Monday, November 22, 2021

Weekend Tennis Roundup


 Zverev and Muguruza took home the year-end titles, plus all the beef that’s fit to pub BELOW.


Alexander Zverev beat the top two players in consecutive matches to earn his second title at the ATP Finals. After eliminating the No 1 Novak Djokovic over three sets in the semi-finals, Zverev put on a dominant performance in the final on Sunday, beating the world No 2 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-4. Impressive stuff, but whether this translates into a major in 2022 remains to be seen.


Was rooting for Big Joe, but the Frenchies Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut came out on top


Garbine Muguruza won the WTA Finals on Wednesday, defeating Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 for her first title at the WTA’s elite, season-ending championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. She became the oldest champion at 28 since Serena Williams in 2014, and finishes the season at No. 3 in the rankings, her best performance since 2017, when she was No. 1. 


I was rooting for the Baltic belle, but Garbine was so cute in his victory speech it was hard not to be happy for her -- and how cute was it to see Chris, Martina and Billie Jean on hand to give out the trophies? 


No.1 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic pulled off an undefeated week in the doubles event in Guadalajara, taking out  No.3 seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei and Elise Mertens of Belgium, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 18 minutes, to claim their first WTA Finals doubles championship. As entertaining as the match was, the most memorable part of the evening came when Krejcikova addressed the crowd on the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which gave rise to the end of Communism in the former Czechoslovakia. Watch HERE and see if you can get through it without sobbing like Martina ... and me! 





Around the net ...


Lovely sendoff from Kevin Krawietz to doubles partner Horia Tecau, who announced his retirement at the end of the ATP finals. (Did everyone know Tecau was almost Mr. Simona Halep?!)


Christian Harrison with beard



Christian values: Those Harrison boys have a thing for Kiwis


Michael Venus ex Ryan Harrison is looking fit


Flavia Pennetta spawned another Fognini



Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe were among the players out for the premiere of "King Richard," which tells the story of Venus and Serena's erratic father


Paula Badosa's trophy boy never stops 



Daniel Altmaier is a perfect (top) 10 in my book




Poor Guido Pella has been brainwashed by the cult of Walt Disney 


Manspreading with Matt Ebden


The daddy-to-be is in full influencer mode



Someone needs to write a thesis on why straight guys -- like Luca Pouille -- love to show their asses off with this ubiquitous golf pose


Of course, that's pretty much all the Frenchman is known for these days


The camera loves Lorenzo Musetti


And here come the endorsement deals




Grigor Dimitrov does the High Line


You probably always need an ice bath when your doubles partner is as hot as Horacio Zeballos's is



I want to move to the old folks home where Juan Martin del Potro stops by to visit


Cute photo a Borna Coric fan account shared for the Croat's 25th birthday


Marcelo Arévalo González spices up World Team Tennis


Vroom! Vroom!


Your weekly Tobias Simon fix


Liam Broady knows the way to my hubby's heart


How much to sit on Robert Farah's lap?



Stan Wawrinka is still hanging in there


The Zverev brothers get serious

Did Javier Barranco receive David Vega Hernandez for his 23rd birhtday?




ATP Finals substitute Cameron Norrie didn't win a match in Turin. But he still looks like this. 



Wet 'n' wild ... 


Plus the mile high club with Vasek Pospisil


Noah Rubin: influencer?


Andreas Seppi and friends


Albano Olivetti and sweet shorty doubles partner Arneodo Romain


The boys reached the finals of the Challenger in Roane, France



Stanford tennis star Tristan Boyer is ready to rocket


At least Tommy Paul can say he won an ATP level tournament


How to make Lloyd Glasspool look diminutive


Trust me, Marton, I'd be more than loyal 


Karen Khachanov's postcard from Armenia




Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista Agut are ready to represent


Thanasi Kokkinakis's got a fast car


How many beers do you think it would take to turn Sam Groth bi?


Not sure what a "duchess of Gloucester" means, but I do know Neal Skupski is a doll


Filip Krajinovic: Woof!



If tennis isn't taking off in Zimbabwe, then there's no hope for the southeast African nation! 



Everyone from WTA President Steve Simon and Novak Djokovic to U.S. President Joe Biden and Naomi Osaka is concerned about Shuai Peng 🙏🙏🙏

Still more questions than answers. 

2 comments:

Marc said...

there are a number of lesser titles in Great britain like duke and duchess and count and countess etc. Often they were provided to lesser members of the family or favorites. Other ones are specifically given to specific members of the higher levels of the family. Ie D. of Edinbourough, Cambridge and Sussex

GC MI said...

The Duke of Gloucester (husband of the Duchess) is a cousin of the Queen. His father was Prince Henry, previous Duke of Gloucester, who was a younger brother of George VI (father of the Queen) and Edward VIII (uncle of the Queen who abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson).