captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, august 26: america mourns senator john mccain. >> a truly extraordinary giant of the senate and really of the country. >> he leaves a legacy of servic. and cour >> sreenivasan: and in our signature segment, how professional tennis is trying to diversify the next generation of players as the u.s. turns 50. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation.

rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberfu corporating is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios lincoln center in new york, odari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: vening and thank you for joining us. senator john mccain, the influential izona republican senator and two-time presidential candidate died yesterday at his home near dona arizona. he was 81 and had an aggressive brain cancer for the past year. crowds lined the route as the hearse bearing his body traveled from his ranch to a phoenix funeral home last night. in washington, d.c. flags were twered to half staff. and in vietnam when navy

pilot mccain was captive for more than five years as a prisoner of war, mourners placed flowers on a memorial noring him. as senator his political leadersh was key in normalizing relations between vietnam and the u.s. john sidney mccain the third was rn in 1936 on an america naval base, the son of a naval officer stationed in the panama canal zone. he went on to attend the naval academy in annapolis, ryland, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who both servemias four-star ls. mccain graduated in 1958 and became a navy pilot two years later. he volunteered for combat during the vietnam war. in october of 1967 his plane was shot down over hanoi, during a bombing mission. he was captured, beaten and istortured, and held as prer of war for five and a half years. in that time he tried to take his own life twice and signed a coerced confession. he refused an offer of early release after the vietnamese

learned that his father was a high ranking navy official. mccain was released in 1973, returning to the u.s. a hero. in 1982, mccain began what would be his decades lonpolitical career winning a seat in the u.s. congress from his homon state of artwice. four years later he was elected to the senate where he remained for six terms. but his political career was not always successful. in 2000 he made his first ntial run, and lost to george w. bush in the primaries. know how to fight and i know how to make peace. i know who i am and what i want to do. >> sreenivasan: in 2008, he ran again, this time winhe republican nomination, choosing sarah palin as his running mate, and then losing to barack obama. throughout his long career in office, senator mccain continued to be a political "maverick." e opposed the use of tort during president george w. bush's administration, ant sponsored antorture bill

that passed congress and was signed by president bush in 2005. in july 2017, after surgery to remve a blood clot in his eye revealed a mignant brain tumor, senator mccain made a dramatic return to the capit for a late night vote against president trump's proposed legislation end to obamacare. his vote defeated the bill. before the vote, he addressed his colleagues: >> we're getting nothing done, my friends. we're getting nothing done. >> sreenivasan: mr. trump frequently criticized and even aisulted senator mccain both during the 2016 ca and in office. last night he sent out a brief tweet that read: "my deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of senator john ndcain. our heartsrayers are with you!" in a statement, former p. sident georgesh who defeated mccain in his first presidential run, remembered him as a fend, saying, "some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to

imine them ended. some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of th stilled." and in his statement, president barack obama acknowledged his litical differences with his former presidential opponent but said they shared "fidelity to something higher-- the ideals for which generations of americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed."cc today, senatorn's colleagues recalled his military career, his courage, and his devotion to service. >> in so many different ways and always one who felt that serving a cause large erer than self wae greatest of privileges. >> he leaves a legacy of service and courage. >> he would quicklforgive and move on. and to see the good in his

opponents, that is something that, particularly these day c ld use a lot more of. that's a lesson that he taught everyone. >> sreenivasan: the senator who served his country in politics and in the military was both outspoken and brave, even when he was being treated for brain cancer, and facing the possibility thate was nearing the end of his life. >> how do you want the american people to remember you?s >> he served tuntry. and not always right. made a lot of mistak made a lot of errors. t served his country. and i hope we can add "honorab." >> sreenivasan: senator john mccain's body will lie in state in arizona'sapitol, then in the u.s. capitol rotunda. his funeral will be held ac. washington, national cathedral. at his request, the eulogies will be delivered by former presidents bgeack obama and ge w. bush. he will be buried at the naval academy in annapolis maryland.

>> senivasan: for a personal look back at senator john mccain's career and how his legacy may affect the country's political future, we turn now to newshour weekend special correspondent jeff greenfield who joins us from santa barbara. >> jeff you've covered him a long time. anything that comeso mind a story? >> well the sheer complexity of the man is what most focus my attention, a guy w could -- had a fieevrce temper, belime i was the victim of that, could even reconcile with political, fo vietnam dissenter who there during the time was tortured. that straight talk express barrelinpthrough new hshire in 2007 when he was in full command of his fact ulities,te ing the press suffering on ree record, everything on the

rd, nissan other moments he would compromise politically h i once tolm when he was coming back from the politically dead i007, is there something about you that requires you tobe angling off a cliff hanging from frayed rope? before youing proceed? he sd i think there's something billion that. different from the normal scope of politicians. >> he's the first to admit that he hadade several mistakes, one of the mistakes was the keating 5, what happened to charles keating, the savings and loan banks that charles keating was running. how significant was that blemish

fon his political recor him? >> i think it changed his life. even though he was rel tiferl exed, he had made mistakes, he felt deepl dishonored, felt guilty, that's why he turned and made campaign finance reform one of the senat pieces of his efforts, alignihi elf with one of the most political conservative many russ feingold. he needed to redeem hielf in his own eyes. >> he's getting a sendoff usually manying for l presidents,. >> the assistance on putting country first, unmistakably is in very sharp contrast to our current president. when john mccain died amid l the outpouring from past

political opponents, this president extended, quote, hearts and prayers to the family. anin his mesge there is not a word about john mccain's service to his country or what he endured in vietnam. you i think to some extent, can't separate the mccain from the feeling that's in the country now. on a different note: i think you have to acknowledge that mccain's choice for running mate in 2008, governor palin, in the way she campaigned and the way she appears was tapped into the moreealous sentiments that ump more successfully tapped into in the repubnli party. that faces the sentiment of where we're today. >> sreenivasan: let's talk about the sentiment of the president now, citiics say this is one of his worst weeks ever,

are his supporters affted by this? >> i've been hearing for three years now that this is it r trump, he can't survive this. we had this conversation so often we could run taped replays. but you look at the difference for instance between the watergate metaphor that everyby raises and now. once again his party controlshe both hous of congress. the people in that congressionat wing know he base of the republican party is many devoted to trump. you have a part of the media whether it is fox news or breitbart, if he use his personal friends to pay off girlfriends or hide affairs, that's personal. campaign funds, personal ghom r thlly aren't. did his lawyer flip and is now saying the president has done terrible things? he's an admitted liar.

unless and untilhese different perils the flipping of michael cohen,mmunity granted to his top financial advisornd a tabloid publisher, unless somethg shakes that base, i eon't think things will chase tabbed wall stt journal and nbc poll shows his support is pretty much where it was when the week sted. >> sreenivasan: jeff greenfield, thanks so much. >> sreenivasan: read more and watch our extended report on the life of john mccain on our website, pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: multiple people ae dead in what's being described ass shooting at a riverfront mall in jacksonville, florida, according to florida authorities. the jacksonville she office is reporting that at least one suspect is dead. the shooting occurred ring a video game tournament, and sounds of gunfire were heardn a livestream from the website twitch. it's unclear how many others were injured in th fshooting. poncis wrapped up his two day visit to ireland today, amid new accusations by an archbishop

that francis knew about abuses by a now-disgraced cardinal. pope francis held an open air mass in dublin in front of tens of thousands of worshipersng before deparor the vatican. he asked for forgiveness for t"" crimes" of the church's sexual abuse scandal. but the pope did not address accusations leveled in a public letter published today by the former vatican ambassador to the united states. archbishop carlo maria vigano, a fierce conservative critic of o the pope, callpope francis to step down. he said the pope and other senior church officials ignored accusaons against disgraced ex-cardinal theodore mccarrick for years. gned from the college of cardinals in july noter allegations that he sexually abused and adults over decades. the head of the islamic ste in afghanistan and ten other isis fighters were killed last night in air strikes according to an afghan official. the strike was carried out by an and coalition forces

the nangarhar province, along the border with pakistan. the region has become a stronghold for the islamic state. air strikes have increased in afghanistan as isis-control has weakened in iraq and syria. >> sreenivasan: tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first u.s. open tennis tournamentere in new york. the main stadium at the flushing queens facility is named for the first winner of the ment, african-american tennis champion arthur ashe. but while players like the williams siste sloane stephens have dominated american women's tennis for the last 20 years, american men ha fared nearly as well. een 15-years since andy roddick played in the u.s. open finals, the last grand slam championship won by an american male. newshour weekend's christopher booker recently talked with u.s.t.a. president katrina adams about america's inability to

field top-tier male players, and how efforts to diversify the game may changthat. this story is part of our ongoing series about povty and portunity in america: chasing the dream. >> reporter: even though it has been nearly 20 years since katrina adams last played professionally, fans s clamor to have their picture taken with her. as the first former professional player to serve as chairmanf the board and president of the u.s. tennis association and chair of the uha. open, adams one of the broadest resumes in tennis. from her earliest days learning to play in chicago, her 12 years on the world tennis tour, hee has lived and breathed game for most of her life. >> its live its happening, its show time, its vibrant. >> reporter: but when katrina adams started playing tennis in 1975, it was arthur ashe who everyone wanted a picture of. seven years after his 1968 u.s.p win had blown open the doors of u.s. tennis for african american men, ashe was a sensation.

it meant a lot to see him playing this sport that i had gost picked up. yoack to 1968 and you look at what was happening in america from a civil rights perspective from a humanitarian perspective. and then you see arthur ashe win and raise that trophy and you know there's no greater moment in history i think for us in tennis than that because it really started to transcend and transform how tennis was viewed in america. >> reporte ashe's additional grand slam wins in australia in 1970, and wimbledon in 1975, established him as one the world's greatest. rit his triumphs stand as the last time an amecan male player of color has won each event. michael chang won the french open in 1989, the last time a snon-white, american man played in a grand slam singles final. in 1996 he was the last american male person of color to even appear in a grand slam final. american men have won 98 of the 364 grand ams played since

1924, only six of those were by people of color, just over 6% the numbers have been improving. n, the 18 americans playing in this year's u.s. oour are players of color. 29-year-old donald young, 23- year-old mackenzie mcdonald, 20- year-old michael mmoh and 20- year-old-frances tiafoe. that represents 22% of the male u.s players. >> they are continuing to rise we the ranks. e had a couple of good years here. you've got a couple of other younger youngsters coming up in francis tiafoe, taylor fritz, macky macdonald had an unbelievable showing at wimbledon. so there were a lot of players that are in peline that are that are coming he and in timewill be back at the top of the ranks. >> reporter: an integral part of developing this pipeline, is finding and cultivating untapped talent in underrepresented communities. after winning the u.s. open in 1968, arthur ashe co-founded the national the n.j.t.l. league, since its founding, hundreds of thousands of kids in underserved

areas across t country have gone through programs under the n.j.t.l. >> if i tap you, i want rdu to step foro this line. >> reporter: the junior tennis ch.,pions center, the j.t.c. has been bringing free tennis lessons in washington, d.c. and the surrounding area for nearly a decade. >> can i have a high-fope? that was d >> reporter: throughout the eight weeks, coach annessa taylor and the other coaches are watching closely, looking for one or two kids who not only show ability, but seem particularly interested in tennis. what makes one kid stand out from another at this level? >> it is almost that glow or that excitement to be here. you can tell that one kid who has never picked up a racket before but they're happy to have a racket in their hand and they're eager to learn when sitting there hugging their racquets when they swing, and then they're ready position, when they're focused on the ball. i thin's when you really see that potential in that kid because they're like i can do this. i can focus. llove it. hms try with this one. >> reporter: of the roughly 400 children who participate in the clinics, about 30 will be offered sclarships to attend

training sessions at j.t.c.c.'s facility in college park maryland. and those scholarsre key. for a handful players, it be the beginning of a tennis an education program that can last until they are 18. many of whom he go on to play in college and professionally. 13-year-old robin montgomery, who started in one of programs, won the junior national title this year. anlarships helped frances tiafoe train at the center since he was eight years old. now at age 20, tiafoe is rand 45th in the world. >> younger players like frances are bringing up tennis in this community, so more players are wantepg to play. >>ter: 19-year-old justice jones started at the j.t.c.c. when he was five years old. now a sophomore in college, he plays fothe university of delaware. >> i definitely think my generation, and inuding me, we e part of a change in the game, because usually people like me, they just want to play basketball, football, and all those other sports, but we are pushing to play tennis now >> reporter: but tennis can be an expensive journey if you want to play competitively. >> our sport is very cheap to get involved.

it's free for the most part to learn how to play. but once you develop and you start to get on a competitive track it's not so cheap. >> reporter: the j.t.c.c. estimates that if a young person goes through their full-time development program, it comes with a price tag of nearly $300,000. there is the cost of coaching, cost of travel to tournaments, entry fees and equipment. hich is paid for by the individual, not a team. >> even though we have you know hundreds of programs around the country. if your parents aren't in a position to even have the resources to find that program it's not their first thought because they're saying ok you can make $100 million over here playing basketball or football or basebl. you might make $100,000 playing tennis. >> reporter: now for women, is the same, but the external factors are different. if you are a top-tier athletic woman, there are few professional leagues f to play in.th certainly g as lucrative

as tennis can be for the top players. but if you're a male, stand out athlete like lebron james', who grew up playing on the basketball courts in akon, ohio, the courts of the u.s. open may have seemed like a less lucrative option. >> he's a phenomenal athlete. i think if he chose tennis and he wanteto be the next arthur bahe as african-american grand slam champion he py would have been that. i would say and i would hopeth a lot of the things that we're putting in place now that it takes time for that seeds to be watered and starts to grow and strengthen and maybe five to 10 years away from really seeing an influx of >> reporter: and what happens is frances tiafoe wins this year? >> francis tiafoe wins the open this year i'm going to do cartwheels. i'll tell you that would beaz g to see that happen. i mean obviously you've got ther likes ael nadal, roger federer, novak djokovic, saucest these top gut are playing hally well.

and you know i this primed to do well. but it's anybody's match at the end of the day. and i think if we can get him on that f when the world is to then we can get more young kids of color that are watching him perhaps he can just start that wave that would be in essence day. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, pulitzer-prize winning playwrig neil simon has died, according to his publicist. he was 91 years old. simon was a prolific comedic writer. his hit plays included "barefoot in the park," "the odd couple," and the eugene trilogy-- three plays that drew on upbringing as a depression-era child raised in new york. simon also adapted several of his plays into films, includin"" the odd couple" with jack lemmon and walter matthau. in addition to the pulitzer, simon won four tony awards, the mark tin prize for american

humor, and had a broadwayme theater after him in 1983. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by tmedia access groupbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made pible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein faly. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. rosalind p. walter. inarbara hope zuckerberg. corporate fuis provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. your's why we' retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs

station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

narrator: it's an animal you can't help but look up to. but what do we really know about giraffes? somehow, these gentle giants have been overlooked. but not by one man. dr. julian fennessy knows giraffes better than anyone. and ulian has recently discovered is truly alarming. julian: this silent extinction, i'm absolutely amazed that no one has a cl. narrator: in an urgent effort to help, julian will travel across africa, from namibia to the dangerous borde of ethiopia and south sudan, and on into uganda to launch daring rescue mission with a determined team. kan: giraffe is very beautiful.