Williams’s sin was compounded in both cases because it was a response to losing, to knowing she was in a match she couldn’t dominate, that she was facing an opponent she couldn’t control.No, not all great athletes are gracious in defeat, but there’s also a fine line between being so intensely competitive as to lose your marbles in the heat of battle, and losing your marbles as a way out of having to admit you’ve been fairly beaten.In these two cases, it seemed the latter,NFL shop which is extraordinarily unattractive.But the really sad part here is how this will inevitably be twisted by those who never believed the Williams sisters “belonged” in tennis, who felt discomfort with them from Day 1, and who without denying their enormous achievements in the sport, can today whisper they were right all along.This isn’t just about race. Class is part of the equation too – the Williams sisters, growing up in Compton, Calif., were certainly not of the country club set. Their father and coach, Richard Williams, was and is a polarizing presence in his own right who happily battled the tennis establishment, made all kinds of grand pronouncements about his daughters’ potential, saw most of those pronouncements come true, and never once felt the need to bow to authority.But it is partly about race, because Serena and Venus Williams’s position as second-generation barrier breakers, who are unafraid to push back.Wholesale Jersey They followed the path charted by Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson the way so many ballplayers followed the path of Jackie Robison, or boxer Muhammad Ali followed the path of Joe Louis, pioneers who suffered the slings and arrows of racists, by necessity, with quiet dignity and vast patience.Ashe and Gibson made it possible for the Williams sisters to be themselves, which was a change from anything the sport had seen before.They looked different than almost everyone they were competing against, they played differently, bringing a new level of power and athleticism to the women’s game, they stood out, which some regarded as a triumph, and some certainly regarded as an affront.Pretend that race isn’t a factor all you want, pretend this is only a discussion about fair play and decorum, but it won’t take long for the predictable opinions to start emerging out from under rocks in predictable places.
NASCAR has never hidden its desire to have Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the championship field. As the sport's most popular driver, his participation in the title chase raises the profile of the 10-race series.After a two-year absence, Earnhardt finally is back in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. But is he a legitimate title contender? Probably not, based on the last three months of racing,Cheap Jerseys with just one top-10 finish in the last 12 races.NASCAR will soon find out if Earnhardt's mere presence is enough to sustain fan interest over the next 10 weeks.If he's not running up front and challenging for wins, he'll stay close to the bottom in the standings, and all those eyeballs NASCAR is hoping for won't be watching come mid-November.Earnhardt, by the way, has never said that simply making the Chase is his end game. He's chasing the Sprint Cup, the ultimate prize, and considers the Chase just a brief break from the constant scrutiny on his failure to contend for a championship."Making the Chase is important, but I have made the Chase before. I know what that feels like. My main concern is for us to be more competitive as a team," Earnhardt said. "It is really frustrating to make the Chase and then not be as competitive as you want to be during those races. That is really all I am thinking about."The last few weeks have been jarring for Earnhardt fans, who were ecstatic when his pairing with crew chief Steve Letarte resulted in a fast start to the season. It raised hopes that this might finally be the year Earnhardt claims his first Cup title. Three top-10 finishes in April — and near-wins at Martinsville and Charlotte — moved him to third in the standings, where he hovered through 15 races.Then he overheated on the road course at Sonoma and finished 41st.Replica Jerseys He's had just one top-10 finish in the last 12 races, a slide that put his Chase participation in serious jeopardy. Although he went into Saturday night's race at Richmond ranked ninth in the standings and only needed a finish of 20th or better to make the field, the entire 400 miles were a nail-biting test of patience.He ran in the 20s most of the race, griped to Letarte about how difficult his car has been to drive over the last 10 races and seemed at times rattled to the point of resignation."I can't think of the big picture because I really can't see it. Y'all can see it," Earnhardt sighed.Letarte, who plays the role of cheerleader and mental motivator to perfection, urged Earnhardt to stay focused when the driver seemed to be on the edge of despair.In the end, Earnhardt finished 16th and made the Chase for the first time since 2008. Although he three times needed the NASCAR free pass to get back on the lead lap, he insisted he never worried that he'd be shut out of the 12-driver field.
Rafael Nadal had shifted the momentum his way by winning an exhilarating third set. His nemesis, Novak Djokovic, who had been breathing heavily and was visibly frustrated with his inability to put Nadal away, was lying on his stomach, receiving treatment for a bothersome back strain.The crowd was behind Nadal, providing decibels more suited for football games than tennis matches. For the first time in a year, it seemed as if Nadal could solve the Djokovic puzzle.Djokovic quickly and methodically dispelled that notion, blitzing Nadal in the fourth set, 6-1, to win his first United States Open, and prove his superiority.NFL store Djokovic, a remarkable 64-2 this season, owns three of the four Grand Slams, and again left Nadal searching for answers.“I always had big trouble to beat him here on this surface in the past,” said Nadal, who has lost six consecutive matches against Djokovic, including the Wimbledon final, since defeating him in the Open final last year. “It’s not an exception now, especially because he’s doing better than ever."It is a rare for elite professional athletes to acknowledge inferiority, let alone a psychological disadvantage against an opponent. They assert that previous results are a fluke at best, an aberration at worst, and that next time it will be a different story — at least publicly.That makes Nadal’s very public acknowledgments of his inability to crack Djokovic, especially in an individual sport where mental fortitude is so important, all the more interesting. The 25-year-old Nadal, who has won 10 Grand Slam titles, is among the sport’s all-time greats and dominated Djokovic, 24, early in the rivalry.But that changed after Nadal triumphed over Djokovic in last year’s Open final. And over the course of the summer, including in his recently released best-selling autobiography “Rafa” and over the Open’s two weeks, Nadal has admitted that defeating Djokovic would be a tall task, something he may never figure out again.Over 4 hours 10 minutes, Nadal mustered all the energy he could, coming at Djokovic with impressive,Wholesale Jersey sometimes miraculous defensive shots and winners. But despite battling the back strain, Djokovic took all of Nadal’s punches and countered with his own blows to knock him out.“His level, for sure, is fantastic,” Nadal said. “He’s doing very well, mentally, everything.”The match started well for Nadal. He got off to a 2-0 lead in the first set, but Djokovic swept the next six games. The second set began with another 2-0 Nadal advantage, but although Djokovic did not rattle off six games in a row, he dominated the remainder of the set, winning, 6-4, and making it look easy.Nadal then had a two-set mountain to climb, but just when it seemed that he was defeated, Nadal came back from a 6-5 deficit to win a third-set tie breaker, pumping his fist and pumping up the crowd along the way.