46 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Quiet please! U.S. Open players bemoan the sound of silence
BY AMY TENNERY/REUTERS
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
As chatty spectators so oft en learn the
hard way, silence is golden in the sport
of tennis.
Yet facing the prospect of empty stands
at the fi rst fan-less Grand Slam since the
coronavirus outbreak, even top contenders
at this year’s U.S. Open admit that the
unprecedented new hush will take some
getting used to.
Australian Open champion Sofi a Kenin
told reporters how fans bring out the best
in her.
“When it’s tough moments, they obviously
are there on their feet cheering for
you,” Kenin said, ahead of the tournament’s
start on Monday. “I really wish they
would be here. Th ey really help me.”
Flushing Meadows fans are notoriously
raucous — by tennis standards, at least —
as thousands of them usually pack into the
sprawling Billie Jean King National Tennis
Center, sipping signature “Honey Deuce”
vodka cocktails under sunny skies.
Night sessions can get especially boisterous,
but not this year.
Gloomy weather and a sparsely-populated
plaza, speckled with rain, on
Saturday foreshadowed a very diff erent
ambience for when the event kicks off on
Monday.
Th e tournament is being played without
fans and in a bio-secure bubble because of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andy Murray, who claimed his fi rst
Grand Slam title in New York in 2012
in an epic fi nal against Novak Djokovic
under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights,
said that while the tranquil atmosphere
had its advantages, it was a sad situation.
“You know that there’s no one around,
that you’re not going to get stopped. Yeah,
it’s very quiet and very relaxed,” the Briton
said of his practice sessions.
“Th en there’s also been times like aft er
one of my practices last week, I was walking
back to the locker room, I was walking
through the grounds. I was like, Wow,
this is pretty sad because usually this place
is just fi lled with energy and atmosphere
like before the tournament starts.
“Now it’s tennis players and their teams
walking around with masks on. Fans give
life to the tournaments.”
Another former champion, Belgium’s
Kim Clijsters said the lack of atmosphere
on court will also feel strange as she
returns to a Grand Slam for the fi rst time
since announcing her second comeback
to the sport.
“We’ve seen in the past, many moments
where the crowd, the energy of the crowd,
the momentum changes because of one
rally or something,” four-times Grand
Slam champions Clijsters said.
“Some players really thrive on those
kind of moments.”
For world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas,
who has never made it past the second
round and into the spotlight of a
night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the
change is diffi cult to swallow.
“It’s like a dream for everyone, to play
a night session match on Arthur Ashe.
It’s been a dream of mine since forever.
We won’t have the opportunity this year,”
he said.
Queens College voted Best College in The Princeton Review 2021 edition
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th is year marks the 29th time Queens
College in Flushing has been named
one of the country’s best institutions for
undergraduate education by the Princeton
Review.
Queens College, located on an 80-acre
campus at 65-30 Kissena Blvd., has been
featured in the Princeton Review’s 2021
edition of its annual guide, “Th e Best 386
Colleges,” citing the school’s high-quality
academics, aff ordability and diversity.
Th e school was also ranked a 2021 Best
Regional College for the Northeast.
“It comes as no surprise that Queens
College has been recognized in every
edition of the Princeton Review ‘Best
Colleges’ guide for our academic excellence,
aff ordability, and accessibility
to students — and I am already wellacquainted
with its extraordinary diversity,
with students having greeted me in 17
languages as I took offi ce in July. For over
83 years, we have provided an unparalleled
combination of equal access and
opportunity for ambitious students —
many of modest means — to advance
toward successful and rewarding futures,”
said Queens College President Frank Wu.
Th e results of student surveys from
across the country on dozens of topics
about their schools conducted by the
Princeton Review round out the 2021 Best
College profi les.
A Queens College student submitted
feedback saying, “Queens College is about
getting a valuable and quality education
that does not drain you fi nancially for the
future.”
Another student referred to Queens
College as the “Harvard of CUNY.”
Th e Macaulay Honors College and the
Aaron Copeland School of Music also
both received positive recognition from
students.
Faculty members included descriptions
of professors who “genuinely care about
students’ grades and well-being.”
Notably, the “interesting” and “accessible”
rating for professors increased 10
and 13 points respectively, in the new edition.
Th e guide also reveals a fi ve percent
increase since 2020 in both four-and sixyear
graduation rates.
Th e Princeton Review is also famous
for its annual rankings, including the
much-publicized “Best Party Schools.” In
contrast, Queens College continues to
appear on the following lists: “Got Milk?”
(#13) (campuses where beer is scarce) and
“Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch” (#13)
(no hard liquor). Th e school was also recognized
in the categories of Best Value
College and Green College.
Rankings in Th e Best 386 Colleges, one
of Th e Princeton Review’s most popular
guides, are based on surveys of 143,000
students at 386 top colleges that include a
wide representation by region, size, selectivity
and character.
Published annually since 1992, the book
has detailed profi les of the colleges with
rating scores in eight categories as well
as ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62
categories.
REUTERS/Amy Tennery
A sign reminding onlookers of proper health and safety protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19
is seen inside the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center ahead of the start of the U.S. Open
tennis Grand Slam tournament on Aug. 29, 2020.
Courtesy of Queens College
Queens College is located on an 80-acre campus at 65-30 Kissena Blvd in Flushing.
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