FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — After ABC’s award-winning reporter Christiane Amanpour hosted the opening-night ceremonies at the U.S. Open, she spoke with IT’s Bill Simons on tennis and the inspiration of sport across the world.
Q: We see you reporting from the battlefields of the world. What’s your interest in this battle we call tennis?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I’ve loved tennis since I was a child. I grew up in Iran. I used to ballboy, ballgirl or whatever…I tried to learn. My first coach told me I had feet like a camel and I didn’t run fast enough. For us who watch tennis and get inspired by it, it’s something so inspirational, because certainly when you sit in a grandstand or any court and you watch two people matched against each other and you see them giving everything, it’s a real metaphor for everything in life. That’s what is so engaging in tennis, and what goes way beyond the normal tennis crowd. It’s so appealing to people who don’t play and just get a kick out of watching, because it says everything about the human spirit. I just love sports and soccer too is one of the great games you see played all over the place whether it is in Somalia or Afghanistan or Iraq, Iran or Africa is soccer. I have been so touched by people who the minute there is a lull in the fighting, the minute there is a little piece of freedom and a little piece of grass, they just go out and play soccer with virtually nothing. They don’t have to have a real ball. I have seen people play all over the world with just fragments of net — Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and all over Africa, whether it is Kenya or Sudan or Somalia. I’m talking about people who will drop everything when there is a lull and play even when there is no soccer pitch
Q: In this problematic world, Nelson Mandela said that sport has the power to inspire, to unite and counter racial divides, even more sometimes than governments.
CA: My feeling is that Nelson Mandela is one of the wisest persons to ever have walked this earth and I think he is absolutely right. Sports does have a major unifying effect. It also has an effect on forming people’s character. My sport was horse riding and that helped toughen me up. It gave me courage. Every time I fell off a horse, I was put back on it. I just think sports is the most fantastic life endeavor.
Q: You said, quite poignantly, that tennis both reflects life and is a kind of metaphor of life.
CA: When two people face off against each other across a net and they are giving their all in this endeavor. It’s such a defining moment. In any sport, people put whatever they have into it. They want to win — not at any cost. There is also the love of the game, good sportsmanship, the camaraderie. It’s just an amazing thing to be a great sportsperson.
NOTEBOOK
SAY IT ISN’T SO: Amidst the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, word has emerged that a tropical storm is emerging out of the Caribbean that could threaten the New York area (and therefore the U.S. Open) for up to five days. As we just said, say it isn’t so.
A TAXING COMMENTARY: Asked if he felt more like a New Yorker now that he owns an apartment in New York City, Andy Roddick quipped, “I certainly pay enough taxes for it.”
HUMANIZING: The New York Post’s Jay Greenberg said Rafael Nadal‘s high-kicking forehand is “the only shot ever invented that turned Roger Federer human.” Added Greenberg, He no longer wins in the end mostly on his left-handedness, his relentless energy and ability to turn forehand retrievals into winners. Nadal now thinks his game better than most of his opponents, too.”
PEERS’ PEER: Kim Clijsters‘ next opponent, 19-year-old Aussie Sally Peers, has an autographed photo of the Belgian that she got when she was 10. Said Clijsters, “I don’t remember that, but it does make me feel a little bit older.”
HEADLINES
BOYS TOWN: WITH SERENA OUT, ALL EYES ARE ON THE GUYS
TENNIS’ DEMISE HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED
THE NUMBERS
200: Slam wins for Venus Williams, who won her opening round contest against Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1.
QUOTEBOOK
“I would never coach anybody the way I feel like I should play.” — Taylor Dent
“The game is starting to resurface again.” — Ana Ivanovic, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova
“I said, ‘Do you know anything about boxing?’ I explained the heavyweights and the middleweights and the flyweights and the lightweights. I said, ‘In reality, you’re a lightweight, and you’re fighting heavyweights every single week.'” — Coach Brian de Villiers on the 5-foot-6, 130-pound Melanie Oudin
“John Isner, at 6-foot-9, probably has a better chance of backing up at center for the Knicks than winning his first Slam this fortnight.” — Marc Berman, New York Post
“I feel like a different player. I feel like a different person.” — A lighter/leaner Mardy Fish, who’s shed 30 pounds
