THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
ies.
But an expanded set of playoffs
almost certainly would be more
palatable to players, given that
players would be asked to play
only two additional games.
Under the proposal, seven
teams in each conference would
qualify for the postseason instead
of the current six. One team in
each conference, rather than the
current two, would receive an
opening-round playoff bye. That
would make for six first-round
playoff games (three in each con-
ference) instead of the current
four, one of which might be
played on a Monday night. The
two additional playoff games
probably would be enticing to
networks in the NFL’s next set of
negotiations for TV rights deals.
It’s not known whether ex-
panding the playoffs would pre-
clude the owners from seeking a
17 th regular season game. That
probably would involve each
team playing one game per sea-
son at a neutral site, perhaps in
another country.
The current CBA runs through
the 2020 season. The league and
the union have gotten an early
start on bargaining for a new
deal, trying to avoid a damaging
work stoppage such as the own-
ers’ lockout of the players that
preceded the 2011 agreement.
[email protected]the preseason without an accom-
panying revenue-enhancing
measure.
That measure, to many own-
ers, should be an 18-game season,
which has resurfaced during
these CBA negotiations. A person
on the players’ side said it’s “not a
secret that NFL owners want
more games.”
Some owners point out that
increased revenue means more
income for players, who receive a
share of it under the salary cap
system. Owners seem willing to
increase roster sizes to get play-
ers to agree to a longer regular
season. A proposal to limit each
player to 16 games in an 18-game
season does not appear to have
widespread support on either
side. But some owners also seem
prepared to make concessions to
players in other areas, such as the
league’s marijuana policy and
Goodell’s authority in player dis-
cipline.
Still, players and NFLPA lead-
ers have continued to express
strong public opposition to an
18-game season. The retirements
of standout players such as New
England Patriots tight end Rob
Gronkowski and Indianapolis
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck
before their 30th birthdays could
reinforce the notion that the
sport already takes an often-un-
manageable toll on players’ bod-and expand the playoffs without
the union’s consent. But it ap-
pears, at least at this point, that
consideration of those changes is
taking place within the context of
bargaining between the owners
and the NFLPA.
NFL teams play four preseason
games each, with the two partici-
pants in the annual Hall of Fame
Game playing five. All teams are
scheduled to play their final
games of this preseason Thurs-
day night.
The league has acknowledged
the lack of quality of preseason
games for close to a decade. In t he
negotiations that preceded the
10-year labor agreement struck
in 2011 between the league and
union, owners proposed shorten-
ing the preseason to two games
and lengthening the regular sea-
son to 18 games but abandoned
the idea after the NFLPA rejected
the proposal on player-safety
grounds.
NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell has continued to con-
cede in recent months that pre-
season games are not up to the
league’s standards.
“I feel what we should be doing
is always to the highest quality,
and I’m not sure preseason
games meet that level right now,”
Goodell said at a June charity
event in Buffalo, according to the
Associated Press. “I’m not sure,
talking with coaches, that four
preseason games is necessary any
more to get ready for a season to
evaluate players, develop players.
There are other ways of doing
that, and we’ve had a lot of
discussions about that.”
Te ams have become increas-
ingly willing to leave standout
players, particularly star quarter-
backs, on the sideline for all or
nearly all of the preseason, mini-
mizing or eliminating injury
ri sks. Many games this preseason
have been played in nearly empty
stadiums.
Owners would lose revenue by
cutting preseason games —
teams charge season ticket hold-
ers for them, sometimes at a
reduced rate — and would be
unlikely to agree to a reduction ofNFL FROM D1deuce. Another deuce later, Mc-
Nally won it with two splendid
serves, one in the middle of the
box on the line and a gorgeously
wicked thing up the middle that
sent Williams flailing, her return
flying away.
For the first time in 19 U. S.
Open second rounds in a r emark-
able tennis life, Williams h ad lost
a first set.
[email protected]Federer, Djokovic advance
Novak Djokovic and Roger
Federer advanced but it wasn’t a s
easy as expected.
Djokovic, the top seed, was
repeatedly visited by a trainer for
shoulder massages at change-
overs during a ragged 6-4, 7-6
(7-3), 6 -1 victory over 5 6th-
ranked Juan Ignacio Londero of
Argentina.
Federer, meanwhile, got to the
third round by beating Damir
Dzhumhur, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4,
despite the No. 3 seed losing the
opening set for the second
straight match.
One of the women’s game’s
biggest names departed as two-
time champion Venus Williams
lost, 6-4, 6-4, to No. 5 seed Elina
Svitolina.
No. 2 Ash Barty, No. 3 Karolina
Pliskova and 2017 runner-up
Madison Keys won on the wom-
en’s side, as did No. 7 Kei Ni-
shikori on the men’s.
— Associated Pressthe semifinals (and also won the
doubles with her friend Coco
Gauff ), found herself a first giant
moment. The daughter of Lynn
Nabors-McNally, a former pro
player, McNally briefly half-de-
railed the momentum Williams
gathered with a 6-1, 6-1 start
Monday night against five-time
Grand Slam champion Maria
Sharapova.
McNally began by losing the
first six points, which came as
news to no one. Ye t she went on
to hold in her first service game,
level things at 1-1 and forge into a
set that became a province of
servers. A 17-year-old with a
considerable serve and a 37-year-
old with the best serve in the
history of the game got to 5-5.
There, it all went from kind of
interesting to interesting.
At 5-5, McNally saw her first
break point. The opportunity
bothered her so much that she
blasted a cross-court, forehand
return that caused Williams to
spray a forehand and McNally to
go 1 for 1 in first-set break
points.
It seemed understandable,
then, that McNally’s ensuing
service game plummeted quickly
to love-40. Ye t she regathered it.
A good second serve up the
middle plucked a netted back-
hand from Williams. McNally
shipped an ace up the middle. A
drop shot b rought Williams up to
smack a reply into the net forBY CHUCK CULPEPPER
new york — Of all the wacko
things to happen at the wacko
hours of the world’s most delib-
erately wacko Grand Slam tennis
tournament, a crazy one began
developing Wednesday near
midnight. A 17-year-old still un-
born when Serena Williams won
her first U.S. Open in 1999 sent
Williams’s bid for a record-tying
24 th Grand Slam title into an
unforeseeable peril.
For as long as the Cincinnati-
an Catherine McNally plays ten-
nis — and the horizon does look
long — people figure to refer to
her 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Williams
in an Arthur Ashe Stadium
fracas almost nobody saw com-
ing. With her big serve, her
pleasing variety, her out-and-
out gumption and her capacity
to exhume the art of tennis at
the — gasp — net, McNally
forced Williams to dig out one of
her greatest arts.
She forced a titan 20 years
McNally’s senior to reveal again
Williams’s peerless capacity for
mid-match self-correction.
Through the second set and
especially the third under the
closed roof after a rainy day,
Williams went from her occa-
sional error-prone self to her
more familiar brilliant self. By
the time they finished two sets
with Williams, 160-60 in third
sets and McNally 1-1, Williams
truly got commanding, winning
16 of the first 17 points of the
third set.
“I knew I could play better,”
Williams said on court after-
ward, “and kind of let Serena
come through for once, a little
bit.” She added, “I survived to-
night. I’m not too pleased with
how I played, at all.”
She noted she seldom has
played so late, even at the tour-
nament that loves its late.
Still, McNally, whose best sin-
gles distinction had come in
Washington, where she reached
“Before, I remember even not
that long ago, a few years ago, it
was different,” Muguruza said.
“You know, you had a difference
between the top players and not
top players. Now you feel like if
you’re not 100 percent every day,
you know, matches like today, you
know, opponents are playing just
great. Yeah, it’s much more equal,
definitely.”
Asked whether she might redis-
cover the recipe, “If I would know
the r ecipe, believe m e, I would do it
all t he time. I did perform a t a very
high level of tennis. It’s very diffi-
cult to perform that. And like we
were talking before, I feel like now
everybody is playing great. You
know, I feel like I come to the U.S.
Open, and you feel all the girls can
win, and they’re playing incredi-
ble. Everybody is a threat. Yeah, I
mean, that’s really the difference
now.”
Now it takes a bustling brain to
comprehend all the biographies,
the possibilities, the prodigies.
Pl ayers g o up. Players g o down.
Naomi Osaka, who had never
reached a Grand Slam quarterfi-
nal until last U.S. Open but who
clearly had exhilarating talent,
won that U.S. Open and then the
2019 Australian Open. She
reached No. 1 in the world. She
remains 2 1.
By March, along came the fresh
threat of Andreescu, still 19 and
ranked 15th. She showed a knack
for toppling top players, won the
near-Slams at Indian Wells and
To ronto and emerged a s a hip pick
to win here. On Tuesday she won
briskly against American qualifier
Katie Volynets and said of her c on-
fidence across the past 12 months,
“I think it skyrocketed.” That al-
ways mattered, but maybe now it
matters more t han ever, in a world
of vast t alent and small margins.
By July, along came Coco Gauff,
still 15, not yet even 15^1 / 2. While it’s
too soon to make forecasts for her,
she does demonstrate how the fu-
ture won’t s top coming.
Amid all the f actors, O saka, hav-
ing reached No. 1, had something
of a swoon, departing Roland Gar-
ros i n the t hird r ound and Wimble-
don i n the f irst.
Such swoons have grown ever
more understandable as a sport
threatens to set fresh standards in
the h uman p ursuit of parity.
“Plot twist,” Osaka said of her
post-Australia season. “But the
kind of plot twist that makes you
want to keep reading i t.”
[email protected]doesn’t dabble much in early-
ro und drama, had a turbulent go
Wednesday night against 17-year-
old Catherine McNally from Cin-
cinnati, having to rummage
around for her inner Serena to
deliver a 5-7, 6 -3, 6 -1 w in.
Eccentrically enough, a sport
with 12 women taking 12 semifinal
slots across three Grand Slams op-
erates alongside a men’s tour that
could not contrast more. No. 1
Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Rafael Na-
dal and No. 3 Roger Federer cruise
through draws with such regulari-
ty that if Federer loses a set to
India’s impressive Sumit Nagal in
his opener Monday night and an-
other set Wednesday to the com-
mendable Damir Dzumhur, it
qualifies as interesting. Only seven
men have reached Grand Slam
semifinals this year amid the
de athless big-three hegemony.
In the 2010s, six men — six! —
have shared the 39 Slams, with but
seven more men managing to be-
come beaten finalists. The wom-
en’s numbers there are 18 and 13,
striking given that the sport very
much has included the S erena Wil-
liams dynasty (12 titles in this dec-
ade). Without Williams, the
hodgepodge w ould b e even more a
hodgepodge.
Riske, 29, and Muguruza, 25,
played each other Tuesday, then
spoke similarly of the overriding
factor: a deepening depth. It
seems the planet continues to pro-
duce more humans, thus more
girls, thus more heartless ball-
maulers ready to dock your fleet-
ing ranking. It does this while also
producing males who can maul
balls yet cannot dent the big t hree.
“Everyone that’s playing these
Grand Slams, I think everyone can
beat everyone,” said Riske, who
toppled French Open champion
Ashleigh Barty on the way to a
stern W imbledon quarterfinal l oss
to Serena Williams. “A nd that’s
something I think when I first
started out, m aybe that wasn’t nec-
essarily the case.
“I feel l ike the young generation
that has, you know, made a pres-
ence on the tour, I feel like they’re
getting younger and younger and
really making statements. I think
it’s really cool, and I think it does
say a lot about the depth of the
sport.”
Muguruza, the world’s No. 1
pl ayer only two years ago, just
finished a Grand Slam year of exits
in the fourth round, fourth round,
first round and first round here to
Riske.BY CHUCK CULPEPPER
new york — Any potential mu-
seum of sports parity should in-
clude, in its symmetrical building,
a front-room exhibit on women’s
tennis in 2019. Not only has the
sport managed to yield three dif-
ferent Grand Slam champions and
six different Grand Slam finalists,
somehow it has had 12 different
Grand Slam s emifinalists.
That has happened only one
other time in the Open era (2004),
and if women’s t ennis could forge a
plausible U.S. Open f inal f oursome
of, say, 15th-ranked Bianca An-
dreescu, No. 13 Aryna Sabalenka,
No. 11 Anastasija Sevastova and
No. 9 Madison K eys, none of whom
has reached a Grand Slam semifi-
nal this year, that would bring
parity paradise.
Often, people arrive at sporting
events hearing the farcical assess-
ment that anybody c an w in.
Here, it might even be true.
“Everyone can win any tourna-
ment, even the Grand Slams,” s aid
Simona Halep, the 2019 Wimble-
don champion whose first-round
match with No. 135 Nicole Gibbs
went three sets, an everyday com-
plication of a sport in which the
No. 135 player is so much better
than the No. 135 player of, say, 10
years ago.
The final Grand Slam of the
2010s barely had begun when
some bright lights met with the
familiar switch-offs of parity cen-
tral. No. 14 Angelique Kerber, reli-
able winner of three Grand Slams
in 2016 and 2018, left right away
Monday, falling to No. 54 Kristina
Mladenovic, 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.
No. 25 Garbine Muguruza, win-
ner of Grand Slams in 2016
(French Open) and 2017 ( Wimble-
don), left Tuesday, having run
across No. 36 Alison Riske of the
United States, stormed through
the f irst set and lost 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
No. 10 Sloane Stephens, the 20 17
champion here, recently switched
coaches back to her coach of 2017,
then found herself in Arthur Ashe
Stadium on Tuesday night against
No. 127 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia,
then found herself exiting via a
6-3, 6-4 route 8 4 minutes later.
Even Serena Williams, who
Parity rules women’s tennis
U.S. OPEN
S. Williams fights off American teen
Growing depth means
no favorite is ever safe
at the U.S. OpenGeneral Manager John Lynch
told flagship radio station KNBR
that McKinnon’s return to prac-
tice the previous day was “not
encouraging.” Lynch said McKin-
non’s recovery regressed for the
third time this summer as he has
tried t o get back o n the field.
McKinnon tore his right ACL a
week before the start of last sea-
son. He h ad a flare-up r ight before
the start of training camp and
began on the physically unable to
perform list. McKinnon was acti-
vated Aug. 6 and had two light
practices before another setback
sidelined him f or three w eeks.
l PATRIOTS: New England ac-
quired offensive lineman Jer-
maine Eluemunor from the Ra-
vens for a n undisclosed draft pick.
Eluemunor had been competing
to be Baltimore’s starting left
guard.
The Patriots grabbed the for-
mer fifth-round pick to provide
depth in the middle of the line.
The 6-foot-4, 335-pound Eluemu-
nor played in eight games as a
rookie in 2017 and in nine games
last year, making one s tart.
l BILLS: Buffalo signed kicker
Stephen Hauschka to a two-year
contract extension. The 11-year
veteran was entering the f inal sea-
son o f the three-year contract.
Buffalo also placed defensive
end Mike Love on injured reserve
because of a pectoral injury and
reached an injury settlement.
l JETS: New York a cquired cor-
nerback Nate Hairston from the
Indianapolis Colts for a sixth-
round p ick in n ext year’s d raft.definitely helps,” Mayfield said.
“So t hat’s tough to hear.”
The 24-year-old Hunt has been
practicing and playing in pre-
season games, and the 2017 l eague
rushing champion is expected to
be on the field Thursday night
when the Browns host the Detroit
Lions in their exhibition f inale.
l BRONCOS: Tight end Jake
Butt said he has opted to have
arthroscopic surgery on his trou-
blesome left knee, a procedure
scheduled for Thursday that he
hopes will speed his return to the
field.
Butt, a third-year pro, has
played in only three NFL games,
all of them last season before he
tore his left ACL at practice in
September. He missed his rookie
season in 2017 after tearing his
other ACL in his final game for
Michigan. He also tore his right
ACL during his sophomore season
in Ann Arbor.
Butt slowly worked his way
back into action during t he o ffsea-
son this year, but a week into
training camp, pain and swelling
in his left knee sidelined him for
three weeks. He f inally w as able to
play last weekend when h e caught
two passes for 17 yards against the
Los Angeles Rams, declaring him-
self healthy a fterward.
The swelling and pain re-
turned, however, and Wednesday
he said in a Twitter post that he
was going to have arthroscopic
surgery to clean up his left k nee.
l 49ERS: Running back Jerick
McKinnon h ad a nother setback in
his return from a knee injury.ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kareem Hunt will have to
spend his NFL suspension isolat-
ed from his team.
The suspended Browns run-
ning back, who must serve an
eight-game ban for physical alter-
cations, will not be permitted in-
side the team’s facility starting
Saturday at 4 p.m., league spokes-
man Brian McCarthy said
Wednesday in an email to the As-
sociated Press.
The team had asked Commis-
sioner Roger Goodell to allow
Hunt to be around his teammates,
arguing he could use the extra
support. But Hunt will not be able
to interact with his teammates or
staff inside the team’s building in
Berea, Ohio, until his punishment
ends in November.
It’s not impossible the league
could adjust its policy and amend
its stance on Hunt, who was
signed as a free a gent b y Cleveland
in March, three months after be-
ing released by the Kansas City
Chiefs. But for now, he’s going to
be on h is own.
Hunt was suspended for two
violent off-field incidents, one in
which he shoved and kicked a
woman during a dispute in a hotel
hallway. He’s eligible to return to
the t eam in November.
Browns quarterback Baker
Mayfield was disappointed to
learn Hunt w on’t b e present.
“It hurts him not to be around
there because i f you can b e around
your teammates, t hat can help you
keep a positive attitude, and thatNFL NOTESBanned Hunt cannot be with Browns
NFL may attempt to expand postseason
MICHAEL CONROY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck stunned the football world with
Saturday’s retirement announcement, citing his multiple injuries.RON JENKINS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texans running back Lamar Miller will miss the season after tearing an ACL during an exhibition.McNally, 17, claims
first set but fades in loss
to 23-time major champCLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES
Serena Williams won a tense second set before dominating the
third Wednesday night to avoid her earliest loss at the U.S. Open.