An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
Alexandr Dolgopolov becomes the latest Ukrainian player to take up arms in the defense of Ukraine. Russia and Belarus have been suspended from Davis Cup and Billie Jean Cup competition. “Gold Balls” gets some coverage in the mainstream tennis media.
The crisis in Ukraine continues to dominate the news. Coco Gauff speaks out on gender identity and Rafa Nadal has harsh words for how the ATP handled the Alexander Zverev situation.
Headlines this week were dominated by Ukrainian storylines that dwarfed a couple of blockbuster business deals in women’s tennis.
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The storylines this week are dominated by player reaction to the Russia invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, Alexander Zverev was fined for on court violence, and Leander Paes was found guilty of domestic abuse in India.
The highest ranking ITF tennis official resigns, Novak Djokovic grants his first interview on his vaccination status, and Alex de Minaur denies paying for a fake Covid vaccine certificate.
Women finally achieve equality with the men at Wimbledon. In 2022, fans will pay the same ticket price for both the men’s and women’s finals.
A fun thought exercise for the week is to rank the first three stories in order of credibility: A) That IOC president Thomas Bach is an unbiased source of the well being of Peng Shuai, B) any future Novak Djokovic vaccination claim without independent verification, or C) that the Serbian legal system legitimately investigated the irregularities in Djokovic’s positive Covid test at the center of the Australian Open kerfuffle.
Malcolm Gladwell penned a powerful essay praising the WTA response to the Peng Shuai crisis, ESPN drops the ball on a significant match at the Australian Open, and other stories from the margins of the tennis world.
Chris Evert announces a cancer diagnosis and Netflix is filming a documentary series with behind-the-scenes look at life on the ATP and WTA tours. Australia makes a final decision on the immigration status of Novak Djokovic who continues to be one of the most divisive figures in tennis. Australian Open play is underway!
Novak Djokovic get his day in Australian court as his immigration status dominates tennis news heading into the Australian Open.