BSR

The telephone pole beat the fire hydrant pretty easily. Do my eyes deceive? I could swear that Ostapenko, who appears to have gained 20 (30?) pounds since winning Roland Garros, is faster than the beanpole Rybakina. Either you were blessed with fast-twitch muscles, or you weren't. Novak absolutely crushed De Miñaur, allowing the Aussie only 5 games. De Miñaur has no chance against Novak because the two play a very similar style, except that Novak does everything (tons) better. Much to my relief, Novak commented post-match that he didn't feel the hamstring at all while playing *knockwood* Bummer! Jessica Pegula lost to Vika Azerenka in the QF. Azarenka drives me crazy with that shriek (orgasm? stabbing?) she makes with every shot. Pegula has improved a ton, but alas, back to the grindstone. I'm curious to see how Ben Shelton fares in his QF. His game looks huge (140mph serve, big forehand, great movement), but he hasn't faced a seeded player yet. How will he fare against stiffer competition? To think, he was ranked #569 this time last year and is already up to #43 in the live rankings. The guy's clinched Newcomer of the Year, and it's not even February yet.

I'm rooting for Pegula too, love her attitude. I'm worried about Rybakina, though, who looked really strong beating Swiatek. Jon Wertheim's stat of the day today was particularly interesting. Before today's R16 matches, Novak's career prize was $164.8 million while the career prize money of the other 11 remaining players combined was $87.4 million. It's good to be king.

What's your favorite recipe that is so easy & simple that anyone can pull it off? Yes, one that even your friend who doesn't know how to boil water could make. Mine is ginataang mais, Filipino rice pudding with sweet corn. Ingredients are: 1 13.5 oz. can coconut cream 1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk 2 cans water 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup sweet sticky rice (malagkit, in stock at my local Kroger Asian section, could sub in arborio or any really starchy rice) 1 13.5 oz. can cream style sweet corn (whole kernel corn will work too if you pulse it in the food processor a few times) 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla (optional) Put coconut cream, coconut milk, water, salt into a pot & bring to boil. Add rice, lower heat to medium, stir constantly for 10 minutes. Add corn & sugar, stir constantly for 8 more minutes. Take off heat, stir in vanilla (or don't if you want just the coconut flavor). Serve warm or allow to cool & refrigerate (good either way, I prefer it cold). The only possible way to mess up this recipe is if you neglect to stir it for a while, which will cause the rice to stick to the bottom of the pot. OK, so maybe a bit too challenging for your can't-boil-water friend (we all have one), but a cinch for anyone else. If you like rice pudding and coconut, you'll love this dish. The addition of corn might sound weird, but trust me, it works.

Not sure why Canadian figure skater Eric Radford decided to pose for nude photos, but I'm sure as hell grateful he did. Gotta click-open in Twitter to see the full-size pics.

Hard to put any positive spin on getting routined 63 63 63, but Borna's 1st round loss against Lehecka is at least an eensy bit less embarrassing now that Lehecka went on to beat #11 seed Cam Norrie. Norrie's game ain't pretty, but the guy knows how to win. Never thought Lehecka had a chance, and whaddya know. While watching Lehecka in the final of the Next Gen Finals, I remember thinking that the guy would be pretty good in a couple of years, but I never expected him to be this good in just a couple of months. Let's see how Lehecka pulls up in his next match against Felix. Young players tend to bounce back poorly after 5-setters, mostly because they never played a 5-setter in juniors, Futures, or Challengers, but I hate to underestimate the guy again.

This reminds me of the old Joan Rivers shtick about how all stewardesses are such tramps, they don't wear underwear. Apparently Miss Universe contestants don't either.

I was watching the Sinner-Fucsovics match as well, kinda getting my hopes up after seeing he had won the first 2 sets. Then I saw a point where he hit a sharply angled forehand that pulled Sinner way off court, followed by a slice backhand to the opposite corner. Any topspin backhand would have won Marton the point, but the inexplicable shot selection of a slow slice gave Sinner plenty of time to get back into the rally, which Sinner eventually won *groan* No wonder Fucsovics's ranking has dropped so much. Too bad Marton doesn't win more often, because his victory celebrations are hella entertaining ...

Novak's biggest "opponent" might be his injured hamstring. He had been dealing with it for a while before it flared up in the Adelaide 1 (there were 2 warmup tournaments in Adelaide in consecutive weeks before the AO) semifinal against Medvedev. Because the hamstring looked fine in the final and because Novak had a whole week of rest before the AO, I thought for sure it would be 100% in Melbourne, but it flared up again in his match against Couacaud. On one hand, I'm worried because hamstrings are notoriously slow to heal, but on the other, Novak was able to win the 2021 AO with a torn oblique, including winning his match against Taylor Fritz without being able to hit a groundstroke for 2 sets. The torn oblique looked much improved by his next round match in 2021 whereas this hamstring injury seems far more stubborn. Wait & see, I guess. Rafa said his hip injury had been ongoing as well. It just got a whole lot worse at 4-3 in the 2nd against McDonald. Despite this particular injury as well as the cumulative injuries (rib, foot, abdominal), I am still picking Rafa as the favorite at Roland Garros as long as he is entered because he's won the title 14 times, often suffering some ailment or the other. I do agree, however, that the likelihood of Rafa winning either Wimbledon or the US Open is slim bordering on zero. I have to say something about Taylor Fritz, 1 of only 2 Americans who lost in the 2nd round. Losing must feel bad enough. Watching 8 other American guys get through to the 3rd round while you, the highest ranked of the bunch, are flying home must feel 10 times worse. Correction: Fritz was 1 of 5 American men to lose in the 2nd round, but still, he was the highest ranked (by far) to go out while all his friends (Tiafoe, Paul) are still in it.

Rafa goes out in the 2nd round! Yes, he got injured (hip flexor?), but Mackie McDonald was beating Rafa for a set and a half even before the injury. McDonald used an interesting strategy, one that no one had ever tried against Rafa: pounding the ball hard to Rafa's forehand because he makes more errors on that side. Mind you, that strategy will work only on a fast, low-bouncing court. The fast court speed rushes Rafa, thereby drawing more errors, and the low bounce robs Rafa of one his big weapons, the crazy-high bounce on his own forehand. It also helps that McDonald is lightning-quick because Rafa will hit a few booming forehands before you get an error out of him. Honestly, I don't think this upset changes the draw that much. Given Rafa's poor play leading up to the AO, I never thought Rafa would beat Medvedev in the quarters and Tsitsipas in the semis. @musclestuduws, you better root for Medvedev to get to the final because he's lost to Novak only 4 matches in a row whereas Tsitsipas, the highest seed left in the top half, has lost the last 9 straight matches to Novak. I think the best bet to stop Novak is in the bottom half, Holgar Rune in the QF. Rune beat Novak pretty convincingly in the Paris Masters final just 2 months ago, and at 19yo Rune's playing with nothing to lose.

The first ATP active player to come out, Fabien Reboul, from an interesting angle ...

It was actually 4 sets against Draper, but yeah, Rafa's form was awfully unconvincing. Rafa should have an easier match next up against Mackie McDonald, who had to fight tooth & nail for 4h6m in his first match. If Rafa struggles against McDonald, uh oh.

Yes, a very disappointing result. I had high hopes for Borna because he trained super-hard in the off-season after admitting that he kinda half-assed it from 2015 until his shoulder injury in 2021. Maybe Borna's early success (at 17yo he beat Rafa and at 16yo he beat Andy Murray) made him complacent. Oh well, back to the grindstone.

Congratulations to Richie! It must feel great to win his first title in 4.5 years (2018 's-Hetogenbosch). Gasquet hung in there & fought off fatigue 'til he got a 2nd wind. He also put in some really strong 2nd serves on critical points, even though he's really not known for his serve. This is Richie's 16th ATP title, all 250s. Gotta feel bad for Cam Norrie. Yes, Gasquet played well, but Norrie also choked. Apparently it meant a lot to him to win in his home country. Norrie plays for Britain and lives in London now, but he grew up in NZ. I have to mention Soonwoo Kwon's win in Adelaide because it's so rare that a lucky loser wins a tournament. If a player in the main draw withdraws last minute, the lucky loser (usually the highest-ranked player to lose in the final round of qualifying) gets his spot in the draw. The last LL to win a tournament was Marco Cecchinato in Budapest, April 2018.

I'm a die-hard Novak fanboy because I just love the way he plays -- the insane defense, the sliding on hardcourt, the open-stance backhands. But I must confess, my other favorites, I root for mostly because of the esthetics. Unfortunately, my two favorite beauties both lost yesterday: Borna Coric and Lorenzo Musetti *heavysigh* Well, as long as Novak is playing, I shall be riveted to the proceedings. By the way, Novak was a heavy favorite in the betting odds before the tournament. Before the draw came out, Novak was +100, meaning that you won $100 if you bet $100 on Novak to win the trophy. After the draw came out, once Novak got a total cupcake draw, he went down to -125, meaning you have to bet $125 for Novak to win 7 matches in order to win $100. That's insane.

Unfortunately, Nick has been injured for a while. He was desperately rehabbing, hoping to play singles, but the injury (a cyst caused a small meniscus tear) just got worse. He never planned on playing the dubs. I feel bad for him. He was obviously gutted over missing his home Slam. The good news is that the injury sounds relatively minor. He'll surely miss the Sunshine Double and never plays clay anyway. Fingers crossed that Nick will be 100% for the grass. Correction: he will go under the knife this week and hopes to be back by Indian Wells. Wow, that would be a very quick recovery!

Marton Fucsovic's results have been pretty dismal lately. Must be 'cuz the guy is so obviously out of shape ...

Well, the first part of your prediction has happened ... Retired Australian Open champion Barty announces pregnancy Ash is staying quite involved with tennis. She will be at the Australian Open as the mentor of 20yo fellow Aussie Olivia Gadecki.

The guy is pretty cute. If he ever takes out an ad on rent.men, that would deserve headlines.

I hit a really bad Netflix streak of 3 awful series. Avoid like a broken petri dish of Ebola: Diary of a Gigolo (beautiful lead but so bad it was painful), Who Killed Sarah? (promising start but went so downhill), and The Girl in the Mirror (stupid, pointless, made no sense). I stuck it out & finished all 3, hoping they would get better, even though I kinda knew they wouldn't. They were so awful that I stayed away from Netflix for a month or so. Fortunately I happed upon a couple of gems since. Smiley brought me back to Netflix, and I kept the winning streak going with Alpha Males, 4 40-somethings each going through his own version of mid-life crisis: when Luis's marriage fizzles out his wife leaves him for her personal trainer, Raul's girlfriend tells him she wants an open relationship, Pedro gets fired from his executive position and can't find work, and Santi's teenage daughter pushes him into exploring Tinder after his wife leaves him for her dentist. If you're thinking of the Ray Romano's Men of a Certain Age, that series has nothing in common with Alpha Males except for the age of the lead characters. MoaCA was a dramedy whereas AM is pure comedy, and the MoaCA threesome act like regular guys while the AM cuadrilla (foursome) are total idiots, albeit lovable ones. I cracked up a ton watching these guys make utter fools of themselves. Only minor problems with the show: apparently this foursome became friends by playing padel together, but you don't really buy it because they're just too different; a gay character is introduced, which could have been a comedy gold mine, but then he just fades away; despite a serious dad bod and lack of good looks Santi has no trouble bedding every single Tinder hookup, usually on the first date (does that happen in the straight world??). I gladly dismissed those quibbles, however, given how funny the show is. 10 30-minute episodes, very binge-able. The English dubbing is terrible, but good English subtitles available. I really hope Alpha Males gets renewed for a second season.

Why don't we have reality shows like this in the US? By the way, if you're curious what Basque sounds like, they're speaking mostly Basque, with a few sentences in Spanish thrown in.

Not at my local Kroger ... when regular eggs were $6/dozen, organic free-range eggs were *coughsputtergasp* $8!! Maybe after the holidays once people stop baking Christmas cookies and making eggnog, eggs will go down to a semi-reasonable price.

I was pretty horrified to see eggs for $5.99/dozen before Christmas. I thought for sure that price had to be for free-range or organic, but nope, just regular old eggs. Apparently a bird flu has killed millions of chickens, causing a severe egg shortage. I was going to make my own eggnog this year (love a boozy eggnog!) but once I saw those prices, I shelved my eggnog experiment until Christmas 2023.