Faulkner

That was fast. I wonder how many others will announce they aren’t playing Cincy. Good quote:

Nadal choked his lead away (Tsitsipas did step up), but he didn’t choke when the match was on the line, unlike Tsitsipas’s previous opponents. I have a bit more respect for Tsitsipas after his fight back in the 2nd set. Still a long way to go for him, but dude is 20. Someone said Rafa had a bigger reaction after this win than he did after winning most of his Slams! Just a golf aside, Brooks Koepka is a big slab of beefy goodness, and Tiger looks like he might be sh!tting the bed.

Oof. Maybe we spoke too soon? Tragic game serving for the match from Rafa. Meanwhile, Tiger is making his move at the PGA championship.

Halep is very good at telling her most vociferous fans to simmer down. She was great in handling the Nastase drama at Fed Cup. You don’t see that often from players, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve come to like her, even though her early negativity put me off.

Yeah. And he was exhausted having to go through Thiem, Djokovic, Sascha, and Anderson, the last three all three setters. Even if he were brimming with energy, Nadal in full flight was going to be tough to deal with. But it’s a good, humbling experience to show how much further he’ll have to climb to truly break through. Nadal’s defensive skills are unreal. The fact that Novak beat him more often than not just shows how extraordinary Novak can be. This is such a deflating, anticlimactic watch after the Halep-Stephens epic. I guess that was to be expected. Nadal was super sexy with the long hair and bare arms in those old clips from the 2005 final against Agassi.

Halep wins in Montreal. I’ve never seen Sloane more devastated by a loss. Lots of people saying Halep should pull out of Cincinnati to save her body for the U.S. Open.

I feel like when this Halep/Stephens match is over, they are going to have to peel two gnarled, bloody skeletons off the court. They are brutalizing each other. My word. I thought Halep was toast in that first set, reverting back to her old negativity and perfectionism. But she really pushed through.

Tsitsipas! Four straight top 10 wins. He’s now No. 15 in the live rankings. Anderson had some shocking errors when he had opportunities on Tsitsipas’s serve, especially on that break point at 4-3 in the third. But more often Tsitsipas was just clutch. Halep has looked so sharp this tournament.

A lot of expense for not a lot of return given the volume. A lot of primetime series that were far more popular than soaps in their heydays haven’t been streaming for that very reason, but that has been slowly changing. I know Dark Shadows is on Amazon Prime now, but I think it’s an unusual cult show that had multiple lives in reruns. Not saying that one day we won’t wake up to news that 1970s Y&R is available on some new streaming service. I’m just not ready to make that bet. Who knows what the future will hold, of course?

This guy is handsome, but this tattoo is HORRIBLE.

Walmart is launching a streaming service. I’m still skeptical about the viability of classic soaps on streaming with all of the potential barriers, shifting audience tastes, and rights issues, but this section of the THR article gave me some food for thought.

I didn’t realize that Dennis was found dead on the exact anniversary of Carole’s husband’s death 19 years ago.

Or Novak.

Ok he’s right that it was a bit rough (they could barely win points on their serve in that second set TB), but c’mon, Sascha. You just got outplayed at the big moments.

Is this for real? If so, classless.

Haha. He really impressed me today.

Wow, Tsitsipas pulls it out. Sascha didn’t challenge an out call that would have given him game point? Meanwhile, Tsitsipas will break into the top 20, and Delpo will move to a career high No. 3.

Did he get a warning for that? I remember when Sascha smashed a racquet in the match against Goffin in Rome during a game and was allowed to pause play to get another one. No warning at all, and it totally changed the momentum in his favor.

That Tsitsipas/Zverev match certainly took a turn... BTW Sharapova out of Cincy. Buzarnescu out of Cincy and USO, understandably.

Yikes indeed.

That’s why the idea of regeneration on Doctor Who was so ingenious. Even though there’s continuity and the Doctor is technically the same character, they essentially reboot the show every few years with a brand-new actor/actress in the lead with a new cast and often a new feel/vision/tone. Not that the changes don’t rankle fans and traditionalists (oh boy, they do), but change is built into the show in a way that keeps things fresh and giving fans something to look forward to and get excited about. I’m also thinking about shows like Degrassi that reboot with new generations and manage to resonate with new fans. 90210, Melrose, Dallas, they could have worked a lot better.

Yeah, and who knows? It might be good. It’s a unique opportunity to explore familiar characters in new situations. How do they adjust to old age, children, societal shifts, etc? And if people don’t want to see the revivals/reboots, there is so much TV/streaming content being produced right now that there’s no way to keep up with it. The reason why we mostly hear about the reboots/revivals is the very reason why networks do them: they already have great brand recognition when everyone’s fighting for market share.