millman on the rope only to let him off the hook and unable to finish off his opponent. The old Federer would have won this match in three sets against an opponent that wasn’t even ranked in the top 50 before the US Open.

On a hot and humid night, it was Millman who looked fresher as the match continued and it was Federer who looked sluggish and slow.  The Federer of old melted in front of us and the Old Federer appeared.  Maybe what made this performance shocking was that for the past two years, he had won three of the previous seven majors along with Nadal who also won three. He made it to the finals of Cincinnati, the last big ATP hard court tour before the Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. On this night, the heat and a determined opponent who was playing the match of his life combined to evaporate Federer skills.

Federer looked 37 and the audience watching the match were more stunned than anything and even Millman acknowledge he hit Federer at the right night, not gloating about his victory but thankful that this night, he caught a Federer on a bad night.

For many pundits it may be too early to declare Federer old and career over when one view the past two years in its totality but there are those moments, you look at athlete and wonder, when does father time nail you?

In Peyton Manning final year as a Bronco, injuries and age combined to slow a great career.  The year before, Manning completed 66% of his passes, had 39 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions but in the Bronco championship year, he threw only 9 touchdowns and had 17 interceptions and was benched for a few games in favor of Brock Osweller who took over for Manning against the Chief on November 15^th. He replaced Manning for rest of the year before Manning came back in the last game to lead the Broncos to victory.

Manning won his second championship that season but he was not the reason, the Bronco defense was.  Manning at this stage of his career was no longer the catalyst for Broncos offense but left to manage the team while the defense pounded the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.  In 2014, Manning was still the great Manning but by 2015, injuries and age combined to take a once great quarterback into a utility quarterback looking over his shoulder at his back up.

Federer against Millman looked like the Manning of 2015 while spending much of the past two years looking like the Manning of 2013 and 2014 that played for the Broncos. Is this the end of Federer as we know him?  Good question but the Federer that we saw at the US Open finally look like an old Federer who finally reached that point in his career where father time told him, “No Mas.”