Author: staff

Sports

Spitting incident at Wimbledon shines a light on increased fan harassment of players: ‘It’s not in the tennis culture’

WIMBLEDON, England — This is not what one thinks of when pondering the supposedly genteel roots of tennis and the purportedly proper atmosphere at Wimbledon, a country-club sport contested at a place officially called the All England Lawn Tennis Club: A player, Nick Kyrgios, capping a first-round victory Tuesday by spitting in the direction of a spectator he said was hassling him.Advertisement“I’ve been dealing with hate and negativity for a long time, so I don’t feel like I owed that person anything‚” Kyrgios said after beating Britain’s Paul Jubb 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-5. “Like, he literally came to the match to literally just not even support anyone, really. It was more just to stir up and disrespect.“That’s fine. But if I give it back to you, then that’s just how it is.”AdvertisementDuring the match, which filled the stands at 1,980-seat Court No. 3 — and attracted lengthy lines of folks hoping to be let in, likely owing to the popularity of the anything-can-happen Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, and the involvement of a local player — Kyrgios asked, without success, to have the fan removed for cursing and sending other verbal abuse his way.[ [Don’t miss] Serena Williams loses in her return to Wimbledon, a 1st-round defeat to Harmony Tan ]This comes less than three weeks after organizers at a tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, investigated when Kyrgios said he heard racist insults from the crowd during a match, and it raises questions about when unruly behavior is too unruly and whether more should, or even can, be done to shield athletes from inappropriate comments from the stands.“I’ve grown up in Australia, so I definitely know what racism is,” Kyrgios said. “I feel like it’s a battle, constant battle, coming from that place and dealing with it. … I don’t think it’s got anything to do with that.“I just think spectators, in general, think there’s just no line there anymore. They can just say something and they film it and then they laugh about it. It’s like that could actually hurt someone’s feelings. Do you know what I mean?”Australia’s Nick Kyrgios complains about an umpire decision during a singles match against Britain’s Paul Jubb on Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP)Tennis players long have dealt with online abuse, particularly from gamblers angry about a match’s outcome. Negative interaction among athletes and the people paying to watch them is gaining more attention in real life too.At a tournament in Indian Wells, California, in March, Naomi Osaka cried after a spectator shouted, “Osaka, you suck!”The four-time Grand Slam champion explained the episode dredged up thoughts of when Serena and Venus Williams were jeered at that event in 2001 after Venus withdrew, citing an injury, before the sisters were supposed to play each other. Their father, Richard, said racial slurs were sent his way; his daughters stayed away from that tournament for years.“Personally, I’ve never experienced any type of heckling on the court (and) I’m very lucky because I know other players have experienced it,” said Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old Floridian who was the runner-up at this year’s French Open and won her Wimbledon match Tuesday. “Definitely online, I have the experience a lot, but that’s different. I definitely think there is a line that you shouldn’t cross.”AdvertisementGauff mentioned what she called the “obvious” examples of racial or sexual comments.“That’s definitely way past the line,” she said. “There are some things that you do have to deal with as an athlete. That’s just a part of the sport. Particularly in tennis, it’s not very common. It’s not in the tennis culture, especially let alone at Wimbledon. “I think the line definitely is a lot closer to being crossed than I would say than other sports because that’s just the culture of tennis. For me, personal attacks — that kind of crosses the line, really.”An All England Club spokesperson said no fans were removed from Kyrgios’ match, but there could be a review of what went on, including what he said at his news conference.As for the sorts of things he is hearing from people during his matches, Kyrgios concluded: “I’m just starting to think that it’s normal, when it’s really not.”

Sports

Serena Williams loses in her return to Wimbledon, a 1st-round defeat to Harmony Tan

WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams has lost her first singles match in nearly a year, getting beat by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan of France in a third-set tiebreaker at Wimbledon.Williams was two points from victory but could not finish the job and bowed out with a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) defeat on Tuesday night.AdvertisementThey played at Centre Court with the arena’s retractable roof closed after the first set.Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champion but the 40-year-old American had not competed in singles since she got injured in the first set of her first-round match at the All England Club on June 29, 2021.AdvertisementShe has won Wimbledon seven times. This was only the third first-round exit in 80 career Grand Slam appearances for Williams. One came at the French Open in 2012 and one at Wimbledon a year ago when she had to stop playing because of an injured leg.This was Tan’s Wimbledon debut.

Lifestyle

Have you heard about Chicago Rowing Union? The rowing club created by LGBTQ+ community members is all about increasing diversity, accessibility in the sport.

“Pivot, slide, slow on recovery … we’re pulling all the way into our rib cage. We don’t want to pull into our hipbones or our stomachs. We want it nice and high.”More than a dozen people listened to the instructions from Chicago Rowing Union’s (CRU) head coach Mollie Halvorsen while sitting on Concept 2 ERG Rowers during a learn to row class at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. Sequencing is important to learn, she reiterates.Advertisement“When you pivot over or bend at the waist, we do not want our hands to dive down. We want them to be nice and flat. Arms away first, then body over,” she said.The mantra becomes “arms, body, body, arms … arms up, body over, body back, arms in” while the hum of the ERGs try to turn in unison. Repetitive, yes, but this crash course is supposed to help everyone learn the rudimentary lessons of rowing crew and what to expect when on the water in the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River with seven of their classmates.AdvertisementChicago Rowing Union members lean a shell into the water at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)One crew of Chicago Rowing Union rowers waits for another before a session at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)What started as a group created by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2005 to row in the Gay Games in 2006, is now an inclusive competitive and recreational rowing club focused on promoting diversity in the sport of rowing, according to CRU’s President Simone Azure. The sport is historically pricey and known to be a predominately white one, per Azure — one of CRU’s eight-person boats cost $13,000, and that was used.“It’s just like a Mercedes to a Toyota to a Fiat,” Azure said. “Resolutes are more expensive boats, but they have a tendency to last longer.”Newer boats cost more and equipment prices, regatta fees and transportation costs also add up, making the sport less accessible. Halvorsen said recognizing the accessibility and diversity gap is why CRU partnered with the Skokie Park District to hold its learn-to-row camps.“We are trying very hard to create an inclusive community within sports rowing and give access to members of the community that haven’t had exposure to the sport in the past,” she said.Azure recalls rowing for another ream and paying annual dues in the $4,500 range. The Skokie Park District charges $200 for people to learn sweep rowing with CRU. Sweep rowing is where each rower uses one oar in boats of four or eight people. For a rowing season of seven months, CRU’s recreation rowing team rows twice a week and charges $108/month; CRU’s competitive team rows three times a week for $148/month. CRU also holds fundraisers, has a scholarship program and has reduced rates in the past for individuals to attract all sorts of people to the sport. The pandemic impacted CRU’s membership numbers, but Azure’s recruiting has membership back in the double digits.“Our learn-to-row program, that’s how we build our program,” said the Edgebrook resident. “Now, there’s more spaces for gay people and the LGBTQ+ community, my big push is targeting diverse as possible. It’s not just a gay team. I want to stress the inclusivity on our team because we focus in on that. We have lots of allies and we’re happy as hell to have all of those guys, too.”Azure and Halvorsen pride themselves on making sure camaraderie and friendly competition is a part of CRU. The rowing community is a tight one. Azure, a member of the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe tribe who identifies as Two-Spirit, competed and medaled in a recent regatta in Washington, D.C., to support the DC Strokes Rowing Club, an LGBTQ+ rowing club. They are protesting the U.S. Rowing’s decision to hold its Masters National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August. DC Strokes is boycotting the event as long as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law remains in effect. CRU, a master’s group of adults 27 years and older, signed their petition in support.“We try to be really supportive of one another,” Azure said. “The point is to have a place where people of all genders, colors and whatever feel included and they feel safe within this organization.”AdvertisementAt the learn-to-row class held June 11, a mother joined her daughter, a student at St. Ignatius who is considering joining the school’s crew team. A young man participated in the same class because he is thinking about trying out for Loyola’s crew team. CRU members helped participants through the hourslong session that began with rowing machines, transitioned to indoor sweep rowing tanks and ended with rowing an eight-person boat on the North Channel complete with a coxswain, person in charge of the boat’s navigation and steering. The coxswain gives directions of when and how to move the equipment, including the 200-pound boat, and when to board the boat. Assignments on where everyone will sit is given before launch, so you know if you’ll be port or starboard while on the boat.Things to remember:Don’t step just anywhere on the boat. You can poke a hole in it. Step on the strongest part of the boat to get in.Boarding and disembarking the boat is done in unison with others, not as a single person, so the boat doesn’t tip.And the shoes that you put your feet in, are anchored to the boat itself. In case of emergency, pull the release cord to free your feet to swim out.Also, try not to catch a crab — aka do a faulty stroke where the oar is under water too long becoming jammed.“A big part of the stroke is timing,” Halvorsen said. “When we’re in the boat, we’re tied to seven other people. We need to make sure that we are putting the blades in the water together, out of the water together. We want to make sure that we’re touching at the same time and that we’re finishing at the same time. It seems like a super easy thing, but it trips people up when they’re learning because of the sequencing. The tendency is to want to bring the knees up before our hands get out. On the ERG, it’s easier to lift the hands over the knees, but when you’re on the water, you cannot lift your hands over the knees with the oar in front of you.”An exercise in team building, Azure says rowing crew is a sport where you can tell who’s doing the work, who’s not, and who is distracted. While on the launch boat — one that trails the boats with the coxswains — Azure jokes, encourages and inspires those rowing making the experience engaging while learning. The hard part is remembering all the steps taught in the classroom and translating them to the water in real time.“I’ve met many people through rowing here in Chicago and around the world really, that have helped me advance and have been very generous with their time and energy while teaching me a new sport,” she said. One can tell she tries to do the same for those in each learn-to-row class.Members of CRU all have their own stories as to how they came to rowing. Some picked it up at college when their friends were doing it and picked it back up with CRU. Azure was walking in Andersonville when she was approached by a gentleman who is now one of her really good friends. He handed her a card and said come and try to learn to row. She said OK. And Halvorsen went to her first learn-to-row camp in middle school. She was hooked after her first time, she’s never looked back. This year marks 21 years in the sport for her. CRU member Fiona Nolan says the act of rowing crew as the closest thing to heaven on Earth that they have found when everyone is rowing at the same time.AdvertisementCoxswain Merri Furlong said a person new to rowing crew can be good within a year and within two years be great — something she’s seen.Chicago Rowing Union members Joseph Edmonds and Fiona Nolan walk to a shed to retrieve a coach’s boat at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)Morton Grove resident Jamie Edwards attended the June 11 class. Upon its completion, she said she was excited to come back for the second part on Sunday. A lover of water sports, she said her uncle is a competitive rower and she was curious about what the sport entailed.“I was looking for where I could get involved and came across Chicago Rowing Union,” she said. “It was tougher than I expected having worked on a stationary exercise rower before, although that kind of makes me want to do it even more, like a challenge.”Edwards left knowing that getting better takes practice — something she’s willing to do with CRU.“I’m sure it gets easier once you get more in sync,” she said. “I really want to get better.”With a smile on her face, Edwards left wondering about what her aura app on her Apple watch says post rowing.Advertisement“The thing I love about rowing is it’s a low impact, full body workout, which is really nice,” Edwards said. “There was this moment being on the water where you’re just connected and it just feels really good … there’s something about being on the water.”Chicago Rowing Union’s next Learn to Row session is slated for July 19. The group will also be at the 42nd Annual Chicago Sprints at the Lincoln Park Lagoon July 8-10.drockett@chicagotribune.com

Sports

Have you heard about Chicago Rowing Union? The rowing club created by LGBTQ+ community members is all about increasing diversity and accessibility in the sport.

“Pivot, slide, slow on recovery … we’re pulling all the way into our rib cage. We don’t want to pull into our hipbones or our stomachs. We want it nice and high.”More than a dozen people listened to the instructions from Chicago Rowing Union’s (CRU) head coach Mollie Halvorsen while sitting on Concept 2 ERG Rowers during a learn to row class at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. Sequencing is important to learn, she reiterates.Advertisement“When you pivot over or bend at the waist, we do not want our hands to dive down. We want them to be nice and flat. Arms away first, then body over,” she said.The mantra becomes “arms, body, body, arms … arms up, body over, body back, arms in” while the hum of the ERGs try to turn in unison. Repetitive, yes, but this crash course is supposed to help everyone learn the rudimentary lessons of rowing crew and what to expect when on the water in the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River with seven of their classmates.AdvertisementChicago Rowing Union members lean a shell into the water at Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)One crew of Chicago Rowing Union rowers waits for another before a session at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)What started as a group created by members of the LGBTQ+ community in 2005 to row in the Gay Games in 2006, is now an inclusive competitive and recreational rowing club focused on promoting diversity in the sport of rowing, according to CRU’s President Simone Azure. The sport is historically pricey and known to be a predominately white one, per Azure — one of CRU’s eight-person boats cost $13,000, and that was used.“It’s just like a Mercedes to a Toyota to a Fiat,” Azure said. “Resolutes are more expensive boats, but they have a tendency to last longer.”Newer boats cost more and equipment prices, regatta fees and transportation costs also add up, making the sport less accessible. Halvorsen said recognizing the accessibility and diversity gap is why CRU partnered with the Skokie Park District to hold its learn-to-row camps.“We are trying very hard to create an inclusive community within sports rowing and give access to members of the community that haven’t had exposure to the sport in the past,” she said.Azure recalls rowing for another ream and paying annual dues in the $4,500 range. The Skokie Park District charges $200 for people to learn sweep rowing with CRU. Sweep rowing is where each rower uses one oar in boats of four or eight people. For a rowing season of seven months, CRU’s recreation rowing team rows twice a week and charges $108/month; CRU’s competitive team rows three times a week for $148/month. CRU also holds fundraisers, has a scholarship program and has reduced rates in the past for individuals to attract all sorts of people to the sport. The pandemic impacted CRU’s membership numbers, but Azure’s recruiting has membership back in the double digits.“Our learn-to-row program, that’s how we build our program,” said the Edgebrook resident. “Now, there’s more spaces for gay people and the LGBTQ+ community, my big push is targeting diverse as possible. It’s not just a gay team. I want to stress the inclusivity on our team because we focus in on that. We have lots of allies and we’re happy as hell to have all of those guys, too.”Azure and Halvorsen pride themselves on making sure camaraderie and friendly competition is a part of CRU. The rowing community is a tight one. Azure, a member of the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe tribe who identifies as Two-Spirit, competed and medaled in a recent regatta in Washington, D.C., to support the DC Strokes Rowing Club, an LGBTQ+ rowing club. They are protesting the U.S. Rowing’s decision to hold its Masters National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August. DC Strokes is boycotting the event as long as the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law remains in effect. CRU, a master’s group of adults 27 years and older, signed their petition in support.“We try to be really supportive of one another,” Azure said. “The point is to have a place where people of all genders, colors and whatever feel included and they feel safe within this organization.”AdvertisementAt the learn-to-row class held June 11, a mother joined her daughter, a student at St. Ignatius who is considering joining the school’s crew team. A young man participated in the same class because he is thinking about trying out for Loyola’s crew team. CRU members helped participants through the hourslong session that began with rowing machines, transitioned to indoor sweep rowing tanks and ended with rowing an eight-person boat on the North Channel complete with a coxswain, person in charge of the boat’s navigation and steering. The coxswain gives directions of when and how to move the equipment, including the 200-pound boat, and when to board the boat. Assignments on where everyone will sit is given before launch, so you know if you’ll be port or starboard while on the boat.Things to remember:Don’t step just anywhere on the boat. You can poke a hole in it. Step on the strongest part of the boat to get in.Boarding and disembarking the boat is done in unison with others, not as a single person, so the boat doesn’t tip.And the shoes that you put your feet in, are anchored to the boat itself. In case of emergency, pull the release cord to free your feet to swim out.Also, try not to catch a crab — aka do a faulty stroke where the oar is under water too long becoming jammed.“A big part of the stroke is timing,” Halvorsen said. “When we’re in the boat, we’re tied to seven other people. We need to make sure that we are putting the blades in the water together, out of the water together. We want to make sure that we’re touching at the same time and that we’re finishing at the same time. It seems like a super easy thing, but it trips people up when they’re learning because of the sequencing. The tendency is to want to bring the knees up before our hands get out. On the ERG, it’s easier to lift the hands over the knees, but when you’re on the water, you cannot lift your hands over the knees with the oar in front of you.”An exercise in team building, Azure says rowing crew is a sport where you can tell who’s doing the work, who’s not, and who is distracted. While on the launch boat — one that trails the boats with the coxswains — Azure jokes, encourages and inspires those rowing making the experience engaging while learning. The hard part is remembering all the steps taught in the classroom and translating them to the water in real time.“I’ve met many people through rowing here in Chicago and around the world really, that have helped me advance and have been very generous with their time and energy while teaching me a new sport,” she said. One can tell she tries to do the same for those in each learn-to-row class.Members of CRU all have their own stories as to how they came to rowing. Some picked it up at college when their friends were doing it and picked it back up with CRU. Azure was walking in Andersonville when she was approached by a gentleman who is now one of her really good friends. He handed her a card and said come and try to learn to row. She said OK. And Halvorsen went to her first learn-to-row camp in middle school. She was hooked after her first time, she’s never looked back. This year marks 21 years in the sport for her. CRU member Fiona Nolan says the act of rowing crew as the closest thing to heaven on Earth that they have found when everyone is rowing at the same time.AdvertisementCoxswain Merri Furlong said a person new to rowing crew can be good within a year and within two years be great — something she’s seen.Chicago Rowing Union members Joseph Edmonds and Fiona Nolan walk to a shed to retrieve a coach’s boat at Dammrich Rowing Center on June 8, 2022, in Skokie. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)Morton Grove resident Jamie Edwards attended the June 11 class. Upon its completion, she said she was excited to come back for the second part on Sunday. A lover of water sports, she said her uncle is a competitive rower and she was curious about what the sport entailed.“I was looking for where I could get involved and came across Chicago Rowing Union,” she said. “It was tougher than I expected having worked on a stationary exercise rower before, although that kind of makes me want to do it even more, like a challenge.”Edwards left knowing that getting better takes practice — something she’s willing to do with CRU.“I’m sure it gets easier once you get more in sync,” she said. “I really want to get better.”With a smile on her face, Edwards left wondering about what her aura app on her Apple watch says post rowing.Advertisement“The thing I love about rowing is it’s a low impact, full body workout, which is really nice,” Edwards said. “There was this moment being on the water where you’re just connected and it just feels really good … there’s something about being on the water.”Chicago Rowing Union’s next Learn to Row session is slated for July 19. The group will also be at the 42nd Annual Chicago Sprints at the Lincoln Park Lagoon July 8-10.drockett@chicagotribune.com