The Times Is Not Right

So here's a kind-of U.S. Open-related post that also deals with a little pet peeve of mine.

First, if you couldn't tell by now, I'm a big tennis geek! What can I say? Following career stats of players is kind of a hobby. Aside from that, in my alter ego, I work as a professional copy editor for a magazine (I'm managing editor for HFN, plus I do freelance copy editing for a newspaper, The Journal News). I like to think that I can spot something that might be wrong, particularly in tennis-related stories.

Today, I'm reading The New York Times' coverage of the Open, and I couldn't believe what I saw in a feature on Marat Safin and Dinara Safina, And I quote: "Marat Safin, 28, the once incandescent and later insufferable older brother came to revive his career, having failed to advance past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament in more than three years."

Ummm, aside from Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer playing one of the greatest matches of all time this past Wimbledon, what was the second-biggest story of the tournament? Oh yeah, Safin making the semis!

Then, in the same quote-unquote Paper of Record, there was a story about Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams, and their first-round matches. In it, there was a mention that Serena's won seven Grand Slam titles. Ummm, again, at my last count, it was eight, and just in case I had any doubt, Wikipedia and the WTA's Web site confirms it.

Now here's my pet peeve: What happens most of the time during Major tournaments is that newspapers often tap beat writers whose sports are off-season to help with the coverage. And unfortunately, because tennis is considered so little a priority to the majority of readers, fact-checking is neglected and stories are underwritten or extremely overwritten, like the above Safin story I mentioned. What happens, too, is that the stories then get picked up by the wire services and the incorrect info gets spread around.

And this happens all the time, especially around the U.S. Open, which provides the opportunity for more domestic reporting.

So next time you see a tennis story written by a name you don't recognize, or you do recognize it, say as a beat reporter covering the insert and mascot here, be careful. You can't always believe what you read, as the old saying goes.

P.S. If you're looking for the above-mentioned error about Safin, you won't find it on the Times' site, as it has an abbreviated version of the story. Hmmm...

(Photo: Getty Images)