S.J. tournament stirs interest in tennis

It’s a lingering question in women’s tennis, dating to the 20th century and deeply relevant over the years: What’s the latest with Serena Williams?

Perhaps that best explains the appeal of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, opening Monday on the campus of San Jose State. Serena won’t be playing, and as stunning as it might seem to the casual fan, she won’t be missed.

Her reputation as an all-time great — perhaps the best to play — is forever sealed. But Williams has enthusiastically spoken of a surrender to youth, handing the spotlight to the next generation, and that’s exactly the theme of this longstanding Bay Area tournament.

In the wake of a disappointing Wimbledon, in which she took a first-round loss to 115thranked Harmony Tan, Williams has set her sights on the U.S. Open, with a scheduled stop at the Western & Southern event near Cincinnati, Aug. 13-21. She’s 40, she’s a mom, and she’s simply done with the tour’s weekly grind.

So let’s welcome Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff to San Jose, not to mention this event’s deepest field since 1984, when it was known as the Virginia Slims of California, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, and Martina Navratilova’s 54-match winning streak was broken by Hana Mandlikova in the final.

Osaka has played sparingly this year, citing mental-health issues and deciding to bypass Wimbledon, but she was granted a wild-card spot in San Jose and is unforgettable at her best, most notably in a convincing victory over Serena in the 2018 U.S. Open final.

Gauff has been a steadily blossoming talent since capturing the world’s attention at 13 (she turned 18 in March), and she was a poised, entertaining presence at this year’s French Open, finally falling to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the championship match.

For most observers, those two players, in addition to 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, perennial contender Madison Keys and 22ndrankedAmanda Anisimova — who knocked off Gauff in the third round of Wimbledon — would make this a potentially compelling week of tennis. But the field only grows in stature with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and five players ranked in the world top 10: Maria Sakkari (3) of Greece, Paula Badosa (4) of Spain, Ons Jabeur (5) of Tunisia, Aryna Sabalenka (6) of Belarus and Garbiñe Muguruza (8) of Spain. Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach a major final at Wimbledon, losing to Rybakina 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Just three years ago, people were wondering if the tour could sustain a San Jose event after its move from Stanford’s Taube Tennis Center after the 2017 event. Attendance was sparse, there was vacancy to the atmosphere, and any sign of star power had vanished by the weekend. To say the least, it has made a stirring comeback.

Will the Thrill

Among those who analyze baseball without looking past the numbers, there’s a theory that “clutch” hitting does not exist, that players cannot be defined (or degraded) that way. Complete nonsense. The issue comes to mind with the Giants retiring Will Clark’s number, for he was the very essence of clutch. “Believe it or not, there’s a lot of guys who, when the bright lights come on, they don’t want to have the bat in their hands, or have the ball on the mound,” Clark told SFG Productions a few years back. “I was quite the opposite. If there was a situation in a game that was crucial and clutch, I wanted to have the bat.” … It’s like any business: There are those who thrive in a crucial moment, and those who would rather not be exposed to that kind of pressure. As Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow put it, “Some guys tighten up” in baseball. “They start to think too much about what’s at stake. Will was a guy you wanted up there, and man, did he deliver.”

The St. Louis Cardinals are the Giants’ business, courtesy of the wild-card race, and a crisis loomed when the unvaccinated Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado weren’t allowed to play in this past week’s two-game series in Toronto. “I have to assume that at least some of the Cardinals had private misgivings about being vaccinated but went forward out of respect for their teammates, for the overall good of the team,” wrote longtime St. Louis columnist Bernie Miklasz. “It’s a bad look for two star leaders to break away from the group they’re supposedly leading.” The Cards got routed in Tuesday night’s series opener, but bounced back to win behind Albert Pujols’ three-run homer. The great man still has it, and that was No. 686 for his career. … The Yankees had reservations about trading for Kansas City’s Andrew Benintendi after the unvaccinated outfielder had to miss a Toronto series. Benintendi didn’t say much beyond, “I’ve got an open mind,” but the Yankees went ahead with the deal, reportedly assured there will be no complications.

That’s a strong addition, particularly as Benintendi replaces strikeout machine Joey Gallo in the lineup.

You’d think it couldn’t get much worse for the Angels than playing their usual brand of tepid, desultory baseball with superstars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the scene. Now, Trout has a serious back condition he’ll have to monitor for the rest of his career, making him very difficult to trade. And as desperation sets in, the Angels reportedly have listened to offers for Ohtani, who has been around long enough to realize he needs to escape the incompetent Arte Moreno ownership and find a new setting. … Speaking of star power, sensational Seattle rookie Julio Rodriguez hopes to join Trout as the only players 21 or younger to record 30 homers and 40 steals in a season. For Giants fans wondering about Bobby Bonds, he had 32 homers and 45 steals in 1969, but he was 23. … There’s no comparing Joey Bart to Buster Posey, on any level, but the young catcher at least has the potential to become a solid team leader. Big difference: Bart walks a clubhouse full of players either inexperienced, ordinary or past their prime. When Posey broke through in 2010, along with fellow rookie Madison Bumgarner, he was surrounded by Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff (at his best), Aaron Rowand, Brian Wilson and Jeremy Affeldt. It was sink-or-swim with that crowd, and Posey swam the English Channel.

Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper has come to despise the proliferation of position players taking the mound in blowout games (more than 70 times in the big leagues this season), saying, “People pay to come out and watch big-league baseball. That ain’t it.” How it can go wrong: Kansas City outfielder Michael A. Taylor pitched two innings against Cleveland on July 9, at one point throwing 94 mph. He complained of shoulder soreness the next day and didn’t play in the field again until July 22. … To say the least, blowback is nothing new. The Washington Post researched a game in 1906 when three outfielders pitched for the Senators against the New York Highlanders, after which the Washington Evening Star called it “something worse than a bad joke. Nothing less than criminal was the fashion in which those Highland boys pounded three Capitoline twirlers all over the suburbs.”