#it's not just the players atp it's the whole family

[myauditionfordrphil]

What is worse- Santner going unsold or Santner in MI?

Also Chahar 😭😭😭

Did we (CSK) get good bowlers????? Yes

But am I still pissed about Chahar??? Also yes

He could have gone to any other team it would have been fine but going to MI is the worse thing ever😭😭😭😭😭

The only blue I want him to see him is Indian Blue 😭😭😭

Also Deshpande 😭😭😭😭 He was not that good be he was ours

Can you tell I am emotionally attached to all CSK players???

Dude I don't know, I miss Santa, our part time cricketer and full time golfer 🥹🥹🥹 somehow him going into MI just makes it worse but I couldn't bear if he went unsold that's a different kind of hurt (but still MI?!??!) Like he never got enough chances and yet always gave his best whenever he got the opportunity, he'll always be yellove 💛💛💛

And just don't get me started on Cherry 😭😭😭 he looked so sad like it physically hurted to see him like that but we couldn't do anything. CSK had only 13 cr in purse and still went upto 9 cr for him, just shows how badly we wanted him. Like many people say that he's average or whatnot, ok alright if somehow I agree that he's average (which I don't) he's still OUR average. All those posts by Jaya and Malti god I'm crying... who'll get scolded by Mahi on field, who'll come and take important wickets in powerplay, who will be the merry cherry in the team????!

Also I just can't imagine Chahar bowling against Rutu or worse Mahi at Wankhede and getting their wickets (100x worse if he celebrates tge wickets with the Mumbai crowd cz now that's his team). If CSK wins the title this year, it'll be the first one since 2018 (when I started supportive them) where Cherry's not in the squad. But no matter the team he'll always be our boy 💗

Brooo I'm also so emotionally attached with all these people, and for Deshpande (and Shardul, Moeen, Theeks, etc) as I said - they're average but they're OUR average 🥹 it's like losing Faf but 10x worse, this auction is very bittersweet with all the loses and reunions... Hopefully we'll come to love this team as much and hopefully we'll lift the trophy yet again this time 💛

[quickstappen]

track 004: the see is calm (before the storm)

A/N: i know i've disappeared for a while but it turns out that second year of college is very different to the first. now finally after two months i've got it under control so hopefully we'll have a semi-regular schedule for now, i'll try to post something every two weeks (on weekends most likely). anyway, this one's not very plot heavy but it's needed for the story, enjoy!

masterlist | previous next

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paola_sainz contrary to popular belief, I do actually work sometimes ;) keep your eyes open guys, things are getting done here

tagged: sean_cliff

see all comments...

F4ST_C4R oh please say its a new collection, i was too late for the 1st one and it sold out 😭

oui_lyanne who the fuck is sean

↳ 4ND1 from what i can see he's another designer

↳ oui_lyanne ooh, collab maybe? 👀

↳ f1w1tch OR the super secret boyf

L3CH41R well, looks like she's not in spa after all

mcwilliams are you gonna comment on the williams/carlos announcement??

↳ prplsector i mean,, why would she?? it's not her announcement, she's got a job

lightning_enjyr oh my god are those pieces from the new collection?? 😳

danielricciardo Respect the grind 💪🤠

↳ sadiebull sorry what is daniel ricciardo doing

↳ fastkiwi trying to relate to the youth lol

shithappens oh god women in suits 😳

STARG3N guys,,, what is carlos alcaraz doing in the likes

↳ hamilteaa the tennis player???

↳ STARG3N yeahhh

sean_cliff you know it's always a pleasure working with you 🤭

↳ paola_sainz oh I know, I am brilliant of course

↳ elmatadorf1 jesus what a self-centred bitch 💀

predestined55 no one's gonna buy this crap anyway 🐍

carlitosalcarazz We need to play again sometime! 🎾

↳ paola_sainz do your job at the Olympics first, then we'll see 👏

↳ isawthesainz THEY KNOW EACH OTHER???

↳ dutchlion sure looks like it 👀

oscarpiastri You gonna spend the whole summer break working too?

↳ paola_sainz actually no, this one guy invited me to visit his family you know

↳ oscarpiastri Lucky guy

↳ lightning_enjyr oui_lyanne surely you see my point now

↳ oui_lyanne everyday i am closer to believing you

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paola's messages:

paola_sainz posted new instagram stories!

caption 1: a little pitstop before our journey ;)

caption 2: mid-rant and a little drunk but he's fine, alive and well

⟶ alex_albon replied to your story!

alex_albon oh thank god you're with him, he hasn't been answering my calls and texts

paola_sainz yeahh, we figured. me and Osc are with him rn but we have to leave in the morning

alex_albon shit, how is he really? do you seriously have to leave?

paola_sainz he's better than yesterday, mostly pissed atp but I'm sure that the self-hatered and misery will come soon

paola_sainz and yeah we have to, we've been trying to visit Oscar's family together for ages

paola_sainz I think he's going home for the rest of the break

alex_albon jesus, that's good at least

alex_albon I'll try to reach out again

paola_sainz good idea

caption 3: couldn't take this little guy home, apparently "2 is enough cats Lola"

⟶ maxverstappen1 replied to your story!

maxverstappen1 I think you should've taken him anyway, he is very cute

paola_sainz I knoww! I named him Barron Meowmilton

paola_sainz unfortunately, I do not fancy sleeping on the couch for the foreseeable future so we left Barron at a local shelter ;)

maxverstappen1 Ah, I understand

maxverstappen1 We'll always remember you, Barron Meowmilton

caption 4: and we're off to see the future in-laws ;)

⟶ hattiepiastri replied to your story!

hattiepiastri has my brother done something we don't know about??

paola_sainz nahh, dw about it, you'd be first to know after your mum

paola_sainz I'm just sure I'm gonna marry him someday, there's no other option

hattiepiastri you're both so disgustingly gone for each other it should be studied

hattiepiastri can't wait to see you though

paola_sainz girll me too, it's been too long

paola's messages:

liked by jensonbutton, hattiepiastri and others

paola_sainz can confirm that kitties are just as cute down under as in the rest of the world ;)

see all comments...

shithappens paola talking about cats at all times? fork found in kitchen

arthur_leclerc did you try to take the cat home?

↳ oscarpiastri take a wild guess mate

↳ paola_sainz don't know what you're talking about mate

↳ oscarpiastri I have a feeling that you're gonna grossly overuse mate now

↳ paola_sainz now why would I do that... mate 😇

barbiegirl what are you doing in Australia girllll

elmatadorf1 thank god she's not going home with Carlos, he doesn't need her 🐍

jensonbutton Come back in one piece please

↳ paola_sainz don't you worry about that Jense, I am well taken care of ;)

oui_lyanne yeah okay she's actually in australia

charles_leclerc You're right, that's a very cute kitty

lightning_enjyr did you buy any new records?

oscarpiastri Have you seen the sights yet?

↳ paola_sainz not really, my tour guide has been kinda busy

↳ oscarpiastri That's a shame, there's a lot of great things to see

↳ paola_sainz don't worry mate, I've been looking at different kind of sights plenty enough, lot of beach days yk? I can wait a few more days 😉

↳ oscarpiastri Oh, well in that case 🫢

prplsector oscar is brave fr, I'll give him that 😳

4ND1 god the tension is this comment section is something else

ada_moore if Oscar's not the boyfriend and I was the boyfriend I am straight up fighting that man in some dark alley because that is so flirty and for what (if he IS the boyfriend, carry on please, the energy is unmatched)

L3CH41R how are her outfits always so good???

predestined55 Carlos just signed a contract and she's talking about cats and being a slut in the comments, great 😒

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hattiepiastri posted new instagram stories!

caption 1: did you know, we're killer on karaoke nights?

caption 2: doing all this late night talking

caption 3: we're keeping her oscarpiastri, if you don't wife her up I will

⟶ oscarpiastri replied to your story!

oscarpiastri You don't have to worry about that

paola_sainz posted new instagram stories!

caption 1: g'day mate! celebrity crush meet up officially checked out from my wishlist

caption 2: the locals showing me the best ice cream places in town

caption 3: hands that have never seen manual labour

⟶ oscarpiastri replied to your story!

oscarpiastri hey!

paola_sainz you're offended like it's not true

caption 4: bad bitch on the beach

liked by oscarpiastri, danielricciardo and others

paola_sainz most unexpected crossover of the year? maybe not as unexpected as you think! me and Robert did some cool things this week and I got to meet some sweet pets, I might not come back from 'Straya

see all comments...

N3CKSTRI excuse me- Robert Irwin and Paola Sainz in one place? i might actually die

prplsector spain's sweetheart with australia's sweetheart, way too cute

dutchlion can someone actually explain to me how people can hate her? if you don't like her content just stop looking at it, but actually hating on her?? can't imagine

robertirwinphotography It was good to finally see you! The animals already miss you

↳ paola_sainz oh god please don't say that, I'll cry for real 😭 I miss them too

shithappens i dunno, i still think it's pretty unexpected

fastkiwi the way this isn't even the wildest thing she's done this season 😳

predestined55 can you like rot in hell now? two faced bitch 🐍

barbiegirl they'd look sooooo goooood together

↳ zoebryne_x ik right??

logansargeant Is zookeeper next on the cv?

↳ paola_sainz you're laughing but I'd be an amazing zookeeper

↳ logansargeant Who told you that? I wouldn't trust them, you'd end up taking all the animals home

↳ paola_sainz Robert said I'd do great!

↳ logansargeant I think that's just his job, plus he's too nice to tell you the truth

↳ paola_sainz you're mean, see if I bring you gifts when I get back

4ND1 can I meet Robert Irwin now??

oscarpiastri Still looking at sights?

↳ paola_sainz why, you jealous mate?

↳ oscarpiastri Don't worry, just curious

lightning_enjyr are they even trying to hide it atp???

elmatadorf1 can she just injure sth since she's playing tennis so much? maybe then we'd get a break from her stupid face 🤢

↳ STARG3N you guys are literally insane what the hell

madi_races every time i open the comment section i get whiplash, on twt everyone is trying to figure out who the boyfriend is, the press is eating this all up, people are placing bets and here is oscar just shamelessly flirting, it's like a different universe

arthur_leclerc I'm coming with you next time

↳ paola_sainz ditch Charles and come here then

hammertime_1 guys i really don't think Oscar's the boyfriend, she's just way out of his league

isawthesainz jesus she's so cringe, excuse me while i throw up

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paola's messages:

NETHERLANDS 2024

liked by charles_leclerc, logansargeant and others

oscarpiastri And we're back 👍 break at home was good but it's nice to be racing again

see all comments...

laile_f1 he's never beating the calm cat allegations

catstri81 that is the most oscar caption to ever caption

maximumformula he's doing the dad pose 😭

4ND1 i can't with him 😭 he's just a guyy

chat_withmani ohh he's posted the girlfriend!!

elmatadorf1 i can't believe he still has a seat

↳ prplsector can you guys stop being fucking petty for a minute

paola_sainz so did the girlfriend like it in the down under mate?

↳ oscarpiastri Yeah, since she's now best friends with my sister I'm pretty sure she did mate 🙄

↳ paola_sainz what, you jealous of your sister?

↳ oscarpiastri She basically stole my girlfriend

lestappen116 he looks so happy 😭

fastkiwi it was good to see you back at home

landonorris Let's go mate! Good weekend 👍

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paola's messages:

click here to be added to the carved my name taglist!

taglist: @blushmimi @Ale-522 @joalslibrary @jaydaaasworld @vroomvroommuppett @sugarhoneylemons @formulaonebuff @clove0 @rockyhayzkid @glitzyditzy @coriyaps @irishmanwhore @gr3yhues @kikiki04 @fall-bambi @nichmeddar @sunfairyy @formulaal @marauders-wife @theseus-jpg @heavy-vettel @anxxiousaries @linaversion @gloriousmoneyrascalbiscuit @d3kstar @camelliaflow3r @delululeclerc @lesliiieeeee (xxx - couldn't tag you)

DISCLAIMER: i do not know anything about this people, this is not real life, this is just something for fun, i do not know anythings about their life or personalities!

[aoioozora]

I just finished watching CoD Ghosts...

and my thoughts on it are:

first of all, I'm glad Riley is not dead. poor baby took a shot and his whimpers broke my heart :((( but his presence in the first 2-3 campaigns (if I'm not mistaken) made watching the game quite nice

Keegan looks the coolest in the Federation Day campaign. Honorable mention to his excellent driving skills in another campaign and also calling Logan 'kid'. I was amazed by his ability to sneak up on Fed soldiers and silently kill them. Makes him so much the more deadly.

Rorke killed Elias for WHAT. I know it's revenge, brainwashing, and beating down the morale of the boys, but still, damn. I only watched Elias die like yesterday and i still haven't recovered. I lowkey really missed hearing his voice in the later campaigns like I was actually his kid (well we do play as Logan so). But yeah they really did well on the family closeness and relationship to make the player/viewer feel this sense of loss

atp I think Hesh is the main character of Ghosts because bruh, Rorke took his dad AND his brother. developers lowkey gave him the Jujutsu Kaisen treatment but to a lesser degree. I don't know if a sequel is coming but if they make one where they weren't able to save Logan, I'm sure Hesh will be the main character, and boy what a ride it will be for poor traumatised Hesh to go up against the only one person he had left in his life. Not only would he have to face-off with a brainwashed Logan, but he'd eventually have to kill him too, and Rorke (if he manages to remain alive). He'd have his vengeance but also, at what cost. I can't imagine the additional trauma it would dish out to Hesh. And if by that time both sides have children who also join the military and have learnt about the either side, I can see a vendetta happening. But but alternatively, since it's the US military we're talking about, we know they won't leave anyone behind. I can alternatively see a hostage rescue happening, and they'll go all out on their enemies while they're at it. Maybe this is why there's no sign of a sequel. The events that take place after Logan's capture is left to our imagination.

Free my boy Logan >:( I was spoiled about Rorke taking Logan captive. I get a bit bothered by spoilers, but thanks to this spoiler, I was able to notice a couple bits where Rorke expresses interest in taking in Logan. I think that's pretty cool

The story was wonderful as a whole. The voice acting was amazing, especially for Hesh. I could keenly feel his pain and anger in the more tragic scenes in the game. The audio-visual aspect was amazing; almost made me wonder how they knew what it looked like to be in those specific situations like drowning or that ringing in the ears. I feel like it would be hard to replicate but they did such an amazing job on it. It was very immersive. I think I'd feel everything ten-fold if I got a chance to play the game for myself.

Ah, that was one hell of a ride. Now I gotta finish reading Devil's Breath.

Also, Happy 4th of July! God bless your troops, God bless America :)

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[ivorythecalico]

Intro post :3

Hi everyone!! I'm new to tumblr and rlly excited to get started with everything on here! I created this acct pretty much just so i could lurk but i'll try to be active every so often.

Stuff about me

I go by the name Chloe and she/they pronouns, and please keep in mind that i am UNDER 18

I fucking love music and I'm a massive strings player (namely guitar and fiddle). I'm super into punk and my favorite artists rn areee

Against Me

Street Dogs

Distillers

Crass

Reagan Youth

Bad Religion

Circle Jerks

I am a trans woman and I'm extremely lucky to have very supportive friends and family throughout everything. It's been just over a year since i came out and almost 8 months on HRT now (1/20/24)!!

I'm also a split-attraction pan lesbian which is something that took me a long ass time to figure out and I'm goddamn happy that I did.

I've been dating @goldeythehamster for 3 months now and i couldn't be happier :3

I've had mental health problems my whole life (asd, gad, mdd, bpd, gender dysphoria) and I'm still doing my very best to work through them but I haven't been able to get a handle on my bpd which means i split A LOT over every little thing that I don't like. I'm going to try with everything I have to not get into dumb fights on here and say really hurtful things that I don't mean, but it's pretty much inevitable atp with the way I am :(

With that being said if you have any problem with who I am as a person I ask of you to kindly shove it up your ass and DNI with me

Racists, misogynists, homophobes, transphobes, ableists, exclusionists and otherwise bigoted or discriminatory people DNI WITH ME❗️❗️

that's it <3

[clovercow8228]

gillion and chip as hadestown!orpheus and eurydice

ok so i was listening to hadestown again because i love it dearly and i am still desperately trying to cope with ep 101 and i was like haha. chip and gillion as orpheus and eurydice. because yknow in the context of the actual myth you could compare it to the whole feywild arc and whatnot.

but then i listened to it more (more than halfway through the first song) and i realized it’s way better (worse) if you have it the other way around with chip as hadestown eurydice and gillion as hadestown orpheus. (there’s another way to read it too but we’ll get to that because it’s a bit more convoluted since. well it’s basically a game theory atp)

i’m going through this song by song because i have never felt happiness or peace ever

Road to Hell: ok so ignoring the gods for now. road to hell does eurydice a little dirty so for this song it’s just orpheus i’m talking about, but hermes describes him as a muse’s son and touched by the gods themselves. ok cool whatever so what Any Way the Wind Blows: “eurydice was a hungry young girl / a runaway from everywhere she’d ever been”? like yeah ok sure cool (side note? “ain’t nobody gonna stick around when the dark clouds roll” and  for chip, mr. constantly both afraid his crew will stay and will leave anytime something bad happens and who literally lost his family in the hole in the sea? silly.) plus for orpheus, “and this poor boy wore his heart on his sleeve / you might say he was naive to the ways of the world / but he had a way with words”. that’s my boy right there

Come Home with Me: most of this is just very funny (”oh, a liar and a player too?”) but “why would i become his wife?” “because he’ll make you feel alive” kinda got me a little tbh. and there’s also the ongoing theme of orpheus working on something to fix the balance of the world, which he can do because he’s touched by the gods.

Livin’ it Up on Top: most of this i’ll talk about when i talk about the gods because woo boy that should be a post of its own with how much psychological damage it caused me. but “there was a girl who had always run away / you might say it was in spite of herself / that this young girl decided to stay” for chip?

All I’ve Ever Known: yeahhhhhhhh nothing real metaphorical about this one. fnc shippers come get yalls juice ig idk that’s really all for that one

A Gathering Storm: title aside, the whole thing is eurydice being concerned about the practical way they will survive the winter while orpheus works on his song to make the world right again.

When the Chips are Down: hand to god i did not think about that pun until now. but yeah this whole song really sold it for me. “help yourself (to hell with the rest), even the one who loves you best / take if you can (give if you must), ain’t nobody but yourself to trust / aim for the heart (shoot to kill), if you don’t do it then the other one will” are interesting enough to think about with chip because basically his whole thing is not turning out like that but there are still some times (mainly early on) that he gets a little closer to those ideas. finally, “cast your eyes to heaven / you get a knife in the back”. put your life in the hands of anything but yourself and you get fucked over.

Wait for Me intro: alright one god i can pitch right now. hermes with the “so, just how far would you go for her? you got a ticket? yeah, i didn’t think so. course there is another way, but nah, i ain’t supposed to say.” being as mean as possible rn? hermes as niklaus would work as absolutely unfortunate as that is. which also makes the “ain’t no compass, brother, ain’t no map” line in the actual song even funnier since it’s hermes describing how to get to the underworld to save eurydice.

Wait for Me: the fates hit orpheus with the self doubt and worry that essentially he’s not the chosen one, part one. don’t really need to explain that one

Way Down Hadestown (Reprise): now hear me out on this. because hades’ whole bit is deals for people’s souls. eurydice signs a deal to give him her soul in exchange for not starving to death, and this song is her realizing what that really means and trying to defend it. which i will admit, makes it seem like it would work for niklaus too. but we’ll come back to that

If it’s True: “is this how the world is? to be beaten and betrayed and then be told that nothing changes?” now this one got me a little, between gillion’s ‘my last sin’ speech and what he said to jay in the block.

Intro to Wait for Me (Reprise): “it’s a trap?” “it’s a trial.” hermes explaining to orpheus and eurydice the conditions of them being allowed to leave. at the end of the day, according to hermes, their success rides on whether they trust each other and themselves. arguably the most recurring theme of riptide.

Doubt Comes In: orpheus doubting that he actually has the power to bring her back, thinking he has been tricked or is too weak to do it. in gillion’s own mind, his fatal flaw is not knowing if he believes he can be the chosen one or protect his friends. and for orpheus, he couldn’t.

a good amount of the songs are missing because i haven’t talked about hades and persephone yet. they’re. a separate issue

[luckyqueenreign]

LITG: Double Trouble EP 10 Recap

here we go....

*spoilers under the cut*

NAUR....this is not how we're starting off....with their lips almost touching because I know damn well Amelia's ass knows that thats lewie atp even if his ass is blind. AND for her ass to be like "you thought I was MC?!?!" GTFOH. look im not giving Lewie a free pass here either you mean to tell me he saw Amelia getting into bed and he cant tell that it wasnt MC?!?! but MC from ACROSS THE ROOM could see that it was both of them.... BOMBASTIC SIDE EYE

ughhh why are Roberto and Lewie fighting...now Ozzy has to break them apart and he cant spend time with MC!! So Amelia is gonna take MC away for a chat on the terrace to regurgitate these childhood stories we've already heard before. I wanna know about Prom night!!! and of course theyre still not gonna tell us anything...ugh whatever this is its coming out in challenge atp bc Amelia "cant ever find the time to talk to us about this" I think we couldve done without reliving those childhood memories and she couldve told us about prom then but thats just me.

yayyyy villa chats! I will say I LOVE that they brought this back. Obvi immediately running to Ozzy 💖 "there might be someone else catching her eye. or mine" 😏 (side note: I LOVE the realism they added in of Grace watching MC and Ozzy) OZZY KNOWS ZEPH!!! im glad we finally got that confirmed and this is now, the what 8th mention of Zeph?? atp its not a question of if hes coming in but rather when. *diamond choice* basically Ozzy was his backup dancer and he didnt really hang out with Zeph that much but one night they had a deep chat and he told Ozzy about a girl that he made a mistake and just cut her out. he always regretted not giving her closure...Ozzy thinks this was about MC and that Zeph only had nice things to say about MC. Ozzy wants to be a choreographer but he said that this promoter set him back career wise....ITS HIS BROTHER GUYS. MARSHALL IS THE ONE THAT SET HIM BACK CAREER WISE. Im calling it right now. When MC asks him about it he just says it's a long story. And this was all in the middle of when hes talking about his family and how theyre close. and then proceeds to say he's had sibling drama too...."close doesnt always mean perfect"

ok im gonna run these two super fast bc im sorry guys im just over them and Idc...the whole I dont trust MC convo is such a weird one tbh. and why is Lewie ducking at the question of whether he likes MC or not. He's "apparently" been about her since day one why wouldnt he make it known to the other guy pursuing her??? and Roberto's whole thing about trying to save face in front of the boys booooooo...

Ryan chat *diamond scene* Everybody was talking about MC last night...Ryan pushed Roberto to show mc how he felt (even tho I told his ass I was good on Roberto) Lewie asked Roberto to back off (this doesnt make any sense based on what Lewie said about trying to save face...but ok) Roberto said he wouldnt back off and Ryan asked if we thought it was cool for Lewie to be telling ppl were closed off (eerily feels like Molly and Mitchel from this season of LI) We find out that Lewie has trust issues bc one of the players on his team, their gf was making eyes at Lewie...he ignored it but the teammate still tried to get lewie dropped as captain and did it behind his back. Ryan tells us hes into Amelia.

Amelia chat: she's complaining about none of the boys really being into her.. I still think its bizarre were sitting here having a normal convo when she literally tried to kiss Lewie last night but whatevs... EEK she noticed Ozzy was super flirty with us during our chat. "theres something about how he looks at you" 💖🥹 ok all is forgotten re: last night!! i did tell her Ryan was into her bc idc about that man and hes going home tonight anyway lol.

ughhh here come tweedledee and tweedledum going on about how they need us to make a decision... leave me alone...I literally told u both im good! saved by the text!!

[coochiequeens]

maybe the ATP should have offered equal prizes fir men and women players before they tried to help Saudi Arabia "sportswash" it's image

Egyptian tennis pro Mayar Sherif does not pretend to be an expert on the subject of Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights, other than to say: “I know it’s not the best.”

What Sherif, who made her Wimbledon debut this week, did say is she thinks it’s possible positive steps can be made in that area if tennis follows the path of golf and other sports by doing business with — and competing in — the kingdom that boasts a $650 billion sovereign wealth fund.

“Women’s rights in the Arabic world need to improve. ... If you start changing this from the outside by bringing in tournaments, and start to create a different kind of atmosphere, that’s going to help,” Sherif said in an interview with The Associated Press at the All England Club.

“If you put women with skirts — and so on and so forth — on court, maybe one young girl from Saudi Arabia sees the matches there and says, ‘I want to play tennis. I want to be like those girls.’ And that’s a way to change a mindset.”

Sherif is not alone in hoping for that sort of transformative effect in a place where rights groups say women continue to face discrimination in most aspects of family life and homosexuality is a major taboo, as it is in most of the rest of the Middle East. Whether engagement will work, as International Tennis Hall of Famer and rights advocate Billie Jean King argues (“I don’t think you really change unless you engage,” she said last week), or this whole phenomenon is an example of “sportswashing,” whereby Saudi Arabia and other countries — think of Russia or China hosting the Olympics, or Qatar hosting the men's soccer World Cup — use fields of play to change their public image, what seems quite clear is that tennis is, indeed, going to be next.

The ATP is working to conclude a multi-year deal to put its Next Gen Finals — the end-of-season event held each November for the tour’s leading young players — in Saudi Arabia. WTA Chairman Steve Simon’s visit to the kingdom with some tour players in February, and his acknowledgement last week that his organization will “continue to have conversations” with the Saudis, make it sound as if the women’s tour is preparing to head there, too.It probably is not a coincidence that, days before Simon’s comments, his tour announced plans to increase payouts at tournaments so that women will make the same as men at more events in the coming years.

The common denominator in all of this?

“Money talks in our world right now,” said 2022 French Open semifinalist Daria Kasatkina, who came out as gay last year.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has enacted wide-ranging social reforms, including granting women the right to drive and largely dismantling male guardianship laws that had allowed husbands and male relatives to control many aspects of women’s lives. Men and women are still required to dress modestly, but the rules have been loosened and the once-feared religious police have been sidelined. Gender segregation in public places has also been eased, with men and women attending movie screenings, concerts and even raves — something unthinkable just a few years ago.

Still, same-sex relations are punishable by death or flogging, though prosecutions are rare. Authorities ban all forms of LGBTQ+ advocacy, even confiscating rainbow-colored toys and clothing.

Thanks at least in part to social media, women in Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Arab world, are aware of the gap between their lives and those of women in less restrictive societies. But Saudi women who seek to carve out some freedom for themselves have been punished. Even as the government has enacted top-down reforms, it has severely cracked down on any form of political dissent, arresting women’s rights activists and other critics and sentencing them to long prison terms and travel bans, sometimes on the basis of a few tweets.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has worked to get himself out of international isolation since the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. He also clearly wants to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil. What is not clear is how much any particular sports deal might influence the kingdom’s approaches to women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

“It would be wrong to not entertain the conversation. You can look at it from negative and positive ways — and I just don’t think things are black and white,” said Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion and a former No. 1-ranked woman in tennis. “We do need financial help to make those (prize money) changes quicker, hopefully. But also look at it from a standpoint of: How can we be helpful? Where can we go to create change?”

No one truly believes that was a part of the equation when the PGA Tour, European Tour and the PIF-backed LIV Golf announced a collaboration last month. Or when Formula One placed a race in Saudi Arabia in 2021. Or when the kingdom bought English soccer club Newcastle United that year.

There will be plenty of interested eyes and ears in tennis paying attention next week when the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations holds a hearing about the proposed collaboration between the PGA Tour, European Tour and the PIF-funded LIV Golf.

Tennis and golf share some key similarities, most notably: The athletes are independent contractors. There aren’t annual salaries in tennis the way there are in team sports such as the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball.

“Was just a question of time when (the Saudis) were (going) to start some kind of negotiations or conversations in tennis to try to enter tennis,” said Novak Djokovic, who won his men’s-record 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open last month and now is aiming for No. 24 at Wimbledon.

“We, as an individual sport on a global level, are probably closest to golf,” Djokovic said. “From that example, we can probably learn a lot — some positives, some negatives — and try to structure a deal, if it’s going in that direction, in a proper way that is going to protect the integrity and tradition and history of this sport, but still be able to grow it in such way that it will be appropriate.”

Copyright AP - Associated Press

[emma-radfemcanu]

Ok I know my tennis posts are usually just me rambling to myself lol BUT this is really important and it’s been on my mind all day... just before I start ranting I should say this goes into detail about domestic abuse and suicide

I’ve talked about this before but there’s this German player called Alexander Zverev who was very credibly accused of domestic abuse by his ex girlfriend, a woman called Olya Sharypova. Olya’s story (along with evidence such as photos of bruises, screenshots of text messages, accounts from friends and witnesses) is outlined in two articles by the journalist Ben Rothenberg- Zverev won an injunction to get them blocked in some areas of Europe but if you go on his wikipedia page you can view the archived versions, they’re tough reads but worth it

Anyway the ATP were doing an investigation into her accusations- the main 3 incidents referred to in the articles were the US Open, Shanghai Masters and the Laver Cup (which isn’t technically an ATP event but they’re affiliated), basically these incidents happened at their events so they’re obliged to ‘investigate’ I can’t remember which one it was but at one point Olya was so distressed that she tried to take an overdose and when Zverev found her he got a tournament official before any medical attention... so they can’t act like they had no idea what was going on

The ‘investigation’ took 16 months and today they declared that there is ‘insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse’ and obviously the usual suspects are quick to yell that he must be innocent... insufficient evidence doesn’t mean he didn’t do it, it just means it couldn’t be proved. And given that it took 4 months for them to even speak to Olya I can’t say that I have much faith in how thorough it was. I just feel awful for her, she’s been so brave in coming forward and she deserves much better than this half arsed investigation

It was almost a year ago that Zverev was defaulted from a match for trying to hit an umpire, at the time it seemed very telling- if he was willing to do that in front of an entire audience and TV cameras then what is he like in private? Olya has photos of her bruises, her story has been backed up by family friends, she is very credible and people are acting like she’s out to ruin his life. She’s had so much abuse online after coming forward, what exactly does she have to gain if no one really believes her and the ATP don’t care?

Zverev isn’t the first either. Nick Kyrgios is in court next month for common assault of his girlfriend, and Nikoloz Basilashvili was recently found not guilty of domestic violence against his wife... after the judge asked why his wife didn’t say anything sooner and the court staff were all asking for pictures and autographs. Yeah, that screams unbiased and fair trial 🙄 to a certain extent I get why the ATP don’t want to act on claims that haven’t been proved, but given how little effort they put into ‘investigating’ this and how hard they’ve tried to cover it up (blocking people on twitter who mention it, vaguely referring to it as ‘legal trouble’ etc), it really seems like they just don’t care. They spent a long time marketing Zverev as their golden boy so I think that’s a big part of it

I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just feel so angry and deflated about the whole thing. Olya deserves better and it’s so depressing to think how this can happen and people pretend to care but really they don’t. And how women are so quick to be accused of lying even when they have loads of evidence, meanwhile Zverev has literally behaved violently in public and loads of excuses are made for him

[paddockpr]

Ohhh i would live the directors Cut of your writing 😱😱😱… you mention Djokovic, are you a tennisfan??? Because that is my second love. I think the Djokovic being anti-vaxx was just the last straw in a Long Line of thing that have bothered tennisfans, just like the Brazil thing was the last straw for Max. But i may be wrong??

Hey anon! Who knows, maybe one of these days I will give the people the Director's Cut! Thank you so much for reading it ♡

And yes I am a big big tennis fan. My family is big into tennis, so I have watched it practically my whole life I really love it, its always great to find other fans!

This is slightly shorter but:

You are not at all wrong! As a matter of fact I'd say that his fall from grace began accelerating in 2016 when he made misogynistic comments about the wealth gap in tennis, and said that men and the ATP should make more money. At the time beyond the obvious that by 2016 people found the idea of arguing in favor of a wage gap to be distasteful and archaic, that also was a time that fans witnessed him leveraging a position of power as one of the biggest male tennis players to advocate for paying women less. He was already disliked before that of course, when it comes to men's tennis people tended more towards Nadal and Federer after the Wimbledon 2008 final, and audiences were often more drawn to talented male tennis players with a more "personable" image like Andy Murray.

Djokovic has always had PR blunders, and for him it was always that audiences felt he had a sense of entitlement about him, and a sense of viewing others around him as a joke of sorts. His career had a lot of fanfare around his impersonations of other tennis players etc in the beginning when the audiences loved it and found it playful but then when it came to the kinds of comments he would make and such, audiences became less enamored by that and it stopped being viewed as a bit and became a "he is taunting them".

Many had drawn the line with the wealth gap comments, especially feeling that it was not only misogyny, but also a sign that Djokovic held the view that he is something beyond human. When an athlete is mythologized, they cannot be the ones to day that they are god-like, the audiences must choose to ascribe that to them. Then there is of course all of the things he has said about health, diet and medicine that set a dangerous precedent.

For the people who remained up until the discovery that he is anti-vaxx finally were fed up and done giving him grace because he is a person of influence, behaving in a way that endangers other people's health and wellbeing, and he expected certain exceptions to be made for him because he is a tennis player. Those years of entitlement and "I deserve, men deserve" and the at this point decade long hawking of negligent health advice that are rooted in no science and then he went out of his way to try and attend tournaments unvaccinated.

PR wise, people who regularly watch tennis already didn't like tennis, but then now audiences that didn't watch tennis were introduced to Djokovic as someone who tried to get exceptions made for him to attend without vaccination, an exception that no other player received. This also reflected negatively on tennis organizers, which is also why it was made explicit for the US Open that he would not have exceptions made. Prior he had curried favor with these bodies even as he angered tennis fans, but then finally his behavior impacted their image and subsequently, the straw broke the proverbial camel's back.

[masnmounts]

i think we ALL want tuchel back but we gotta deal with what we have but atp this is so sad to watch bc most of them aren’t mid so what’s the problem then? it’s devastating to see how much mase is ruining his reputation with these missed chances and we all know how harsh medias are

in my opinion getting rid of graham wouldn’t actually do much, it’s gotten to the point where it’s not our manager and it’s the players themselves. they don’t try, they don’t seem to want it and the mentality is very low which leads to them doing nothing and giving up. the players that was have can be so class when they won’t to be, and they don’t want to be so therefore they are bad. i think the whole thing about injuries is the reason we are not doing so well atm, it’s not even about the fact key players are injured, it’s the fact that they all miss each other. they’re all on big family and ofc the impact these missing players have is huge but they throw off the dynamic for the others. i’ve given up the hope of change until we get our boys back, until at least ben + reece return to play and we don’t have anymore injuries every game as again today trev went down. all of these boys have bad games + they’re all bad atm, i just hope for change and for the vibe in training to be brought back up so they can get through this.

[isa-nofor-me]

PART THREE (wrapping this gameplay up) Annalise Darby x Adriel Kruse.

Annalise seems to start a routine of calling and asking for dates. Adriel never says no... I mean how could he, It's Anna-fkn-lise. (I wouldn't say no).

She's improved her date planning by not taking us to the STORE (if you didn't see, it was full of gnomes and boat *skin crawls*)- well actually now that i think of it, she took Adriel to StrangerVille... nvm.

When we arrived at the bar Adriel couldn't even gas her up at all before, she went to another man with the same hairstyle. Annalise whispered to the man, and they went to the only private place... the restroom. I was shocked, appalled, and flabbergasted. But guess what Adriel was CALM. He sucked it up, he realized they weren't in a relationship (yet) and he sat down at a table. That was until he joined some other people in the same restroom as Anna (pfft). (There was 5 ppl in there btw).

She ended first and when* she noticed Adriel, she was livid, heartbroken. She then went to AN ALIEN and did it all over again. This time Adriel had a reaction to her mess, he was hurt, "how could you" type beat. But do you know what Annalise said?! (when the date event ended) "yeah, um... don't call me again."

FYI- The romance was like -40% (in the red) atp and the friendship was at about -10%.

Adriel had to work (criminal activity fr) so he was out of there asap. When he got back home, he just wanted to talk things over with Bae. He called her on Facetime and told her to come over.

Annalise is so bummed but the whole time she ~wAnTs~ Adriel but he's like 'Not right now girl, talk to me' (once she got a taste, she couldn't get enough). After he asks her what her problem was, she replies "It's not my fault... not entirely at least" (...ma'am). Adriel kept trying to (smoothly) apologize but idk where that got him. (I think bc he rejected her advances MANY times she was getting more upset with him). He let her have him at one point (irrelevant) but she was still so angry.

Adriel tried; he really did. He then started an argument about her excessive "behavior" and how she was a bad parent AND said she ruined their friendship... (Why is he right tho.. I mean I get it). Annalise started to despise him.

FYI- romance = -100% and friendship = -78%

Adriel thought he couldn't lose her, so he gave her what she needed. BING. (and that's when I cheated the relationship % to: romance +44 and friendship = +10... it doesn't make sense but who-cares)

He took her back home and noticed that her daughter, Sheena was desperately in need of a new diaper and bath, so he took care of it.

Though he was annoyed by being soaked he was glad he could help Annalise with her youngster.

Sometime after this he confessed his feelings to Lise and asked her to be his Girlfriend. (It took me hours to find the button to confess feelings... ughh)

Final thoughts: Annalise is a khornball and disregarded her Loyal trait on her own terms but took it out on the man that wasn't even her man.

I really was team Adriel this gameplay. I didn't even intentionally create him to be a player or a toxic man so i went out of my way to avoid that.

oh jeez, this is long, sorry.

I ALSO THINK THEY WILL HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY, but FIRst Lise needs to ditch the flavored air sticks.

[yuerikoko]

100% with this. I like Jars too but the fact that they treat her as a plot device for the ship to sail is just… not it.

But the last paragraph. This. This right here is what some fans need to learn. The idea that Angela loves Lars so much she would do anything that makes him happy, even if it means letting him go and seeing him be with someone who isn’t her is much more in character with her than the whole “yandere” narrative where she would go as far as to hurt him to show her “love” for him. How can she do that when literally her most defining trait is the fact that she loves him (and her kids) so much? ToT

We really need to unlearn the idea that Angela is this cold-hearted, unsympathetic monster who doesn’t understand what it means to genuinely love someone (I mean, she’s literally been married for 15 YEARS iirc, if she didn’t understand the concept of love or has an unhealthy view on it, it likely wouldn’t last that long or be as stable) or is only using others for her personal gain when time and time again, she has shown that she really cares about people. Why else would she paint those Matryoshka dolls after her teammates in Eurasia? Why else would she offer to compensate Carmen and the player for her understandable neuroticism when one of her children literally went missing in that one case? Why else would she actively condemn SOMBRA’s child experimentation AND actually acted against it on her own?

TL;DR: I hate that so much of Angela hate is literally towards a made up version of her that is literally not even her anymore atp.

PS: I would also like to add that I once yapped about her to a friend who knows nothing about CC and they said that she may not even be as “morally gray” as people make her out to be. Maybe she did have questionable beliefs at some point, but overall, her core values/main goal actually seems normal (e.g. wanting your family to be safe and happy). It’s just that the circumstances she was placed in (which were out of her control) forced her to make some tough choices that could cost her everything and maybe even the result of the writers flunking on her because she wasn’t as popular and was pretty disliked at the time considering that C42 was still rather recent from then.

I think I now get where all the Angela hate (and mischaracterization) came from

(Posting another ramble dedicated to my beloved yay)

I might sound like I’m beating a dead horse here since the Angela hate has died down as of recently but I still can’t help but wonder why she had received that much hate in the first place. What warranted her to get this much hate even until recently, whereas other characters who are written similarly to her, or have done much worse, are not as actively hated? Where did the popular fanon conception of her— one that portrayed her as an abuser, stalker and even r wordist at one point— also come from?

After some thinking and also me having known this fandom for 3 years up to this point, I think(?) I was finally able to trace where all this hate came from and where the infamous fanon version of her came to be.

CW: spoilers for WE and mentions of abuse/stalking/sexual assault and other potentially triggering themes. Please proceed with caution.

Also note: I do not intend to harass or call anyone out with this. Therefore, I will not be naming any names (if any) nor will I mention any works that can be triggering. This is simply a meta analysis trying to dissect a character’s fan reception, and while I may give my own thoughts somewhere down the line, I will also try to be as objective as possible with my observations.

0. Pre-C42

Before C42 came out, Angela did not receive as much hate. She wasn’t as popular as Jack or Elliot either, yet people didn’t have a reason to hate her at all prior to IPS. It was likely because she didn’t have much to remember her by other than being “Lars’s wife” or the S3 coroner, either due to the fact that she doesn’t have as much screen time as compared to other characters, or simply doesn’t have anything that makes her stick out as a character or as iconic as others in the team (e.g. Jack, Elliot and Marina for their designs, Lars, Carmen and Elliot for their attitudes towards the team and other people around them in general).

This, however, will be a topic of discussion again in a while, so please keep this in mind as we move on to the next point in this analysis.

1. The aftermath of C42 and C56

This seems to be the starting point of this whole hullabaloo, and understandably so. Angela had just murdered someone, betrayed us, and tried to frame other people for it (C42) and of course, people were upset about it, yet there were still those who had hope for her and tried to sympathize with her. And then came C56, where she returned, but as a colder, more aggressive version of herself that has pledged loyalty to SOMBRA and was willing to carry out their orders so dutifully that she was willing to plant a bomb. This, of course, likely fueled the hate and people had more of a reason to hate her when she made fun of Dupont’s death. Although one take in particular did stand out to me (and not in a good way):

The idea that she doesn’t genuinely love Lars.

Yes, I do understand that this is a very old take from 2016 and things may change from there, but I would just like to highlight how dangerous it is to perceive characters this way. Takes like these erase the complexities of her writing and essentially reduce her— someone who has had to make a lot of hard decisions to even be with Lars, which became the basis of the person she was up to that point— into a nothing more than a caricature of how people think morally gray characters should be based on whether or not they are deemed “good” or “bad” in the traditional sense.

I also do think certain plot holes in PS’s handling of her character in the final case also contributed to it. It felt ridiculous to see how a character whose most defining trait is being family oriented suddenly turned cold and bitter towards her old team, unhesitatingly claiming that they were enemies now as if their previous friendships did not matter. Maybe this was where the idea that she’s manipulative and/or possessive came from: since she was still clinging onto Lars and the triplets (that her literal last wish was to see them again) while showing this lack of compassion that would be unnatural to her past self.

With that said, the fact that she wasn’t as memorable as a main character but was more iconic as a traitor/antagonist did contribute to mixed opinions from the fandom back then. While a lot of people seemed to be mad at the things she’s done, there were some who thought it made her more interesting as a character. I guess it depends on subjective interpretation in this case, though unfortunately, back when WE first came out, many people fell into the mindset of black-and-white morality, and end up hamfisting complex and nuanced characters into extremes based on whether or not they like them.

2. Fanon/“Yandere” Angela

Following the events of WE, this seems to be a very common fandom perception of her. This subject is somewhat hard to accurately put into words, but I will try my best to give my analysis and thoughts on it, so please correct me if I get something wrong.

For those who don’t know, this is what a yandere is supposedly defined as:

TL;DR: yanderes are known to be violent, possessive and obsessed with a particular love interest. This may even go to the extent of hurting any potential “rivals” or even their love interests themselves.

If you have been in the fandom long enough, and especially if you’re into WE or Angela, you might find that there have been numerous fanfics that described her this way: as an absolutely horrible person who abuses and even stalks Lars in some, along with getting upset when others get close to him.

It may have originated from Wattpad, where there were two fics (afaik) focused on the concept of Angela being a yandere in itself. This, and considering the fact that there is barely any fan material of Angela (most especially fics) and that almost every fic that has her in it at the time either has her play an antagonistic role or use her as a plot device (usually for other ships to happen) may have contributed to the whole idea of her being a “yandere” that was almost universally accepted as the basis of her character in fics.

There is also that perceived manipulation and “sociopathy” from earlier that may have contributed to the idea of yandere Angela. A common fandom perception of her is that Angela has a warped idea of what love is and ends up displaying unhealthy/dangerous behaviors towards Lars as a result of her obsession (which she perceives as “love”). And as a result, she ends up resorting to actual criminal behavior in some of these fics: stalking Lars, physically abusing him and in one extreme case, even raped him. (Disclaimer: I will not be naming any of these fics since I do not condone hate or harassment towards the authors, nor do I want to further trigger anyone reading this by openly naming said content.)

This may have also been a big factor in contributing to Angela hate as the normalization of this depiction of her has led to people almost unanimously accepting this as her actual character.

I would like to say that I very much disagree with this take on her character. While yes, it is true that Angela does have questionable morality (e.g. she understands that what SOMBRA did to children is wrong and actively condemns it, yet was willing to blow up the Bureau hq knowing that Elliot and Sanjay are inside), her love for Lars seems to be genuine and even healthy for the most part. Time and time again, she has shown that she really loves him— hell, her laptop password even has his name on it.

3. Popularization of these misconceptions

As these fics were the only depiction of Angela in the fandom for a time, they are, by far, the most infamous depiction of her. This, along with the “I hate her because she’s a bad person and did bad things” majority, has then led to her getting this much hate from the fandom.

Moreover, there was a time in 2023 where there’s an influx in WE-centered fics, and that also resulted in most of the anti-Angela fics for the most part. This may explain the more recent hate directed towards her as compared to characters from other seasons.

Conclusion

Much of the hate towards Angela in particular stems from both severe misinterpretation of canon events and her character’s actions/intentions, and this version of her being extremely popularized to the point where people treated it like it’s actually her. The former mostly applies to around the time WE was still ongoing to after it ended (2016-2017 ish) while the latter could explain the more recent hate. Fortunately, it seems as though more people have the media literacy to read along the nuances of her character and understand her intentions before forming an opinion.

Anyways this was A LOT— probably even longer than the Carmen/Angela post but I’ve been thinking about this for just as long (there was a time I was afraid to admit I liked her because of how hated she was). Thank you for listening to my TED Talk, I guess.

[biohazard2017]

i don’t know anything about resevil but there are multiple right?? which one was your favourite and why

oh yeah there r like dozens of games. my fav is re7 ^ thats what the url means bc its tagline is biohazard and it came out in 2017 yada yada idk i just reallly love it. firstly the atmosphere is really good, i have had the game for like.. 3 years atp and yet im not even halfwaythrough bc it fries all my braincells its so scary im so tense when im playing i literally break out into goosebumps its crazy.

ethan winters is one of my fav protags in any game ever. guy who drove from la to louisiana to look for his wife that disappeared 3 whole years ago and his only reaction to the most gory shit is just to let out a "FUCK" the progression of the genuine fear at the beginning to his final oneliner just being playtimes over?????? (final boss is a kid) first person games r designed w a blank slate protag in mind so the player can embody them as much as possible but ethan is great bc u feel his progression as much as ur own. u feel the excitement and the adrenaline after the first jack fight. u feel as exasperated as he does after the second one. u feel as powerful as he does in the final gauntlet before the final boss. its so great i love ethan so much<3

re7 would not b the game it is w/o the bakers though. theyre SO good. the majority of them serve as the boss of each segment of the game, except for zoe and joe. jack is the regular stalker enemy type (follows and tracks you through the house) but his va is having SO much fun. there is so much emotion right behind jacks insanity. theres a bit at the beginning where u can trigger jack to cut off ur leg and instead of continuing to kill u, he'll stop and pull out some first aid med and let u reattach your leg (everyone infected has really high regenerative properties but u dont learn ethans infected til re8) hes like cmon son:) u can do it:) its crazy to me like theyre still human underneath the 3 years of torture and manipulation like T_T margarite is like a bug boss and lucas does saw traps. zoe is the only one of the immediate family who wasnt fully turned into evies control (the final boss kid shes the one who infected everyone) and she helps ethan through the game and its so interesting to me bc all evie wants is a family so jack is her dad and mia (ethans wife) is her mom and zoe and lucas r her siblings and when ethan gets to the house she wants ethan to be her father instead which is why jack hates you so its like this father and daughter tearing away evies family which is fun bc in re8 ethan does everything he does for his daughter so<3 foreshadowing<3 joe is not particularly impt bc hes just a dlc character so hes the mc for this 4hr game set after the game hes jacks brother. ugh while walking into the final boss fight u see this diorama a kid zoe made of her family and you know everyone is dead except jack who also serves as the final boss and when joe kills him he says this is a farewell from the family, brother. and its gory and fun but afterwards when zoe wakes up (bc of things that happened to her jack was trying to get her) joe tells her that despite everything jack was still her father and its like Augh. this game. tjis game

[princessconsuelapark]

aaaaand hello everyone, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming, welcome to yet another episode of 'and that's what you missed on professional tennis players being dumb' (laver cup drama recap coming soon i promise)

- The week following Laver Cup was absolutely wild; Nick got (kind of, but not really) banned from playing tennis, Rafa was legit walking around completely decked out in LC merch for days, Sascha (*a TEAM8 social media intern about to be fired) followed Stefanos on instagram, then Sascha (*actually him) unfollowed Stefanos on instagram

- Of course, we also had Roger confirming in an interview that Rafa is his boyfriend- Sorry, I mean, Roger used the French word for friend, 'copain’, which what do you know, is widely understood to mean boyfriend, when talking about Rafa in an interview. Yep, that’s an actual thing that happened. He’s truly out of control.

- Lots of singles players got involved in doubles nonsense, most notably Sascha teaming up with Isner for some reason (if that never ever happens ever again, it’ll be too fucking soon), and Daniil randomly deciding to come for Stefanos’s ex (To be continued...? 👀)

- Shanghai started out with truly iconic scenes, courtesy of everyone's favourite hateable Italian and our one and only Sir Andy (he really is back™)

- It turns out that Roger is completely useless at parenting their 3 adopted disaster children when Rafa is not there

- Marin Cilic and Andreas Seppi almost had a baby together

- Shockingly, after Stefanos beat Sascha in Beijing the week before (highlight of that anxiety-ridden clusterfuck of a must-watch match), they actually willingly practised together in Shanghai, but that's not all, because according to Sascha’s completely unprompted ramblings, they got a “little bit closer” at Laver Cup and are now “having a good relationship”, which frankly, left me absolutely fucking deceased

- Their enemies-to-lovers practice session did deliver though, because Stefanos was officially adopted into the Fedal family when he defeated Djokovic in the QFs, guaranteeing Rafa’s return to no. 1 in a few weeks (and therefore making sure Djokovic doesn’t get any closer to Roger’s record of 310 weeks at no. 1)

- We had the next edition of ‘tall, blonde next gen player breaks his shoelaces before match even starts’, but surprise! It was Sascha ! If that's not proof that him and Stefanos are soulmates, then I don't know what is. Andrey on the other side of the net clearly thought so too (I can spot a Saschanos shipper when I see one), but then not very nicely Sascha took revenge on him with a bagel for laughing at him: 6-0 7-6 :(

- Marcelo almost died of hysterical laughter when Kubi was hit in the dick by a ball on court, and very helpfully stood next to him, watching him suffer as he lay on the ground in agony

- Then Fedverev happened and OH THE DRAMA !! If you only ever watch one tennis match in your life, make it this one. There was clowning, loads of anxiety, "code violation, unsportsmanlike conduct, point penalty, Mr Federer" (fucking wild ??), butterfly-talk and so much more. We just hope Rafa survived okay watching it, back home in Mallorca.

- It's impossible to stay mad at Sascha for besting him though, and Roger is not immune to his charms either: he immediately said some adorable dad-things about him, as expected.

- Another positive outcome was that we can keep enjoying the fact that Fedal have both won exactly 381 Masters matches in their career #couplesgoals

- The Colombian lads casually bagelled the American servebots to everyone’s immense pleasure, so we had that going for us too

- Meanwhile Stefanos fell victim to Daniil ‘Bullshit Russian’ Medvedev for the 5th consecutive time, and in true Stefanos-style claimed that the reason for that was simply because playing him is #boring

- The media turned to our resident Stefanos-nonsense expert for comment, and Sascha pretty much just said, ‘I want to have nothing to do with this, but also Stefanos is wrong as usual.’ He did seem very exasperatedly fond when he heard about it though.

- Daniil, after having just won his 6 millionth tournament of the season (he actually genuinely smiled this time, but probably only because of Sascha being cute), didn't take kindly to the whole being boring thing however, and as it turns out he hate-watched Stefanos's last few vlogs in retaliation #newsubscriber

- Meanwhile everyone was baffled at why Isner of all people was at an UNIQLO exho, but Roger beat him in spectacular fashion, so we quickly got over that

- The ace on match point was a bit of an overkill though and brought back some unwanted W*mbledon memories, but to be fair, we're used to having war flashbacks about those two championship points by now

- For a glorious couple hours, the ATP’s Race to London ranking page was showing Rafa at a joint 15th place (with FAA), with zero points, but as qualified for London. That’s just how much of a legend he simply is.

- Stefanos’s social media break was never really a proper thing, but I’m happy to announce that we're back to full-speed; we got some philosophical, emo insta posts, and also a new vlog, in which he advises us to eat our rice, and proceeds to wander around Shanghai alone and unsupervised, non-stop blabbering about his iPhone. Good to have you back, Stef 💕

- In tragic #hairupdate news, Domi got rid of all his floof (which understandably had people near-suicidal), even more upsetting: David did the same thing (honestly, just wtf), then in our new #facialhairupdate sub-segment: it turns out Stefanos is growing his beard out because he doesn’t want to look too similar to Sascha, which is fair enough; it must get awkward when you go on a date with your boyfriend and people mistake you for brothers

- Kei in glasses happened though, thank you Naomi <3

- I also feel like Patrick McEnroe had some spectacularly incorrect takes to offer on something next gen related at some point, but I can’t actually remember what, so let’s just leave it at that

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/02/06/andy-murray-fumes-at-lta-after-catching-covid-and-skipping-australian-open/

Andy Murray fumes at LTA after catching Covid and skipping Australian Open

Furious Andy Murray has claimed he caught COVID-19 while training at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre last month. And the former world No 1 has blamed the lax approach to health and safety protocols for an outbreak of the virus at the £40m London base.

The double Wimbledon champion said he was “gutted and angry” to be forced to miss another Australian Open after working to reach his best level of fitness for years. But the Surrey-based Scot revealed he was more enraged because he infected his wife Kim, their children and a close family member.

Murray has been backed in his criticism by British No 1 Dan Evans and other visitors to the LTA’s flagship training centre. The allegations include:

Players and support staff mixing in the player’s lounge without social distancing

A failure to control the numbers using the centre

A lack of testing and mask wearing

A member of a player’s support staff attending the NTC after hosting a party the previous night.

The Scot said: “I don’t think people always realise that if you’re not sticking to what the rules and the protocols are, or the protocols that are in place are not good enough, you’re putting people in serious danger.”

Murray tested positive on January 11 in his pre-flight test before his planned trip to the Australian Open.

He insists he caught the virus at the NTC – and claimed Covid rules were not strictly followed by others over the Christmas and New Year period. Paul Jubb and an LTA doctor were also among the positive cases.

“The only two places I went to were the NTC and my house for the 10 weeks of training, so I know where I got it from,” said Murray.

“I couldn’t have picked it up anywhere else. I stuck to all of the protocols that were in place.”

JUST IN: Djokovic makes ‘difficult’ Zverev admission after ATP Cup let-down

Murray said his family all initially tested negative after his positive test result and he isolated in his room for five days.

“But then my wife tested positive, then a few days after that the kids tested positive, so the whole family got it in the end,” he said.

“My family are okay. I was p****d off that I missed Australia from a personal perspective, but then the wider more important point, is that it’s not just about a tennis tournament, when I am going back and giving the virus to all of my family and infecting them. I care about that a lot.”

Evans, who has reached the final of the Murray River Open in pursuit of his first ATP Tour title, added: “The virus got into the centre somehow. I think Christmas period and the New Year period maybe slackened a little bit.”

DON’T MISS

Another visitor to the centre claimed to have seen one player sitting on the knee of another in the player’s lounge.

An LTA statement said: “Our protocols are regularly communicated to everyone using the venue and we expect them to be adhered to in the player lounge and all other areas of the building. It is impossible for LTA staff to police every part of the building continuously and ultimately individuals are responsible for their own behaviour and ensuring they follow the rules to protect themselves and others.”

Murray, who has not played since October, will return to action in the main draw at the Biella Challenger in Italy starting on February 15 after being awarded a wildcard. “It’s tough to see the Australian Open going on over there,” said the five-time finalist. “I’m obviously healthy and fit and ready to play and compete. I felt like I was in a really really good place.”

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[ofacesandvolleys]

"A lot of people have to slow me down"

Tennis pro Alexander Zverev on his rapid rise to the number three in the world rankings, his relationship with Germany - and books by Stephen Hawking.

Interview by Gerald Kleffmann for Süddeutsche Zeitung on November 11, 2017

Alexander "Sascha" Zverev became the best German tennis professional at the age of 20. In the world rankings, the player from Hamburg comes in third, and this season he won tournaments in Montpellier, Munich, Rome, Washington and Montréal. Zverev will be competing at the ATP finals in London from Sunday, with the top eight players taking part in 2017.

SZ: Mr. Zverev, recently the German player Julia Görges revealed a secret: She likes to make tax returns and would have worked in this area if she hadn't become a tennis player. Sascha: Well, I don't like to do that (laughs). SZ: Your passion is the game "Escape Room", where you have to solve tasks to escape from a room. Sascha: Oh, yeah. That's what I love. Wherever I can play it, I'll make an appointment. I do it everywhere, in America, Australia, France. We are usually a group of players, but my Physio Hugo is often there, too. SZ: What fascinates you about this game? Sascha: Logical thinking. I like the fiddling, combining, the strategic approach. You come into a room first and you have to find things. For example, a red cross and a blue triangle and a black something. Then you'll have to connect everything together according to a specification. You have to work a lot with numbers, there's some math to it. Recently at the tournament in Vienna I played it five times with my fellow players.

SZ: Do you have to compete in your leisure time as well? Sascha: Always. If there's no competition, I get bored. No matter what I do. Also on a day off I have to do something with competition. It's part of my personality. When I'm with my brother Mischa (ten years older, also tennis pro) it's always the case that we play for something. The winner then makes fun of the loser. SZ: Ambition is the engine of your sporting career. You made it to the ATP Finals in your fourth year as a pro. How do you assess your qualification? Sascha: For every player who makes it to the finals, it's like a small tribute. You're one of the top 8 players of the year, not just one for two or three weeks. For me it was also special to qualify as a third player after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. SZ: You were supposed to start this week at the premiere of the Next Gen Finals of the under-21s in Milan. You skip it because of London - you have become too good in your age group. Why did you make such a development in 2017? Sascha: The development has a lot to do with the years before. In the three years before, I did off-season every time, only trained and worked a lot physically. I have to be ready to keep up with the best players and also to win against them. These basics have been seen this year. Of course I'm glad about my titles. But in tennis, you have to have a short memory. Whether you win or lose, if you win a tournament this week, you'll have to play another tournament next week. You can be happy for a day or two, but then you have to be ready again. I'm happy every time I get to play in a big tournament. I consider it an honour. SZ: You come from a tennis family, your Russian parents were top players in the former USSR, your brother Mischa is currently 32nd in the ATP ranking. And yet your family sometimes seems mysterious, partly because your father, who is also your coach, hardly speaks in public. Who are the Zverevs? Sascha: That's not so mysterious. My parents came to Germany from Russia in 1991. Because of the political situation. My father had played 13 years for Davis Cup. He played two or three tournaments abroad and was not allowed to travel for six months. That wasn't easy for him. While he had to stay at home, the others played in Grand Slams. It was no different with my mother. My mum gave birth to Mischa at the age of 20, and for her career it was difficult. In Russia my parents had a good standard of living, my father was quite famous. But in Germany, they started from scatch. They had an one-room apartment and worked for a tennis club every day. That's how it began. And now we are where we are. SZ: When you internalize what your parents Alexander senior and Irina gave up for their sons: What do you think about it? Sascha: I'm aware of what they have done for us. It absolutely helps me to stay on the ground. I know you have to go through something to get somewhere in life. That is why I want to use every opportunity to become better. I am infinitely grateful to my parents. Without my parents, I wouldn't be the player I am. No matter which coach I have, for me, my dad is one of the best coaches in the world anyway. He has two sons who play completely different games. I'm the fast baseline player, I try to play aggressively from the baseline. Mischa is a left-hander and goes to the net at every possibility. Our dad designed our game the way he thought it was right. We both became top 30 players from ranking position zero! SZ: Is he a typical tennis father? Sascha: Of course he can be strict. But he's more of a quiet man. He'd never start screaming. In tennis, parents sometimes have control over their children's life. They want control over their personal lives, over friends. He's very smart. He understands he's the tennis coach. And my personal life is my personal life. If he were to take part in everything I would go nuts someday, completely nuts. (laughs). He understands because he played tennis himself. That's why it works so well with all of us. SZ: Haven't you ever felt any pressure? Sascha: Not a bit. My father never said,"You've got to do this and that! You have to do this and that! He never forced me to play tennis. Instead he has to slow me down. A lot of people have to slow me down. Also Jez, my fitness coach. I'm someone who doesn't want to take a day off after a disappointing defeat. I'm not feeling well. I want to suppress that with work. My team often understands better than I do that my body needs a break. Even if I don't like to hear that. SZ: You're an emotional player. Some rackets must have been destroyed. Do these feelings sometimes get in your way or does this impulsiveness helps you? Sascha: I show my emotions automatically because I am completely in a match. I think that if you don't show any emotions in tennis, you also signal that it's not so important to you. I want the audience to see how much I want to win every match. I'm not going to tame my emotions. They're part of me. SZ: When you play against Grand Slam champions like Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, you appear to believe in a chance. Is this fearlessness given to you or can you learn something like that? Sascha: It's a mixture of both. The first time I played Federer, I was nervous too. He was always my idol. I wanted to play against him all my life. But the second and third time it became easier for me. It is important to me to draw the right conclusions from experiences. They were always big matches against him. I played the semi-final of Halle against him in 2016. The final of Halle. Or the Montréal final. (2017) SZ: You almost humiliated Federer there at 6:3,6:4. Why aren't you intimidated by such moments? Sascha: I've been familiar with tennis courts since I was a kid. I have already travelled with my brother and got to know the facilities, the surroundings. I always wanted to play on the biggest courts. Even as a boy. That's what I enjoyed the most. I used to have the feeling and still have it: When I work hard in the gym and nobody sees how I work there, I want to show it on the court how much I have worked. And you can only do that on big courts. SZ: As the new number three in the world ranking, you are now directly behind Federer and Nadal. Apart from their athletic performance - what impresses you about them as personalities? Sascha: That both of them are normal people. Roger's nice to the players, he's not out of touch. He has a very good sense of humor. Not everyone always recognizes this, because Roger likes to make the same face. He's incredibly funny in private. Rafa as well. SZ: How important is it to be loved? Federer and Nadal are literally approaching love. Sascha: I want to be loved, of course - but by the people who know me. I want to be remembered later as a good person and not just as a good tennis player. Sometimes, in order to achieve my sporting goals, I have to make decisions that are not always easy for the media and fans to understand. However, these decisions are important for the long view ahead. SZ: That you skip the Davis Cup relegation in Portugal was a big topic: it has irritated some people. You promised months ago you want to play, and in the end it was said that your manager advised you not to play. Sascha: I just can't play every time. My season is long. But I have already said: I will play Davis Cup in Australia at the beginning of February, after the Australian Open. In Australia, I'm definitely going to play, whether I lose in Melbourne in the final or in the third round. And if we win, I'll definitely play the Davis Cup until the end. SZ: Like most top players, you have become a global player. You practice in Florida, live in Monte Carlo, travel around the world. How do you see yourself in this international cosmos? Sascha: I see myself and feel completely German. I love Germany, I love Hamburg. If I could be somewhere my whole life, it would be Hamburg. I grew up there. I do not hope that people don't see me as a German. I just can't be around that much. We play in January in Australia, then in the US, in Europe, again in the US, in Asia. We're never just in one place. I moved to Monte Carlo because of better training conditions in winter and because many other players are living there. There are a lot of extremely good training partners there, and many hard courts. My brother lived there before me, now we have apartments right next to each other. My parents also live there. Monte Carlo is a very good place for tennis. It was a tough decision, but it was also a smart decision. SZ: What is striking is that you sound more comfortable in English. When you won in Washington, you gave a very charming speech. In German, the people sometimes experienced minor irritations, according to the motto:"How did he mean that now?" Sascha: That's probably because I rarely give interviews in German because I'm rarely there. In tennis, English is the language. When I come back to Germany after a long time and play in Munich, for example, I am sometimes afraid of myself. Not that I'm forgetting the german language. But as an interview language, I'm more familiar with English. But I don't have a problem giving interviews in German. Or in Russian. SZ: How much Russian do you have in you? Sascha: We speak russian every day in the family. My parents don't want me to forget it. I also speak Russian with my brother. It's good for me that I can speak several languages, and I'm now trying to learn French as well. I have a French physio who doesn't stop talking, never, no matter what time it is. But back to Russian: Everything that has to do with my parents and my brother is very interesting to me. We help each other, I also give back advices and experiences to Mischa. I'm also interested in other things. SZ: Like what, for example? Sascha: What was before our world. What was before us. I'm very interested in space. How it came about. I'm a little crazy about these things (laughs). SZ: Tell us more about it! Sascha: I'm interested in what's behind our knowledge. That's why I read Stephen Hawking. I'm fascinated by how people like him think. I read a lot about these topics and watch documentaries. For most people on the tour this is boring, so it's hard to find someone to talk to about it. I am generally interested in science, in nature. I'm interested in how water creatures turned into terrestrial creatures. How the bodies changed, the breathing, how beings suddenly crawled ashore. But to make sure there is no false impression: I don't read three hours about it every day. It's just a whim. SZ: You've made many good decisions, and working with second coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, a Spaniard you brought in this year, is working well. Nevertheless, third parties often express themselves and give advice. Recently, former professional Henri Leconte said you should give yourself more time to be successful at Grand Slams. You've never reached a quarter-finals there before. Sascha: Of course, I hear some things from the outside, but that doesn't count for me. All that matters to me is what my team says. I'm also very honest with myself.  SZ: Leconte didn't mean it in a negative way. More in the sense that you're too hard on yourself. Sascha: I'll always be hard on myself. I will always be harder to myself than any other human being. I'll always try to show my best tennis. Being the best at things I have under control.