BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

What a way to end a career. Flavia Pennetta goes out in style!

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

What a sports story this is! 

Thirty-three year old Flavia Pennetta won the 2015 US Open and promptly retired! 

The Italian lass had been to 10 US Opens booking one semifinals appearance in 2013 to go with the other quarterfinals berths. She was able to compete in two doubles finals competitions but each time fell short.

Heading into Flushing Meadows this year, Pennetta toted a 17-15 record. Once in the US Open, she took down in succession Australian Jarmila Gajdosova, Romanian Monica Niculescu, Czech Petra Cetkovska, Australian Samantha Stosur, Czech Petra Kvitova, Romanian Simona Halep, and lastly in the finals, compatriot, Roberta Vinci.

It was the unseeded Vinci who upset two-time defending US Open champion Serena Willians in the semifinals. Pennetta herself wasn’t without any major competition. She stunned Stosur, a former US Open champion. She took down Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon titlist. And Halep who was seeded second in this tournament.

“I never think to be a champion so it’s a big surprise for me,” said Pennetta who by her feat became the oldest woman in the open era to become a Grand Slam champion.During the trophy ceremony, she retired from professional tennis. “I couldn’t think to finish in a better way."

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