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      In LA Since the ’80s, the Clippers Are Finally Planting a Flag

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      Superstar players have chosen the oft-overlooked team, whose deep-pocketed owner is betting big — with his own money — that fans will choose it, too.LOS ANGELES — Steve Ballmer, the owner of the N.B.A.’s Clippers, is known for being a wacky guy. He sits courtside at home games and punches at the air wildly, leaping from his seat, dancing and shouting.He is intense.He once said he wanted to put spikes in the seats at the Clippers’ next arena to keep fans up and cheering. But he swears it was just a joke.What he really wants, and won’t get, is for the seats to vibrate.“Haptic feedback,” he said. “You know, BRRR.”If Ballmer had it his way, the whole city would buzz with excitement about the Clippers, the perennially unloved and underachieving little brother to the Lakers. He is spending his considerable energy, and billions of his fortune, to carve out real space for the Clippers in a crowded Los Angeles sports market.“What does it take to succeed when you’re behind?” Ballmer, 66, said. “Well, it takes a while. You have to be patient. It takes a while to capture people’s loyalties. You have to be successful. You got to build a good product, which means we have to have good teams out there year in and year out. Got to win championships.”He added: “I have to live a long and full life so we can get there.”The Lakers have spent decades establishing their identity as one of the N.B.A.’s glamour franchises. They are the team of Showtime, of championships, of the league’s biggest stars, like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Hollywood’s elite come to their games to see the show and to be seen.The Clippers have struggled to define themselves, but since Ballmer bought the team in 2014 its reputation has started to change.Stars like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have chosen to join the Clippers. The team is preparing to leave Crypto.com Arena, which it shares with the Lakers and other teams in downtown Los Angeles, for a glittering new arena 11 miles away in Inglewood in 2024. The once-dominant Lakers have made the playoffs just twice since Ballmer bought the Clippers, creating an opportunity for the Clippers to gain ground among local men’s basketball fans.They have a tough history to overcome.The Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has become known for his constant presence on the sidelines, though usually not like this: He’s often one of the most rowdy fans in the building.Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated PressThe Clippers made only four playoff appearances between 1984-85, when they moved to Los Angeles from San Diego, and 2010-11, the season before they traded for the All-Star point guard Chris Paul. The Lakers won eight championships during that period.“The Clippers always been looked at as the other team,” said Paul Pierce, the Hall of Fame player who grew up in Inglewood and spent the final two years of his 19-year N.B.A. career with the Clippers.There were moments when the Clippers flashed into the imagination of the basketball world. In the early 2000s, a group of young players — Darius Miles, Lamar Odom and Quentin Richardson among them — earned fans’ adoration with their fun personalities and the playing style of an ultra-talented pickup team. But the Clippers made the playoffs only once in the first decade of the century.“The Clippers never really had a place, you know what I mean?” said Baron Davis, 43, a retired two-time All-Star guard who grew up in Los Angeles and played for U.C.L.A. “And I knew when I signed with the Clippers, my goals in three years, four years, we wanted to make it another destination in L.A.”They did not become serious contenders until they traded with New Orleans for Paul in December 2011 and ushered in the so-called Lob City era, named for the way Paul would connect with the high-flying forward Blake Griffin for thrilling dunks to punctuate fast breaks.That period coincided with a downturn for the Lakers, opening the door for some fans, particularly younger ones, to choose the Clippers.“The Lakers sucked when I first started watching basketball,” Charlie Muir, a high school senior, said at a recent Clippers game. He added: “I saw the Clippers. They had, like, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin. It was Lob City era so it was really exciting to watch.”The teams that included Paul and Griffin had their best shot at winning a championship in 2014, but fell short and had to deal with a scandal. During the playoffs that season, TMZ published audio of the team owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks about Black people.Blake Griffin, left, and Chris Paul, not shown, brought the Clippers into the so-called Lob City era in the early 2010s as they often connected for alley oops.Chris Carlson/Associated PressBallmer’s son called him within two days of that story breaking.“Dad, that team’s going to be for sale,” Ballmer recalled his son saying. “You need to buy it.”Ballmer, a basketball fanatic who is a former chief executive of Microsoft, lived in Seattle and had grown up in Detroit, so he wasn’t familiar with the dynamics of having two major teams from the same league in the same city.“The notion that, like, somebody you run into on the street might be against your team, to me, that was like, whoa, zany,” Ballmer said.For years, Loyola Marymount University published the results of an annual survey that asked Los Angeles County residents which sports team with Los Angeles in its name was their favorite. In 2014, when there were eight such teams, 6.7 percent of respondents chose the Clippers, significantly less than the Lakers (42.9 percent) and Major League Baseball’s Dodgers (33.8 percent) but still more than the five other teams.By 2021, the Lakers and Clippers had become less favored and the N.F.L.’s Rams, which re-entered the market in 2016 after two decades away, had picked up 6 percent of the vote. There are nine professional men’s teams that have Los Angeles in their name, a W.N.B.A. team, a National Women’s Soccer League team and two colleges with major sports programs — U.C.L.A. and Southern California — that all compete for attention.The Lakers have been bad more often than not over the past decade, but they won a championship — their 17th — in 2020, giving fans a reason to celebrate.Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesThe Clippers, Lakers and Kings have shared an arena since 1999, when Staples Center — which was renamed Crypto.com Arena last year — opened in downtown Los Angeles. The W.N.B.A.’s Sparks joined them in 2001. The Clippers have third priority, so they have to build their schedule around the Lakers and Kings. They cover the Lakers’ championship banners with their own signage during home games. There are 10 statues in the plaza in front of the arena: six honoring Laker greats, three featuring Kings and one of the boxer Oscar De La Hoya. Los Angeles is the only city in the United States where multiple pairs of teams in the same sports share buildings.“I think anyone, to some degree, that is not the Lakers or Dodgers, there’s a challenger status that is a little bit unique,” said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer.After 21 seasons in St. Louis, the Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016. They won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season, in Inglewood at SoFi Stadium, which they share with the Chargers.“Winning is the cover charge to getting people to appreciate you, especially if you’re in that challenger status,” Demoff said. But he added: “This is not a city where one championship can change your fortunes for a long time. That is just what’s expected.”Except for the Clippers, Chargers and the N.W.S.L. team Angel City F.C., which played its first season this year, all of the major professional sports teams in the Los Angeles market have won at least one championship.Thilo Kunkel, an associate professor at Temple University who studies sports branding, said it is possible, and necessary, for a team to build a brand independent of winning championships. He pointed to London, which has more than a dozen professional soccer teams, many of which have robust fan bases even when they are struggling.“Winning a championship is really putting all eggs in one basket, and that’s a basket everyone else wants as well,” Kunkel said. “A strategic way to build a brand community is creating a vision — who we are, what we stand for.”Both Kunkel and Demoff said the Clippers’ move to their own arena will be important to that end.“They’ve done a really nice job of finding their own lane in the sports brand world in Los Angeles, and now they can fully lean into that rather than having to take down signage from one game in 12 hours and put up something,” Demoff said.Ballmer’s financial commitment to differentiating the Clippers applies on and off the court. The team said it spent $10 million resurfacing 350 basketball courts in community parks around Los Angeles, and others in Inglewood, Moreno Valley (Leonard’s hometown) and Palmdale (George’s hometown). Ballmer spent $2 billion to buy the team, and he is financing the new arena, the $2 billion Intuit Dome.As the Clippers studied seating options for the new arena, they built more than 20 sets of small-scale grandstands, and Ballmer sat in all of them. In downtown Los Angeles at the Intuit Dome Experience Center, which includes sample suites and seating options, visitors can test the seats with haptic feedback (not spikes) that the team ultimately decided were too jarring. Ballmer’s goal is personalization: Clippers fans will even have some control over the temperature in their sections.To help amplify the crowd noise and create the kind of supporters section that is common in soccer stadiums, one side of the arena will have what Ballmer calls the “Wall of Sound”: 4,700 seats lined up without breaks for stairs or aisles.He has consulted his players and coaches about what to include in their new practice courts and locker rooms.Ballmer speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Clippers’ new arena, the Intuit Dome, in September 2021.Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated PressThe players, of course, are the key to the whole revitalization.There was a time when it would have been unthinkable that superstars would choose the Clippers. Paul, after all, arrived via trade, and the team drafted Griffin No. 1 overall in 2009. But both Leonard and George spurned overtures from the Lakers and have settled in with the Clippers.“People like Kawhi because he’s soft-spoken — he don’t speak,” said Darrell Bailey, the superfan better known as Clipper Darrell. He added that he loved Leonard’s attitude. “At the end of the day, Kawhi comes and does his job.”The Clippers have kept a talented supporting cast around their stars, giving them the second-highest payroll in the N.B.A. For Ballmer, that could mean a big luxury tax bill, the financial penalty for the league’s biggest spenders.“I’ll pay it,” he said with a little sigh and shrug. In September, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $83 billion.“I’ve been extremely blessed financially,” Ballmer said. “Am I kind of an open checkbook where, you know, nothing’s too big? I don’t know. No one’s tested me on that. But I’m willing to spend.”Darrell Bailey, a superfan better known as Clipper Darrell, has followed the team since the early 1990s.Morgan Lieberman for The New York TimesBailey’s custom Clippers car.Morgan Lieberman for The New York TimesThe Clippers said they had seen a return on Ballmer’s investment. They hired three sports and consumer research agencies to study their fan base and found that it had more than tripled between 2014 and 2021. The Clippers said ticket sales and sponsorship revenue had also increased during that time.“You’ve finally got an owner that cares,” Pierce said.Before the season, Ballmer was asked if he was excited that the Clippers seemed to be healthy. He clapped his hands and the sound boomed as though a large balloon had just popped. Then he grinned and stuck out his tongue, lifting both feet off the ground as he rubbed his hands together.“Ohhh, yes, I am!” he said. “Yes, I am!”But Leonard, who missed last season with a knee injury, has played in just six of the team’s 25 games this year because of injuries. George recently missed seven straight games with his injuries. The Clippers are 14-11 — better than the Lakers but below reasonable hopes for a team with such big-name stars.While they are not resting all of their brand-building hopes on winning championships, they know how important on-court success is. Lest they forget, there are constant reminders of the championship expectations for Los Angeles sports teams. Some have won quickly after joining the fray, while the Clippers have yet to win a title in nearly four decades in Los Angeles.On Nov. 12, members of Los Angeles F.C., an expansion soccer team that played its first game in 2018, visited the Clippers. They brought along a prop that Ballmer posed with: the M.L.S. Cup trophy — their first — they had won a week before.Sopan Deb More

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      What to Know About Kyrie Irving’s Antisemitic Movie Post and the Fallout

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      Irving, the Nets guard, has faced backlash since he promoted an antisemitic film on social media last month.Nets guard Kyrie Irving is facing backlash for posting a link on Twitter to an antisemitic film last month.For a week, he declined to apologize or say that he held no antisemitic beliefs, prompting the Nets on Nov. 3 to suspend him indefinitely. He has since apologized, but the fallout continues: On Nov. 4, Nike condemned hate and antisemitism, and suspended its relationship with Irving immediately.Irving, a seven-time N.B.A. All-Star, has been with the Nets since 2019. He won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, but over the past few years he has often been discussed more for his off-court views. In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, he suggested that the Earth might be flat, and over the past year he had refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.Here is what you need to know.Here’s what you need to know:What did Irving post on Twitter?When did the backlash start?How did Irving respond?Why did the Nets suspend Irving?What did Irving say in his apology?Why did Nike cut ties with Irving after he apologized?Will Irving play for the Nets again?What did Irving post on Twitter?On Oct. 27, Irving tweeted a link to “Hebrew to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a 2018 film driven by antisemitic tropes about Jewish people lying about their origins. Among its false and outlandish claims is the assertion that the Holocaust never happened.Irving also made an Instagram post with a screenshot of the film’s rental page on Amazon, which he had linked to on Twitter. Neither post included a caption or comment from Irving.The Instagram post was part of a story, a format that expires after 24 hours; the tweet was deleted Oct. 30.In a letter dated Nov. 4, the Anti-Defamation League and the Nets called on Amazon to take down or add explanatory context to the film and a related book, writing that they were “designed to inflame hatred and, now that it was popularized by Mr. Irving, will lead directly to the harm of Jews.”When did the backlash start?On Oct. 28, Rolling Stone magazine reported on some of the film’s antisemitic messages. Many other news media outlets began reporting on the article and Irving’s tweet.That night, the Nets’ owner Joe Tsai posted about the situation on Twitter, adding that it was “bigger than basketball”:“I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.”On Oct. 29, the N.B.A. released a statement condemning hate speech, but it did not name Irving. On Nov. 1, the N.B.A. players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association, issued a statement condemning antisemitism, but like the N.B.A., it did not name Irving, who is one of the union’s vice presidents.Antisemitism in AmericaAntisemitism is one of the longest-standing forms of prejudice, and those who monitor it say it is now on the rise across the country.Perilous Times: With instances of hate speech on social media and reported incidents on the rise, this fall has become increasingly worrisome for American Jews.Kanye West: The rapper and designer, who now goes by Ye has been widely condemned for recent antisemitic comments. The fallout across industries has been swift.Kyrie Irving: The Nets suspended the basketball player after he defended his support of an antisemitic movie. His behavior appalled and frightened many of his Jewish fans.Midterms: No major contest this year has been shaped by concerns of antisemitism more prominently than the Pennsylvania governor’s race.How did Irving respond?Irving addressed his posts publicly for the first time Oct. 29, after the Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center. During a contentious news conference, Irving doubled down on his support of the film and an antigovernment conspiracy theory promoted by the Infowars host Alex Jones.“History is not supposed to be hidden from anybody,” Irving said. He added: “I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in. I’m only going to get stronger because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”Irving accused an ESPN reporter of trying to “dehumanize” him as he and the reporter argued about whether Irving had “promoted” the film by posting about it.The Nets played the Pacers again Oct. 31 at Barclays Center and faced the Bulls in Chicago on Nov. 1, but the team did not make Irving available to reporters after either game. General Manager Sean Marks said the team did not “want to cause more fuss right now, more interaction with people.” (The Nets, who have struggled on the court, also fired their head coach, Steve Nash, on Nov. 1, but Marks said the move was not related to Irving’s situation.)On Nov. 2, Irving announced with the Anti-Defamation League that he would donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes. The Nets said they would do the same.“I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility,” Irving said in a statement. “I do not believe everything said in the documentary was true or reflects my morals and principles.”Why did the Nets suspend Irving?Irving last played for the Nets in a Nov. 1 game against the Chicago Bulls. He scored just 4 points in 33 minutes.Dustin Satloff/Getty ImagesBy Nov. 3, Irving had not apologized, and he had not been clear about what content he disagreed with in the film. N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said he would meet with Irving soon.“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material,” Silver said in a statement. He added: “I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize.”About 30 minutes after Silver’s statement, Irving spoke to reporters at a Nets practice: “I didn’t mean to cause any harm. I’m not the one that made the documentary.”When asked what specific points in the film he did not agree with, Irving responded vaguely. “Some of the criticism of the Jewish faith and the community, for sure,” he said. “Some points made in there that were unfortunate.”When Irving was asked if he had any antisemitic beliefs, he said he respected all walks of life. “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from,” Irving said when he was asked to answer the question with a “yes” or “no.”Within hours, the Nets suspended him for at least five games, saying he was “unfit to be associated” with the team. “We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity — but failed — to clarify,” the Nets said in a statement.“Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team.”Marks, the general manager, said Irving would need to meet with Jewish leaders, go through counseling and meet with the team, among other measures, before he would be allowed to return.What did Irving say in his apology?Hours after he was suspended Nov. 3, Irving apologized in an Instagram post, saying he “had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate.”“To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize.I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary.”Why did Nike cut ties with Irving after he apologized?Nike condemned antisemitism on Nov. 4 and suspended its relationship with Irving “effective immediately.” The company had produced his signature sneakers since 2014.Omar Rawlings/Getty ImagesIrving’s apology seemed to come too late for Nike, which suspended its relationship with him “effective immediately” on Nov. 4 and announced it would not launch his next signature sneaker, the Kyrie 8.“At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism,” the company said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone.”Nike had produced Irving’s popular signature sneaker line since 2014; his contract expires in October 2023. One marketing expert said brands have become more conscious about their values in recent years.Will Irving play for the Nets again?The Nets said his suspension would last at least five games, meaning he cannot return until at least Nov. 13, when the Nets face the Lakers in Los Angeles.Marks, the general manager, said Irving’s apology was a “step in the right direction” but “certainly not enough.” It’s not clear if Irving will agree to meet with Jewish leaders or fulfill other mandates from the team. He has not spoken publicly since his apology.Some fans may not be ready to welcome him back, if that time comes. More than one million Jews live in New York City, and roughly 60 percent are in Brooklyn, where the Nets play at Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue.Ben Berke, a Nets fan who lives in Astoria, Queens, told The Times that Irving’s apology was an “improvement.”“But I don’t want him on the team anymore,” he said.Marks said Nov. 4 that the Nets had not considered dropping Irving from the team.Reporting was contributed by More

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      Spurs Psychologist Sues Joshua Primo, Saying He Exposed Himself to Her

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      A sports psychologist for the San Antonio Spurs sued Joshua Primo and the team, saying the Spurs did not protect her after she complained to senior executives.A sports psychologist who worked for the San Antonio Spurs said in a lawsuit filed Thursday that Joshua Primo, a former lottery draft pick of the Spurs, repeatedly exposed himself to her during treatment sessions and that the team did not protect her and others after she reported his conduct.Dr. Hillary Cauthen, a licensed clinical psychologist who was contracted by the team in September 2021, said Primo first exposed his penis to her in December 2021. She asked for a meeting with Spurs General Manager Brian Wright, according to her complaint, but didn’t get one until March 2022. She was then asked to continue working with Primo, who again exposed himself to her in another session, according to a copy of her lawsuit, which was provided by her lawyer, Tony Buzbee.The filing was not immediately available from the court, but the clerk’s office in Bexar County, Texas, where San Antonio is located, confirmed that Dr. Cauthen filed a lawsuit against Primo and the Spurs on Thursday.Primo’s lawyer, William J. Briggs II, said in a statement that Primo “never intentionally exposed himself” to Dr. Cauthen or any other person. Primo was not aware his genitals were visible outside of his workout shorts, Briggs said, and Dr. Cauthen did not tell him they were.“Dr. Cauthen’s allegations are either a complete fabrication, a gross embellishment or utter fantasy,” Briggs said.The Spurs said in a statement: “We disagree with the accuracy of facts, details and timeline presented today. While we would like to share more information, we will allow the legal process to play out.”An N.B.A. spokesman said, “We are aware of the allegations and are monitoring the situation.”The Spurs cut Primo, the No. 12 pick in the 2021 N.B.A. draft, last Friday. The team did not explain the reasons behind the sudden move, which came five games into the season and two weeks after the team exercised the third-year option in Primo’s contract, guaranteeing his $4.3 million salary for the 2023-24 season.Buzbee, who represented two dozen women who accused N.F.L. quarterback Deshaun Watson of harassment and lewd conduct in massage appointments, said in a news conference Thursday that he and Dr. Cauthen were trying to resolve the issue privately and wanted the Spurs to put in place formal protocols for handling complaints like Dr. Cauthen’s. They filed a lawsuit against Primo and the Spurs after anonymously sourced news reports said that Primo was released because he exposed himself to multiple women.Dr. Hillary Cauthen at a news conference on Thursday.via KSAT PlusAccording to the copy of her lawsuit, Dr. Cauthen had multiple meetings with members of the Spurs organization, including Wright, the deputy general counsel and the head of human resources, after she complained about Primo’s conduct. The team promised to conduct an investigation but did not take immediate steps to discipline Primo or ensure she did not have to interact with him, Dr. Cauthen said.The team suggested she work from home and later told her to “sit out” traveling with the Spurs during the 2022 Summer League in Las Vegas after she said she was frustrated with the team’s inaction, her lawsuit said. Dr. Cauthen, who co-owns an Austin-based performance and psychological services company, said she was not retained by the Spurs when her contract came up for renewal in August.“The organization I worked for has failed me,” Dr. Cauthen said at the news conference. “I spoke up. I asked for help.”Buzbee said Dr. Cauthen will also file a criminal complaint in Bexar County, accusing Primo of multiple counts of indecent exposure.Primo was placed on waivers last weekend, which gave other teams the chance to claim him. No team did, and Primo became an unrestricted free agent.In a statement announcing that the team was waiving Primo, R.C. Buford, the chief executive of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, said, “It is our hope that, in the long run, this decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua.” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich declined to comment to reporters at the time.Until Dr. Cauthen’s lawsuit was filed, neither Primo nor the Spurs had directly addressed the reasons for his release. In a statement to ESPN last Friday, Primo said he had been seeking help to deal with “previous trauma” and would be focusing on his mental health treatment after his release.Buzbee called the public statements made by Primo and the Spurs “complete farces” and said they did not reflect what happened. Dr. Cauthen said she was “disheartened” by the situation.“It took the Spurs 10 months to do the right thing,” Dr. Cauthen said of the decision to waive Primo. “That’s too long.” More

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      The WTA and Women’s Tennis Struggle With Challenges

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      Money problems, shifting venues and a costly dispute with China have left the tour looking for answers — and a financial lifeline.As the women’s professional tennis season draws to a close this week, with the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, it’s fair to call this a Dickensian year — the best of times, the worst of times.Rarely since the founding of the WTA Tour in 1973 has the women’s game experienced as much tumult as it did in 2022. There were enormous highs and shattering lows, much to be proud of and plenty to be concerned about.“This was certainly a year filled with challenges in the women’s game. Not only did we lose an anchor when the established No. 1 retired, but doing business hasn’t been easy in this post-Covid world,” Pam Shriver, a former player who once ranked No. 3 in the world and served as the president of the WTA Tour Players’ Association, said, referring to the departure of Ashleigh Barty.After two years of pandemic-related interruptions and protocols, the tour welcomed fans back unconditionally to arenas worldwide. Players once again signed giant tennis balls courtside and threw their sweaty wristbands into eager crowds. The enthusiasm at late-night matches in New York and Miami reminded athletes just how much they had missed that raucous interaction.There was pomp and emotion when Serena Williams left the game after the United States Open. Williams, a transformative figure on and off the court, won 23 major championships over her 27-year career. She has already hinted at a possible comeback in 2023.There were also tender moments, such as when Barty won the Australian Open in January and became the first Aussie, man or woman, to win the title since 1978. But then, about two months later, Barty abruptly announced her retirement, leaving the game momentarily rudderless.This season included tender moments, as when Ashleigh Barty won the Australian Open. She was the first Australian, man or woman, to win the title since 1978.Alana Holmberg for The New York TimesIga Swiatek proved to be a willing successor. The now-21-year-old won 37 consecutive matches from February through June, including at top-tier events at Indian Wells, Miami, Rome and the French Open. By the fall, she had added her second major of the year at the U.S. Open. Swiatek heads into the WTA Finals with eight titles on the season, the most since Serena Williams won 11 in 2013.Swiatek was also outspoken. She was one of the first to speak out about mental health issues in the tennis world and against the war in Ukraine. She also donated prize money to organizations dedicated to both causes.Swiatek also showed her persnickety side this season, as she complained about the quality of the tennis balls used at various tournaments and about the scheduling at the end of the season, which she said was arduous. Swiatek even declined to represent her native Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup because, she said, it would be too difficult to travel to Glasgow a week after the WTA Finals in Texas.Swiatek is returning to the year-end championships for the second time. Last year, she was eliminated before the semifinals. Also returning this year are Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, a semifinalist last year, and Caroline Garcia, while the newcomers include Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Daria Kasatkina.The most notable player left out of the event is Elena Rybakina, this year’s Wimbledon champion, who would have qualified if the WTA had awarded rankings points for that tournament. Both the WTA and its counterpart on the men’s side, the ATP, declined to do so when Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing this year.The fact that the WTA Finals are being held in Texas, rather than in China, is yet another point of contention. The tournament was supposed to be played in Shenzhen, as it was in 2019, when China made a $500 million investment in women’s tennis, including $14 million in prize money for the year-end championships. The plan was for the tournament to be staged there every year until 2028.Jessica Pegula signs autographs during the WTA 2022 Guadalajara Open tennis tournament. This season, fans were welcomed back unconditionally to arenas worldwide, after two years of pandemic-related interruptions and protocols.Ulises Ruiz/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBut in 2020, the tournament was canceled because of the pandemic. Then, last December, Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star at the time, posted a social media message in which she accused a high-ranking Chinese government official of sexual assault. Steve Simon, the WTA chairman and chief executive, unable to meet with Peng and ensure her safety, announced the suspension of all women’s events in China.It took Micky Lawler, the WTA president, months to secure an alternate venue for the Finals, which were temporarily moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, last year. This year, after much consideration, the WTA chose the 14,000-seat Dickies Arena in Fort Worth as the venue, less than two months before the tournament. All the costs, including fees and prize money for the eight singles competitors and eight doubles teams, are being absorbed by the WTA.But the biggest issue in women’s tennis now is financial stability. Despite the WTA adding Hologic as a title sponsor earlier this year, the loss of revenue from China has forced the tour to operate at a deficit all season. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia tried to step in and make an investment, similar to the one that it made in men’s golf in the form of the LIV tour, but it was rebuffed.To rebuild its financial house, the WTA is set to announce that CVC Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Luxembourg, is investing $150 million over the next five years to hold a 20 percent stake in the tour.Simon, the WTA chairman and chief executive, declined to be interviewed about the deal, saying in an emailed statement, “The WTA can confirm we are in exclusive discussions with CVC Capital Partners regarding a strategic agreement, which would strengthen women’s tennis and support the ambitious growth of the tour.”Much of that money would go toward equalizing prize money between the WTA and the ATP.Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Opens offer equal prize money to men and women, as do major combined tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. But in Rome, for example, even though the men and women play side by side, Novak Djokovic, the men’s champion last year, earned almost $900,000 while women’s winner Swiatek took home less than half that.“In Miami, equality is a given,” said James Blake, a former player and the current tournament director for the Miami Open. “It’s goes back to Venus [Williams] when she fought for equal prize money at Wimbledon. We also have equal time for men and women on the show courts, equal practice courts, even equal locker rooms. I’m very proud of that.“The men may be a bigger draw right now, but the women might be next year,” Blake added. “We need to all work together equally. A rising tide raises all of the ships.”Simon has been the chief executive of the WTA Tour since 2015. Assuming that the deal with CVC goes through, Lawler, the WTA president, said that he would remain chairman of the WTA Tour and she would stay on as president. But CVC will add its own executive, another administrative position in an organization than can sometimes resemble a seven-layer cake. Since its inception in 1973, two women, Anne Person Worcester and Stacey Allaster, have served as chief executives of the WTA.Lawler said the deal with CVC wasn’t all about prize money distribution.“It is important that we invest in our own assets, such as content and broadcast production,” she said. “They drive the overall value of the sport for all of our stakeholders. As far as technology, we have seen innovation in areas such as ball and athlete tracking. If we add these data points to the data output from the umpire’s chair, we are able to produce deep match insights. Both our athletes and fans expect us to tell stories with every tool available.”Even for the players, prize money is only part of the equation.“We’re a group of individual athletes that has to be brought together to find commonality,” said Bethanie Mattek-Sands, a doubles specialist and a former member of the WTA Players’ Council. “Prize money is still a huge issue, since we all have to pay our bills. We have to reconfirm the way we distribute it.“But just as important is how we elevate the brand and make the game sustainable for the future,” she said. “We are a very small share in the world of entertainment. We compete for airtime with the NFL, pickleball and cornhole.“We shouldn’t be competing with each other.” More

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      in Tennis

      The Forehand Slice, Once Disdained, Makes a Comeback

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      It was once considered a desperate shot, but experts say it can give players an edge. Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz use it.Tennis players commonly hit three types of backhands — topspin, flat and slice — yet on the forehand, they have, in the modern game, traditionally limited their arsenal of shots to just the first two.The forehand slice — which involves sliding the racket beneath the ball to create backspin or sliding it to the left or right of the ball to create side spin — is used for drop shots but has long been frowned upon as a desperate play in an extreme situation. Yet while many players still view the shot with disdain, it is starting to get some respect as a shot that, when used strategically, can give players an edge.“There are a handful of players who use it as a tactic and who do it well,” says Madison Keys, a power player ranked as the world No. 11, who said she did not practice the shot much.Pam Shriver, a former Top 10 player who is now an ESPN commentator, used the forehand slice extensively during her playing career. She would like to see more players take the shot seriously.“It has become a really important specialty shot to have,” Shriver said, adding that it is particularly effective on fast, low-bouncing surfaces like indoor courts such as the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, which will host this year’s WTA Finals. (The slice is less effective on clay.)The slice is most frequently used as a defensive shot when a player is stretched wide, but Shriver noted that it could also be effective to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm and keep the ball extra low, especially on the offensive approach shot.“Serena Williams introduced a generation of really dynamic and powerful players, but now you see the new generation getting more creative,” said Wim Fissette, a coach who has worked with several world No. 1-ranked women, including Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka. “It started a few years ago in men’s tennis, and now it’s happening in women’s tennis. With all that power, you need to develop ways to defend; you need creative solutions.”He, like many others, credits Roger Federer’s occasional “squash shots” — in which he would chop down on a ball to create a fast, low, hard-spinning shot — with giving the forehand slice momentum among modern players including Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Carlos Alcaraz.“If you only hit powerful shots from the baseline, your opponent only has to run left and right,” Fissette said. “Federer started using his slice to bring the opponent into the court, taking them away from the baseline to where they weren’t as confident. The forehand slice is a way to find ways to break the rhythm of your opponent and to make the court bigger.”Karolina Pliskova playing a forehand slice during the 2021 Australian Open. According to the tennis coach Wim Fissette, the shot can help extend points and draw opponents to portions of the court where they are less comfortable.Daniel Pockett/Getty ImagesAdditionally, he noted that when a player “does not have their A game, they need a Plan B” and that using slices on defense can allow a player to fight their way into a match.Many players still think of the forehand slice as something to be used grudgingly and only when pulled wide, but Shriver points out that today’s open stances, combined with the ability to slide into shots even on hard courts, allow players extra reach, enabling them to flick a slice back even if they cannot get their full body into a shot for a flat or topspin ball.“More players are using the forehand slice, but as a defensive shot,” said eighth-ranked Daria Kasatkina, who, like Keys, does not practice the shot. She said she did not think about it tactically, employing it only when cornered by a hard-hit ball that forces her into a defensive play.Keys said she used the forehand slice only on the run and “when absolutely necessary.”Even top-ranked Iga Swiatek, who has a diverse array of weapons, said that while the shot “can really reset a rally,” it was not a priority for her. “I use it only when I can’t make another shot.”Fissette, the coach who worked with Halep and Osaka, said that it was worth doing speed training drills to practice those forehands on the run because it extends points, and that opponents who are not comfortable attacking the net will feel compelled to hit riskier groundstrokes closer to the lines, causing them to make more errors.He said Swiatek was adept at using the shot defensively but added that she, like Gauff, gripped the racket in a way that could make hitting low forehands difficult, especially when coming forward, and that the slice could be helpful there.“Players should be practicing the slice and practicing how to defend against that spin,” Shriver, the former player and commentator, said, citing Ons Jabeur as a player who uses the slice well defensively and offensively.Shriver and Fissette said it was an ideal approach shot, especially to an opponent’s forehand, because it kept the ball low and allowed the attacker to hit while moving through the ball, getting her to the net quicker. “Karolina Pliskova has an excellent down-the-line approach slice,” Fissette added. “I’d like to see more women develop that.”Fissette said that since WTA players were generally less comfortable at the net than men, the slice could also be effective to open the court and draw opponents to short shots that might be trickier for them to handle.That is especially worth trying on balls to your opponent’s forehand, Shriver said. If you slice to players’ backhands, they might just slice it back and then you would not gain an edge. But on the forehand, you want to keep the ball out of the main strike zone where players can really drive the ball, and lower shots are tougher for many players.“And the slice often has more than underspin, it also has a bit of side spin, which adds another element for them to deal with,” Shriver said.Neither Shriver nor Fissette thinks the shot will, or should become, as common as the backhand slice.“You have to pick the right ball and the right moment,” Fissette said,The backhand slice is a more natural shot, Shriver said, and “it can get really messy” when a player cannot find the feel for the forehand slice. Additionally, switching grips back and forth too much can throw a player’s power forehand out of sync.Still, “while the forehand slice is a gamble, it can be well worth it,” she said. “And it makes tennis more interesting to watch.” More

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      in Basket

      Why Draymond Green May Soon Be the Odd Man Out at Golden State

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      The shadow of Green’s punch looms over the team, even as Golden State shows it still has what it takes to compete for a championship.SAN FRANCISCO — As Golden State posed in front of a banner destined for its arena’s rafters, all looked fine and well for the team. The players were beaming and dancing, flashing their new championship rings toward a photographer.The Tuesday evening scene was a déjà vu of sorts. Golden State has gone through this pomp and circumstance four times in the last eight seasons as part of a ceremony to celebrate winning an N.B.A. title by raising a championship banner. Tribute video. Inspirational music. Cheering fans.“I’ve never had a bad ring night,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said. “They’re all awesome.”Just ignore the reality show that aired on TNT hours earlier starring and produced by Golden State’s Draymond Green, who in the show briefly addressed punching his younger teammate Jordan Poole in the face in an incident that threatened to rupture the franchise on the doorstep of the season.Oh, that. Awkward.Golden State began its pursuit of a fifth championship for its current dynasty by dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-109, on Tuesday, easily dispatching a team with no shortage of its own drama and championship aspirations. Golden State’s Stephen Curry, the most valuable player of last season’s finals, effortlessly dropped 33 points. But his team began the season under the shadow of Green’s swing at Poole at a practice, a video of which was obtained by TMZ.Golden State’s Jordan Poole, right, had 12 points and 7 assists off the bench in Tuesday night’s win against the Lakers.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockAnd in part because of Green, the Golden State dynasty — at least as the world has known it — faces the potential of great upheaval.Golden State has long been defined by the greatness of Curry. But it has also been marked by a rare continuity. This is Kerr’s ninth season as head coach, the third-longest tenure behind that of San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra. Green, Curry and Klay Thompson have played together for more than a decade. Bob Myers, the team president, has been with the franchise since 2011.Green’s value to the team is undoubtable: He can defend all five positions at an elite level, and he is an excellent passer, particularly adept at finding Curry in the right spots. He had 5 assists Tuesday to go with 4 points and 5 rebounds.At 32, he has also been known as a leader on and off the floor. Younger players like Moses Moody, James Wiseman and, at one point, Poole have spoken about the encouragement they received from Green when they were struggling on the court.Without Green, there is no Golden State dynasty.He has spent his whole career in Golden State and has a player option after this year worth roughly $27.5 million. Green is a four-time All-Star who, according to The Athletic, believes he’s deserving of a maximum contract extension. And in many situations, this would be a no-brainer, both as a reward for his past service to Golden State and in recognition of his current abilities.But his role as a leader is in question after what happened with Poole this month. He has a reputation for impulsive behavior like the Poole incident, yelling at coaches and teammates, and racking up silly technicals. One wonders if Myers and Joe Lacob, the team’s owner, may look at Green entering the twilight of his career and wish him the best playing somewhere else.Golden State has long been defined by Stephen Curry’s greatness. He had 33 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists Tuesday.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesThey have locked in the 23-year-old Poole for years to come, recently signing him to a four-year extension worth up to $140 million, according to ESPN.Poole was diplomatic Tuesday when asked whether the rift with Green had healed.“It was ring night and that’s really what we were focused on,” Poole said. “Finishing the first game. Huge win against a really good team.”Golden State also recently signed forward Andrew Wiggins, 27, to a pricey extension after he proved crucial to the team’s finals win last year and cemented himself as a building block for the team’s future. Not signed to an extension so far: Green.Golden State may be liable for almost $500 million in salaries and luxury tax next year. To put that in perspective, the minimum team salary for this season is about $111 million. Lacob has been willing to spend more than any other team in the N.B.A. to keep the team’s core together, but from a cold business perspective, Green soon may be the odd man out.Golden State has cited the organization’s strong culture as a reason for its success. But professional sports have long been a haven where bad behavior is overlooked for players who contribute to wins, which perhaps explains why Golden State chose to fine but not suspend Green for the punch.That is, however, a short-term solution to keep the peace. And Green, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016-17, certainly contributes to wins. On Tuesday, his ball-hawking skills made life difficult for Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ star big man, and offensively, Green flashed his versatility.But the shadow of his punch still looms.Green, in publicly apologizing for the incident on Oct. 8, told reporters that the he regretted the embarrassment his punch caused Poole and his family. Yet he chose to air the video again Tuesday in a self-serving “all-access” show called “The Countdown” on TNT, which also broadcast Golden State’s game. He turned the incident into profit and a glossily produced opportunity for image rehabilitation. He addressed the Poole incident by saying that he hadn’t paid much attention to the social media backlash. He also tried to use the show to reassert himself as a leader of the team.“You can’t change the events that happened, but we can control what happens moving forward and that’s where we are,” Green said straight into the camera during the segment. “And myself as a leader of this team, it’s on me to make sure we’re headed that way.”Golden State’s Andre Iguodala, left, Curry, Green and Klay Thompson have won four championships together.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesWhatever becomes of Green, Golden State is strongly positioned for the future. Aside from Poole and Wiggins, young talents with like Wiseman, Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are waiting in the wings for more playing time (and their own contract extensions) without the drama that Green brings.That Golden State faces upheaval is not the same thing as Golden State facing an end. This isn’t the first time that the team’s run has seemed seriously threatened. As a result of injuries, Golden State was among the worst teams in the league the two seasons before last year, which left many wondering if they could recapture their greatness. That didn’t escape Curry.“I heard it back in 2019,” Curry told The Mercury News in an interview published Tuesday. “I heard during the pandemic. We hear it a little louder now because we won again. We would have heard it louder had we not won. Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen.”As Tuesday night showed, the team is positioned for another ring chase. Poole and Green showed they can coexist on the court: Poole slipped Green a slick pass in the second quarter for an easy layup. But if Golden State hosts another banner-raising ceremony next fall, it may be the last one featuring Green. More