Last men standing?

Reader question:

Please explain “last men standing” in this sentence (Australian Open 2025 – Men’s final: Sinner vs Zverev, RolandGarros.com, January 25, 2025): The top two seeds Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev are the last men standing in Melbourne.

My comments:

A piece of old tennis news.

Old, because the said event took place in January, in Melbourne, Australia.

In the event, Jannik Sinner, the world’s top ranked player from Italy reached the men’s Australian Open final alongside the No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev from Germany.

They were called the “last men standing” because all other contestants had been eliminated by that time.

If the tennis tournament were a battlefield, then all the other players had fallen to the ground, having been killed or wounded, unable to stand on their feet.

Sinner and Zverev were the last and only men standing.

Standing on their feet, that is, tall and upright.

The Australian Open tennis tournament is not a battlefield, fortunately. All the players are in it for fun, championship glory and hefty prize money. Nobody runs the risk of being killed or wounded

Still, you get the picture of “last man standing” in the battlefield, for the battlefield is where this idiom originates.

The last man standing in the battlefield is the last survivor, after all other fellow soldiers are killed or wounded.

Needless to say, the “last man standing” has endured a lot and we can feel his valor, bravery, tenaciousness, durability and perseverance.

Hence, figuratively speaking, “the last man standing” is often used to describe the lone survivor of any disastrous situation. What’s implied is that the “last man standing” is a hero. He’s the best, the most resilient, the most brilliant, etc. and so forth.

In our example, Sinner and Zverev are thus described (as the last men standing) because they were the only two people left in the tournament.

In other words, they are the best, better than all the others.

Sinner, by the way, went on to beat Zverev 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 to win the Australian Open.

And that means, in the end, when all is said and done, Sinner is the very last man standing.

He’s the very best of the bunch.

All right, for added clarity, let’s read a few examples of “the last man standing” in the media:

1. Historians and proud Texans agree that Davy Crockett died at the Battle of the Alamo, but how this American folk hero with a coonskin cap died is still fiercely debated. Davy Crockett has always been portrayed in films and books as this brave and fearless leader who fought until the end with valor to defend the Alamo.

One image of Davy Crockett that Americans hold close to their hearts was due to Walt Disney. In the 1950s, Disney developed a TV show about Crockett, and Davy was portrayed as the last person alive in the Alamo, standing on top of the wall bludgeoning Mexicans with his rifle before the screen fades to the credits.

Disney’s interpretation of most things is dramatic, the good guy wins in the end, and everyone is happy. This is not how other reports of Davy Crockett’s death go.

President Theodore Roosevelt wrote about Davy Crockett in his book “Hero Tales from American History” in 1895. Roosevelt’s recounting of the Battle of the Alamo was that Crockett was the last man standing.

Still, he and three or four other men entered the Alamo where “desperate hand-to-hand combat followed.” Roosevelt wrote how the heavily wounded Davy Crockett was the last alive, surrounded by the bodies of Mexicans he had killed. He fought until he lost too much blood and couldn’t fight back.

According to Roosevelt, it was then that musketeers shot Crockett to death. This is the most common story of the Battle of the Alamo and the death of brave Davy Crockett. However, Roosevelt mentions, “Some say when Crockett fell from his wounds he was taken alive, and then shot by Santa Anna’s order; but his fate cannot be told with certainty, for not a single American was left alive… Yet the died well avenged, for four times their number fell at their hands in battle.”

Many insist that Crockett died as the last American left standing. He was surrounded by the bodies of men he single-handedly fought, and he died a hero. Those who believe this version of the death of Davy Crockett are adamant that this is what happened and how it happened.

They are vocal about insisting he died as a hero, not a prisoner. A formerly enslaved person named Ben, who “worked as a cook for one of Santa Anna’s officers,” swore that he saw the corpse of Davy Crockett surrounded by “no less than 16 Mexican corpses”. Yet others believe that is not quite the way Davy Crockett died. Rumors began spreading about Crockett surrendering to Santa Anna’s troops and subsequently being executed just days after the battle.

The de la Peña Memoir

The memoir of the Mexican officer José Enrique de la Peña, who was at the Battle of the Alamo, was found in 1955 and published under the title La Rebelión de Texas – Manuscrito Inédito de 1836 por un Oficial de Santa Anna. Americans largely ignored the book, and it wasn’t until the book was published in English as With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution in 1975 that the scandal over the death of Davy Crockett began.

The memoir tells of Davy Crockett being taken as a prisoner along with six or seven other men from the Alamo at the end of the battle. The men were brought before Santa Anna, who demanded they be killed.

The memoir stated that they were killed with bayonets and died with dignity. The translator began to receive threatening anonymous letters and phone calls from Davy Crockett worshipers, enraged that someone dared to suggest that Crockett did not die while defending the Alamo.

It is no surprise that fans have questioned the validity of the memoir, and many self-appointed historians have said it is a fake account. A retired firefighter claims that the journals were a combination of different kinds of paper from different manufacturers that were cut to look like an actual historical document.

One John Wayne fan (John Wayne did play the role of Davy Crockett during his career) publicly questioned the validity of the memoir because the memoir was released at a “suspicious time” and because following Disney’s Davy Crockett, there was much historical interest in the King of the Wild Frontier.

It took until 2001 for an archivist to study the original manuscript in a laboratory to determine the authenticity of the memoir. While it is easy to forge convincing historical documents, professionally trained archivists know to look beyond yellowed pages.

The ink and paper were studied to determine if they were accurate for the time and location in which the manuscript was written. Chemical tests are performed on the paper, and binding and ink ingredients are tested in a laboratory. Now, anyone could just say, “Yep, it’s real,” but this archivist published a peer-reviewed study from his experiment, which provides credible support to his results.

The results of the archival research were that both the paper and ink used on the manuscript were the types used by members of the Mexican army in the 1830s, and the handwriting was compared with Mexican military archival records of documents signed or written by de la Peña, and they matched. Yet people refuse to believe that Crockett might not have died in the heroic manner we have been told and made to believe.

- Did Davy Crockett Survive the Battle of the Alamo? HistoricMysteries.com, May 19, 2023.

2. Rory McIlroy described his career Grand Slam-clinching victory at The Masters as the best day of his golfing life as he edged out Justin Rose in a play-off following an extraordinary final day at Augusta National.

McIlroy recovered from losing his overnight two-shot advantage with an opening-hole double bogey to stretch ahead by four, only to then blow that lead over his closing six holes.

A bogey at the last forced McIlroy to replay the 18th against Rose – who earned his play-off spot with a stunning final-round 66 – where he fired a terrific approach to within three feet of the pin and clinched victory with a birdie.

“It feels incredible,” McIlroy said when getting his hands on a first Green Jacket in Butler’s Cabin. “This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time.

“I’d say it was 14 years in the making, from going out with the four-shot lead in 2011 – feeling like I could have got it done there. There was a lot of pent up emotion that just came out on the 18th green. But a moment like that makes all of the years and close calls worth it.”

With his victory, McIlroy ended an 11-year drought in major tournaments, earned a fifth title and first at Augusta National – 14 years on from, as he mentioned, a final-round collapse in 2011.

It also saw him become just the sixth golfer in history to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

At his press conference, McIlroy spoke of how challenging the pursuit of that goal has been over the past decade.

“I’ve carried that burden since August 2014, nearly 11 years – not just about winning my next major, but the career Grand Slam, to join only five players to do it,” he said.

“I watched a lot of my peers get Green Jackets in the process; it’s been difficult. I’ve tried to approach this tournament with the most positive attitude every time I’ve turned up, and I think the accumulative experience I’ve gained coming back here every year, I feel like I get a little more comfortable with the shots needed.

“But there’s talking about it and actually doing it. It was a heavy weight to carry but thankfully now I don’t have to carry it and it hopefully frees me up. I know I’m coming back here every year, which is lovely!”

McIlroy added: “I’m not going to compare it to life moments like a marriage or having a child, but it’s the best day of my golfing life.”

...

The 35-year-old added: “Today was difficult; I was unbelievably nervous this morning, as you witnessed with the double on the first hole.

“I was able to bounce back and show that resilience that I’ve talked about a lot. There were points on the back nine where I thought, ‘have I let this slip again?’ but I responded and am really proud of myself.

“It has been an emotional week so I am thrilled to be last man standing.”

- Rory McIlroy: How Grand Slam-clinching win at The Masters was ‘best day’ of his golfing life, SkySports.com, April 14, 2025.

3. The Pig & Whistle, on the corner of Chapel Street and Covent Garden in the city centre, will close on Sunday, August 24.

However, it is not all bad news as the closure is only temporary to allow a refurbishment to take place. The pub is celebrating its 150th anniversary, with the building it calls home dating back to the early 18th century, when it was both a boarding house and a brothel.

The building has a long history and first became a pub back in 1875, named after the crew bars on ships, which are commonly known as the Pig and Whistle, or Pig for short, as it served plenty of dockers and seafarers.

The pub now stands alone on its block, with its neighbouring buildings all demolished. An urban legend meant many in Liverpool long thought that it was due to the Blitz, but the surrounding structures were actually all knocked down by the city council in the 1970s, leaving The Pig as the last man standing.

The Pig, owned by Heineken’s pub arm Star Pubs, will remain open for a few more weeks before closing. The team explained on social media that when it reopens, “lots” will have changed, but the “feel” should “hopefully” remain the same.

They added: “The stage is being removed, the fireplace is being reinstated, and the gents toilets is going upstairs. The floor, ceiling, electrics and windows are being replaced. Plus we’ll have more plugs for your bloody chargers. Outside is getting a whole new roof and render, plus funky new signage and a big mural.

“The building is a wreck. We’ve had almost a year trying to keep the place from falling over, but it isn’t sustainable. This has to happen, and it can’t wait until winter. Besides, the brewery is making us do it, and they’re paying.

“So much of what makes the pub a fun and quirky place to drink is staying the same. We’re keeping it in a traditional style in pretty much the same layout. The mural stays, the TripAdvisor mirror, McCartney Steps, Celebrity Corner, and Shelf of Shame will all return. You will still not be allowed to sing Wonderwall.”

The team also confirmed that this was “just a refurb” and not a change of management or ownership. The last day of trading in The Pig, as we know, will be a “match day”, so the pub won’t be hosting a closing party.

- Historic pub to close as team says ‘building is a wreck’, LiverpoolEcho.com, August 13, 2025.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）