a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
Coco Gauff (19) is the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams won the tournament in 1999 at 17.
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
The surface smoke from the wildfires in Canada and the Pacific Northwest that hung over the city on Sunday, had cleared enough by Monday morning so that the amigos could go out and play a little pickle ball.
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.
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.
The two-week tennis tournament at the freshly-mowed green grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club in London SW19’s Wimbledon village* started today.
Russian and Belarusian players are allowed to compete this year, after they were banned from Wimbledon in 2022. (The ban achieved nothing, really).
*The village is referred to as “Wimbedounyng” in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful in 967. The name Wimbledon means “Wynnman’s hill”, with the final element of the name being the Celtic “dun” (hill).
In June 1877 the club decided to organize a tennis tournament to pay for the repair of its pony roller, which was used to maintain the lawns.
The championship has been held every year since then, outside of the World War I and II years (so not held 1915-18, 1940-45).
We are blessed with goldilocks weather here in Seattle at the start of summer— mild and sunny, with a high of 72 °F (22 °C) today.
Sunrise was at 5.11 am and sunset at 9.10 pm, so we had just a touch under 16 hours of sunlight.
Congratulations to Iga Swiatek (22) from Poland.
She bested Karolína Muchová (Czechia, 26) by 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the French Open Women’s Final at Roland Garros today.
It was warm here in the city today (85 °F/ 30 °C).
Most of the Pacific Northwest has— so far— been spared the smoke from Canada that is plaguing New York City and the Northeast.
The ATP* tour action is in Rome this week and next, at the ATP Masters 1000 called the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, on the red clay courts of the Foro Italico grounds.
As the players walk onto the court, the speakers play rousing music from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The stadium around center court reminds one a little of the Colosseum. (The Colosseum was built in the years between CE 70 and 72 at the height of the Roman Empire).
*Association of Tennis Professionals
Wow!
The Seattle Kraken knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche by 2 goals to 1 tonight in Denver, in the seventh and final game of their first-round play-off series.
From the Seattle Times:
A blistering, second-period wrist shot by Kraken winger Oliver Bjorkstrand had stunningly put his team ahead by two and allowed followers of his second-year franchise to dare to dream the impossible.
After being outplayed most of Sunday night’s opening-round Game 7 to that point, the Kraken somehow had found themselves poised to knock out the defending Stanley Cup champions for good. And though the Colorado Avalanche eventually did mount a furious, desperation-fueled comeback, the Kraken and goalie Philipp Grubauer held on for a history-making, 2-1 victory and advanced to a second-round playoff showdown starting this week against the Dallas Stars.
– By Geoff Baker, Seattle Times staff reporter
Here’s the cool envelope that my vendor from Antwerp, Belgium, put the stamps in that I had bought.
The stamp was issued in 2021, and it depicts a cycling jersey.
The 2021 UCI Road World Championships was between 19 and 26 September 2021 in the Flanders region of Belgium.
The Indian Wells Open (BNP Paribas Open) tennis tournament is underway in California.
Friendly fans pitched in to help dry the court tonight, after a burst of rain early in the evening. I like those spongy squeegees— they will come in handy for drying up the tennis courts here in Seattle.
Carlos Alcaraz is back on the tennis court after a hiatus of three months (partly due to injuries). His No 1 ranking slipped to No 2 after he had to withdraw from the Australian Open in January.
He will take on Cameron Norrie (Great Britain) in the final of the Argentinian Open tomorrow.
It was warm enough (48 °F / 9 °C) for the amigos to play a little pickleball this afternoon.
The high today was all of 38 °F (3 °C), but no matter— the pickleballers were out in full force at the Miller Park courts on 19th Avenue.
In fact, I notice now that one of the sixteen intrepid competitors was in shorts and a t-shirt 🥶.
Argentina has won the World Cup for a third time (also in 1978 and 1986). Congratulations to Argentina and to Lionel Messi.
So on Sunday it will be Argentina 🇦🇷 vs. France 🇫🇷 for the World Cup Final— a clash of two titans in the world of soccer.
It’s a welcome distraction for Argentinians, living in a country where the rate of inflation now stands at an incredible 100%. (Inflation in the US for November was 7.1%).
[Still image from FS1 TV channel broadcast]
P.S. A 2021 investigation by The Guardian newspaper revealed that over 6,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka died between 2010 and 2020 during in Qatar— a high percentage of that probably during the construction of World Cup venues in Qatar.
[Still image from FS1 TV channel broadcast]
‘This is one nutty World Cup, people’
– Commentator Alexi Lalas
I watched most of the two World Cup matches today. Both ended in penalty shoot-outs, so thrilling finishes to both. It must be painful to lose with penalty kicks, though (as Brazil and The Netherlands did).
So Tuesday it’s Argentina 🇦🇷 vs. Croatia 🇭🇷 for the first semi-final.
On Wednesday it will be
( France 🇫🇷 or England 🏴 ) vs. ( Portugal 🇵🇹 or Morocco 🇲🇦 ) for the second semi-final.
The France-England and Portugal-Morocco quarterfinal matches are played tomorrow.
Sad news is that sportswriter Grant Wahl (48, USA) died today in Doha, while covering the Argentina-Netherlands World Cup quarterfinal. He was reportedly working very hard and not sleeping well, and fell ill with a respiratory illness (not Covid).
