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.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

OK. Now let’s check in on the U.S. Open in New York. ESPN analyst and six-time Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs has been sitting courtside. She knows a good tournament when she sees one.

RENNAE STUBBS: Oh, it’s been incredible. I think that the women have really been quite the story here at the U.S. Open obviously and Serena Williams still in the tournament.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STUBBS: Serena Williams is back in a U.S. Open quarter final.

MARTIN: So Serena Williams is still in. Coco Gauff, though, the other U.S. star, is out. Her run at the U.S. Open ended yesterday. But Rennae Stubbs says it’s only the beginning for the athlete.

STUBBS: She’s 15 years of age. So when you think about that and you think that Serena’s at the tender age of – what is she? – 37 now, we’re going to see – hopefully see Coco Guaff around for a very long time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Coco, Coco, Coco.

MARTIN: And then there is the player fans root against. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has become the so-called villain of the tournament. His over-the-top showmanship has drawn plenty of boos.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: Basking in the boos.

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: You guys being against me, you gave me so much energy to win. Thank you.

STUBBS: You know, he’s actually a really funny guy, and he’s a tremendous player. But I think he kind of thrives on this, loves the drama, and I think he’s a great character.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: What a performer this guy is.

STUBBS: It’s been a fantastic U.S. Open for everybody.

MARTIN: ESPN analyst and six-time Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs. The U.S. Open runs through next Sunday.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUSINE’S “LUCKY”)

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.

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.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Over the weekend, sports fans were given a treat by two of the rising stars of women’s tennis. Twenty-one-year-old Naomi Osaka faced 15-year-old Coco Gauff in the third round at the U.S. Open.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Another aggressive return, and Osaka breaks again. It’s 4-2.

CHANG: And while the number-one ranked player in the world, Osaka, beat Gauff in straight sets, it was the post-match consoling between the two players that has everyone feeling the love. Here’s what Gauff told ESPN right after her loss.

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COCO GAUFF: She told me that I did amazing, and good luck. And then she asked if I could do the on-court interview with her, and I said no because I know I was going to cry the whole time, but she encouraged me to do it.

CHANG: Now, typically, the post-match on-court interviews are left for the winning player, but as Soraya McDonald, a writer for The Undefeated, put it…

SORAYA MCDONALD, BYLINE: Part of what you saw in that moment, aside from this just beautiful sportsmanship and empathy and compassion, was also a recognition of what it is like to be a black woman in a sport where you’re still very much an outsider.

CHANG: McDonald says that very sentiment was reflected when it was Osaka’s turn to speak. She pointed at Gauff’s parents in the stands.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NAOMI OSAKA: I remember I used to see you guys training in the same place as us, and for me, like, the fact that both of us made it and we’re both still working as hard as we can – I think it’s incredible, and I think you guys are amazing. I think, Coco, you’re amazing.

CHANG: It was on that very court in Arthur Ashe Stadium that Osaka won her first Grand Slam last year amidst a booing crowd. McDonald called this year’s gesture the moment when, quote, “black girl magic” became black girl solidarity.

MCDONALD: It basically lets everyone know, you know, on national television that there’s no animosity between them. They’re here for each other, and I think that that shows an amazing amount of grace.

CHANG: And if you’re wondering if Naomi Osaka will have a chance to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles, well, she was upset this afternoon. But it does seem the future of American tennis is in good hands.

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.

A tragic death and a surprise retirement are shaking faith in football while upstarts are playing legends in tennis. NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with ESPN’s Michele Steele.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And now it’s time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: And not a happy week in sports. Andrew Luck retired from the NFL at the age of 29, saying he just can’t take the pain. And an autopsy revealed that the Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died of an overdose of dangerous drugs, including opioids and also alcohol. He was just 27.

We’re joined this week by Michele Steele of ESPN from Chicago. Thanks so much for being with us, Michele.

MICHELE STEELE: You bet, Scott.

SIMON: This is a heartbreaking story. The LA Times revealed the autopsy yesterday. The families hired an attorney to try and find out how he got those drugs. He did not seem to be dealing with any injuries that might drive him to legally prescribed painkillers – let me put it that way, though.

STEELE: Yeah, Scott. What a tragic story. You know, Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, you mentioned, just 27. He was on a road trip on – with the team. He was found in his hotel unconscious on July 1. And the coroner’s report that was just released says that they found alcohol, oxycodone and fentanyl in his system when he died. Those are some really powerful painkillers. You know, you mentioned injuries, he was healthy this season.

SIMON: Yeah.

STEELE: He had just pitched a couple days before, but he has had injuries throughout his career. And the Skaggs family released a statement just last night saying they were shocked to learn about the circumstances of his death and that it, quote, “may involve an employee of the Los Angeles Angels.” Now they’ve hired a pretty big attorney.

SIMON: Yeah.

STEELE: The police are investigating as well. Now the league is coming in. They’re planning their own investigation. And, Scott, the team, they’re not commenting.

SIMON: I want to ask you about what I’ll refer to as the aftershocks of Andrew Luck’s announcement he was retiring from pro football and the Indianapolis Colts. What do you make of yackers on sports radio or even some retired players who criticized him for making that decision?

STEELE: Oh, boy. You know, what a week for the hot take industry, so to speak. He was called soft, too much of a millennial primarily by what I’ll call opportunistic sports hosts. You know, Andrew Luck is a guy who reads books literally about concrete. He has a flip phone. There may be reasons to criticize him, but being a millennial certainly isn’t one of them. He’s got $100 million in career earnings. He just doesn’t want to be hit anymore. Let’s let him live his life.

SIMON: Yeah, I was very moved by what Rob Gronkowski said. Obviously – I think you covered him – right? – when you covered the New England Patriots.

STEELE: Yeah, yeah. You, know I was there for three years – 2013 to 2016 in New England. I covered him during that very eventful time. And if I could describe his persona, it would be really like a fun, slobbery golden retriever. And to see him this week, you know, talking about his football life and to be brought to tears talking about his career – he retired, by the way, this year at age 30 – not being able to sleep the night of the Super Bowl, it made me feel sad. So, you know, I’m happy that he’s working on being kind of a fun, happy guy again.

SIMON: You know, I’ve got to ask you – put you in a difficult position as a sports reporter – the more we learn more about disabling and even brain-obliterating injuries in football, is it going to be harder to get people to play, and for that matter, harder to get Americans to watch?

STEELE: Yeah, that is a great question and an existential one for the NFL. You would think it might be harder to watch. But last year was actually a great ratings year for the NFL. The league is talking about expanding the season maybe to 18 games. And even Gronk said this week he knew what he was signing up for. So I think players being self-aware certainly matters – matters to fans, matters to reporters. But we might see players go more the route of Andrew Luck and Rob Gronkowski and decide to sort of pack it in earlier than they would have maybe in prior eras.

SIMON: Fifteen seconds left, match of the day at U.S. Open?

STEELE: Oh, no question, 15-year-old Coco Gauff taking on U.S. Open defending champ Naomi Osaka. These are two women who came of age after Serena and Venus went pro. Serena called them the future of tennis. She’s going to be watching. I’m going to be watching, too. How about you, Scott?

SIMON: Oh, yeah, have to. Michele Steele of ESPN, thanks so much.

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.

NPR’s David Greene talks to Courtney Nguyen, a tennis reporter and co-host of the No Challenges Remaining podcast, about the start of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Let’s go back to 1999. A 17-year-old Serena Williams won her first-ever Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open. Twenty years later, Williams is still going strong. Yesterday, she faced off against Maria Sharapova at the Open and won. If she goes on to win the U.S. Open, she would tie the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, but she hasn’t won a grand slam title since 2017, and the competition ahead is fierce.

Courtney Nguyen is on the line from New York. She’s attending the U.S. Open. She’s a tennis reporter and co-hosts the “No Challenges Remaining” tennis podcast. Good morning, Courtney.

COURTNEY NGUYEN: Good morning, David.

GREENE: These are two longtime veterans playing yesterday, Sharapova and Williams. What did it feel like? Serious rivals out there.

NGUYEN: You know, everybody gets very, very angry when we call this a rivalry simply because if you’ve beaten somebody 18 – now 19 consecutive times, there’s an argument to be made that maybe…

GREENE: It’s not a rivalry (laughter).

NGUYEN: …It isn’t one. But yeah, exactly. Is it? And I think even Maria will say, you know, it’s a big question mark. But at the end of the day, these are two of the marquee names of women’s tennis over the last 15 years. And they’re the biggest draws, you know, in terms – when we talk about ticket sales and all these sorts of things, topping, you know, the Forbes list of the most paid female athletes in the world for the last decade or so.

And so it’s a big deal when they do play, but the sport is so much about X’s and O’s and about forehands and backhand. And at the end of the day, Maria Sharapova’s game just does not match up well against Serena Williams’. And last night it was, again, a fairly perfunctory match – 6-1, 6-1, less than an hour…

GREENE: Wow.

NGUYEN: …It took. And Serena looked very good.

GREENE: I mean, she’s had a tough year. All is relative, of course, I mean, with the high expectations obviously. But I mean, she retired from the Rogers Cup final with those back spasms. She surrendered two straight sets in her loss in the Wimbledon final. I mean, is this big win over Sharapova a sign that she’s got a real shot this year at the Open?

NGUYEN: Well, I think one of the big things that – the draw, when it came out and we saw that these two were going to play each other, you knew that it meant that Serena was going to lock in from the very first match of this tournament, that she wasn’t going to take it easy. And sometimes she can start these matches a little bit slow and get going and get cranking midway through or towards the end of the first set. So in that way, I mean, it was great. She looked fantastic.

But the question is precisely what you raised. You know, she’s lost three straight major finals that she’s contested. That’s never happened in her career before. And her success rate, she hasn’t even won a set in those three finals. So yes, we know that Serena can win six matches to get into a major final right now. The question is that big seventh one. And seeing her get tested, as this tournament progresses, against more in-tune, informed competition, that’s going to be the biggest question.

GREENE: Last year’s U.S. Open final, I mean, we remember Naomi Osaka and Serena ended in – with a lot of controversy – I mean, with the chair umpire, lots of questions about gender, about race, sportsmanship, fairness were raised. I mean, is that still looming over this year? Has Serena mentioned it at all?

NGUYEN: Serena hasn’t mentioned it at all. And Naomi has fielded, you know, generally, the questions that’ve been put before her. But I think in a lot of ways, I mean, I think the sport would like to move on from that day, not just because of how uncomfortable that day was – and it’s very much one of those, like, where were you when all – you know, when everything started to break loose on Arthur Ashe on that final day? – but I think that because of – you know, ESPN did a recent documentary this past week talking about and rehashing the whole incident, it still is fresh in the minds of so many people.

But I think that just once Serena takes the court and finishes that match and fields any questions, she’s kind of moved on. And I think today once Osaka, you know, if she does win today and fields questions one last time, it might be OK for the sport to move ahead.

GREENE: Courtney Nguyen, thanks so much.

NGUYEN: Thank you.

GREENE: She co-hosts the “No Challenges Remaining” tennis podcast.

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.

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with The Nation’s Dave Zirin about Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement from the NFL.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In less than two weeks, the NFL will kick off its 100th season, but now it will do so without one of its biggest stars. Yesterday, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck shocked the football world by announcing his retirement at the age of 29. In an emotional press conference after the Colts’ preseason loss to the Chicago Bears, Luck described why he came to the decision.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

ANDREW LUCK: I’ve been stuck in this process. I haven’t been able to live the life I want to live – taking the joy out of this game. And after 2016, where I played in pain and was unable to regularly practice, I made a vow to myself that I would not go down that path again.

MARTIN: News of the retirement was reported during last night’s game, and Luck was booed by Colts fans as he walked off the field. We wanted to talk more about this, especially about what this retirement might mean for the game, so we’ve called on Dave Zirin. He is the sports editor for The Nation magazine and host of the “Edge Of Sports” podcast.

Dave, thanks for joining us once again.

DAVE ZIRIN: Oh, it’s great to be here. Thank you.

MARTIN: So he’s not the first player to retire in what might be considered his prime. But obviously, this retirement seems to be kind of hitting a lot of people. Why do you think that is? Like, what’s the big deal here?

ZIRIN: Well, it’s a big deal because it just doesn’t happen to quarterbacks. Players do retire early, particularly over the last 10 years. But you haven’t seen a quarterback in the National Football League retire in their 20s after a Pro Bowl season since 1952.

MARTIN: There are people who are criticizing his decision. We mention he was booed by fans last night. And, you know, some people questioned his toughness. For example, Dan Dakich of ESPN’s Indianapolis affiliate said, you know, I have family working in steel mills, cops, teachers making far less, and this guy is tired my backside – questioning his toughness. But, you know, other people draw different conclusions. What do you think it means?

ZIRIN: Well, first of all, I think it means, like, a very – a huge existential fear for the National Football League – the idea that their biggest stars in their prime might consider walking away. I think for a lot of the fans who are booing, I think, shame on them. I mean, when you look at the list of injuries that Andrew Luck has faced in his 20s from a lacerated kidney to grade-A concussions, it’s more than understandable why having just been recently married as well he might want to take the long view with regards to his life.

MARTIN: And I do want to note that on Twitter, a number of other fans or other people are expressing support for him, including other athletes, including other football players – I mean, saying, you know, he needs to do what’s best for him, and he needs to do what’s best for his family. But I wonder – you know, we’re hearing all these other signs – like, for example, there are reports that fewer parents are letting their kids play at the…

ZIRIN: Yeah.

MARTIN: …At the youngest ages – that, you know, Pop Warner’s seen a decrease in the number of kids coming out. Is there a bigger issue here that the league needs to address?

ZIRIN: Well, I don’t think it is addressable. I mean, one of the things that the NFL Players Association, the union, always says is that we’re the only industry that has a 100% injury rate beyond sports. And that’s something more and more parents have become conscious of over the last 10, 20 years, particularly on the issue of concussions.

And when you think about somebody like Andrew Luck who comes from an upper-middle-class family, who has a degree from Stanford, I think this is particularly the kind of player who the NFL fears is going to be no longer part of the NFL family – someone who actually has life options and isn’t just playing football because it’s the only option out of poverty.

MARTIN: And before we let you go, is there anything else that you’d, you know, want to say about this? I do wonder whether there’s – in the recent years, as the – more and more information has come out about the cost to the players and the cost to their bodies long-term, especially – even players who only play through college and don’t go to the pros – a lot of fans have faced this as an ethical question for…

ZIRIN: Yeah.

MARTIN: …Themselves. And I wonder if there’s something here as well that people should be thinking about.

ZIRIN: I would say that there are people who play football because they have to, and there are people who play football because they want to. And Andrew Luck has always been firmly in that second category. And so for him to say what he said – that because of injuries the actual fun has gone out of the game – that’s what’s really sending shockwaves throughout the NFL world.

MARTIN: That is sports journalist Dave Zirin.

Dave, thank you so much.

ZIRIN: Thank you, Michel.

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.