a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
The results of the US Open 2024 are in.
Men’s Singles:
Jannik Sinner (23, 🇮🇹 ) def. Taylor Fritz (26, 🇺🇸) 6-3 6-4 7-5.
Women’s Singles:
Aryna Sabalenka (26, *) def. Jessica Pegula (30 🇺🇸) 7-5 7-5.
*Lives in Florida but is from a country involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
It was great to see American players in the final, but in both cases it would have been a surprise if they had managed to best their opponents.
I’m making the decision to stop. I’m very happy with that. No injury, no nothing. Okay, I decided to because I’m tired, because I’m feeling like I cannot be the competitor I’ve been before.
– Diego Schwartzman, talking to a reporter
Diego Schwartzman (32, 🇦🇷) bid the crowd a tearful good-bye after his 7-6, 2-6, 2-6, 1-6 loss against Gael Monfils (37, 🇫🇷) on Monday. He will be playing his last tournament in Buenos Aires in February.
From atptour.com: It will bring to a close a memorable career in which the Argentine has won 250 tour-level matches, competed in the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 and ascended to No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
The year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament starts tomorrow in Queens, New York.
Congratulations to the 16 qualifiers.
There were 128 men and 128 women competing for the final 16 slots, respectively, in each of the 2024 US Open singles draws.
Even if you lose in the first round of the main draw, you are awarded $100,000 for your efforts— a lot of money.
If you are a young professional player just starting out, you play in so-called futures tournaments offering $10,000 to $25,000 in prize money for the winner.
I confess that I fast-forwarded through some (okay, most) of a recording of the three hours of the closing ceremony of the 2024 Games.
I liked the Golden Voyager and the mummies— and was that a spry 62-year old Tom Cruise ‘sky diving’ into the arena to receive the Olympic flag, and take it to Los Angeles on a motorbike? (Yes, it was).
Only 0.005 sec (five thousandths) separated the gold and the silver in the 100 meters men’s final today.
The superstar Spanish pairing of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz lost on Wednesday afternoon, as the U.S. pair of Austin Krajick and Rajeev Ram bounced the big-name duo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
-Ryan Phillips writing for si.com
This is the driest day on the calendar for our region*— but there was a little bit of steady rain around the city this morning.
*When looking at daily averages for 79 years of records at the Seattle-Tacoma airport weather station.
Here’s Carlos Alcaraz (21, 🇪🇸) and Rafael Nadal (38, 🇪🇸) in their red shirts.
The unseeded team from Spain are off to a great start with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Maximo Gonzales (41, 🇦🇷) and Andrés Molteni (36, 🇦🇷) , seeded 6th, today.
Nadal was a surprise torch bearer during the opening ceremony.
He won Olympic golds in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016, and is scheduled to play in the first round of singles on Sunday against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics (32, 🇭🇺).
Well, I watched some of the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony this morning as it happened.
The Eiffel Tower must have been spectacular to see during the light show.
As for other parts of the ceremony, I suspect it was a challenge for the choreographers to pull all the pieces together to make for compelling TV viewing.
The rain certainly did not make it easier, least of all to the camera crews that needed to keep the rain drops from their lenses and from getting into their expensive equipment.
‘At Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, Mr. Macron awaited the athletes before a crowd that donned ponchos and huddled under umbrellas in the unrelenting rain. He told the French newspaper Le Parisien this week that he had felt some “vertigo” as the Olympics, a decade in the making, were set to begin’.
– Roger Cohen reporting from Paris for the NYT
Wimbledon 2024 is in the books, as is the Euro Cup 2024.
It was a good day for Spain in the international sports arena.
First Carlos Alcaraz ( (🇪🇸, 21 yrs old) won his second Wimbledon title in straight sets over Novak Djokovic (🇷🇸 , 37).
The score was 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).
Shortly after that, Spain 🇪🇸 beat England 🏴 2-1 in the Euro Cup 2024 Final.
Wimbledon 2024 is underway.
The world’s top tennis players are resplendent in their bright whites (no colored attire allowed), and their pimple-soled white grass court shoes.
On Monday, reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21) took on qualifier Mark Lajal (🇪🇪, 21), and came out on top in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-5 and 6-2.
I was wrong about Djokovic (🇷🇸, 37) : he is in fact playing, with a knee brace (he had meniscus surgery on Jun. 6). In the first round he took out Vit Kopriva (🇨🇿, 27) with ease, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Tommy Paul (🇺🇸, 27) played spectacular tennis today in London to beat Lorenzo Musetti (🇮🇹, 22 ) in the men’s final of the 2024 Queen’s Club Championships.
The qualifying tournament for Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and the main tournament starts Jul 1.
Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21 ) is the favorite to win the men’s 2024 Wimbledon crown —even though he was not at his best here; he lost in the quarter-final at Queens, against Jack Draper (🇬🇧, 22).
Novak Djokovic (🇷🇸, 37) had knee surgery just two weeks ago— and I don’t believe he will play.
Rafael Nadal (🇪🇸, 38 ) has already confirmed that he will not play at Wimbledon this year, so that he can better compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Although the weather was perfect for pickleball today, we had a reservation for the Sandman’s Courts in Columbia City.
We liked the clean surface and well-marked lines a lot.
The selection of background music was excellent and played at just the right volume 🤗.
The amigos played a little pickleball today.
The courts at Mt Baker playground were full today, and we went to Beacon Hill playground instead.
They roared at every big play, shouting and waving signs and flags. They ate South Asian food sold at the concession stands, jumped, chanted, high-fived with fellow supporters and — after a bit of rain — soaked up the sunshine on a historic day at the usually quiet park.
“It was electric,” said Chandu Talla, an India fan and entrepreneur from Tampa, Fla., who came to the match with his son Aryan, a high school junior. “We paid $2,500 per ticket and no regrets,” he added. “It was a dream come true to see India here.”
– David Waldstein reporting for the New York Times, from a temporary stadium for 34,000 set up in the grassy southeastern corner of Eisenhower Park in Long Island.
[Photo by Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times]
There is a new rivalry in men’s tennis: between Jannik Sinner (🇮🇹, 22) and Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21).
The rivals met today in the men’s semi-final of the 2024 French Open.
It was a see-saw match that had Alcaraz emerge the victor after trailing two sets to one: Alcaraz 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Alcaraz leads Sinner by 5 wins to 4 in their head-to-head matches so far.
On Sunday, Alcaraz will play against Alexander (Sacha) Zverev ( 🇩🇪, 27) in the final.
It will be the first French Open men’s final without Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic since 2009.
It’s the first without Nadal, Djokovic or Roger Federer since 2004.
Update Sun 6/9: Alcaraz outlasted Zverev to won his first French title: Alcaraz 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (20, 🇫🇷 ) cut through tie-break tension to complete a dream week and lift his maiden ATP Tour title in the city of his birth Saturday at the Open Parc in Lyon, France.
Roared on by a vocal Lyon crowd, the 20-year-old wild card battled past sixth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(7) in a dramatic championship match at the ATP 250. Mpetshi Perricard was a point away from defeat at 6/7 in the deciding-set tie-break but held firm for a famous two-hour, 29-minute win in just his fourth tour-level event.
– As reported on ATPtour.com
Mpetshi Perricard, 20, will enter the top 100 for the first time on Monday at a career-high No 66 after his dream week in Lyon.
All eyes in the world of tennis now turn to Stade Roland Garros, Paris, where the French Open starts tomorrow.
Rafael Nadal (37-almost 38, 🇪🇸) is playing on Monday: against No. 4 seed Alexander (Sacha) Zverev (27, 🇩🇪). It may just be Nadal’s last match at the tournament that he had won 14 times in the past.
Update Mon 5/27: Nadal lost in straight sets against Zverev, but did not rule out after the match that he will not be back to compete here again. (Sooner rather than later, that is. The tennis matches for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will be played in the Stade Roland Garros, and he should be able to represent Spain).
Congrats to the owner and team for Mystik Dan, the winner of the 150th Kentucky Derby, by a nose.
Rafael Nadal (37, 🇪🇸) was back on the court again today at the Barcelona Open.
His comeback from hip and abdominal injuries after three months was ended by Alex de Minaur (25, 🇦🇺), though.
The 12-time champion got a standing ovation as he waved goodbye to the Barcelona Open— for possibly the final time.
Here’s Jonathan Jurejko reporting for BBC Sport:
Nadal is hoping to be fit enough to make a return to the French Open, where he won a record 14 men’s singles titles, next month, and suggested he was preserving his energy for Roland Garros during the latter stages of the De Minaur match.
“On a personal level, for what is to come, the 6-1 in the second set is what had to happen today,” he said.
“It wasn’t today that I had to give everything and die. I have to give myself the chance to do that [at the French Open] in a few weeks, or at least try to.”
Monégasque (say “mon-i-gask”)
noun
a native or inhabitant of Monaco
adjective
of or relating to Monaco or its inhabitants.
The 2024 clay season for men’s tennis is in full swing.
Today was a beautiful Monégasque clear spring day at the Monte-Carlo Country Club— where Stefanos Tsitsipas (25, 🇬🇷) squared off against Casper Ruud (25, 🇩🇰) for the title match of the 117th annual Monte Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament.
Tsitsipas emerged as the winner 6-1 6-4, winning his third title there.
I don’t follow Formula 1 racing, but Leclerc has caught the attention of F1 fans since becoming the youngest member of Ferrari’s team in 2019, landing a role in his early 20s, says People magazine.
[Picture posted on X @leclercdata]
Charles Leclerc with his girlfriend Alexandra Saint Mleux, a 21-year-old Art History student from Italy.
[Picture posted on X @leclercdata]