Faulkner

It’s the vicious cycle: they don’t get ratings for the non-superstars, but you can’t create superstars when viewers don’t see lesser-known players. Indeed he has. He doesn’t seem to enjoy tennis so I don’t know why he bothers. It may just be the only thing he’s good at.

Billy Magnussen has his next role lined up.

Interesting R2 matches: Djokovic/Tsonga Karlovic/Nishikori A. Zverev/Chardy Wawrinka/Raonic Coric/Fucsovics Cilic/McDonald Nishioka/Khachanov Monfils/Fritz Anderson/Tiafoe Dimitrov/Cuevas Berdych/Haase Nadal/Ebden Halep/Kenin V. Williams/Cornet S. Williams/Bouchard Konta/Muguruza Siegemund/Hsieh Andreescu/Sevastova Bencic/Putintseva Tsurenko/Anisimova Boulter/Sabalenka Barty/Wang Stephens/Babos Vondrousova/Martic Kontaveit/Sasnovich Pavlyuchenkova/Bertens Collins/Vickery Vekic/Birrell

Venus/Cornet R2. Venus doesn’t have the Cornet problems that Serena has, but their last couple of matches have been tricky three-setters, with Cornet taking the last one. I didn’t get to see Venus’s Buzarnescu match, so I’m not sure about her form, but she pulled it out. People are saying Tsonga, Shapovalov, and Medvedev are in top form, and they could be Novak’s next three opponents in that order.

On the right

Kasatkina’s also out. I thought about Jelena Jankovic just now and realized we were robbed of an official retirement. Sock might want to focus on doubles. He playing with Jackson Withrow again now that Bob Bryan’s back.

Jack Sock’s 2019 is looking like his 2018. Out in R1 to Bolt.

Kei got lucky. Potential popcorn match with Serena and a resurgent Genie. Sadly, I haven’t been able to watch much due to work. Missed all the Murray/RBA melodrama. Azarenka/Siegemund could be...combustible.

Not to make this thread a catch-all for all news about streaming services, but...

Oh the drama! The machinations! The subterfuge! Better than any movie Hollywood released in 2018.

Venus was not having it! She’s classy but don’t play lol. Same with Vinci and her “tea or coffee” b.s.

Nishioka beat Sandgren! Meanwhile:

Bennett is confirmed. The others aren’t on the official list, but the cast is still pretty bonkers.

Kandi’s on the new season of Celebrity Big Brother, alongside a bonkers cast including Tamar Braxton.

Well, Tennys Sandgren won his first ATP title just now. It means that he’ll go into Melbourne with a cushion as he tries to defend all those points from his deep run last year.

The Green Book writer who tweeted anti-Muslim stuff has apologized. Lots of Oscar campaign rehab going on this week, in addition to Gaga disavowing R. Kelly. While a lot of the blowback is deserved, it’s always fascinating to watch how rival studios take each other down during Oscar season, especially with stuff that’s already been publicly available but didn’t cause controversy when it originally happened (like the Farrelly penis-flashing admission from 1998, a pre-social media era). Nate Jones writes about it in Vulture: I found that line telling: how #metoo has been used not to make Hollywood workplaces safer or more equitable, but instead cynically used as a weapon to exact revenge or cripple enemies.

I saw that CBB cast rumored on Twitter. I thought it was too good to be true.

Not a Nick fan, but this is a nice message.

Nishioka/Sandgren is an interesting R1.

A nice story about the late James Gandolfini.