I love that the Olympics just feels like a celebration for a lot of the athletes.
Jessie Pegula, Camila Osorio, and Coco Gauff sure seem to be having fun. ๐
๐จ AMAZING! ๐จ
Here it is. The best video you'll see all day.
A fan demands the crowd pay THE Venus Williams the respect she deserves. ๐คฃ
AN AMERICAN TREASURE!! ๐๐๐
Novak Djokovic only follows 771 people on Twitter. One of them is Claudia Tenney.
Tenney voted against same-sex marriage protection. Votes against gun control. And, is an anti-"CRT" history revisionist.
But, she said Novak should get to play the US Open. So, he followed her.
Warning for domestic/family abuse.
Jelena Dokic shares a photo of herself from the 2000 US Open, showing bruises on her knees from being kicked repeatedly for losing a match.
Once again, we have no idea what these players we talk about so casually are actually going through. โฅ๏ธ
The fact that we're less than 24 hours from the start of the Australian Open and there's still no order of play is absurd. There are 255 other players in these draws.
Feel very sorry for African Games champion Angella Okutoyi, who wasn't allowed to compete because her ranking was too low.
Meanwhile, Petros Tsitsipas and semi-retired Robin Haase are in the singles draw now.
Sometimes I forget that these players devote their whole childhoods, their whole lives, chasing moments of validation like this.
It's sport. There are more important things in the world. But, it's still powerful to see the humanity of it sometimes.
It really is not talked about enough that Hubert Hurkacz really, for real, not kidding... closes his eyes when he hits the ball.
All of these photos are taken years apart.
๐ธ Associated Press
Increasingly, Emma Raducanu feels more like a branding exercise than an athlete.
Qualifying isn't on brand. But being ranked 70th because she never plays is, I guess.
Emma Raducanuโs competitive preparations for the US Open have stalled after she turned down qualifying in both Toronto and Cincinnati. Instead she has been back in London practising, with no word on whether she will play Monterrey or Cleveland next week.
Quick US Open Serena Notes:
โข Partnering with Rennae Stubbs as her coach/advisor
โข Played a practice set with Maria Sakkari this morning
Stubbs encouraged her to play sets versus top opponents this week instead of a hitting partner to get her used to match play.
Mom on a mission ๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ
@CaroWozniacki
fights her way into the second round after an incredible match against fellow tour mom Svitolina!
#BHO24
For folks upset about Andy Murray's wildcards; he's 5-1 versus top 30 opponents since November. (Plus a win over
#31
Alexander Bublik two days after he won Montpellier, beating Alex Zverev in the final.)
If that doesn't say, "deserves a spot in the draw," not sure what does.
Clervie and Present Danger!
One of the most exciting prospects in American tennis makes a big statement as Clervie Ngounoue storms to her 1st grand slam singles title without dropping a set!
Three days shy of her 17th birthday, Ngounoue defeats Nikola Bartunkova, 6-2, 6-2. ๐
Sky Sports will launch the first-ever dedicated tennis channel in the UK & Ireland! ๐คฉ๐พ
Sky Sports Tennis is set to be available on Sky and NOW from 11 February 2024, making tennis content available all day, every day for fans.
On the "Iga's crying" debate... make up y'alls minds. Do you want women to show emotion or not? Iga cries, people get mad. Rybakina doesn't cry, people get mad. Just let people feel how they feel and show it how they show it. Caring so much about it is weird.
This is the best champions photo set ever. The dress, the shoes, the gondola with oversized pillows... it's all so unserious, but so well done. Perfect.
Nobody should be expected to speak this directly under the threat of actual, literal persecution for doing so. But, it sure is powerful when someone chooses to do it.
Bravo,
@DKasatkina
Personal Update:
So, you know how we've been sorta quiet the last few weeks? Well... here's the reason!
On the 29th we joined Rafa, Daniil, Gael, Elina, & Caroline on the October baby bandwagon with the birth of our second son. Everyone is healthy. Back to business soon! ๐ช๐ถ
Lost a lot of respect for Bouzkova and SST.
All for the consistent application of the rules. (Jenson and Kyrgios got away with it, Novak and Kato didn't. Different situations. But make a rule and enforce it.) But, to leverage a child's tears to get a default win is... not great.
Not to be vulgar or anything, but fuck decorum in tennis.
Ask for Rafa's shirt, serve underhand on Centre Court, be a human being.
It's this precious Miss Manners classism that holds this sport back.
No matter what happens, I hope Serena Williams feels in her bones the fact that virtually every person in that giant stadium, and hundreds of millions of people watching across the planet, are rooting for her.
There will never be another like
@serenawilliams
.
Surprise surprise. Wozniacki gets a Wimbledon wildcard.
11 events since her return.
11 wildcards.
4 top 100 wins.
1 quarterfinal.
0 weeks inside the top 100.
God, we love this guy.
A "good for the game" guy who's not an ass to fans or ball kids AND he's one of Dasha Kasatkina's best friends? Forever stan.
Here's to a year chock full of great Bublik moments in 2023.
Alycia Parks caps off the best week of her career (so far) by partnering with Caty McNally to take the WTA doubles title in Ostrava!!!
The 21yo American also defeated Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari on her way to the singles quarterfinals as well. ๐๐ช
Talk of the Townsend
The tennis world has never welcomed Taylor Townsend.
But, she's never let that stop her from shining.
Playing arguably the best tennis of her career at the moment, Townsend punches through to the main draw in Paris with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Maria Timofeeva.
As a married gay man who now has to worry that my rights will get dissolved by an activist Supreme Court and the father of a 4yo who just had his 1st active shooter drill at DAYCARE, I care that a man w/ 9M followers is promoting her just because she said something nice about him
Now that we all agree that Guadalajara puts on a hell of a tournament with tons of awesome fans... can we put it somewhere on the calendar that makes sense?
Like the first stop of summer hardcourt season?
Guadalajara > DC > Montreal/Toronto > Cincinnati?
Watching Aryna Sabalenka figure our her problems in real time w/o giving up on herself... while being vulnerable enough to share her confusion, fear, and the absurd humor of a world
#2
forgetting how to serve... is one of the most fascinating things we've ever seen in this sport.
A rant because waking up to people cussing me out for a mistake gets to me sometimes. It's long, so... congratulations or sorry that happened to me. No obligations to read or care about one guy's irritation.
I am one guy running this account.
I make all the graphics.
I write
As always,
@Daria_gav
is hilarious and an icon.
Though, another gross example of the collateral damage from the increasingly close ties between the tennis establishment and sports betting.
For the 35th time in her career, Lesia Tsurenko retires mid-match. She also retired in her last match in Rome.
It's the 13th time she's retired in her 1st match of an event... when a lucky loser/ALT could have taken her spot.
Obviously, players have the right to pull the cord
Iga'noring All the Haterzzzz
Honestly? Iga Swiatek is doing just fine.
She's 22, just spent over a year at
#1
, won a grand slam, and earned $5.4 million this year.
If this is a flop era, we're all screwed.
Swiatek defeats Sara Sorribes Tormo, 6-4, 6-3, to get going in Beijing
So, anybody with Nole wearing a crown of thorns or whatever in their profile who comes into these comments complaining can get in the bin. This is about more than tennis. He doesn't follow many people. So, yeah. He should be and IS intentional about who he follows. It matters.
Ah, good. JMac is back from his COVID break. But, don't worry, he didn't use that time to do any research. Just referred to Arnaldi as "a complete unknown."
Matteo Arnaldi is
#61
in the world with wins over Jiri Lehecka, Cam Norrie, and Casper Ruud this year.
Taylor Made Success Story
Indian Wells โ ๏ธ
Miami โ ๏ธ
Charleston โ ๏ธ
Not one of them gave Taylor Townsend a wildcard... so she qualified into all three and pulled off upsets in each and every one.
๐ซณ
.
.
.
๐ค
Townsend does it again, defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova, 7-5, 6-2
Vile. Nasty. Disgusting.
Once again, the accomplishments & character of extraordinary black women dragged through the mud because bigots can't accept their humanity, let alone their excellence.
Top Notch Taro!
Taro Daniel keeps showing off excellent form in 2022, easing past David Goffin, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to reach round 2 in Dubai.
After coming through qualifying in Adelaide, the Australian Open, and this week in Dubai, Daniel extends his record to 11-3 on the year!
In addition to Nike dropping all those players in January, they also deactivated their "NikeCourt" Instagram account, which was active up until at least the middle of the Australian Open.
Not a great sign for their commitment to the sport...
@melodymakernz
I guess I'll say this, if you're ever in a relationship where someone nicknames you hippo, says all you do is eat, says they wish you were fitter, then posts it online for millions to see, I hope you aren't with them long.
I don't know you, but I know you don't deserve that.
I realize that, until relatively recently, there really wasn't a realistic expectation for many WTA players to sustain their career after having a child.
So, there's power and something to be celebrated in that.
(Adequate parental leave benefits would be great, too.)
But, can
Amanda Anisimova's back on a tennis court, y'all!
Judging by the caption and hashtag, hopefully she's finding joy in the game again... whether she comes back to the tour or not. ๐๐ซถ
Write this down:
"Alycia Parks is gonna be a big deal."
After a couple years building buzz around her giant serve and booming groundstrokes, the 21yo has put it all together in Ostrava.
Parks follows up her win over Karolina Pliskova with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win over Maria Sakkari.
Quick Personal Note:
Today would have been my mom's birthday. Her passing in late 2020 was part of the reason I started Tick Tock Tennis, as a creative project to channel my energy to something productive.
So... happy birthday, mom. And thanks to everyone for following along!
Will never understand why this always happens. Even if they're not friends with that player, it makes sense to hype your organization's biggest events. Just treat it like posting something on LinkedIn to support your company.
"Congrats on your promotion, Brenda!"