Bianca Andreescu Snatches Historic Victory From Serena Williams, Wins 1st Grand Slam
Bianca Andreescu reacts after defeating Serena Williams in the women’s singles final of the U.S. Open.
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Canadian Bianca Andreescu beat Serena Williams (6-3, 7-5) at the U.S. Open on Saturday, becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Her victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium — the site of Williams’ first Grand Slam win in 1999 — kept Williams from tying Australia’s Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
For the 19-year-old Andreescu — born the year after Williams won her first major title at the U.S. Open — the victory capped an impressive run at this year’s tournament. She became the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam finals. And despite setbacks from a shoulder injury, the Romanian Canadian’s play helped her rise to 15th in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings entering her match against Williams. She was ranked 208 last summer.
The match represented another difficult loss for the 37-year-old Williams since her return to tennis last year after the birth of her daughter in 2017. Since her return, she has tried unsuccessfully four times to match the record for most Grand Slam wins.
The only other match-up between Williams and Andreescu was cut short when Williams suffered a back injury in the Rogers Cup final in Toronto last month. Andreescu took home that title. Impressed by her rival’s sportsmanship after the match, Williams called Andreescu an “old soul.”
Both attribute their success to a strong mental game as much as a physical one. Andreescu has spoken about her pre-game meditation ritual.
As for Williams, she says the stress of contending with other tennis superstars might be less taxing than motherhood.
“I think being on the court is almost a little bit more relaxing than hanging out with a two-year-old that’s dragging you everywhere,” Williams told USA today after a commanding semifinals performance against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Thursday. “I think that’s kind of been a little helpful.”
Barbershop: NFL’s 100th Season
To mark the NFL’s 100th anniversary, NPR’s Michel Martin talks football with The Nation’s Dave Zirin, Jason Reid of ESPN’s The Undefeated, and journalism professor Kevin Blackistone.
Saturday Sports: U.S. Open, NFL
The U.S. Open is well underway and Serena Williams is, unsurprisingly, in the finals. The NFL’s opening night was underwhelming. And more girls than ever are signed up to play high school football.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
How nice it is to find time for sports.
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SIMON: Serena Williams on the verge of history again. The regular NFL season has begun with a long, dull splat. And are more young women interested in getting their heads rattled too? We’re joined now, as always, by NPR’s Tom Goldman. Tom, thanks so much for being with us.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: U.S. Open – Serena Williams going for what would be a record-tying 24th Grand Slam win. But there’s a 19-year-old on the other side of the net. How do you see today’s match?
GOLDMAN: I see victory. I see the great…
SIMON: For one of the players, yes. But yes, yeah.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter) Oh, OK, for Serena Williams.
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: I see Serena reversing recent history. You know, since her return to tennis after becoming a mother, she’s been in three Grand Slam finals and lost all three. And she has looked rattled. Each of those losses was preceded by a strong showing in the semifinal match.
Now, the U.S. Open has followed that pattern. She’s looked really good coming into this final against 19-year-old, Canadian Bianca Andreescu. So why do I see victory, Scott?
SIMON: Why do you see victory, Tom Goldman?
GOLDMAN: Thank you for asking. Because both Williams and her coach say she is finally healthy. She’s battled injuries this year. Now they say she’s physically ready, and that helps her mental approach. In her words, she says she has been way more chill than in the past. And, Scott, I believe her.
SIMON: Yeah, well, she knows. Rafael Nadal is the last of the big three standing on the men’s side. What do you see there?
GOLDMAN: Well, we’ve seen the big three teeter this tournament. Novak Djokovic pulled out with an injury. Roger Federer lost in the quarterfinals, largely because he was hurt, although he refused to blame that. You know, there’s all this speculation – is the big three reign over? I mean, someday it will be, someday soon. But Federer, the oldest of them at 38, he has been playing great, and no reason he can’t still at 39 if the body holds up. For now, though, as you say, Nadal is left. He plays in tomorrow’s final. And he has a chance to win his 19th major title, putting him one behind the leader, Federer.
SIMON: Yeah. NFL season opened – Green Bay Packers versus the Chicago Bears…
GOLDMAN: (Imitating snoring noises).
SIMON: …With their headliner Eddie Goldman, the fabulous Eddie Goldman. This is the oldest rivalry in football – all the makings of a classic, except the game. You watched all three hours. If you had to put a highlight reel together, how many seconds would be in there?
GOLDMAN: Not many. Can I get those three hours back? I don’t think I can. It was a 10-3 snore-fest, although NFL aficionados – and there are many – will say that shows my ignorance because it was a defensive masterpiece.
SIMON: Right, yes.
GOLDMAN: Well, there was a lot – there were a lot of penalties and bad offense, too. Scott, I love a great defensive play now and then, but give me touchdowns, long touchdowns.
SIMON: At least one, I think there was one. Yeah, yeah.
GOLDMAN: Lots of – lots of them. Come on, guys. And hopefully, the offenses will start waking up tomorrow.
SIMON: I want to ask you about a development in high school football, and I have divided thoughts about it. Recent numbers show that more girls, young women, than ever are participating in tackle football at the high school level. I have a hard time cheering the fact that young women athletes now stand – want an equal chance to suffer head trauma.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, well, it’s a good point. And some will agree with you. We will note this interesting development, however. The National Federation of State High School Associations says last season, more than 2,400 girls played 11-man, or shall we say 11-person, tackle football on high school boys’ teams. Now, that’s only 0.2% of the total, but it’s an increase for the fourth straight year, and this at a time when participation by boys has been declining. California leads the way with 593 girls who played. New Jersey, Texas, Colorado also had more than 100, so an interesting development.
SIMON: NPR’s Tom Goldman. Thanks so much.
GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.
Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Women’s Soccer Stars Concerned About Trauma From Repetitive Head Impact
As research into head injuries expands to include women’s soccer, some of the sport’s former stars are calling attention to the health fallout from heading the ball multiple times.
Michigan State University To Pay $4.5 Million Fine Over Larry Nassar Scandal
Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, seen at a sentencing hearing last year in Charlotte, Mich. On Thursday, the Department of Education fined the university $4.5 million for its response to Nassar’s conduct while he was employed by the school.
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Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET
The U.S. Department of Education has levied a $4.5 million fine against Michigan State University for its “systemic failure” to address the sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor who admitted to sexually assaulting his patients for decades.
The fine that was announced Thursday came after two investigations ordered by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“What happened at Michigan State University was abhorrent,” DeVos told reporters by telephone Thursday. “The crimes for which Larry Nassar and [former Michigan State Dean] William Strampel have been convicted are disgusting and unimaginable. So, too, was the university’s response to their crimes. This must not happen again — there or anywhere else.”
Last year Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for abusing dozens of girls and young women under the guise of providing medical treatment. He was also hit with a separate sentence of up to 125 years for the abuse and an additional 60-year federal prison term for child pornography.
Strampel led Michigan State’s college of osteopathic medicine and oversaw Nassar during the doctor’s tenure at the school. Strampel, too, faces prison time for his role in the abuse scandal: In June, he was convicted of two counts of willful neglect of duty and one count of felony misconduct for sexually harassing female students in his own right.
The investigations — one conducted by the federal Office of Civil Rights, the other by the office of Federal Student Aid — found that despite having received reports of sexual violence, Michigan State failed to properly disclose the incidents, notify campus security authorities or issue timely warnings about what was going on. The school was also found to have violated the terms of Title IX, a federal statute that bans sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
“Too many people in power knew about the behaviors and the complaints,” DeVos said, “and yet the predators continued on the payroll and abused even more students.”
As part of its punishment, the university must establish a new office dedicated to complying with federal regulations and also “create a system of protective measures and expanded reporting to better ensure the safety” of students and minor children who visit the campus, the Department of Education says.
Of the $4.5 million fine, the Department of Education says it is a record for punishments of this type. But the fine is not likely to make a dent in the university’s finances: As of the end of June, Michigan State said its endowment was estimated to be $2.9 billion. The Department of Education did not immediately clarify where the money from Thursday’s fine will be directed.
The fine is part of the school’s settlement with the Department of Education, which also stipulates that “nothing in this Agreement constitutes an admission of liability or wrongdoing by MSU.”
Still, MSU President Samuel L. Stanley — whose predecessor resigned last year and faces criminal charges of her own for the Nassar scandal — said Thursday the federal findings are “very clear that the provost and former president failed to take appropriate action on behalf of the university to address reports of inappropriate behavior and conduct, specifically related to former Dean William Strampel.”
“I’m grateful for the thoroughness of these investigations and intend to use them as a blueprint for action,” Stanley added in his statement.
In an op-ed published Thursday in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the lead state prosecutor in the case against Nassar, Angela Povilaitis, said credit for taking down Nassar should go to the first victim to go public with her story, Rachael Denhollander.
“When the judge issued a gag order prohibiting victims from speaking publicly, Rachael challenged the order in federal court (and won). And when 204 women and girls stood up to Nassar at the historic sentencing hearings, Rachael was there for support, every single day, watching those victims become survivors,” Povilaitis wrote.
“She inspired greater oversight of national sports bodies,” she added. “But her greatest contribution may be to the untold number of girls who will never meet Larry Nassar.”
Sports Commentary: Does The NFL Pay For Pain?
The National Football League’s regular season kicks off Thursday. Sports commentator Mike Pesca offers his take on NFL monetary incentives.
Tennis Action At The U.S. Open Continues To Thrill Crowds
The excitement is building in New York as the U.S. Open moves closer to the championship matches. ESPN analyst and six-time Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs has been watching courtside.
Tennis’ Display Of Sportsmanship Catches Attention Of Sports World
Naomi Osaka defeated Coco Gauff in the third round at the U.S. Open, but it was their display of sportsmanship after the tennis match that caught the attention of the sports world.
Astros Ace Justin Verlander Throws 3rd No-Hitter Of His Career
Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander celebrates after throwing a no hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays, marking his third career no-hitter.
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Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander lifted both his arms aloft then bent to his knees with the clenched fists of a victorious warrior before his teammates thronged him from all sides.
Verlander was not just not marking any old win. The right-hander tossed a no-hitter Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
It is his third career no-hitter, putting Verlander among an elite group of just six other major league pitchers with three or more no-hitters under their belt. It’s a group that includes Cy Young, the namesake for the award that goes to the best pitcher each year in the American and National Leagues.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know that the list of guys who have thrown three instead of two gets pretty small — some of the guys I’ve idolized,” Verlander said after the game. “It’s a special moment. I’m so happy to be able to celebrate this with my teammates.”
Verlander, 36, struck out 14 and allowed just one base runner after walking Cavan Biggio in the first inning.
Propelled by Verlander’s blazing fastball, the Astros topped the Blue Jays 2-0.
His last no-hitter was also against Toronto, in 2011, when he was throwing for the Detroit Tigers.
He now has the bragging rights to becoming the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter twice against a team in its own stadium.
While Verlander now joins a small cadre of pitchers who have hurled three or more no-hitters, the top record-holder belongs to Nolan Ryan, who completed seven career no-hitters.
Chronicling The Ouster Of Donald Sterling
In 2014, former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned from basketball after racist comments. NPR’s Leila Fadel talks with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne about a new podcast about the event.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Five years ago, the young girlfriend of an old, wealthy, married man felt slighted, ignored, dismissed. She got mad, so mad that she released a recording of one of their arguments to TMZ.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
V STIVIANO: People call you and tell you that I have black people on my Instagram, and it bothers you.
DONALD STERLING: Yeah. It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?
FADEL: You might remember this recording. The woman was V. Stiviano. The man was Donald Sterling, the longtime owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. The recording rocked the NBA.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
STIVIANO: Do you know that you have a whole team that’s black, that plays for you?
STERLING: You just – do I don’t? I support them and give them food and clothes and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?
FADEL: The fallout was quick and surprising. Sterling was ousted after decades of unchecked bad behavior, and the Clippers got a new owner. Now, the entire saga with its seedy, sordid details is being told by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in a new series from “30 For 30” podcasts and The Undefeated called “The Sterling Affairs.” Ramona Shelburne joins us now. Hi, Ramona.
RAMONA SHELBURNE: How’s it going?
FADEL: Good. So this was a really fascinating listen. But what was it that made you kind of want to take a step back, go back, unpack it in the way that you did today?
SHELBURNE: So I felt in 2014, when I was covering this, that it was so much bigger than what we were reporting on minute to minute, hour to hour. I – especially once I started making the connections between, you know, 30 years ago when the NBA tried to get Donald Sterling out of the league – they tried to kick him out.
FADEL: Yeah.
SHELBURNE: But they ended up in court for six years. And Donald eventually won. And I think maybe doing a deep dive on this helps you reckon with why, you know, us in the media didn’t do enough maybe to expose some of this. Like, you know, we wrote about him being, like, this weird, old owner…
FADEL: Right.
SHELBURNE: …With this weird, old uncle quality. But we didn’t expose the depth of it.
FADEL: Right. For people who are not from LA, who don’t follow the NBA or sports, can you describe Donald Sterling?
SHELBURNE: Donald Sterling was a poor kid from East LA whose father worked at the markets and was a junk peddler and ends up putting himself through Southwestern Law School. He built a great career as a personal injury attorney and then invest that money into LA real estate in the ’70s. Instead of taking his own background as Donald Tokowitz at the time, as a young Jewish boy who had sort of been discriminated against by law firms and understood the effects that redlining have on a community in his city, Donald Sterling basically does unto others, unto all of Los Angeles, where he became the largest residential landlord in LA – he basically does unto others what had been done to him.
FADEL: Yeah.
SHELBURNE: (Laughter) Like, he was so loud and inappropriate with his players all the time. And I would hear stories from players about the way he would treat them and the way they just all cringed when he was around. It was like they all ran the other way when he would come into the locker room or into any of their social settings.
FADEL: And there are some really cringe-worthy moments. One from the podcast that really stuck with me was from a player, Oden Polynice, describing an interaction with Sterling in the Clippers locker room with Sterling talking about his body.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “THE STERLING AFFAIRS”)
OLDEN POLYNICE: He goes right back. Wow. Look at these muscles. Like, aw, hell (laughter). So I’m sitting there. Now, I’m starting to sweat a little bit because I’m like, nobody’s in here. There’s a reason why they left. And it’s, like, dang. He just kept looking and was like, wow. Look at this buck. I’m like, buck? I was like, what the [expletive]? Black slave on the trading block – yes.
FADEL: I mean, it leaves you kind of speechless.
SHELBURNE: Oh, yeah. And I think that when we talked about this story and the part of the reason why people reacted so viscerally to it, so emotionally to it, is he had what’s called – you know, what we refer to as a plantation mentality, right? Like, this idea that I am the owner. And Olden hints at it. You know, these are black slaves. OK? These are proud black men who have worked their entire lives to become fantastic basketball players. And they’re in the NBA, the best league in the world. Most of them have great careers off the court as well. For them to be treated like, as Olden Polynice says, black slaves and be seen that way and made to feel that way was absolutely disgusting. And, you know, they – even in the tape that Donald Sterling has where he talks to V. Stiviano where he says, who feeds them? Who gives them clothes? – like, as if they should be indebted to him…
FADEL: Right.
SHELBURNE: …As if they owed him something.
FADEL: And then he repeated that…
SHELBURNE: Yeah.
FADEL: …In defense of himself when people were accusing him of being a racist.
SHELBURNE: Yeah, like, as if somebody else can own the Clippers and give them this job. They don’t need you for a job. You just happen to have a franchise. The reason why that felt like such a dangerous thing in the league, if we want to extend this metaphor – and it’s – I’m always careful in how I talk about it. But I think owners are always terrified of the players rising up against them, the same way – if we go back to the plantation days. Plantation owners were afraid of slaves rising up against them. I mean, this is a terrifying existential question. And I think, at that moment, it finally was so egregious…
FADEL: Right.
SHELBURNE: …And it was so public that players like LeBron James felt comfortable the day after those tapes came out stepping in front of the cameras and saying, there is no place for Donald Sterling in this league. That right now seems so obvious, right?
FADEL: Right.
SHELBURNE: There is no place for Donald Sterling in the NBA. But when Lebron said it, it was revelatory. It was like, this is the rebellion.
FADEL: So this is also a story about how a new NBA commissioner actually does something about an owner. How much of this was about Adam Silver asserting his authority?
SHELBURNE: I think a lot of this story is about Adam Silver hearing the tape and knowing instantly that they needed to get rid of Donald Sterling. You know, I’ve talked to Adam at length about this over the years. Like, I think I like his comment. He says, you know, in some ways, my newness to the job – he’d only been on the job for less than 90 days…
FADEL: Right.
SHELBURNE: …When this happens. He said, in some ways, my newness to the job actually helped me because he didn’t have to think through or get bogged down by all of the other issues involved here and the slippery slope for other owners, the issue of being in court with him forever. Like, he just knew this was morally repugnant. And he issued what amounted to an executive order. I mean, he just did it and challenged anyone to say he was wrong later.
FADEL: And where is Donald Sterling today?
SHELBURNE: (Laughter) It’s like nothing ever happened. He’s living in Beverly Hills. He has…
FADEL: Really?
SHELBURNE: He’s $2 billion richer. He is still frequently spotted around town with much younger women.
FADEL: Wow.
SHELBURNE: I mean, I have people who always are texting me screenshots of Donald out with another mistress or young woman. The only difference is he doesn’t own the Clippers anymore. And, you know, I’ll never forget one of the longtime employees of the Clippers. He said, you know, without the Clippers, Donald is just another rich guy in LA.
FADEL: Ramona Shelburne – she’s the host of “The Sterling Affairs,” a “30 For 30” podcast from ESPN and The Undefeated. Thanks for joining us.
SHELBURNE: Appreciate you having me.
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Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.