D2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2019
tics led 47-31 at halftime, but they
still weren’t playing to their po-
tential.
Delle Donne got them on the
right path with an 11-point third
quarter, and Powers chipped in
eight points in the period as well.
Delle Donne led the team with
22 points and 10 rebounds in just
24 minutes, and Powers finished
with 14 points. Tianna Hawkins
had 15 points off the bench, and
Emma Meesseman had 14.
Kia Nurse had 24 points to lead
New York, and Tina Charles had
16.
“I was super pleased with the
way we bounced back, especially
[after] a tough, ugly loss against
Chicago. It can be hard to get back
on track right away,” Delle Donne
said. “New York is a dangerous
team. They still have great play-
ers, they’re super physical, so I
thought this was going to be a
tough challenge. But we were able
to step up to it and be ready.”
[email protected]playoffs. You can tell it’s absolute-
ly killing her to be sitting like
this.”
The Mystics don’t just miss
Toliver’s ballhandling and offense
when she is out; they miss their
coach on the court. Delle Donne
describes her as a steadying force,
and on Friday in Chicago — not
solely because of Toliver, though
her absence played a role — they
were off on defense.
Thibault had the team come in
early Sunday to watch film and
walk through some tweaks on
defense, the quality of which is
crucial to its free-flowing offense.
The team’s extra effort paid off
at the start. The Mystics zipped
out to a 31-14 lead in the first
quarter but lost Powers when she
got hit in the left eye. The forward
had six points and led the team
with six rebounds in the opening
period; Washington missed her
when she sat for much of the
second quarter and the team got
out of its offensive flow. The Mys-TELEVISION AND RADIO
MLB
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Noon U.S. Open: first round » ESPN
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BASKETBALL
5:30 a.m. Pre-World Cup exhibition: United States vs. Canada » NBA TV
Twilight of the gods: Federer, Nadal and Djokovic call to mind other singular trios
If you are
wondering how
long it has been
since you watched
a men’s tennis
match on TV, it’s
because it has
been a long time.
And why haven’t you watched
men’s tennis?
Well, you’re American, and you
prefer American stars. Okay, so
name five top American men’s
tennis pros right now.
I’ll wait.
All right, I’m not waiting any
longer.
No American is ranked in the
world’s top 10. At the moment,
our five best made-in-the-USA
male tennis pros are John Isner
(14th), Taylor Fritz (28th), Reilly
Opelka (42nd), Sam Querrey
(46th) and, of course, Frances
Tiafoe (45th).***
Alas, this flagging interest in
men’s tennis across Sports
Nation obscures the fact that we
are in the twilight of the most
spectacular, most dominant,
most enduring three-fella show
in the game’s history:
Switzerland’s Roger Federer,
38; Spain’s Rafael Nadal, 33;
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, 32.
Remember the Three Tenors?
Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido
Domingo and the other guy,
which was unfair to José
Carreras. Similarly, casual
observers might consider the
Three Tenors of tennis to be
Federer, Nadal and the other guy,
which is unfair to Djokovic.
So today, at the start of the U.S.
Open — of which these three
gents have won 11 of the past
15 titles — we celebrate their
sublime careers by spitting out
some surreal numbers to you.
But first, I am reminded of the
simultaneous brilliance of
Édouard Manet and Claude
Monet. Between 1862 and 1881,
Manet was named Billboard
artist of the year seven times and
Monet was Billboard artist of the
year six times. Either would have
won it at least 10 times if the
other never picked up apaintbrush.
Likewise, in women’s tennis,
the incomparable Williams
sisters, Serena and Venus, have
been roadblocks to each other.
Serena has a record 23 Grand
Slam titles, Venus has seven; of
Venus’s nine losses in a Grand
Slam final, seven of them are to
Serena.
Which brings us back to men’s
tennis — I promised you
otherworldly numbers.
Federer has 20 Grand Slam
titles, Nadal has 18 and Djokovic
16 — they are Nos. 1, 2 and 3 all-
time.
Only four men have won at
least four Grand Slam titles after
the age of 30 — Rod Laver and
these three guys.
Since Wimbledon in 2003,
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have
won 54 of the 65 Grand Slam
events. I am going to repeat that
in capital letters for emphasis:
FIFTY-FOUR OF SIXTY-FIVE.
In Grand Slam finals, Federer
is 20-11, Nadal is 18-8 and
Djokovic is 16-9. Of theircombined 28 defeats in those
title matches, 22 times one of
them lost to one of the others.
I mean, if any of these three
had chosen, say, telemarketing
over tennis, who knows how
many more Grand Slam titles the
other two would have?
And in a sport that skews
young, dinosaurs Federer, Nadal
and Djokovic somehow are the
three top-ranked players in the
world this year.
They have been masterful
contemporaries, calling to
memory other overlapping trios
of exceptional skill in world
history:
Socrates-Plato-Xenophon:
Remarkably, one of these chaps
was the dimwit of the group.
Da Vinci-Michelangelo-
Raphael: No better time to be a
starving artist than the
Renaissance.
Christopher Columbus-Vasco
da Gama-Ferdinand Magellan:
Pre-GPS geniuses.
Jean-Paul Sartre-Albert
Camus-Simone de Beauvoir:More deep thoughts than a Jack
Handey retreat.
Temptations-Supremes-Four
Tops: Who wasn’t singing in
Motown in the 1960s?
Coke-Orange Crush-Dr.
Brown’s Black Cherry: I know
sugary sodas are supposedly on
the way out, but this is still the
golden age of soft drinks.
Paul Newman-Al Pacino-
Robert De Niro: This speaks to
the De Niro era before “Meet the
Fockers.”
Tide-Cheer-Gain: Don’t sleep
on the old-school laundry
detergents.
***By the way, is Andy
Roddick still playing?Ask The Slouch
Q. Why would Andrew Luck
walk away from tens of millions
of dollars? (Claire Miller;
Houston)
A. To get to the other side of
the road.
Q. Since the Washington XFL
team will be the Defenders, I’m
trying to get everyone I know torefer to the local NFL team as the
Offenders. Will you help me
spread the word? (Dan
Felsenheld; Arlington)
A. On the case.
Q. Can you explain the
“inverted yield curve” in sports
terms? (David Levine; Fort Lee,
N.J.)
A. Sure. Most of my marriages
— and all of my divorces — are
based on the inverted yield
curve.
Q. I am a Baltimore Orioles
fan. Your thoughts? (Michael
Canary; Rockville)
A. Regretfully, at this point
you are beyond help.
Q. How long after President
Trump buys Greenland until
Roger Goodell tries to play an
NFL game there? (Terry Golden;
Vienna, Va.)
A. Pay the man, Shirley.You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The
Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just email
[email protected], and if your
question is used, you win $1.25 in
cash!Couch
Slouch
NORMAN
CHAD
BASEBALL
Louisiana squad wins
the crown at LLWS
For the second straight day, a
line drive found the glove of
Louisiana shortstop Stan Wiltz,
and a dogpile ensued in the
infield at Lamade Stadium in
South Williamsport, Pa. He was
fine with all that.
Nothing seemed to go wrong
for the boys from River Ridge
over the past week at the Little
League World Series, and Wiltz’s
catch ended the game and the
tournament Sunday, with
Louisiana shutting out Curaçao,
8-0, to win the state’s first LLWS
title.
“It felt like my glove was a
magnet,” said Wiltz, who got his
team into the championship
Saturday with a game-ending
unassisted double play against
Hawaii.
The team from suburban New
Orleans fought its way back
through the losers’ bracket after
dropping its opening game of the
tournament to Hawaii. Louisiana
won six games in eight days,
becoming the first team to win
the LLWS after dropping its first
game since the tournament
expanded in 2001.
“People from New Orleans and
Louisiana in general are very
resilient type of people,” Manager
Scott Frazier said. “And this team
exemplifies the resiliency that we
have from the area that we come
from.”
Frazier said he felt the
momentum shift for his team
when it won its first game of the
tournament against Oregon. That
win set the club up for victories
over some of the tournament’s
best teams — New Jersey,
Virginia, Hawaii and Curaçao.
“Once we won that game
[against Oregon], it was just a
matter of getting on a roll,”
Frazier said.
Pitcher Egan Prather tossed a
two-hit shutout Sunday, throwing
88 pitches over six innings. His
performance in the
championship caps a solid
tournament on the mound in
which he picked up two victories
and struck out 19 batters.
With Louisiana’s victory, U.S.
teams have won back-to-back
Little League crowns for the first
time since 2009.
PRO BASKETBALL
Riquna Williams scored
21 points, and the Los Angeles
Sparks beat visiting Connecticut,
84-72, knocking the Sun out of the
top spot in the WNBA standings.
Nneka Ogwumike added
16 points and reached the 4,000-
point milestone early in the game.
She is the 38th player to reach
that mark.
The Sun (20-9) had a four-
game winning streak snapped
and dropped a game behind the
Washington Mystics (21-8)....
Teaira McCowan had
22 points and 19 rebounds, and
the visiting Indiana Fever kept its
slim playoff hopes alive with a 63-
54 win over the Seattle Storm.
Seattle clinched a playoff spot
earlier Sunday with the benefit of
New York’s loss to
Washington....
In Arlington, Tex., Tiffany
Hayes scored 23 points to help
Atlanta hold off the Dallas Wings,
77-73, for the Dream’s first back-
to-back road wins this season....
Allie Quigley scored 24 points
and passed 1,000 career made
field goals to help the visiting
Chicago Sky beat the Phoenix
Mercury, 94-86....
Napheesa Collier and
Danielle Robinson scored
23 points each, and the
Minnesota Lynx beat the Las
Vegas Aces, 98-77, in Minneapolis.COLLEGE FOOTBALL
There was no formal
announcement when Jack Coan
was named starter at quarterback
for 19th-ranked Wisconsin, which
opens the season Friday at South
Florida.
The news came as no surprise
because Coan took the first-team
reps in fall camp, ahead of Chase
Wolf and highly touted freshman
Graham Mertz. The two were
listed as co-backups on the depth
chart, with Danny Vanden Boom
rounding out the group.
Coan is the only quarterback
with significant experience
following the departure of three-
year starter Alex Hornibrook,
who transferred to Florida State
in March.
Coan, a junior, played in five
games last year, starting the last
four when Hornibrook was out
with a concussion, and threw for
515 yards, five touchdowns and
three interceptions. He led the
Badgers to a 35-3 victory over
Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl.COLLEGE SOCCER
The seventh-ranked
Georgetown women’s soccer team
suffered its first loss of the season,
3-1, to No. 21 North Carolina State
at Shaw Field. Amanda Carolan
scored for the Hoyas (1-1-0) before
the Wolfpack (1-1-0) scored three
consecutive goals....
Hope Lewandoski scored her
first goal of the season in
overtime as Maryland held off
NJIT, 1-0, at Ludwig Field. The
Terps improved to 2-0-0, and
NJIT fell to 0-1-1....
Diana Ordonez scored three
goals as No. 9 Virginia routed
Liberty, 6-0, in Charlottesville.
Alexa Spaanstra had four assists
for the Cavaliers (2-0-0) against
the Flames (0-2-0)....
Mikayla Mance and Nicole
Kozlova scored as No. 25 Virginia
Tech beat Cincinnati, 2-0, in
Blacksburg, Va. The Hokies are 2-
0-0 and the Bearcats 1-1-0.MISC.
Milos Raonic, the 2016
Wimbledon runner-up, will miss
the U.S. Open because of an
injured glute muscle.
The Canadian was seeded 21st
at the year’s last Grand Slam
tournament....
Brett Moffitt led 45 of 64 laps
of the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in
Bowmanville, Ontario, on his way
to a second straight win in the
NASCAR Truck Series playoff.
Moffitt also won last weekend
at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Alex Tagliani finished
5.16 seconds behind for second.
— From news servicesDIGEST
Soccer Insider
Steven Goff is away. His column will
resume when he returns.possession.”
On Tuesday, the Mystics host
the fourth-place Sparks (18-10),
which promises to be a more
demanding matchup.
Washington will still be with-
out starting guard Kristi Toliver.
The Maryland graduate missed
her sixth straight game Sunday
with a deep bone bruise in her
right knee — she wore a bulky,
custom brace over the leg of her
pantsuit — and Thibault said she
may not return before the play-
offs begin in September.
“It sucks. I’m not going to lie,”
Delle Donne said. “I hate not
having Panda on the court. Espe-
cially that Chicago game — it
would’ve been different if Kristi
was out there. But we’re using it
as a learning tool right now. We’re
trying to just be patient, learn and
not do too much and just play our
roles. Obviously, we can’t wait for
her to get back, but the most
important thing is that she’s
healthy and feeling good for theLos Angeles Sparks, but the Sun
owns the series tiebreaker. Sec-
ond, wins such as Sunday’s are
crucial tuneups as the playoffs
near — New York is a physical
team, their matchups are chippy,
and calls don’t always go the
Mystics’ way.
“We want that No. 1 seed. We
have to kind of win out now
because Connecticut has our tie-
breaker, so it’s on everyone’s
mind,” forward Aerial Powers
said. “As you can see today, we
kind of played with that aggres-
siveness.... In Chicago, our ag-
gressive level wasn’t as high as
usual. So we definitely wanted to
come in today and push some
people around, get our little
growl back before [our next
game] Tuesday. It’s going to be
really important because come
playoffs, you’re maybe not getting
those easy calls you would get.
You have to really fight for everyMYSTICS FROM D1Resilient Mystics bounce back to trounce the Liberty
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Elena Delle Donne tallied 22 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes as Washington took over sole possession of first place in the WNBA.ASSOCIATED PRESS
With the video assistant refer-
ee in its third weekend in the
English Premier League, Man-
chester City and Tottenham now
know just how high the threshold
is for penalty calls to be over-
turned by video reviews.
City was denied a penalty even
though Bournemouth midfielder
Jefferson Lerma stood on David
Silva’s foot.
The champions were leading
at the time, and Sergio Aguero
went on to score his second goal
in a 3-1 home win.But Tottenham had no such
good fortune against Newcastle
later Sunday.
Trailing on Joelinton’s goal,
Tottenham thought it had a late
chance to grab an equalizer when
Harry Kane tumbled after being
impeded in the penalty area by
Jamaal Lascelles.
But referee Mike Dean let play
continue without awarding a
spot kick. And when the VAR
review finally took place, the
original decision was not over-
ruled — indicating a lack of clear
evidence that the original deci-
sion was wrong — and Newcastle
won, 1-0.
Tottenham lost its first match
of the season a week after VAR
helped the London club gain a
point at Etihad Stadium when aCity handball was spotted in the
run-up to what looked like Gabri-
el Jesus’s winner.
SPAIN: With Lionel Messi
and Luis Suárez watching from
the stands, Antoine Griezmann
came through for Barcelona by
scoring twice to lead the Catalan
club to its first La Liga win of the
season with a 5-2 rout of Real
Betis.
ITALY: New coach, more dis-
appointment for AC Milan. Ro-
drigo Becao scored his first pro-
fessional goal to help Udinese
beat Milan, 1-0, as new Rossoneri
coach Marco Giampaolo’s first
match in charge ended in defeat.
FRANCE: Striker Eric-Max-
im Choupo-Moting distinguished
himself with a fine goal and
scored a second as Paris Saint-Germain beat Toulouse, 4-0, in
Ligue 1.
GERMANY: Hertha Berlin’s
hopes of a bright new dawn with
a fresh coach and new investor
had a setback in a 3-0 defeat at
home to Wolfsburg in the
Bundesliga.
MLS: Gyasi Zardes scored
twice, and the visiting Columbus
Crew beat expansion FC Cincin-
nati, 3-1....
Reto Ziegler opened the scor-
ing with a penalty kick, Zdenek
Ondrásek added two goals and an
assist, and FC Dallas beat the
Houston Dynamo, 5-1, in Frisco,
Tex....
The Colorado Rapids named
former MLS player and longtime
assistant Robin Fraser as head
coach.SOCCER ROUNDUPIn Premier League, VAR reviews overshadow play
MANCHESTER CITY 3,
BOURNEMOUTH 1