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Over the weekend, I went to Chicago for the first night of the Laver Cup, a fledgling team tennis event that Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, launched last year. This edition was held at the United Center – the same place where the Bulls and Blackhawks play – and the seal was loud and packed, which warmed my heart love of tennis. Tennis is sometimes considered a marginal sport, especially when it comes to major events like the US Open and Wimbledon. This weekend in Chicago, a tennis experience seemed to be the biggest show in the city.
How has the Laver Cup become so important? For beginners, it's a good entertainment. Inspired by the golf Ryder Cup, it brings together the best players in the world, pitting European talent ("Team Europe") against the best players in the world ("Team World"). There is a lot of fun camaraderie – players jump from time to time supporting one another, looking like competitors on "Family Feud". Novak Djokovic plays doubles on the same side (last year was Fed and Rafael Nadal). You even have a touch of Borg & McEnroe coach – Bjorn Borg Team Europe; Johnny Mac manages the world. The lighting is theatrical. The courtyard is a slate gray. This is a mixed tennis like a perfect cocktail, the opposite of the bland.
All of these things make the Laver Cup a success. But I still think the best draw is the man at the center: Federer. At 37, Federer has less in common with a sports star than with an iconic rock band. The fans literally make pilgrimages to see him, and there is urgency because the fans do not know how much time they have left. If you are a fan of tennis, you want to see Federer before he says goodbye, and preferably while he is still great (he is currently the world number 2). I think the Laver Cup is a great tribute to his Australian namesake Rod Laver and to a clever innovation to which the rest of tennis can borrow freely and fly. But if it's a cocktail, then Federer (to quote Reggie Jackson's line, which Reggie challenges) is the straw that stirs the drink.
Roger Federer of Team Europe reacts during the Laver Cup.
Photo:
Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
I thought about that by watching Tiger Woods close the championship on Sunday, to win his first title in five years. The scenes were spectacular: Woods was approaching the last green with a crowd in tow, the chief safe, this iconic red shirt on his shoulders. It was both exciting and sentimental. We had already seen such moments from Woods. But after years of injury and decline, few were sure it would happen again.
No one in golf commands this type of treatment. Woods' recovery is excellent for his sport. Super, super, great. It's also a boon for TV channels: Woods is not an athlete in any sport. Even on a Sunday when golf faced the NFL, Tiger-mania roared.
But Woods is 42 years old. Golf has already had a taste of the future of the post-Tiger. Woods has missed huge seasonal chunks and a new crop of young talent has climbed the rankings. At the moment, there are six Americans in the current Top 10 world: Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. They are all talented players.
Yet you know how that is. No one is taller than Tiger.
Could the void be filled? Woods is a singular figure, at first transcendent as a young multiracial sensation promised as conqueror of the world, then came out and conquered the world. He won early and often, and soon the discussion mounted how better he would be than everyone else before he finished. This has changed, of course, because of physical breakdowns and personal crises, and Woods has become something else: vulnerable. That made Woods a totally different character. In recent years, he has a little lightened, stopped talking with this automaton of confidence and even hinted that he was going to retire. We did not know if we would get Tiger back – but he did not get it either.
Tiger Woods won a tournament for the first time in five years on Sunday.
Photo:
John Friends / Associated Press
For Woods to recover and revitalize – he played very well for most of the half of the season – is an unlikely mouthful of sports delights. That's what sports fans talked about Monday (well, that and New England Patriots schadenfreude). Confident, the Woods Championship is the wood that everyone hopes to see. And we see it again.
My recommendation? Enjoy this. Watch Tiger as much as possible (his 2018 season is over, but he has the upcoming Ryder Cup). Go in person if you can. Enjoy the return of Woods as a fragile resource, as it is probably the case. I do not know what will happen, but it will not look like that. For golf, there is no replacement plan. There is only one Tiger Woods.
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