Congrats to the owner and team for Mystik Dan, the winner of the 150th Kentucky Derby, by a nose.
Wednesday/ the red clay of Barcelona 🎾
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.”
Sunday/ the tennis in Monaco 🎾
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.
Saturday/ midnight in Miami 🌴
It’s midnight in Miami, and there is still action on the tennis court at the 2024 Miami Open.
Tuesday/ tennis in the desert 🎾
All right, it’s time for a quick update on the happenings at the Indian Wells 2024 men’s tennis tournament.
Raphael Nadal (37, 🇪🇸) had actually withdrawn from the tournament before it even started, simply stating that he was not physically ready to play again at the highest level. Will he play French Open in May? We don’t know.
World No 1 Novak ‘No Vac’ Djokovic (36, 🇷🇸) was back for the first time in four years, only to fall to ‘lucky loser’ Luca Nardi (20, 🇮🇹) in the third round.
(A lucky loser is a player given a spot in the main draw even though he lost in the final round of the qualifying tournament).
Daniil Medvedev (28, His Country Invaded Ukraine— but not his fault) and Holger Rune (20, 🇩🇰) are the likeliest from the top half of the draw to make it to the final on Sunday.
In the bottom half it will be Indian Wells 2023 champ Alcaraz (20, 🇪🇸), Jannik Sinner (22, 🇮🇹) and Alexander Zverev (26, 🇩🇪) battling it out for a spot in the final.
Update Sun 3/19: It was Alcaraz vs. Medvedev in the Men’s Final, with Alcaraz winning 6-3, 6-2.
Monday/ Rafa is back, again 🇪🇸
I’m not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I am among the best, that’s true. That’s enough for me.
– Rafael Nadal, Mar. 2023
The second big tennis tournament of 2024 has started: the Indian Wells Open in California. Celebrated veteran and champion Rafael Nadal (Spain, 37) is back after missing the Australian Open due to a hip injury.
Rafael Nadal is seeking a fourth Indian Wells tournament win here, but faces a very tough draw (assuming the seeded players win their matches):
R1 – Raonic
R2 – Rune
R3 – Shapovalov/Musetti
R4 – Fritz/Baez
QF – Medvedev/Dimitrov
SF – Djokovic/Hurkacz
F – Alcaraz/Sinner/Zverev/ Rublev
Superbowl Sunday 🏈
Chiefs become first team in 20 years to win back-to-back Super Bowls
LAS VEGAS — The NFL has a repeat champion for the first time in 19 years. The Kansas City Chiefs, with a third Super Bowl triumph in five seasons, cemented the league’s modern-day dynasty with a 25-22 overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
This one, the same as the last two for Kansas City and its superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, came with a stirring second-half comeback and, this time, with some late heroics in overtime.
Jake Moody’s 27-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime put the 49ers ahead 22-19, but the Chiefs responded with a 13-play, 75-yard drive and won it on 3-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Mecole Hardman.
– Zak Keefer, National Staff Writer for The Athletic
Sunday/ a new champion 🥕
Congratulations to Jannik Sinner (Italian, 22), the 2024 Australian Open Men’s Singles champion. It’s his first Grand Slam title.
Sinner rallied back from two sets down, to outlast Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev was definitely the underdog, since he had lost his past three matches against Sinner.
Friday/ the last of the year’s pro tennis 🎾
There is spectacular men’s tennis on display in Turin, Italy, this week.
It is the last of the year: the world’s top eight players squaring off in the ATP Nitto Finals.
The semifinals are tomorrow.
Jannik Sinner (Italy, 22) plays Daniil Medvedev, from a country non grata*, 27)
and
Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 20) plays Novak Djokovic (36, Serbia).
*The one that invaded Ukraine. When will that terrible war end?
Update Sat 11/18: Well, winning the ATP Finals was not to be, for Alcaraz this year. He lost 3-6, 2-6. It will be Sinner and Djokovic in the final.
Saturday/ on top of the world 🏉 🇿🇦
Saturday/ another win for the green & gold 🏉
Congratulations to the Bokke from South Africa, coming from behind and notching a 16-15 win against England, in today’s 2023 World Rugby Cup semi-final.
New Zealand’s All Blacks easily dispatched the Argentinian team by 44-6 in the other semi-final on Friday.
The final is next Saturday, in the Stade de France stadium, in Paris.
Thursday/ ‘I’ in Japanese 🏯
Here is Eric Margolis writing for the Japan Times (just the introduction of a long article):
You may have learned that “I” is 私 (watashi). And while this is a handy all-around term to use when referring to yourself, a 2019 survey showed that over 30% of Japanese women and around 70% of Japanese men don’t regularly use it.
To make things even more confusing, people do or don’t use 私 entirely depending on the situation. While 80% of women in their 50s expected to use 私 to address colleagues or acquaintances their own age, just 30% expected to use it for people they met for the first time. Meanwhile, 60% of men in their 50s expected to use it when meeting a young person for the first time. But that percentage dropped to 40% of the time when they were meeting someone their own age.
Japanese dictionaries and resources list over 30 different words for just one in English: “I”. Every word expresses different nuances about how the speaker views themselves and what their relationship is to the person they’re speaking with. There’s わたし (watashi), わたくし (watakushi), あたし (atashi), 僕 (boku), 吾輩 (wagahai), 俺 (ore), うち (uchi), 儂 (washi), 麿 (maro) and 自分 (jibun), just to name a few. So how to know which one to use?
P.S. I would have loved to be in Japan right now, at the tennis courts watching some Japan Open tennis action.
Sunday/ go Bokke! 🏉
South Africa’s Springbokke prevailed 29-28 over the hometeam ‘Les Bleus’ from France in tonight’s 2023 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal. The match was played in the Stade de France, the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis.
Next Saturday the Bokke will play against England.
In the other semifinal Argentina will take on New Zealand.
Thursday/ fall 🍂 pickle ball 🥒
Sunday/ it’s a wrap 🪲
Saturday/ congrats, Coco! 🏆
Coco Gauff (19) is the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams won the tournament in 1999 at 17.
Monday/ the US Open starts 🎾
The US Open tennis tournament is under way, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York City.
It is— amazingly— the 50th anniversary of the US Open becoming the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors, promising never to stop fighting to maintain that hard-won progress. (It would take 34 years before all the other Grand Slam events followed suit. This year, the US Open winners will each receive $3 million, with total player compensation rising to $65 million).
– James Martinez reporting for the Associated Press
Monday/ clear enough 🌝
Wednesday/ Stan the Man 👨
There is tennis in Cincinnati, Ohio this week: the Cincinnati Open (also going by its sponsor’s name, the Western & Southern Open).
The hardcourt season is in full swing, in the run-up to the year’s last Grand Slam tournament that starts on August 28— the US Open in New York City.
Sunday/ Sweden, by a hair 🙈
Sweden won the penalty shootout, 5-4, to eliminate the United States from FIFA’s 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The American team was billed by some as the favorite to win yet again, after winning two consecutive champion-ships, in 2015 and 2019.