Please Send Cream Cheese

For all of the bagels Iga Światek is servin’ up in Doha. Iga faces Karolina Pliskova in the Qatar Open (WTA 1000) semis today. Pliskova is on a tear of her own, winning 9 matches in the last 10 days, 8 consecutively across 2 continents. She has also halved her ranking in that span, jumping from #78 to #36 in the world. One thing’s for sure: someone’s streak will be snapped. Less likely? A bagel.

Lose, Win, Win, Repeat

That’s the recipe entertainer & magician Alexander Bublik followed to win Montpellier (ATP 250) last week. Bublik won the tournament despite dropping the first set against every opponent he faced. Talk about toughness, problem solving, and endurance. His title is also remarkable coming off of the heels of his first round loss at the Australian Open (maybe that’s why he had fresh legs). While commentators talk a lot about his charismatic, happy-go-lucky attitude on court, this result screams a few things: Bublik gives a damn about his results, has grit, and is way better than folks give him credit for.

More Bublik facts:

1. He’s now a career high 23 in the world

2. He finished 2021 as the ATP leader in Aces

Growing the Game

Despite being a global sport, tennis often feels like a highly insulated bubble. The average person on the street likely knows who Roger Federer and Serena Williams are, but knowledge beyond the faces you see in Nike ads is typically low. That said, the tide seems to be turning. A new wave of tennis-focused media has hit our screens in recent years. Netflix’s docu-series Break Point gives a window into the drama and pressure on top players. Nick Kyrgios has also been on his media grind, calling matches at the Australian Open and recently sitting down with fellow guy-with-a-great-accent Gordon Ramsay for an interview. Boris Becker’s documentary also came out in late 2023, and the list goes on.

Why is this a big deal? For the past 20 years, a small handful of extremely dominant players on both tours has boosted the sport’s growth. But most of this group has either retired (Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, etc.), or are at the tail end (Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, etc.). And while the new top players are as, if not more, exciting to watch, their matches alone are likely not enough to move the needle in terms of growing the sport’s popularity. So it’s not only encouraging to see tennis in mainstream media, but needed to grow the game as the big names from 2000 - 2020 are exiting stage left. Maybe one day I’ll be eaves dropping on a conversation about Elena Rybakina’s string tension at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Oklahoma.

Slightly related - god knows we also need more tennis media to keep our little nephew pickleball from painting more kitchens on tennis courts and stealing tv time…

Thanks for reading!

Daniel 🤠

PS - "Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one” - Gordon Ramsay in his conversation with Nick Kyrgios. A bit scripted, but fun and includes a healthy side of cussing. Full video here.