#my country only has 1 ATP 250

[princess-from-another-galaxy]

Using my tennis knowledge to let you know something funny about Phil's Tire Town Challenger

So, as you may or may not know, this is the competition Art loses against Du marier. The Atlanta Open (ironically the same open where a few years earlier Tashi and Patrick slept together. It's a 250, so it makes sense that Patrick would be able to qualify for them).

Although, the Du marier game could also be in this one, which is just a week or so after and is slightly harder to get in, since it's 500 (keep in mind the dates here are for the 2024 season and not the 2019 season)

Either way! This is the Cincinnati open that Tashi pulls Art out of. It's a masters which is the hardest one right before the grandslams. (the numbers are pretty self explanitory I feel). If you notice, there's a 250 right around the same time, which Tashi could have sign him up for (a much better and more sensible career move than a fucking challenger!!!)

But you're probably wondering, what does this have to do with Phil's Tire Town challenger?? As I am sure you guessed, no such Challenger exists. But do you know what challenger does exist?? And that happens around the same time as the movie?? This one!

The Atlantic Tire Championships!! Which may or may not be the inspo behind Phil's Tire Town Challenger.

[brawn-gp]

TENNIS: A BEGINNERS GUIDE

for @seblrina and anyone who wants to know a bit about tennis, especially now that Roland Garros finals are happening !

1. THE BASICS

The male tennis association is called ATP, and the women's counterpart is called WTA. Tennis players can play singles and/or doubles.

The most important and prestigious tournaments are called Grand Slams, which award the most points, the most money and attract the most attention. Each year there are 4 Grand Slams: the Australian Open (hardcourt), The French Open or Roland Garros (clay), Wimbledon (grass) and the US Open (harcourt).

Then, the order of importance goes like this: 1000 tournaments → 500 tournaments → 250 tournaments (first tier) → Challengers 175, 125, 100, 75 & 50 in men, 125 in women (second tier) → men's Futures and women's ITFs (third tier).

Other important tournaments are the Davis Cup (men) and the Billie Jean King Cup (women), considered the "World Cups of Tennis". All the countries are divided into different categories, the most important being the World Group, which will crown the winning country or world champion each year. Last year, Switzerland won the Billie Jean King Cup and Canada the Davis Cup. Each country usually has 5 players, playing 1 doubles match and the rest being singles. The Davis Cup has 3 stages divided into the year: the World Group Playoffs, then the Group Stage and finally the Knockout Stage. The Billie Jean King Cup has a Qualifying and a Finals Stage, also divided into two parts of the year.

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2. COURTS AND LINES

There are 3 types of tennis courts: clay (mostly played in Europe and South America) which is the slowest court, with higher bounce and usually longer points, hard court (mostly played in North America and Asia) which is faster than clay with consistent bounces and quick plays, and grass (mostly played in England and some other European countries) which is the fastest court but harder to maintain. Usually these tournaments are bundled together, so for example you'll see people speak of "European clay season".

Now the lines of each court. It's important to point out that if the ball touches even a centimeter of the line, that ball is in. The widest lines are exclusively used for doubles, while the second lines are used for singles (as shown in the figure). The other relevant lines are the service boxes. When the player serves, the ball must bounce inside the opposite and diagonal side of the service box, alternating between the left and right sides with each point.

(excuse my lines, i made this with no ruler shdf)

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3. THE GAME

A coin toss decides which player serves and who receives. The player that serves must start on one side of the court, aiming for the service box of the opposite diagonal side, as explained before. This is called the first serve. If the ball doesn't pass the net or bounces outside of the service box, that's called a foul and the player has only one other chance, called the second serve. Players typically go full force in the first serve, aiming for the ace (ball that cannot be returned), while being more cautious in the second serve. If the player makes a foul in the second serve, that's called a double fault, meaning they lose the point. If the ball touches the net and bounces on the service box, that serve is played again. This is called a let, which can happen in the first or second serve and there are no limitations on how many times it can be replayed (as long as the balls keep bouncing in the service box)

Point: each play gives a point to the winner, with the sequence being: 0 - 15 - 30 - 40 - game.

Game: The first player who makes the four points, wins the game. Unless the rival player also gets to 40, making it a 40-40 point game, which means in order to win, one of the players must make 2 consecutive points, passing from Advantage (Ad.) to the game win.

Set: Each set is won when either player gets to 6 games with at least 2 set differences with their rival. This means the set is won when the result is 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 or 6-0. An additional game is played if one player has won 6 games and the opponent 5. If the final result ends up being 7-5, then the first player wins, and if it ends up being 6-6, the players must play a tie-break. The tie-break is won when a player gets to at least 7 points with a difference of 2.

Match: Typically the match is won through a best-of-three system, except for men's matches in the Grand Slams, which are won through a best-of-five system. This means the matches are more physically and emotionally demanding, and they are usually a lot longer than regular 3-set matches.

Some terminology that's relevant to know:

0 in English is called love. I don't know why but it is. So if you see someone call "fifteen-love", that means 15-0.

A "drop shot" is when a player hits a ball over the net, and it lands in the opponent's court so short over the net that the opponent has difficulties getting there before the ball bounces twice.

The umpire is the person who sits on the tall chair at the side of the court and calls the score, as well as revising points. The other people in the court are the ball kids (or ball person) who retrieves balls, and the line judges, that help the umpire to see if the ball falls inside or outside the line.

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4. POINTS AND RANKING SYSTEM

This is by far the most complicated part of tennis, but I'm of the belief you don't actually need to know every rule to appreciate the sport. Basically, each tournament awards points for every round you win, including some of the quali rounds. Here's a chart of points awarded for each round.

— ATP:

— WTA:

For the men, the rankings are based on the total points they obtain in these next tournaments:

— The 4 Grand Slam tournaments — The 8 mandatory ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. — The best 7 results from the other tournaments.

For the women, the rankings are based on the total points they obtain in these tournaments:

— The 4 Grand Slam tournaments. — 4 mandatory WTA 1000 tournaments. — The best 8 results from the other tournaments.

Now this is where the tricky part starts. The one thing you need to know is that if you do well in one tournament, the next year you need to do equally good to not lose points. For example, if a player wins Roland Garros (and gets 2000 points), and the next year they only get to the finals losing it (which gets you 1200/1300 points), you would lose 800/700 points, which is why some players lose a lot of places in a few bad months (if they did well the previous year).

This video can explain this part far better than I could, really recommend watching this to understand this part.

The rankings get updated every Monday (ATP / WTA), but you can see the provisional rankings here: ATP / WTA. I use the provisional rankings a lot, to figure out where they would move if they win or lose a match.

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5. FAMOUS PLAYERS AND LEGENDS

On behalf of men's tennis, I think most people have heard of The Big Three: Roger Federer🇨🇭, Rafael Nadal🇪🇸 and Novak Djokovic🇷🇸. These are the legends of tennis, those who have dominated the sport for the last two decades, and a time that is (sadly) on its last legs. Roger retired last year, and without Rafa in most of this year’s clay season (especially RG), everything appears to be changing. Novak is still playing at a high level though. Special mention to feminist icon Andy Murray🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, who was once considered as one of the Big Four, but due to injuries he wasn't able to achieve quite the level of the other 3. To see how insane the stats are, only 13 Grand Slams were won by a player other than the 4 of them between 2003 and 2022, meaning they won 66/79 of the Grand Slams (that is not considering Novak's win in the Australian Open this year, or any other slam he may win this year).

On the women's side, the most prominent figure of this millennium is definitely the one, the only, Serena Williams🇺🇸. She won 23 Grand Slams in singles and another 14 Grand Slams in doubles (with an amazing record of 14/14 wins), all with her sister Venus Williams🇺🇸, also considered one of the best tennis players of the Open Era. Both sisters have also won 4 gold medals at the Olympics, one each in singles and three in doubles (all won together) the most of any tennis players. Other women worth mentioning are: Steffi Graf🇩🇪 (22 Grand Slams singles and 107 titles in the 80s and 90s, pictured), Martina Navratilova🇨🇿🇺🇸 (lesbian icon, 18 Grand Slams singles and 167 titles in the 70s and 80s), Margaret Court🇦🇺 (24 singles titles in Grand Slams in the 60s and 70s), amongst other players.

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6. CURRENT PLAYERS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

As of this week's rankings (June 4th), very young players seem to be dominating the sport. Iga Świątek🇵🇱, (22y) and Carlos Alcaraz🇪🇸, (20y) are the WTA and ATP World Number 1 respectively. Iga has won 13 singles titles, including the 2020 and 2023 French Open, and the US Open in 2022. Carlos has won 10 titles, including the US Open in 2022.

Other WTA names to watch out for are: Elena Rybakina🇰🇿 (23y, 5 singles titles including 2022 Wimbledon winner), Aryna Sabalenka🇧🇾 (25y, 13 singles titles including the 2023 Australian Open), Coco Gauff🇺🇸 (19y, 8 singles titles), and many more.

Other ATP names to watch out for are: Casper Ruud🇳🇴 (24y, 10 singles titles including 2 Grand Slams finals**), Stefanos Tsitsipas🇬🇷 (24y, 9 singles titles including two Grand Slam finals), Holger Rune🇩🇰 (20y, 4 singles titles), Andrey Rublev🇷🇺 (25y, 13 singles titles), Taylor Fritz🇺🇸 (25y, 5 singles titles), Jannik Sinner🇮🇹 (21y, 7 singles titles), Félix Auger-Aliassime🇨🇦 (22y, 4 singles titles), and many more as well.

*For this part I only added top 10s with 25 years or less, but there are a bunch of consolidated and fantastic players that have more years and who are definitely worth watching (and some of my personal favorites!). Also, tennis is ever-changing, and this list might be outdated in three months, so it's always good to keep track of who's gaining and losing positions in the rankings.

**As I'm making this post, Casper also reached another Grand Slam final, making it 3 out of the last 5 Grand Slams. Let's see how he does in this one.

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7. HOW TO PICK YOUR PLAYERS

Personally, I think the best three ways to pick your players are: by watching matches, by mutuals' transferred brainworms and by social media.

By watching matches you'll see what type of player you like. For example, there are players that do well on one court but not so well on others. Or the type of game they play varies; some prefer pure speed and hard hitters, while others prefer more "elegant" shots like drop shots and slices.

And by social media I'm talking specifically about YouTube videos. Thankfully the ATP tour channel is an expert on making silly little videos of different players, usually in their Head-to-head (H2H) videos. Here's the playlist of videos that consumed my life for a week (although you can also search for tennis H2H and they will appear). Here you can see their different personalities and how they act outside of the court, which in my opinion, is important to find the players you click with.

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7. WHERE TO WATCH

I personally watch the matches in Star+ but I think it's only for latam. If you want to pay, you can buy a Tennis TV subscription, that will allow you to watch the matches live, as well as replays and highlights. However, if you don't want to pay to watch the matches live, I recommend this site (with caution).

Challengers you can see for free in the ATP site here.

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8. A YEAR IN TENNIS: THE CALENDAR

To see the calendars of each year, here are the sites: ATP // WTA. For 2023 these are (in my opinion) the most important tournaments, as well as the seasons:

— January: Oceania (hardcourt). [Big tournaments: Australian Open].

— February: South America (clay) / Middle East, some Europe and North America (hard). [Big tournaments: Davis Cup qualifiers, WTA: Dubai 1000].

— March: USA (hard). [Big tournaments: Indian Wells and Miami 1000].

— April: Europe (clay). [Big tournaments: Monte-Carlo and Madrid 1000, Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers].

— May: Europe (clay). [Big tournaments: Rome 1000 and Roland Garros]

— June: Europe (grass).

— July: Various. [Big tournaments: Wimbledon]

— August: North America (hard). [Big tournaments: Canada and Cincinnati 1000, US Open].

— September: Asia (hard). [Big tournaments: Guadalajara 1000, Davis Cup (finals group stage) and Laver Cup (Europe vs the world)].

— October: Asia and Europe (hard). [Big tournaments: Beijing, Shanghai and Paris 1000, WTA Elite Trophy].

— November: Various. [Big tournaments: ATP Finals, and Davis Cup/Billie Jean King Cup finals].

***Hopefully I added every important tournament.

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And that's pretty much it! There are a thousand and one more things that are important in tennis, but as with every sport, it's easy to pick up once you start watching. Any questions, please feel free to ask <3 (or if you need a cheeky stream). Obligatory sorry for my English bit, and hopefully this helps to understand this sport a bit better!

[biofunmy]

What to Watch Saturday at the French Open

Serena Williams vs. Sofia Kenin

Williams received a comfortable welcome to the tournament, facing players ranked 83rd and 238th in her first two matches. She has a far sterner test in the third round against Kenin, a 20-year-old American who has steadily climbed the rankings to her current spot, No. 35. As a child, Kenin trained with Rick Macci, the same coach with whom Williams spent many of her teenage years. She will know Williams’s game well. This match will close Saturday’s play on the main Philippe Chatrier Court, probably so it can be in NBC’s broadcast window for the American audience.

The Italian Men

Italy, never considered a traditional power in tennis, has assembled the largest contingent within the ATP Top 250 of any country, with 23. Two of them will play on Saturday. The qualifier Salvatore Caruso, ranked 147th, will take on No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the second match on Chatrier. The ninth-seeded Fabio Fognini, the country’s top player, will open Saturday’s play on Suzanne Lenglen Court, facing 18th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.

Lesia Tsurenko vs. The Age 30

Tsurenko began her second-round win over Aleksandra Krunic on her 30th birthday. Rather than a cause for celebration, the milestone became an existential millstone. “I had so many things in my head that I would say it was one of the worst days of my life,” Tsurenko said of turning 30, after she won the postponed third set, 11-9, on Friday. Tsurenko will be 30 years 2 days old when she opens Saturday’s play on Philippe Chatrier Court (5 a.m.) against the defending champion, Simona Halep. Tsurenko has never beaten Halep in six previous matches, but this is their first match on clay.

Alexander Zverev vs. Dusan Lajovic

The fifth-seeded Zverev, well acquainted with long matches, will have a particular feeling of déjà vu on Saturday in the first match on Simonne Mathieu Court (5 a.m.), where he will face Dusan Lajovic. Zverev needed five sets to beat Lajovic in the second round at Roland Garros last year. Lajovic, seeded 30th, is a more proven player than he was a year ago, having reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters in April.

Amanda Anisimova vs. Illness

Of the eight seeds in her quarter of the draw, Simona Halep is the only one who reached the third round. Anisimova, the 17-year-old American who defeated the 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the second round, has a good opportunity to make her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She plays the last match of the day on Court 1, against Irina-Camelia Begu. But Anisimova withdrew from her doubles match on Friday with a viral infection, which could prove a factor in her ability to seize the day.

Sahred From Source link Sports

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