The first and only time I watched most of the Australian Open unfold in real time, rather than via replay, was in 2008, when my doctor prescribed something for a non-intestinal IBD-related issue. A few days later I developed serum sickness, a rare reaction in which your immune system goes berserk in response to animal proteins …
I’ve been remiss in not yet posting about this year’s Australian Open, but I’ve been remiss in all kinds of things lately — it’s been a long last few weeks when it comes to sleeplessness and annoying YOPD problems.* An AO post is hopefully coming on either Friday or Saturday, and a new telefilm review …
For the last few weeks, I’ve woken up overnight with Nancy Sinatra’s “Let Me Kiss You” in my head. Her cover of Morrissey’s original was in my iTunes library for a long time — I’d purchased the self-titled album containing the track in 2004 — but I couldn’t find the MP3 on my tablet, and …
If you can find Steve Simon, the disgraced chief of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) — earlier this weekend, he dodged public accountability by declining to speak with broadcasters — ask him to take a bow. For the second year running he’s spectacularly bungled the WTA Finals, in which the “elite eight” atop the women’s …
Fans, Players Lose (Again) at the 2023 WTA Finals Read More »
I’m too excited to try to wax poetic about today’s U.S. Open women’s final, so don’t expect much here. Like all Coco Gauff enthusiasts, I felt queasy when Aryna Sabalenka came out guns blazing in the first set. During the second set, when Gauff broke serve, I messaged my best friend, who’d been a nervous …
As we settle in for a much-hyped all-American men’s quarterfinal at a sweltering U.S. Open (where I’m hoping for a Ben Shelton victory over Frances Tiafoe), here’s a smattering of unimportant thoughts on recent WTA happenings, from Venus to Coco and a rankings shake-up.
The crowd at Roland-Garros angered me from the start this year with its indefensible booing of Marta Kostyuk, a Ukrainian who declined to shake Belarusian opponent Aryna Sabalenka’s hand at the net. But its support of native sons Lucas Pouille and Gaël Monfils has also moved me to tears (like its support of Gilles Simon …