Total Purity

The final Slam of the year is upon us, and some of the ladies are feeling just a tad neglected. It’s Rafa this, Rafa that. Ooh, Rafa, your magnificently sculpted guns. Rafa, did you know you could be the first man to win the French, Wimbledon, and the Open in one summer since Laver in ‘69? To win gold in Beijing and do that would be a sort of Rafa Slam, no? Is Unbelievable, no?

Well no, not really, not if you grew up in the anarchy of Post-Soviet Russia or Eastern Europe and had to practice your approach shots with the broken stocks of old AK-47s and eat surplus Red Army boots instead of Power Bars during changeovers. And still grew into an impossibly lovely and elegant young woman who is six feet tall with a firm and supple and consummately athletic body and fluent in nine languages. You’re thinking, Can I get a little credit here?

Many player profiles and updates to come. While you’re watching the action from Flushing Meadow over the next two weeks, may we suggest you bear one thing in mind? Keep it Pure. Keep it Pure.