a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
It was Martin Luther King Day here in the United States.
Also, I heard that a new— old— president of the United States was inaugurated today.
My TV remained switched off though .. and I will only turn it on for Netflix and Australian Open tennis the rest of the week.
There is a little Christmas market in the Tyger Valley Shopping Centre, still open for a final few days.
It’s good that it is indoors: day-time highs here were 35°C and 34°C (95°F and 93°F) on Wednesday and Thursday, and 30°C (86°F today).
The 2024 Davis Cup* final is tomorrow.
The Netherlands is playing in the final for the first time ever, and have their work cut out for them against Italy.
Italy won the Davis Cup in 1976 and 2023, and was the runner-up on six other occasions.
This year they have the world No 1 on their team: Jannik Sinner.
The Dutch team: Tallon Griekspoor (singles), Botic van de Zandschulp (singles), Jesper de Jong (singles), Wesley Koolhof (doubles), Robin Haase (doubles)
The Italian team: Jannik Sinner (singles), Lorenzo Musetti (singles), Matteo Berrettini (singles), Andrea Vavassori (doubles), Simone Bolelli (doubles)
Update Sun 11/24: Congrats to Italy for winning the Davis Cup. They retained their title, defeating the Netherlands 2–0 in the final.
*The Davis Cup (founded in 1900) is the premier international team event in men’s tennis. It is organized by the International Tennis Federation and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world’s largest annual team sporting competition. [From Wikipedia]
On Friday in Malaga, Tallon Griekspoor (pictures below; stills from the tennischannel.com streaming service) battled back to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4, in a fast-paced showdown to send his nation through against Germany in the semi-final.
Rafael Nadal’s storied tennis career ended Tuesday with Spain’s quarterfinal exit from the Davis Cup. The 38-year-old is walking away after winning 22 Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals and posting 1,080 wins in tour-level singles matches.
“You never want to get to this point,” Nadal said in Spanish following Tuesday’s matches vs. the Netherlands in Málaga, Spain. “I’m not tired of playing tennis. The body has reached a point where it doesn’t want to go on, and I have to accept the situation. I feel privileged to have extended my career longer than I expected.”
—Cindy Boren and Glynn A. Hill reporting for the Washington Post
Five amigos played a little pickle ball at the Sandman’s Courts in Columbia City.
It was 52 °F (11 °C) outside when we started— not too frigid for playing outside, but we have come to like the indoor courts with their clean lines and bathrooms right by the courts.
The results of the US Open 2024 are in.
Men’s Singles:
Jannik Sinner (23, 🇮🇹 ) def. Taylor Fritz (26, 🇺🇸) 6-3 6-4 7-5.
Women’s Singles:
Aryna Sabalenka (26, *) def. Jessica Pegula (30 🇺🇸) 7-5 7-5.
*Lives in Florida but is from a country involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
It was great to see American players in the final, but in both cases it would have been a surprise if they had managed to best their opponents.
I’m making the decision to stop. I’m very happy with that. No injury, no nothing. Okay, I decided to because I’m tired, because I’m feeling like I cannot be the competitor I’ve been before.
– Diego Schwartzman, talking to a reporter
Diego Schwartzman (32, 🇦🇷) bid the crowd a tearful good-bye after his 7-6, 2-6, 2-6, 1-6 loss against Gael Monfils (37, 🇫🇷) on Monday. He will be playing his last tournament in Buenos Aires in February.
From atptour.com: It will bring to a close a memorable career in which the Argentine has won 250 tour-level matches, competed in the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 and ascended to No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
The year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament starts tomorrow in Queens, New York.
Congratulations to the 16 qualifiers.
There were 128 men and 128 women competing for the final 16 slots, respectively, in each of the 2024 US Open singles draws.
Even if you lose in the first round of the main draw, you are awarded $100,000 for your efforts— a lot of money.
If you are a young professional player just starting out, you play in so-called futures tournaments offering $10,000 to $25,000 in prize money for the winner.
I confess that I fast-forwarded through some (okay, most) of a recording of the three hours of the closing ceremony of the 2024 Games.
I liked the Golden Voyager and the mummies— and was that a spry 62-year old Tom Cruise ‘sky diving’ into the arena to receive the Olympic flag, and take it to Los Angeles on a motorbike? (Yes, it was).
Only 0.005 sec (five thousandths) separated the gold and the silver in the 100 meters men’s final today.
The superstar Spanish pairing of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz lost on Wednesday afternoon, as the U.S. pair of Austin Krajick and Rajeev Ram bounced the big-name duo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
-Ryan Phillips writing for si.com
This is the driest day on the calendar for our region*— but there was a little bit of steady rain around the city this morning.
*When looking at daily averages for 79 years of records at the Seattle-Tacoma airport weather station.
Here’s Carlos Alcaraz (21, 🇪🇸) and Rafael Nadal (38, 🇪🇸) in their red shirts.
The unseeded team from Spain are off to a great start with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Maximo Gonzales (41, 🇦🇷) and Andrés Molteni (36, 🇦🇷) , seeded 6th, today.
Nadal was a surprise torch bearer during the opening ceremony.
He won Olympic golds in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016, and is scheduled to play in the first round of singles on Sunday against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics (32, 🇭🇺).
Well, I watched some of the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony this morning as it happened.
The Eiffel Tower must have been spectacular to see during the light show.
As for other parts of the ceremony, I suspect it was a challenge for the choreographers to pull all the pieces together to make for compelling TV viewing.
The rain certainly did not make it easier, least of all to the camera crews that needed to keep the rain drops from their lenses and from getting into their expensive equipment.
‘At Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, Mr. Macron awaited the athletes before a crowd that donned ponchos and huddled under umbrellas in the unrelenting rain. He told the French newspaper Le Parisien this week that he had felt some “vertigo” as the Olympics, a decade in the making, were set to begin’.
– Roger Cohen reporting from Paris for the NYT
Wimbledon 2024 is in the books, as is the Euro Cup 2024.
It was a good day for Spain in the international sports arena.
First Carlos Alcaraz ( (🇪🇸, 21 yrs old) won his second Wimbledon title in straight sets over Novak Djokovic (🇷🇸 , 37).
The score was 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).
Shortly after that, Spain 🇪🇸 beat England 🏴 2-1 in the Euro Cup 2024 Final.
Wimbledon 2024 is underway.
The world’s top tennis players are resplendent in their bright whites (no colored attire allowed), and their pimple-soled white grass court shoes.
On Monday, reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21) took on qualifier Mark Lajal (🇪🇪, 21), and came out on top in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-5 and 6-2.
I was wrong about Djokovic (🇷🇸, 37) : he is in fact playing, with a knee brace (he had meniscus surgery on Jun. 6). In the first round he took out Vit Kopriva (🇨🇿, 27) with ease, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Tommy Paul (🇺🇸, 27) played spectacular tennis today in London to beat Lorenzo Musetti (🇮🇹, 22 ) in the men’s final of the 2024 Queen’s Club Championships.
The qualifying tournament for Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and the main tournament starts Jul 1.
Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21 ) is the favorite to win the men’s 2024 Wimbledon crown —even though he was not at his best here; he lost in the quarter-final at Queens, against Jack Draper (🇬🇧, 22).
Novak Djokovic (🇷🇸, 37) had knee surgery just two weeks ago— and I don’t believe he will play.
Rafael Nadal (🇪🇸, 38 ) has already confirmed that he will not play at Wimbledon this year, so that he can better compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Although the weather was perfect for pickleball today, we had a reservation for the Sandman’s Courts in Columbia City.
We liked the clean surface and well-marked lines a lot.
The selection of background music was excellent and played at just the right volume 🤗.
The amigos played a little pickleball today.
The courts at Mt Baker playground were full today, and we went to Beacon Hill playground instead.
They roared at every big play, shouting and waving signs and flags. They ate South Asian food sold at the concession stands, jumped, chanted, high-fived with fellow supporters and — after a bit of rain — soaked up the sunshine on a historic day at the usually quiet park.
“It was electric,” said Chandu Talla, an India fan and entrepreneur from Tampa, Fla., who came to the match with his son Aryan, a high school junior. “We paid $2,500 per ticket and no regrets,” he added. “It was a dream come true to see India here.”
– David Waldstein reporting for the New York Times, from a temporary stadium for 34,000 set up in the grassy southeastern corner of Eisenhower Park in Long Island.
[Photo by Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times]