Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
August 31, 2007, Washington Post

In Sports, All the World's on Stage

Sometimes I wonder why they call the big pro tennis tournament that's going on right now the U.S. Open. Yes, the matches are played in New York City, but hardly any of the players are from the United States.

Going into the tournament, only four of the top 50 players in the women's rankings were Americans: Serena Williams (ranked No. 8), Venus Williams (13), Meghann Shaughnessy (43) and Melien Tu (46). In the men's top 50, only Andy Roddick (No. 4) and James Blake (8) are from the United States.

Sports are becoming more international. Take women's professional golf. More South Koreans than Americans made the cut in this year's U.S. Open. The winner of the Women's British Open was Mexico's Lorena Ochoa, the top-ranked player in the world.

Basketball was invented in this country, but two of the best players from the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs are from outside the United States: Tony Parker was born in Belgium and raised in France, and Manu Ginobili was born in Argentina. And Tim Duncan is from the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory.

Baseball may be America's national pastime, but major leaguers come from more than a dozen countries. More than 50 stars were born in the Dominican Republic; among them, former Washington Nationals outfielder Alfonso Soriano and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols. And many are from Japan, including Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Some sports fans like games only if U.S. athletes win. That's crazy. Great athletes can come from any place. If Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain meet in the men's final of the U.S. Open, it will be an exciting tennis match.

The international flavor of sports can help curious kids learn about the world. Let's say Maria Sharapova of Russia is playing Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, and you don't know where those countries are. Look on a map or read about them in an encyclopedia or on the Web.

It's hard to miss Russia because it stretches over much of northern Eurasia (Europe and Asia). It's the biggest country in the world, almost twice the size of Canada, which is second largest. Russia produces lots of top tennis players, including the women's fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova and men's No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko.

Serbia is a little harder to find. Look for it in southeastern Europe. This small country has produced Novak Djokovic, the third-ranked men's player, who recently beat Roddick, Nadal and Federer in the same tournament.

The U.S. Open has players from Australia, Argentina, China, Cyprus, Israel, India, Ukraine and other countries. The tournament doesn't just bring you great tennis, it brings you the world.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.

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