Faulkner

Venus is really struggling. She’s taken a couple of nasty spills, and the serve is gone. She’s dropped the first set to Johanna Larsson, who has never won a match at Wimbledon. The hunky American qualifier Michael Mmoh has taken Gilles Muller to five sets.

Sloane is out.

Maybe Dusan just isn’t great on grass, but Fed is looking in epic form right now. He’s dropped Nike (surrendering his RF logo, which they own) for Uniqlo in a reported 10-year, $300 million+ plus deal. I know athletes can still be valuable past their active years, but how many of those does he intend to play? I’m assuming at least through the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Ugh, Sloane is in a deep hole against Donna Vekic, and Venus is struggling in early games against Larsson. I have more faith in Venus to switch to another gear, but neither have played since the French, right?

Adonis O’Holi

Was somewhat expected. Lucky loser Jason Jung of Taiwan takes his place.

A tribute to Senegal 🇸🇳

I still remember, “I now pronounce you SANDY... SWAN!” “NO!” Shane McDermott and SMG had a nice Valmont/Merteuil chemistry, sort of presaging SMG’s role opposite Ryan Phillippe in Cruel Intentions.

I loved me some Paradise Beach. As I’ve said before Ingo and Manu Bennett made me realize some things about myself. Swan’s Crossing had the most ridiculously ‘90s opening credits, though, with everyone awkwardly dancing. Also loved Fifteen and cheered when Kelly stabbed her evil bestie Brooke in the back. It’s funny that Enuka Okuma has had the most enduring career of any cast member (aside from Ryan Reynolds, of course).

I still like Dorinda a lot but agree that the honeymoon is over. If she survives this and any associated backlash, she’s a lifer.

Djokovic is going to play Laver Cup as part of Team Europe, it has been announced. Also, Del Potro will play for Team World:

As did Bouchard, I saw. Lisicki, the other former finalist, lost her first match in qualies. I just saw Wozniacki beat Barty in Eastbourne, which is interesting because grass is by far her worst surface. And Kukushkin upset Kyle Edmund, who had just beaten Andy Murray. A glamour shot from two great tennis survivors:

Look at Aga with her statement win:

Luann looks amazing. Rehab/prison has been good to her. Dorinda and her gang signs.... 😆. Can’t wait for the rest of this season!

Whoa. He sent her sailing...

OMG, she’d be “cancelled.” But, yeah, no reggae to be heard in that clip.

Serena is seeded #25 at Wimbledon. Kvitova has withdrawn from her Eastbourne match with Aga. I’m sure she’s just trying to stay healthy for Wimbledon.

Aside from CZP, did anyone from pre-1980 ATWT get featured much in that last decade? Don Hastings and Kathryn Hays certainly weren’t featured much, if I recall correctly.

I wouldn’t go that far (I still think Frances could improve a lot under the right tutelage, perhaps because he’s so unorthodox), but there’s no obvious successor to Sampras, Agassi, McEnroe, Connors, Ashe, Courier, Chang, or even Roddick. Jack Sock could be an all-time great doubles specialist if he focused on that.

Donald Young just lost in the second round of qualifying. He’s down to No. 209 in the rankings. It’s very sad because it seemed like he had found a home in the top 100. (He was as high as No. 38 in 2012.)

LOL I tend to like counterpunchers as long as they can switch to offense from time to time. From what I saw of the Babos match, she was able to do that a bit and not just do her pusher thing.