The Best in Britain

Good morning. It’s summer, which is a great season to reduce your screen time be a sports fan. The NBA finals and Euros are on, followed by Wimbledon, and then the Olympics. So hit the pub with your mates, order some crisps, and yell at the tele.

— Daniel

ATP

A New British #1

When having tea with a Royal Family member, pinch your thumb and index finger between the handle, with your other fingers following the shape of the handle for support. If he doesn’t already know that, Jack Draper, the new highest-ranked British player on the ATP, will need to hire an etiquette expert, since it’s only a matter of time until he gets the invite for afternoon tea.

Winning his first ATP title this past Sunday in Stuttgart, the 22 year old has reached a career high ranking of No. 31 in the world, surpassing Cameron Norrie as the highest ranked Brit. Tea should be a breeze for Draper, since he’s got these talking points about himself down:

 🦈 Biggest fear is swimming in the sea because he is afraid of sharks (To which I imagine the queen saying, “Bro same”)

🕵🏼‍♂️ Dream job outside of tennis is being a detective

 📸 Models when he’s not playing tennis

One thing’s for certain, Draper has some huge shoes to fill, since Sir Andy Murray has been nothing short of a sporting hero in the UK for the last two decades.

Trivia

Which one of these British legends has not been World No. 1 in singles?

A. Andy Murray

B. Virginia Wade

C. Fred Perry

Find out at the bottom!

WTA

A Winning Couple

Despite winning his second title of the year and climbing to a career high ranking of No. 7 in the world, Alex De Minaur might be sleeping on the couch. His girlfriend, British No. 1 Katie Boulter, also won a title this past weekend, and poked at him for not being at the match during her on-court interview.

“My boyfriend didn’t make the trip even though I thought he might after his win. We will have to be talking about that tonight and see if we’re still gonna be together. I hope he’s listening to this because we’ve got some talking to do.”

Coincidentally, this is the second time this year that the couple has won titles over the same weekend. Maybe distance makes the heart grow fonder tennis grow stronger? Boulter just wants her boo to stop stealing the limelight.

Film

On the Big Screen

Roger Federer has a new documentary coming out titled, “Twelve Final Days” which chronicles the last two weeks of his career. In addition to Twelve Final Days (on Amazon Prime), there’s a whole host of tennis films coming down the pike:

• Serena Williams has a new eight part docu-series called “In the Arena: Serena Williams”, which airs on ESPN+ on July 10th. The GOAT hit the red carpet this past week at the Tribeca Film Festival, where the series premiered

• As a follow up to Break Point and The Netflix Slam (the live match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz), Netflix is currently filming a docu-series that follows Carlos through this season, which will premiere in 2025

• BBC One is showing a one hour program on Andy Murray’s journey “from Dunblane to sporting legend” on June 28th

More News & Media

• While Carlos Alcaraz belted out We Are the Champions in Ibiza, Iga danced it out at a Taylor Swift concert to celebrate her third Roland Garros title in a row

• Nadal announced that he is unfortunately not playing Wimbledon this year. The last time neither Djokovic, Nadal or Federer played Wimbledon? 1998. And that year Federer won juniors.

• You don’t see much racket smashing on grass because it can put major dents into the courts, which are penalized heavily. That’s why many folks opt for the most respectful racket smash

• Alcaraz inked a 10 year extension on his contract with Nike. It’s estimated that the youngest World No 1. will net between $15 - 20 million per year in the deal, and apparently Nike is working on a custom logo for him

• Less than two weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear, Novak Djokovic is already working out, to the tune of Million Dollar Baby no less

• “I love her but she is an attention whore”. Sabalenka’s all-male team is comedy 

Thanks for reading!

DP 🤠

Answer: B. Virginia Wade

Bonus