Game Point: Bud Collins on fashion, names and makin' whoopee
Game Point is Busted Racquet's daily roundup of five facts, figures or links about the 2009 U.S. Open.
Bud Collins is a tennis legend. And we here at Busted Racquet don't make fun of legends, especially ones who are 80 years old, have an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and have done more for the sport than all but a handful of players.
But just because we don't make fun of legends doesn't mean we can't poke fun at legends.
Love -- During the Yanina Wickmayer-Kateryna Bondarenko quarterfinal match Wednesday afternoon (won by Wickmayer), Collins was in rare form, serving up a number of hilarious statements and looking as dapper as usual.
15 -- Check out Bud's hat. It looks like he stole it from Strawberry Shortcake. When the interview began Wickmayer stared at it incredulously and then spent the rest of the rest of the interview trying to not look directly at it, sort of like I did that time I met Anna Kournikova.
30 -- Right after this, Collins introduced Wickmayer to the crowd by saying: "ladies and gentlemen, isn't Ya-neeee-na a beautiful name? (awkward silence followed by light clapping) And she's not bad as a tennis player either!" More awkwardness followed.
40 -- And now the coup de grâce: After Wickmayer came back from a near 5-1 deficit in the second set, she evened the games at four and had two break points on Bondarenko. This led Collins to say of Wickmayer's changed attitude, "and now [when she hits] her noise is 'whoopee!, whoopee!' on every shot. And maybe she's making whoopee." Mike Tirico, who was in the booth with Collins, started laughing right at the beginning of the statement and then didn't recover for 15 seconds.
Game -- But we kid 'cause we love. Collins is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and has been on television for 37 years. He has written for the Boston Globe since 1963. Two years ago NBC didn't retain Collins after his contract expired but Collins was quickly signed by ESPN. Whoopee. (And we mean that.)
