#obviously watching the wimbledon final

[rafasbiscuits]

should i watch the wimbledon final later or should i study for my exams?

it's obvious.

[pastryfication]

hii, I don't know if you can and especially if you want to do this fic, but I just finished watching the Wimbledon final (I'm a Carlos Alcaraz girly) and I wanted to ask you if you could make a Leclerc sister! reader x Carlos Alcaraz (with the addition of Charles, Arthur and Lorenzo obviously) if you don't want to write it I apologize for the inconvenience, but if you do I thank you so much🫶🏼💕

(Sorry if My english Is not good, but Is not My native language)

hi! thank you so much for the request 🫶

i tried my best with this but i don’t know much about tennis and i’ve only watched like half the matches of wimbledon this year so i had to make my dad give me a quick break down of the finale… i know this is not as good as you probably expected but i hope you like it either way!!

wimbledon winner | carlos alcaraz

pairing: carlos alcaraz x leclerc sister!reader

warnings: very bad descriptions of tennis?

you can hardly contain your excitement as you guide your family through the bustling crowds of the wimbledon grounds. today is the day your boyfriend is competing in the final against none other than novak djokovic. the atmosphere is electric, and the excitement is palpable.

you had invited your entire family, wanting to share this special moment of your life with them and your brothers, charles and arthur, are just as—if not more—thrilled thrilled than you, though their enthusiasm is more subdued. your oldest brother, lorenzo, and his girlfriend, charlotte, are chatting animatedly, while your mother walks beside you, her eyes wide with awe at the grandeur of it all.

"i stilll can't believe we're here," arthur says, glancing around with a grin. "watching carlos in the final. it's incredible."

"he's going to do great," charles adds, giving you a reassuring smile. "he's worked so hard for this."

"i know," you reply, feeling a surge of pride for your boyfriend. "he's been training non-stop. he deserves this."

as you make your way to your seats, you can't help but feel a rush of nerves. the stadium is enormous, and the crowd's energy is almost overwhelming, but having your family here with you calms you a bit.

you find your seats and settle in, your heart pounding with anticipation. the match begins, and the tension is palpable. djokovic is a formidable opponent, but carlos is playing with a determination you've never seen before.

every point is a battle, and the crowd is on the edge of their seats. you find yourself gripping charles' hand, almost breaking his fingers, but he doesn’t mind. he’s unable to look away from the court as well, finding the match as exciting as you. carlos is moving with such grace and power, each shot more impressive than the last.

"he's incredible," charlotte whispers, her eyes wide with admiration. "i've never seen anyone play like this.”

"he's got this," lorenzo says confidently, sensing your nervousness. "you can see it in his eyes."

as the match progresses, carlos begins to pull ahead. his serves are precise, his volleys unstoppable. the crowd erupts with cheers, and you can't help but join in, your heart swelling with pride.

when the final point is won, and carlos emerges victorious, the stadium explodes with applause. you jump to your feet, tears of joy streaming down your face. your family is cheering just as loudly, their pride evident in their faces.

carlos looks up into the stands, his eyes searching for you. when he sees you, his face lights up with a radiant smile. he lifts his racket in triumph, and you blow him a kiss, your heart just about to burst.

"he did it!" you exclaim, turning to hug your mother. "he really did it!"

"we knew he could," she replies, her voice filled with emotion. "he's an incredible player."

as the celebrations continue, you make your way down to the court. carlos is surrounded by reporters and fans, but when he sees you, he breaks away and runs to you, scooping you up in his arms.

"you were amazing," you say, your voice choked with emotion. "i'm so proud of you."

"i couldn't have done it without you," he replies, his eyes shining with love. "having you here, knowing you were watching . . . it made all the difference."

you kiss him, the world fading away as you lose yourself in the moment.

your family joins you quickly after, and carlos is soon enveloped in hugs and congratulations.

"you were fantastic, mate," charles says, clapping carlos on the back. "absolutely incredible."

"thank you," carlos replies, his smile never wavering. "it means a lot to have you all here."

the rest of the day is a blur of celebrations and happiness. you can hardly believe it's real, that carlos has won the wimbledon final. but as you stand by his side, surrounded by your family, you know that this is just the beginning.

[fritzes]

we made it!! us open draw thoughts:

wta:

iga actually has a very manageable looking draw. there’s really no one on her side of the quarter that I could see troubling her. possibly mirra, but iga just beat her in that incredible match in cincy and I don’t think mirra is quite there yet. in the quarterfinal is probably jess (potentially danielle) who is cursed in slam quarterfinals. jess is also completely wiped from all the tennis she’s been playing and I’m not sure if she’ll have enough energy to beat iga. that being said, jess had beaten her before and it’s definitely possible, especially with the home crowd advantage. also, emma raducanu is in this quarter so that’s definitely something to watch out for!

I’d call this elena’s quarter, but I don’t even know if elena is playing. I’m genuinely concerned for her, her health struggles have gotten so much worse since wimbledon and she’s just in really poor form. if she really is down and out, I could see kalinskaya or garcia taking her quarterfinal spot. honestly though, that side of the quarter is nothing compared to the other side. we’ve got: naomi, penko, karo, leylah, yulia, linda, bianca, and jasmine. all in one half of a quarter! the best matches of the tournament are most definitely gonna be produced from here, and I really can’t predict who of this group is gonna make the quarterfinals. this is the quarter to watch out for and depending on who makes it out, they could challenge iga in the semis

coco’s quarter is also pretty stacked, but almost deceptively so. one side has maria and barbora, but both of them are SO inconsistent and could very easily lose early. paula and vika are also on that side and could make good runs, but you never know when paula is gonna have injury concerns. on coco’s side, emma navarro and marta could make things really difficult for her, but navarro is still in monterrey and marta is marta, she could implode at any time. and then there’s coco herself. obviously she’s the defending champion but she’s had some really shaky results coming into this. if she gets back into that determined, winning ugly mentality from last year she can totally make it through this but if the forehand and serve just aren’t working, she’s gonna have a tough time even getting out of the quarter

and finally, who I think is the favorite for the tournament, aryna. this is the best draw she could have asked for. her projected quarterfinalist is qinwen who she had destroyed in every match they played. everyone in her quarter is someone she can handily beat… except madi keys. everyone remembers that insane semifinal from last year when aryna got bageled and still won it. I think if they do play, that will definitely embolden her but madi is not to be messed with, especially at the us open. all that said, I think aryna has a good path to the semis and I would heavily favor her if she plays coco

interesting r1 matches: andreeva/osorio, raducanu/kenin, ostapenko/osaka, muchova/volynets, putintseva/noskova, andreescu/paolini, zheng/anisimova, keys/siniakova, kudermetova/jabeur

atp:

so far, jannik’s slam draws as the top seed have been absolutely brutal. tommy paul in the fourth round at the us open is rough, and the other side of the quarter is, well, daniil and stefanos. this should be a difficult draw, but both of them are barely even winning matches right now. daniil did just beat jannik at wimbledon, but he lost in the first round of canada and cincy, and stefanos barely did better. and if they played each other, I have a feeling it would be a very long five setter. honestly, I could see felix making a run here, maybe even to the quarterfinals. jannik is for sure still the favorite to get to the semis, and this quarter could implode on itself to help him. if daniil loses early, his biggest threat is tommy paul

carlos, on the other hand, got not one but two injured top seeds on the opposite side of his quarter (hubi and alex). he’s got jack and korda in his section, but neither of them hold up very well in best of five. the match to decide his r2 opponent is bvdz vs shapo. he really couldn’t have asked for a better draw here, though I’m sure he’ll find a way to fit a few epic five setters in there. hubi is definitely still injured, but I’m honestly not sure about alex’s form. if he’s healthy, he can definitely make the quarterfinals, but if not, that other quarterfinal spot is so open. matteo arnaldi, maybe? whatever it is, I’d be shocked if carlos doesn’t make the semis

this third quarter is going to be insane. the taylor-casper side could have an epic fourth round match between the two of them… or they could both lose in the second round. either way, I wouldn’t be surprised. on the other half, holger has been picking up some great form lately and maybe this time it will be enough to beat zverev. he came so close at rg and I think he definitely does have a chance, but unfortunately zverev is the favorite in that matchup. there’s also just a lot of people in this quarter who could potentially cause upsets and make deep runs: gael, bublik, matteo berrettini, lorenzo musetti, gmp. this quarter feels hardest to predict

and finally. this quarter. the grigor/rublev half seems like it’ll be pretty straightforward with maybe jiri causing an upset. with the projected fourth round, I’d say both have an equal chance. but the other half of this quarter is literally just last year’s us open but condensed. there’s a potential rematch between ben and frances in the third round and yes, the winner of that would play novak. I’m honestly not sure how to predict novak here, he looked to be back in his 2023 form during the olympic final but he’s been playing way below that for the rest of the year and hasn’t played a tournament leading up to this. I’m not saying he’ll get upset, but there’s definitely a chance of it and it’s for sure not gonna be easy for him

interesting r1 matches: tsitsipas/kokkinakis, mensik/auger-aliassime, zhang/draper, de minaur/giron, mpetshi perricard/etcheverry, shelton/thiem

[the-empress-7]

In Novak's defense he's not taunting the crowd with the violin thing, his daughter is learning the instrument and it's for her. Novak does play into the pantomime of it all but the Wimbledon crowd is usually against him so he's a lot calmer than I would be in his shoes.

Carlos obviously decided he wants to watch the football and got the final done in 3 sets!

Thank you. I liked his speech.

[houseofbrat]

And in this week's edition of

On Wednesday, 02 October 2024, William did his first investiture since his last one on 04 June 2024.

Later in the day, those who were celebrating their honours had whatever minimal spotlight they get taken away when Kensington Palace released photos of Kate hugging an actual & verified cancer patient.

Kate released her end-of-"chemotherapy" video on 09 September, and only three-plus weeks later did she finally & publicly acknowledge the existence of other people's cancer via this photo op with Liz.

It's a photo op because Kate is not going to be able to count this as a work engagement in the court circular, according to Hannah Furness in The Telegraph.

Yes, it's a great story for Liz and her family, but why couldn't Kensington Palace just release the photo of Liz's family the day after the investiture? Just so those receiving their awards could enjoy their brief moment of sunshine?

I guess the KP comms team could not have waited a day because William had to spit out this bonmot the following day, when he did an engagement with actual Olympians.

But William responded: "No I was so keen to come but I have to say after reading someone’s interview about Covid [looking at Adam Peaty - who tested positive during the games] I decided, because my wife was obviously having chemo, that I didn’t want to risk bringing Covid home, so Adam very kindly reminded me that that was still a thing! But we watched the whole thing. We were glued to it every day."

Kate "was obviously having chemo," guys! That's why they couldn't attend the Olympics in Paris!

But Kate could go and sit at Wimbledon for multiple hours in the sun and hug Wimby athletes, who could be transmitters of viruses.

But Kate didn't need to separate herself from her school-age children, who are well-known germ carriers just like all other young children. No reports of that. Ever!

But also William doesn't do "work" appearances when his kids are out of school. It's not like William, who was president of the FA last year (2023), when the women's World Cup was in Australia could take the time to either a) travel to Australia for it or b) attend a public watch party to show his support. He doesn't want to cut into his copious vacation time by showing real-time support for UK athletes.

But, hey, good on William for staying on the pr message that Kate did chemo because she had CANCER! Just one day after Will & Kate's photo op with Liz's family.

But then there was the cherry on top of these pr shenanigans released by Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast yesterday. Within this article, which is kind of/sort of about assumptions regarding Charles's health, there is a lot of reframing of recent decisions by Will & Kate from the past 18 months.

William also sprang into action. Just days after the news was made public he appointed a new private secretary, Ian Patrick, an experienced former diplomat who had worked for the Foreign Office for eight years. The implication was clear: William would be stepping up to a bigger, more global role. William’s plans, however, were then brutally knocked aside by his own wife’s cancer diagnosis which forced him to retreat from public life, and international travel, for several months.

LOL!! Nice try whitewashing that hiring, Tom!

Ian Patrick was hired because Jean-Christophe Grey quit or gave notice he was resigning in September 2023, and William had to find someone else to replace him.

After all, no one picked up that CEO job that Kensington Palace put out at the same time JCG said he was leaving! Was the CEO posting even real, given how the search was "suspended" eight months later? After another private secretary was in place? Did William ever truly want a CEO? Or was this just a face-saving cover because Jean-Christophe suddenly said he was done?

And hey, let's not forget that Will & Kate haven't done a tour since 2022! They made it known after Charles's coronation in May 2023 that they weren't going to do another tour until 2024. William isn't going to do a tour solo. When will this "more global role" be happening? 2025? 2026? 2027?

Now, of course, with Kate’s recovery, William is back and has a much higher profile than his father, who has spent the last few weeks gathering and conserving his strength for the Australia tour.

William barely works and is scheduled to go on VACATION for two weeks on 18 October. And then William is going to do "work" for six more weeks until he can go on vacation for another 3.5 weeks.

William will resume long haul international travel when he travels to South Africa in early November for the Earthshot Awards. It promises to be a high-profile affair.

Is William actually going to South Africa? Is this a confirmation, Tom? Or is this statement just an assumption by you?

The king’s other brother, Prince Edward and Edward’s wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who are neither great friends nor enemies with Charles, have successfully won the trust and affection of William and Kate and they are likely to be rewarded with a promotion when William’s reign begins.

Convenient, Tom, how you don't mention that Sophie wore a new (to her) tiara in June. Or that Sophie will likely get The Order of the Garter next year, either on her birthday in January or in the honour's list. What are you going to do, Tom, if Sophie wears another new tiara by the end of the year? Are you still going to play this game of Ed & Sophie just being neutral ("neither great friends nor enemies") to Charles?

This whole article is pure, adulterated spin on The Wales family pr blunders for the year. All the moves have happened because they had a grand plan. No mention of THAT MOTHER'S DAY PHOTO or other pr disasters from the spring. No, it's all going to a grand plan.

Executive power and influence is already flowing William’s way. Anyone who doubts that only has to look at the glossy Instagram video William and Kate published last month to announce her recovery from cancer. It wasn’t signed off by the king, and featured not Charles, but Kate’s parents, Mike and Carole.

William is walking around looking like shit terrible. So terrible that KP already gave quotes to InTouch Weekly to spin his gaunt & haggard frame. There's a stark difference in how he looks today versus how he looked when he filmed interviews for his Homewards documentary just a few months ago.

Kate can only tweet or do photo ops that aren't going to count as work in the court circular. Her future schedule is blank except for Remembrance Sunday and her Christmas carol concert.

Totally examples of "executive power and influence."

LOL!!

Is David Beckham going to hold William's hand at other future engagements this fall? Sophie has her own work to do. She can't babysit William on a regular basis. She just picked up a new patronage.

A patronage that would have been right up Kate's alley, if Kate was still going to "work" in the future.

Perhaps we should be asking if parliament needs to rectify that Kate's marriage should be morganatic in the future, if she's not ever going to do regular royal duties again.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Andy Murray tears up at Wimbledon’s salute 🎾

Andy and Jamie ­competed on the same side of the net at Wimbledon as Andy began his long, emotional farewell to ­Wimbledon after 19 incredible years.

Andy and Jamie Murray spent their formative childhood years ­playing tennis at their local tennis club in Dunblane, where their mother, Judy, was the club coach.

Andy received a standing ovation as he walked onto Centre Court, with members of his family watching on.

Andy, in what is likely his last Wimbledon campaign - will still have the mixed doubles event to feature in - alongside Emma Raducanu this Saturday the 6th in the fourth match of the day on Court One, a team composed of the two active British singles grand slam ­champions, against Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai.

Later this month, Andy’s final ­tournament will be the Olympic Games, where he will play doubles with Dan Evans.

Thank you, Andy! You were obviously really special 🎾 🤩🍓

#AndyMurray #bbesport #CentreCourt #Wimbledon #Tennis #doubles #JamieMurray #EmmaRaducanu #mixeddoubles #tournament #OlympicGames

Posted 6th July 2024

[batsplat]

hi bat<3 i feel like you’re definitely not a die-hard fan of the big 3, but for someone like me who’s been watching men’s tennis since the early 2010s, they’re like everything.

so i wanted to ask: out of the big 3 (or big 4?) pairings, which duo do you think is more interesting? like which one feels more worth exploring in your opinion?

i just watched roger’s docu recently, and omg he gave novak a solo moment. not like a story about them, just a montage of novak yelling and screaming on court. then roger went, “this might not reflect well on novak.” it lowkey gave me vale/jorge vibes, not a perfect parallel, but within the big3/big4, they’re the duo that feels the least… connected. and yet, when it comes to tactical and technical richness, they’re at the top. roger’s obviously way more arrogant than vale, like he just doesn’t see novak as special or even interesting. meanwhile, novak used to be that guy who wanted everyone to like him, but now he’s completely over it. over the years, there’s just been this constant low-key, non-vibe-y energy between them. but their matches? they somehow deliver these insane moments at the most unexpected times. at the laver cup, roger said something to novak, and then novak cried.

i’m less into roger/rafa, partly because i’m not a rafa fan, but also because they suddenly turned into this ideal rivalry narrative, and honestly, that kinda freaked me out. i’m slowly starting to understand the feelings between them, though. like, i still don’t buy into the whole “greatest rival” thing because, let’s be real, on both the competitive and career-defining levels, it’s just not that mutual. but yeah, their pairing definitely had its advantages—sorry for saying this, but it’s true. the 2008 wimb F is obviously historic, but if you actually watch it all the way through, it’s not that great. it’s the unpredictable weather that gave it that epic feel.

and then there’s andy/novak, who’ve always been my fave because of their history and the emotional layers in their rivalry. like, when viktor troicki recently said novak was looking for a “big name” coach, my friends and i joked about it being roger, but none of us thought of andy. and then it happened. i still can’t believe it. from my very limited tennis perspective, andy’s kinda feels like a subset of novak’s. i don’t really know what qualities do coaches even need in tennis, and how do they maximize a player’s potential? so i’m really curious to see what they come up with together. their dynamic peaked in 2016, which was also the only time the big4 rivalries genuinely made me sad. so yeah, they totally deserve this heartwarming closure.

okay so first off, I have to confess I get a failing grade as a hater because I read this ask reading ?? eating breakfast with this on

I dozed off to the 2019 wimbledon final last night so idk. this isn't nadal retirement-prompted nostalgia, I actually failed as a hater there too and completely missed his last match happening so like. arrived to dance on the grave a day late. BUT the djokovic/murray coaching news DID awaken something suppressed in me. I'll probably watch the 2012 uso final next just to feel something

anyway, what this does go to show is that for all that I am obviously extremely not a fan of the big three, as a tennis fan it's also not like I can pretend to be completely immune. I grew up watching them!! I remember watching so many of their matches! often with my family! I would argue about them all the time as a fan, whether with my family or people at the tennis club or indeed my maths teacher. I was always rooting for SOMEONE, like I did have an order of preference. and... uh, it should be mentioned that I am also not a complete neutral who just intellectually hated the big three because I thought they were shitty sources of narrative tension. I was a massive murray fan as a kid so I did also just get my heart repeatedly broken by them. we're talking 'cried during murray's speech at wimbledon 2012'... I actually watched the wimbledon 2013 final at the tennis club where I trained and was EXTREMELY smug (and delighted) when murray won because EVERYONE including my coach thought djokovic would win and had been extremely annoying in my direction throughout the experience. but also I have never enjoyed a men's australian open final in my life, except 2012 I suppose. that venue holds nothing but pain and misery for me

so with my biases stated up front, where the big 3/4 rivalries are concerned, I'm basically in the 'anybody but fedal' camp. that one I feel nothing for and its popularity continues to absolutely baffle me. no hate to anyone who enjoys it but I do treat its continued dominance basically like a psyop. idk who's responsible for this or why they're doing it, but SOMEBODY is pursuing some kind of nefarious agenda. call me casey stoner because I've cracked the code. I understand they're both individually rather popular and I suppose in a detached unemotional way I do get how that could happen, but as a unit? idk man. also, EYE am a rivalry enjoyer, but I get very suspicious when too many fans are an enjoyer of a particular rivalry... (or y'know, sometimes you've got rivalries that have a lot of 'theoretical fans' but you can kinda tell they do basically hate one of the competitors involved and will immediately throw them overboard if they have to take a side, which also passes the test.) just shows to me that there's zero edge there. most partisan fans of an athlete hate anyone who is a threat to their athlete, that's just how people are. if there's this little hate then that tells me that there's too little threat which tells me the stakes aren't quite there competitively or emotionally... which tells me that there's no real reason to care. I'm well aware that federer fans used to be more likely to be nadal haters back in the noughties (david foster wallace coming through for me again on that front) and that nadal fans are more into that rivalry than federer fans and that they're both retired now... but still!! if it was a proper fun rivalry, more partisan fans would still be bitter. fundamentally the rivalry is good for both of them in terms of legacy and pr and all that shit and they both clearly agree so it's just... empty

which yeah, so full agree on the stuff you say lol. I HAVE watched the wimbledon 2008 final (and I... think?? must have watched it at the time, I was still pretty young and clearly it wasn't a defining enough experience it stuck in my mind lol) but it's been years by now. so I can't actually reallyyyy speak to its quality and I'm probably not going to rewatch it any time soon. I do also just think it's the most boring match-up tennis-wise... partly this is because my favourite big three playstyle is djokovic's - I love how he moves around the court, I love the compact backhand and the emphasis on counterpunching... the nadal/federer match-up was mostly defined by federer attempting to figure out ways to prevent nadal from bullying his backhand. which I do know is oversimplifying things lol but it's. kinda true. djokovic/federer is the best match-up tennis-wise even if it's a bit one-sided in the biggest moments (which, whatever, that was narratively engaging too)... federer's full artistry against djokovic's precision was just more exciting to watch. then comes djokovic/nadal which is a bit of a counterpuncher-off, like they are quite tactically similar in a lot of ways, extremely optimised baseliners... but that means they were always going to push each other the furthest - they were already half a step ahead of federer in the evolution of tennis and everyone now is obviously basing their tennis primarily on how they changed the game. and, y'know, nadal's biggest rival is djokovic!! I get why if you're a nadal fan, you'd want it to be federer, but well! tough!

and YES yes I ABSOLUTELY agree that federer/djokovic is the most interesting interpersonally because federer was SO arrogant towards djokovic. the worst thing that happened to federer is that he became a pr merchant, like at least being a cunt was INTERESTING. he used to be absolutely dreadful about murray too!! aggressively unpleasant!! but that one was also frustrating because... murray didn't end up surpassing him... (I genuinely have like. traumatic flashbacks to watching their atp finals 2014 match. I don't think my soul ever quite recovered from that day.) but with djokovic!! people used to be so unpleasant about him - and okay, by now unfortunately he's given everyone plenty of cause, but BACK THEN it was a completely different story. it was so much fun rooting for him when the crowds were being horrid to him and he stuck it in their faces... before he did all the boob throwing business - staring icily at them when he beat their hero? hot

and federer was so so snide about the guy... pepperidge farm remembers when he accused teenage djokovic of faking his injuries in 2006

The 19-year-old Djokovic called his trainer multiple times. He had hamstring issues, but Federer thought he was faking his injuries to disrupt Wawrinka’s rhythm. “I don’t trust his injuries. I’m serious. I think he’s a joke, you know, when it comes down to his injuries,” Federer said.

OR in 2009

Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, threw in the towel midway through the fourth set of his quarterfinal with Andy Roddick, trailing 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1. But in pointed comments, Federer, the No. 2 seed, noted that it wasn't the first time Djokovic has withdrawn midway through a match in a Grand Slam. "He's not a guy who's never given up before ... it's disappointing," said Federer, who will face Roddick in the semifinals. "I've only done it once in my career ... Andy totally deserved to win that match." "I'm almost in favor of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," Federer added. "If Novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth. Thanks to Andy that he retired in the end. Andy pushed him to the limits. Hats off to Andy."

'if novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth' ...? what are you even saying

and like, on a moral level I do actually think this is pretty gross and have a massive bone to pick with federer on his whole 'look at me aren't I amazing for never retiring from a match' schtick, which continues to have lasting harmful consequences in this sport. this kind of record isn't heroic, it's just fucking stupid. but also, it's hardly the first time or the last time tennis players accused each other of playing up their injuries - it's very much part of the sport, we've all done it or at least thought it. I am also on the record as being pro beefing with children. and it's very strong set-up for that rivalry, especially given how bloody often djokovic went on to crush federer's spirit! it's better set-up than the payoff, quite frankly

that being said, perhaps my favourite match they played is us open 2011 semis - y'know, the match where djokovic saves two matchpoints in the fifth set en route to beating federer... oh, I suppose that doesn't completely narrow it down!!

ah well!

back to 2011, that match did lead to just some really strong snarking in the press:

Djokovic was honest enough to admit the shot was a gamble – but Federer was reluctant to give him credit even for that courage in a crisis, preferring to regard it as desperate. "Confidence? Are you kidding me?" he said when it was put to him the cross-court forehand off his first serve – described by John McEnroe as "one of the all-time great shots" – was either a function of luck or confidence. "I mean, please. Some players grow up and play like that – being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. I never played that way. I believe hard work's going to pay off, because early on maybe I didn't always work at my hardest. For me, this is very hard to understand. How can you play a shot like that on match point? Maybe he's been doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal. You've got to ask him." Djokovic was in a more relaxed mood. "Yeah, I tend to do that on match points," he said, reminded that it was exactly what he did to Federer last year. "It kinda works."

IT KINDA WORKS jhgjhgjhgkf get him again from me

here's the matchpoint save in question ofc

"someday the little twins will grow up to hear about matches like this" well -

which, I mean, federer's being extremely annoying in press! 'oh I'm above taking risks when I'm down on the scoreboard' says the man who ended up with one hell of a reputation for choking. it's also silly!! sometimes it's worth taking a swing at it!! also psychologically, because you're making things less complicated for yourself!! in individual matches, you won't necessarily be rewarded for your diligence and hard work, just not how anything works you moron. but y'know, this was the REAL federer. by the following year he'd already completely clamped down on this kind of thing and it felt like really djokovic could have also been WAY more bitter about this stuff than he publicly was... but yeah, this I did enjoy

and yeah, I do kinda see the vale/jorge comparison! like you say, federer is kinda... more arrogant, more contemptuous towards his younger rivals, also just more of a sore loser until pr got to him? tennis is infamous for its frosty handshakes, but you compare some of those with how warm valentino generally was when he lost... federer's problem was that he lacked self-awareness and was just so committed to this image of the gentleman's sport, which is why he ended up shying away from all this stuff. the unpleasantness with djokovic was actually like... still fairly late in the game, all things considered, it wasn't even really like 2011!federer to say stuff like that. which does show djokovic was capable of really really getting under his skin! and on djokovic's end, where the jorge comparison very much applies is how much he wanted the people to love him (ik his fans hate this narrative but like,, obviously he did). and how they had all already decided he was the enemy for beating their beloved federer and nadal. I do find it a bit easier to stomach with valentino because he deliberately plays with this stuff, weaponising the crowd and all that, whereas federer and nadal just pretend like it's not happening. (also morally it might be worse to boo at a motogp event because of the danger they're putting themselves in, but practically booing at a tennis match is far far worse - you can actually influence the competitors in a way you obviously cannot in motogp.) but that WAS one of the most interesting storylines in the big three era... djokovic slowly catching these two greats who were always so far ahead of them, however much people didn't want him to, even though he didn't have the love of the people on his side, and eventually managing to surpass them altogether. I do think there's plenty of interesting stuff there!! good groundwork! it's just... nowhere near enough, given how bloody long these guys ended up dominating

on djokovic/murray - MY favourite combination of guys as well, just in terms of how much I actually like both of them. it's an interesting relationship where it's like... they knew each other quite well when they were young, then inevitably grew apart a bit when they were competing for big titles? obviously they were also born exactly a week apart from each other, which is narratively fun. I suppose it's the equivalent to jorge/dani which... actually wait, no, I realise that would assign nadal to casey and certainly not my god. it's a rivalry that's a bit tough to stomach from a murray fan perspective because... I mean, it's not quite 'this is not a rivalry, they always kick our ass' territory... but when I started following tennis as a kid, it felt completely plausible that murray and djokovic would have similarly successful careers. which obviously. did not happen. still remember that kind of controversial 2015 australian open final -

- and, y'know, it's a bit frustrating!! this was the tone of a lot of that era, where you kinda just wanted to take them all aside and tell them. my god. maybe a little bit of feuding is okay, no? but well, it is what it is, mostly they had a good relationship. 2016 was kinda the best of times and worst of times because murray was pouring his heart and soul into scraping all of his potential out of himself, got another slam, year end #1 etc... but it also probably did end up fucking up his body permanently, in the quest to fight djokovic. and there IS something compelling and sad about that, but yeah. still a bit of an old wound as an actual sports fan lol

and yeah, they're two closely related playstyles!! counterpunchers with particularly excellent backhands - and if a wing falters, then it's the forehand. it was lendl coaching murray and getting him to properly go after his forehand, be aggressive enough off that wing, that got him his biggest successes. djokovic's weaknesses are less pronounced and especially these last few years, he's often been lethal as a serve + 1 forehand merchant. roland garros 2023 is a good example of that... murray was the tactician, generally thought a lot on court and had a lot in his arsenal - ofc most famously his excellent lob. djokovic does also have more to his game than just baseline pushing, even if sometimes that involves just spamming dropshots when he feels uneasy. obviously, as can be seen from the slam count, his game ended up being just a bit better... but, well, these are very fine margins. murray's slam count is deceptive, he really was the one guy who could consistently hang with those three year-in year-out. whatever revisionism people try to do now, it really was a big four era

as for the coaching relationship, I'm very curious!! coaching can take a lot of different forms and sometimes there's a bit of a distinction between the... bread and butter coaching, the people who are working with you day to day, and these more high profile gigs where sometimes it really is just localised to specific tournaments. it's all very individualised, depends on the specific demands of the player - obviously, given where djokovic is at in his career, you won't be seeing particularly major adjustments, like murray isn't going to come in and suddenly suggest djokovic revamps his serve, right. (though sometimes players still tinker with this stuff late into careers, especially if they're managing injuries.) given the particular stresses of playing in a match, what an odd experience that is in its own right, sometimes you do just need someone to be observing you, give your game a critical once-over from a little bit of distance. now, admittedly from what I've seen of djokovic's coaching relationships, I do feel like one of the coach's roles in THAT particular camp is also just 'being yelled at continuously during matches'. which...? a little curious if djokovic has that same tone when murray's standing there lmao. also one of the reasons for the yelling is when djokovic feels like he's not getting enough enthusiasm from his box. which... ... uh. I mean. murray wouldn't have been top on MY list for that particular metric. but he can get passionate at davis cup from what I've seen!! so maybe it'll work out

anyway yeah I'll cut it off there lol. obviously I spent half my childhood thinking about tennis and inevitably that involved a lot of thinking about the big four and that means I have a lot of thoughts on them so. basically it's fedole > rafole > fedal as far as I'm concerned. good luck to djokovic/murray in their endeavours, I will be there no matter what

[serve-cunt]

HIIII ZOE ITS MY IRRITATING ASS AGAIN (this is my main blog, I have tennis and f1 sideblogs but don't know how to make the ask come from there, I haven't been on tumblr in FOREVER..)

anyway my little curious gremlin ass has YET MORE QUESTIONS

ALSO I COMPLETELY FORGOT CHALLENGERS WAS COMING OUT, IM SO DAMN EXCITED FOR THAT FUCK YEAH, we LOVE zendaya she's gonna serve (pls laugh) cunt

okay so i think picking out my favourite players will be easier if I relate them back to f1 drivers, makes em seem more familiar, so if I do like a checklist of sorts of driver types, can you match them up to players you think fit the vibe?????

e.g. is there a former champion (lewis/fernando coded) who's looking for a comeback? is there a young talent who's had bad luck but is on the rise (lando) is there a calm, level headed one that everyone thinks will go far (oscar) is there a charming elegant one that social media is obsessed with (charles my babygirl). im assuming djokovic is the max verstappen adjacent, fairly young dude who's smoking everyone, yeah?

just like ugh I LOVE f1 so dearly and i think sporting parallels will help SO much

question: is it a big money sport like f1? Obviously anyone can pick up a racket and hit a ball, but is it very expensive and exclusive to make it into the big leagues? you mentioned smth in the fic about oscar adding up the whole cost of going pro, would that be a huge problem for poorer families?

are there any player pairings with vaguely homosexual vibes? again with the damn f1 parallels but adjacent to max/charles, carlos/lando, even lewis/nico if I dare mention brocedes, because I just absolutely live for speculation of silly little goofy athletes' relationships with each other

here's where I get REAL shallow but fuckin sue me, WHICH ARE THE PRETTY ONES I CAN SIMP OVER. i am bi so that doubles the market, but basically which are the ones that i can watch edits of and get all giggly and blush over, in your opinion and in the general tennis community's opinion.

whats andy murray's deal? Is he retired? Is he like the sebastian vettel of tennis?

how dramatic is it compared to f1? we all know that f1 is gossip girl on wheels... is tennis gossip girl running around a court or is it less drama-fueled?

not a question but I'm so excited to see which f1 drivers turn up to Wimbledon this year like, CROSSOVER EPISODE YEAAAA

is djokovic the max-esque guy where it's like "okay I don't mind you, you're cool, but god DAMNIT, stop being so good, let my other favourite little meow meows have a CHANCE for once"

how worldwide is it? are players mostly European/Aussie like f1 or is it more widespread?

is the meme game good? i LIVE for online hilarity in sports, are there any iconic tennis moments/memes a la "it's near a fish" "smoooth operator" "bwoah" etc etc whatever

really gotta stop talking about f1 in terms of tennis but it's the only other sport I'm really into IM SORRY FORGIVE ME

which are the "sad wet cat" (dearly beloved) players? you mentioned one guy but there's gotta be more than one right??? I always get attached to athletes with those vibes

IM SO SORRY ABOUT THE CONSTANT QUESTIONING BUT YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON I TRUST TO GIVE ME CORRECT INFO RN BECAUSE YOU REALLY SEEM LIKE YOU KNOW YOUR SHIT

finally a HUGE FUCKING THANK YOU???? For putting up with my idiot ass mostly, and your fic is singlehandedly making me wander into the tennis world despite knowing literally nothing and you're helping my understanding SO much, youre about to drag me down this sport's rabbit hole just by existing. tennisblr seems like such a fun adorable place im SO excited to start watching stuff, you're a legend and ilysm <3333

you are literally NEvEr irritating you are the best thing to happen to my inbox every time, sorry i was so slow on this one!! I had a very hard time relating f1 drivers to tennis players lmaoooo so in the end i just skipped that part!! I'm so sorry!!! it's just so hard because the narrative of f1 drivers is so specific and intrinsically tied to TEAM and to their teammates, and to the tragedy of a good car and/or the wonder of a great car ... the betrayal of contract negotiation & silly season etc.... tennis just doesn't really have that!! all the narratives are more player v. self and player v. world, instead of driver v. driver and driver v. fate. if that makes sense??

so yeah. sorry 😭😭 it's also possible that I just don't have enough imagination and somebody can jump in to help with that .... anyway, moving right along to

"is tennis a big money sport"

GOD yes. tennis is soooooo expensive, it takes approx 1 billion dollars to pay for lessons, court time, coaching, travel, accommodation, gear, etc etc. :// You get paid if you win. let me say that again: you get paid if you WIN. there aren't salaries! early in your career, you are HEMORRHAGING money, esp if you have a coach. the travel is fricken expensive all by itself!! and if you're paying a coach as well you're either in debt or you're playing with house money if you catch my drift. (tennis players often come from wealth, much like f1 drivers — they can also be sponsored, sometimes by their country, but usually only if & while they're successful!!)

if you do well, you start to win, maybe you make money, more likely you're breaking even for a while (or even still losing). if you do REALLY well, then you're looking at more prize money and maybe sponsors, so then you can start making some real money out of this. but yeah it's CRAaaaaaazy how much money tennis players pay to play tennis lol!! it is 10000% a problem for getting underprivileged kids into tennis, there's a reason tennis is so white!

"are there any player pairings w vaguely homosexual vibes"

LOLLLL look i never turn down a chance to push the sincaraz agenda but also, carlos alcaraz does that for me!!!!

they're so cute damn

also getting into sinner/berrettini …

but honestly, besides that?? f1 is way better for pairings because we watch them interact with each other off track WAYY more. you barely see tennis players interact with each other! i have been emailing the respective tennis associations about this (jk but I should). MORE GOOFY VIDEOS WITH PLAYERS DOING STUPID GAMES (with each other, crucially)

"which are the hot ones"

ooohh this is suuuper subjective but i am soOOOoo into coco gauff, she's gorg, also iga sviatek in red, also daria kasatkina, also maria sakkari really does it for me, also katie boulter is so cute.

hot damn

on the atp side oBVI jannik, carlitos is so cute but he looks so young i feel like he's less hot and more adorable, caspar ruud looks like ryan gosling as you have pointed out, ben shelton is gorgeous (and cocky in a way that unfortunately does compel me, oops), arthur fils!! beautiful. tennis players are all hot, in my mind??? they're so …. well rounded …. 😏😏😏

"which are the "sad wet cat" players"

andrey rublev my beloved sad cat

muchova (not really a sad wet cat but tragically always broken in some way)

daniil medvedev but if the cat was cunty

"whats andy murray's deal?"

oh my GOD murray!! my love my husband my father my holy ghost!! a tragedy a triumph …. a player in the era of the Big Three (Djokovic, Federer, Nadal) and therefore destined to be remembered as "oh, and andy murray" … or "one of the big four" (the big four is not a thing unless you're talking about andy murray lmao) ... a great player, one of the greatest, a slugger, a workhorse, had one of the cleanest backhands of all time, and the classiest guy in tennis … see: andy murray shutting down sexist reporters on multiple occasions ....

He's not retired !! he's still going, here he is recently losing:

He's actually (possibly) playing at this upcoming Challenger Tour event! as are a number of interesting players. the reason that this is interesting is that Challenger level tournaments are a level below the ATP Tour, so you don't often have this many recognizable (to me, anyway) names playing at this level!

[side note: the movie Challengers — the name is a play on the Challengers tour. they're playing a Challengers match in the movie, but also "challenging" each other for zendaya … you get it]

Anyway this tournament should be interesting … andy murray is getting older but he's not ready to quit!! he's gone on the record saying there are things he's still trying to accomplish before he retires, and he's playing well in practices it's just not translating to matches yet. he's also said if his body tells him to retire he will, but uhh. he's got a literal metal hip so clearly he's not QUITE ready to listen to his body.....

"is he the seb of tennis" HMMMM this is an interesting question, I wouldn't really class him this way — seb is like a silly little sexy fruity goblin (if I'm reading his vibe correctly — I'm late to f1) and andy is a stoic public school kid with a goofy streak … if that makes sense …

"how dramatic is tennis compared to f1?"

ALSO INTERESTING I think that's sort of relative to how much you care about individual players, I think game-play is pretty dramatic at times but nobody's ever in danger of bursting into flame??? so in that sense not as dramatic as vroom vroom sport lmaoo but there is a bit of temper tantrum throwing, and then important wins (see: Alcaraz Wimbledon 2023) are SO dramatic in the best way…

gossip-wise I don't think it's as dramatic as f1!! there's deffo tennis gossip but I think, again, because there aren't teams, the drama is less wrapped up in "betrayal" narratives yknow??? like ferrari ditching sainz for lewis was dramatic in so many different ways, not LEAST because of the betrayal of carlos. I feel like tennis is less set up for that, bc it's every player for themselves

"is djokovic the max-esque guy where it's like "okay I don't mind you, you're cool, but god DAMNIT, stop being so good, let my other favourite little meow meows have a CHANCE for once"

YES EXACTLY i cut in your whole q because that's exactly right!! so so so apt imo .. howEVERRR it was less correct when federer and nadal were still around and at their best, because those three really did make up the Big Three, capital B capital T, and they had such a good dynamic going between the trio — it was less one-note when djokovic had a constant fight on his hands... now djokovic is older and slowing down so we're getting into a sunset period, which is interesting because he's still doing GREATTT (and I wish he would stop, give my meow meows a chance etc) but everyone sees the light at the end of the tunnel re: a djokovic retirement. whereas I think people are looking at the max ascendancy and saying "GULP" bc we all want our favorite boys to win at least one WDC (cough lando cough cough osc)

"how worldwide is it?"

fairrrrly? but yes europeans heavvvvily represented, americans as well to some extent, asia and australia to some extent — not so stark as f1, but def same bougie euro vibes lmao

"is the meme game good?"

again fairrrrrly but def not to the same extent!! less of a "here are the memes everyone knows" and more in the spirit of, like, if you're following a few players & the major tournaments, tennis tumblr/twitter is fun to be on … trying to think of a "classic" tennis meme and I can't which isn't a good sign lmaooo .. jannik puking in a bin and then going on the biggest win streak of his career is a pretty good meme in my mind though ...

CROSSOVER EP YAAHHHHHHHH I CANNOT WAIT WE BETTER GET SO MANY GOOD WIMBLEDON PHOTOS AJHFDLAKSJFHDKLASJFH

sorry again to be so slow !! this was fun to go through as soon as I stopped tearing my hair out trying to make player: driver comparisons but again, maybe I'm just not creative enough ..

xx ily :))))))

[charlitosalcaraz]

7, 8, 9, 10 for the ask 🖤

hii 🩷

7. if you could select a masters 1000 to be held in any city which would it be?

omg i have no idea. i definitely think we should have a grass masters for both men and women, but idk where!! idk how the scottish summer is around wimbledon time, but maybe edinburgh?? seems pretty 😭

8. which tournament has the prettiest trophy?

this is so hard, because the ugly ones are more memorable, but monte carlo or halle or rg men's trophy. i'm also biased towards the atp finals trophy 🫣 and shout out to queens and barcelona for being so enormous and committing to the bit.

9. who’s your favourite retired player?

andré agassi for sure!!! i wish i could go back in time and watch some of his matches and in general follow his career, i think it was very chaotic and iconic 👁️

and roger too obviously but he's not retired to me idc

10. what’s your favourite tennis ship?

currently dimidrey because they just make me insane 🫨 like what is their deal!!!?

[theopenbook]

Forced Error – Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

It’s the final weekend of Wimbledon! Last year, I somewhat accidentally managed to buy Centre Court tickets, and I still haven’t quite recovered from that. Now, from the comfort of my home, I spend my time watching tennis, and reading tennis books. This time, it’s Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel Carrie Soto Is Back. Want to know what I thought of it? Read on! Carrie Soto Is Back is (obviously) about…

[fritzes]

12, 14 and 22 for the ask game!! 👀

thanks for the ask!

12. which (atp/wta) player is your first choice to support in a tournament?

atp: fritz, especially when literally no one else is rooting for him. I do root for sinner pretty equally as much though (if they played each other I’d be in a crisis)

wta: jabeur (with sakkari and gauff as close seconds)

14. the tournament you would most want to visit?

Indian Wells! everyone calls it tennis paradise for a reason, it looks so nice and the matches there are always great

22. what was the happiest you felt when watching a match?

there’s definitely some recency bias, but the men’s wimbledon final this year. it was obviously so stressful too, but the end of the match was absolutely incredible and seeing how happy carlos looked was really special

[acrossthearctic]

Dublin to Waterford

A taxi ride to collect the rental car took us past St Andrews Chuch, funny to think a week ago I had no knowledge of such a church and now have seen it twice in two days.

Our first stop was Glendalough which certainly has become more developed as a tourist spot since my last visit with Information Centres etc. We stepped out of the car in sunshine and minutes later the rain was pelting down . Fortunately it only lasted a short time but many photo opportunities were lost.

First stop was the area known as the monastic city with may wonderful ruins of churches, belltowers etc. We then took a walk to the Upper Lake through a lovely forested area.

The next stop for the day was Avoca, a pretty village which was used in the filming of the TV series Ballykissangel. We visited the church and lunched in Fitzgerald Pub.

We then undertook the "coastal route" to Waterford . Unfortunately the high hedgerows obscured the view of the sea for most of the way but we saw some pretty vilages and countryside. The coast had a number of caravan/ mobile home parks s so is obviously a popular holiday destination.

We arrived in Waterford in time to catch he final set of Wimbledon. What a fabulous result.

As we were tired we elected to have dinner in the pub section of our hotel.There was a tour group of elederly Dubliners and part of ther tour is entertainment . This consisted of 60s,70s and Irish songs. Rosemary and I stayed for an hour or so and had a fun time chatting with them and watching them all sing ( and some dance) to the Irish songs, which were not the ones you always hear. The lady sitting next to me was a character- her Guiness arrived from the bar and then she slipped a small bottle of John Jameson from her handbag and added a healthy swig of it to her drink!.

A good first day of our trip.

[nbmsports]

At Wimbledon, Everyone’s Chasing Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina

LONDON — Elena Rybakina was nervous. She was embroiled in her first match on Wimbledon’s Centre Court as defending champion. She was facing a tough opponent in Shelby Rogers. The roof was closed and she was recovering from a virus.Even more daunting, one of the greatest players ever to walk that court, Roger Federer, was now sitting just a few feet behind her, in the royal box, watching her struggle.“Yeah, maybe that’s why I was nervous,” Rybakina said after she recovered to beat Rogers on Tuesday, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.Federer, now retired, was back at Wimbledon for a visit. As a player, he was a member of the so-called Big Three of men’s tennis, along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. As a spectator, he was watching a player whom some experts, including Chris Evert, believe is part of an emerging big three of women’s tennis.Rybakina, the third-ranked player in the world, along with No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, comprise the top of the women’s tennis pyramid. Together, they have won the last five major tournaments, and the eventual winner of this year’s Wimbledon is expected — but obviously not guaranteed — to come from their elite group, as well.Those who think it is premature to crown a triumvirate of women’s tennis will find the 24-year-old Rybakina in agreement.“I think it’s too early to say anything about just three players because it’s not like it was Roger or Djokovic,” Rybakina said. “It’s still too far.”All three players are under 26, and all have the necessary tools to win multiple tournaments and remain at the top of the rankings. Left out of the grouping are players like Jessica Pegula, ranked No. 4. But Pegula said she agrees that the top three are the class of the women’s game and deserve the recognition, even if she would like to expand the number to four someday.“I think it’s exciting to have something for us to talk about and for fans to get involved in and hopefully be excited to watch them battle it out,” Pegula said on Saturday. She beat Lauren Davis in the first round on Monday. “But I hope I’m part of that conversation at some point. I guess that’s all I have to say.”Ons Jabeur, who lost to Rybakina in last year’s Wimbledon final and to Swiatek in the U.S. Open final, is a solid grass court player, who could also stake a claim to this year’s Wimbledon title. Jabeur is another who believes that Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina have set themselves apart.“For me it’s inspiring to see them doing great,” Jabeur said. “You can learn a lot from them.”Coco Gauff, who is only 19 and ranked No. 7, could also intrude into the mix one day. But not yet, not after she lost to Sofia Kenin, a former No. 4 player who is 24, in the first round on Monday.As Rybakina said on Tuesday, “anyone can still beat anyone.”As Wimbledon opened under rainy skies, each one of the three top players had at least one question to answer on court before she could lift the trophy. Swiatek, 22 and from Poland, has struggled on grass and never made it past the fourth round in her three attempts here.She demonstrated good form at Bad Homburg, a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, but became ill and had to withdraw after winning a quarterfinal match. She looked fully recovered in her first-round win over Lin Zhu on Monday and a title here would give her three of the last four majors.Rybakina won Wimbledon last year with an amazing run of confidence and form, defeating Jabeur in three sets for her first Grand Slam title. But her conditioning remains in doubt. A virus forced her withdrawal from the French Open last month, and she said the condition worsened afterward. She is OK now, she said, but she had to lighten her workouts leading up to Wimbledon.Sabalenka did not even play at Wimbledon last year. She is from Minsk, in Belarus, and the tournament banned all players from Russia and Belarus from competing because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s cooperation with that military incursion.The amiable Sabalenka opened her news conference on Saturday, before the tournament started, by saying she would not answer questions about politics because she had already done so several times. (Rybakina was born in Moscow but plays for Kazakhstan).Sabalenka said she could barely even watch the tournament last year during her impromptu staycation.“I didn’t watch Wimbledon a lot,” she said. “I felt so bad, and I just couldn’t watch it. Every time if Wimbledon would be on TV, I would cry.”Hence, she has played only eight matches on grass the last two years, including only two this year leading up to Wimbledon, and has gone 5-3. Perhaps more concerning than the surface was her devastating loss at the French Open last month. Serving for the semifinal match at 5-2, she allowed Karolina Muchova to come back and win.Sabalenka, 25, who won her first major tournament at this year’s Australian Open, was asked this week about her level of confidence on grass, and said, “I don’t like to speak about confidence.”She continued, “For me it’s a little weird. I just want to say that I have strong belief that I can do well on grass. I already did it. I feel good on grass.”She certainly played well on it in her first-round victory on Tuesday. Federer left after Andy Murray won and missed seeing Sabalenka hit a masterful between-the-legs shot from the baseline, with her back to the net. Her opponent, Panna Udvardy of Hungary, was ready at the net to volley it away for the point. Sabalenka smiled and raised her fist to salute the artistic rally, on her way to a straight sets victory, 6-3, 6-2.“I missed this place a lot,” she said on court afterward, “that’s why I played my best tennis today.” Source link Read the full article

[sandsunseagrapes]

my family stayed at my aunt & uncle’s for their daughter’s wedding and we didn’t know how to watch anything on tv except for YouTube so guess what I put on for us!

yup that’s right: the Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles final 2023!

and then after we inevitably finished watching that, obviously followed it up with the sincaraz uso match

girls don’t want to pack for their summer trips, girls want to watch the sinner-alcaraz 2022 uso quarterfinal on repeat

[hockeyshmockey]

Pierre Gasly- WAGS (HABS?)

(first off this gif is the hottest thing I have ever seen it gave me heart palpitations)

summary: nathalie dubois has been giving pierre gasly butterflies for years. as two young french athletes, they have always been in the same orbit and became close friends, and later more.

warnings:  just prepare for some fluff :)

“And that is Nathalie Dubois’ first Rolland Garros win, and a hometown win at that,” the announcer’s voice echoed around the arena as Nathalie ran to her bench with a bright grin on her face after shaking her opponents hand. She grabbed her towel and wiped her face quickly, straightening her outfit as the press made their way to the court, along with the presenter and the trophy. 

One of the court workers waved the girl over for her to begin interviews. She answered pretty typically about her play that day, how excited she was for the rest of the season and more. In her last interview, she got the question a lot of her fans were likely waiting for. 

“So Nathalie, this weekend we have you in France at your home town match you could say. What are you up to between now and Wimbledon in a few weeks?” the reporter in front of her asked with a smirk. 

“Obviously I will be training a lot,” Nathalie smiled. “Doing a bit of travel and getting outside to enjoy the summer.”

“Will we get to see you in any Formula One paddocks here soon?” the woman in front of her giggled as Nathalie contained her sigh.

“Well, I haven’t gotten an invite from Ferrari, so I don’t think so,” the girl joked as she was finally pulled away to receive her trophy. She couldn’t keep the smile off of her face as she listened to the French National Anthem play as she was presented with the trophy she had worked so hard for. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Pierre, that is P6, P6. Nice job mate,” Pierre grinned as he heard his placement come through from his engineer. The beginning of the season hadn’t been very solid so this was a nice win. 

“Pierre, Pyry here,” his trainer hopped on the line as he did a cool down lap. “We have the winner of this years French Open on our hands.”

Pierre really hoped the media had tuned out of his radio feed as he whooped in excitement. “What a weekend mate,” Pierre laughed with his trainer and friend as he made his way to the garage. He exited the car and watched Charles, Max and Carlos take the podiums, waiting long enough for the anthems to play before letting his press officer Maria lead him to his press commitments. 

He talked a lot about the car’s performance that day, and the support he had from his team. Making sure to keep the smile on his face while talking about the work to be done. He made his way to Sky News and greeted the familiar reporter before they ran through the regular questions. 

Soon the reported shifted tactics. “Pierre, to change it up a bit, we all heard your reaction to the winner of today’s French Open.”

Pierre smirked while he groaned internally. Maria shrugged over the reporters shoulder, waiting for the sign Pierre needed an out, but the frenchman stayed in the interview. “After her win, Nathalie was asked if she would be in any F1 paddocks soon, and she said she was waiting on an invite from Ferrari. Any comments there?”

“Well,” he laughed. “Obviously Nathalie is a great friend of Charles and I both, so maybe she is just sharing the love. All I know is we are both proud of her and would love to have her back for a race weekend.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hi mama,” Pierre greeted his mother on the phone as he drove with Pyry from the track to their hotel.

“Congratulations mon amour,” Pascale cooed through the phone as her son laughed. 

“Thank you,” he grinned. 

“Have you spoken to Nathalie? We called her but got her message,” Pascale informed the boy as he put his phone on speaker to check his text messages. 

“No mama, she was getting on a flight to Monaco right after her ceremony. I’ll call her soon.”

“Ok good, and you will see her soon, yes?” Pascale fretted as she thought of her son and the girl she already considered a daughter.

“Yes mama,” he laughed. “I will go to Monaco Tuesday and we will both leave for Azerbaijan on Thursday morning.”

“Okay good, you two take care of each other,” Pierre smiled as his mother ranted on about the rest the two young athletes needed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nathalie practically ran to her front door as she heard the knocks echo through her apartment, her dog Reggie running by her side as they reached the entrance way. Nathalie checked the peep hole briefly before opening the door and throwing her arms around the blonde waiting for her. 

“tu m'as manqué,”(I missed you) the brunette sighed as Pierre wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight. 

“tu m'as manqué aussi mon amour,” (I missed you too my love) Pierre waddled into the open doorway with Nathalie clinging to him like a Koala, dragging his suitcase, and trying not to trip over Reggie. 

Nathalie giggled as he finally got through the door and closed it, making a beeline to the couch and sitting down. The girl pulled her head back to press her lips to his, slowly getting reacquainted as she slid her hand into his hair and his big hands smoothed up her thighs to settle on her ass. 

“Naughty boy,” Nathalie laughed as she pulled back, getting comfy in the boys lap with her face buried in his shoulder. 

“Are you excited for the race this weekend?” Pierre asked as he ran his hand up and down her spine, her body melting into his. 

“Well, Ferrari offered me some tickets so I guess so.”

Nathalie’s squeal was echoed by Reggie’s barking as her boyfriend began to mercilessly tickle her. 

In that moment, the two were not world famous athletes. They were just a boy and a girl in love.

[batsplat]

your negative takes on recent tennis rivalries pleaseeee🙏🙏🙏

ps. you’re a treasure

okay so I'll do the copy paste thing from what I did just cut from the initial post, which was my polite 'I'm attempting to write a reasonably neutral post' approach

so, this may come as a shock, but obviously I'm a bit of a fan of rivalries. we do have some bangers in tennis history, rich narrative texts, but... well. the landscape out there hasn't been great for the past decade or so. sometimes you can get invested in match-ups between specific players that are fun to watch and interesting tennis-wise, but it's all very much about the sport rather than the personal relationships between the different players. I enjoy matches between all three or ryba, sabs and iga!! but also. they are coworkers. you do kindaaaa get the sense sabs and iga aren't particularly fond of each of other, but it's all perfectly cordial. again, the tennis is great, I support them in all their endeavours, but it's very much the tennis itself you need to look for for the drama (also they don't play each other as much as I'd like, but that's a conversation for a different day)

you do still sometimes get some fun beef but it's very much isolated dumb stuff like the fritz/rinderknech "have a nice flight home" thing. this isn't going anywhere story-wise but it's fun in the moment

speaking of men. obviously the most important rivalries for the last however many years have been between various big three/four members, and federer/nadal specifically is extremely popular. tennis-wise, I still think federer/djokovic was the most fun match-up, and at least there was a little tension there because federer used to hate djokovic. they've played a lot of matches that are worth watching!! also they've finally mostly retired so it's not super relevant any more, but well tennis fans as a collective are very big three-pilled so you'll hear a lot about these blokes

and now there's alcaraz/sinner. they've only really had one match that was good start to finish (uso 2022), but definitely some fun ones (miami 2023 and wimbledon 2022 are probably the other ones that stand out, their most recent match was very much in the 'long does not equal good' category). plus, they're quite good at producing highlight reel content, like this one point everyone remembers (shown here from every angle... tennistv produces longer videos for single points than the wta releases for most finals). it's an interpersonally warm rivalry between two young guys who are both very successful and will presumably win everything for the next decade. again, I'd suggest trying to become a fan of one of those two

this was the polite way of phrasing it!! everything below here is quite rude and negative, peace and love to all

okay, let's ditch the thin veneer of neutrality, here's what I actually think: it is completely baffling to me how popular quite a few of these rivalries are, I don't get it, I have never understood it, I will never understand it. tennis went 'what if we had rivalries without narrative tension' and everyone just kinda rolled with that? mind you federer/nadal early confrontations were happening at the same time as clijsters/henin, who were like?? dude it got so bad henin said she had never been friends with clijsters so nothing clijsters and her father said could hurt her ("nothing was broken between us because there was nothing to break" ???? ffs). which is obviously not true!! but it's so... she denied the friendship ever existed and called it all pr like that's so SAD! look, this is beside the point, I'm not talking about henin/clijsters here, I do understand why people aren't that into a rivalry that was at its peak like two decades ago and federer/nadal were still playing slam finals in 2k17 (a dark dark time for some fans, federer had already HAD his decline and then he was suddenly winning slams again like tf). and to some extent I go 'well clearly people will just be into anything if you have two successful blokes' but there's clearly quite a lot of genuine passion there? like I'm not denying the passion EXISTS, people do clearly care about these guys, it's not all a psyop by Big Fedal who have suckered people into caring for these two dudes. and I'm not denying the tennis is great! I still personally prefer the match-ups that involve djokovic, and also the match-ups that involve none of those three, but fundamentally I have been watching these matches for like!! so many years! it's part of my childhood, I have enjoyed plenty of these matches, the tennis is obviously otherworldly. I have hot takes on a bunch of their matches, I can have the goat debate with you, I can give you the rundown on surface-specific match-ups and how long since nadal won a set on hard court against djokovic and federer's peak year domination rate and what they all did at madrid and blue clay and yec and golden masters and all that shit, of course it's part of my dna as a tennis viewer too!! I did usually have a slight order of preference in my head when I was watching big three match ups to have someone to root for (it's different now but back when I was a kid it was djokovic > nadal > federer, these days federer's redeemed himself a little bit in my eyes by having the decency to retire and I was radicalised against nadal). but like!! what's the narrative hook! I need somebody to explain to me what the story here is. these guys are all very good at tennis and they are racking up their titles and it's so!! whatever!! no tension no arc no real interpersonal development once federer stopped being so bitchy about djokovic. twenty plus slams who CARES, what are they doing this for! it's all so?? ugh

anyway now that I've taken a potshot at the most popular rivalry in men's tennis, I should quickly back it up by saying I feel almost the exact same way about the second most popular one (at least on tumblr) and also feel nothing for alcaraz/sinner. that one was still like... vaguely palpable? when alcaraz was clearly a way better player but struggled in that match up and also was way more invested in the rivalry than sinner was. but well, sinner is world number one now so THAT'S been ruined. again, sit me down and explain to me what the narrative stakes here are. like, if sinner wins that roland garros match, he'll be fine? alcaraz will be fine? everyone will be fine? their relationship is basically 'friendly coworkers', zero chance of anything more substantial developing there. now, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm massively into the current state of the women's game when it comes to rivalries either, but at least I have a base level of fondness there for the top players and am ideologically inclined to hype up any rivalries there whenever they come along. also, quite frankly, it DOES matter viscerally more to them!! iga spends a lot of her time kinda like,,, on the edge, the way she was in tears when getting physio after the naomi match, united cup last year, a bunch of her 2021 matches, like she's so intense and so tightly strung on the court that you do really get the sense that a loss could just cause her to have an existential crisis. there's so many unanswered questions about her ultimate potential off clay, I'm still proper curious about her story develops. and then with aryna, she's obviously ALSO so intense but in a different way, and she feels every single emotion so completely and entirely and iga has beaten her in one of those infamous semifinal chokes and it's kinda... you know, aryna also feels like she has something to prove, and you can tell they both really really want to beat each other. there's something there!! it's something real! I'm always seated whenever we actually get to see them play

that being said, yes, obviously I do think we're not exactly peak rivalry potential in either gender. the men's is more egregious because the way the game has shaken out since like,,,, 2004, is incredible top level domination by just a few guys. and now, yes, I'm aware I'm a fan of another sport where this was also incredibly true. but. the key difference is that the aliens had the decency to not be so fucking boring about it. sure on paper they were as a PACK winning everything, but good lord were they screaming crying throwing up whenever things went mildly wrong for them. like!! they despised each other and they needed to beat each other, which makes ME care!! I'm not saying I NEED rivals to hate each other, though it sure does help for my investment levels, but I need a narrative hook! borg/mcenroe had a narrative hook, evert/navratilova had a narrative hook (unfortunately that narrative hook these days is 'being united in transphobia'), agassi/sampras had one HELL of a narrative hook. noughties wta tennis about fifty million narrative hooks!! when I watch alcaraz/sinner, I just try and enjoy the tennis (though their roland garros match was mid as shit so what's that all about) but like... I don't care? or I care because one of them has pissed me off recently. I do fundamentally watch most of men's tennis as a hater, and admittedly this is accumulated bitterness over way too many years, but I do also think it's frustrating! tennis gets in its own way with this whole gentleman's sport business, the amount of wanking people do over federer/nadal in particular is truly insufferable... this is a sport filled with millionaire tax evaders and they'll have you believe that smashing a racquet is not only not fun (obviously it is) but also some kind of arbiter of morality. congrats to nadal for not smashing a racquet in his career!! could we please get his thoughts on gender equality in prize money? oh... okay. hm. this isn't supposed to be some gotcha, these guys all suck. but ultimately I would prefer not to engage with this sanitising and pearl clutching, given they do all suck, over shit that fundamentally does not matter while giving them a pass over all the stuff that DOES and instead maybe just have some fun. maybe you need to be single-minded and kind of dull to be good at men's tennis these days, maybe it's inevitable, doesn't mean I don't find them boring and pointless. there's some people who just enjoy like,,, watching greatness, endlessly racking up numbers and reaching the pinnacle of the sport or whatever, that's not me, I need there to be a story

thing is, right, obviously I'll still watch these matches (though I have massively turned it down this year, especially on the men's side - I did have a kind of breaking point this january where I was like 'wow I don't think I can ever care about anything any more?' and broadly speaking this has proved to be correct). I've tried hard to like a lot of these men because, god knows, it'd be a way more pleasant experience if I could trick my brain into it, but I can't! I think they're dull! fundamentally I'm too embedded in this world to ever be able to leave it. but I think it's funny when fans go 'oh people who are into drama don't appreciate the actual sport' like buddy I can basically guarantee I know more about the sport than you do. I Just Think that actually interpersonal relationships do also enhance the actual sports, like this shit is a conversation right,,, it has its history, it's a development over time in terms of your tactics and your knowledge of your opponent's tactics and so on, your expectations going into every match. when you have an interesting interpersonal dynamic, the sport also becomes more interesting... it's actually pretty straightforward lol. a lot of tennis is in the head, rivalries are also in the head, you're playing the other guy (gender neutral) as much as you are the actual ball. I get super annoyed by fans who are too busy being nostalgic to actually enjoy the players we have now, and I really don't like it when people call iga boring for instance, but I do also have a little bit of that. love the game, hate a lot of the players, simple as. bring back agassi calling his pet parrot more interesting than sampras in his autobiography, we used to be a proper sport