Charlie

The first two sets were certainly a spanking, but the above is not the final score: Gasquet improved in each set, and managed to win five games in the third set. Nadal's career record against Gasquet is now 18-0. They are almost exactly the same age (36), and have been been playing one another for a long time. Perhaps Gasquet enjoys being spanked.

I don't believe that WSC has identified himself as an escort. I suppose we could ask about members of this site who use the names of famous people as handles, but that is really not germane to my question.

A discussion in the Deli about an escort who calls himself "Lord Byron" led me to wonder if you have met or are aware of other escorts who use the names of famous people. Hispanic escorts who use the name "Jesus" don't count.

George Gordon Byron inherited his title from a great-uncle when he was a child, so his official title was Baron Byron, and he was familiarly called Lord Byron. "Byron" became a relatively popular first name in the English-speaking world in the 19th century, in his honor, since that was the single name that most people used to refer to the famous poet.

Perhaps his name is Byron Smith. I have known several men with the first name of Byron.

Lord Byron was also bi-sexual, according to most reports.

Now that the Serenamania wave has crested and retreated back to sea, the game left on the women's beach doesn't look very exciting. Not only are there no former US Open champions left, the only current or former winners of any slam are Muguruza and Kvitova, who have to play one another next, Azarenka, and Swiatek. The sentimental favorite for the final is Kvitova, who is beloved by her colleagues, but she hasn't won a slam in 8 years, and Azarenka has lost every time she made the final. The smart money is on Swiatek, the #1 seed and current French open champion, as it has been since the tournament started. Of course, there will be some interest in whether Tomljanovic can keep up her momentum, but most of the remaining players are young unknowns, and the media doesn't favor Chinese and Russians (or Belarussians, which Azarenka is) . So media attention will finally turn to the men. Can one of the young Americans (Brooksby, Nakashima, Tiafoe) go any farther? Will Rafa add to his already record number of slam titles? Will the adorable teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz snatch the torch from his aging countryman? Will the equally adorable Casper Ruud become the first Norwegian ever to win a slam? (If he does, he will also become the first Norwegian to be ranked #1.) Will Medvedev manage to defend his title and his #1 ranking? Will the strange and unpredictable Nick Kyrgios finally win an important title, or at least do something sensational? Stay tuned.

Another former women's champion eliminated with Stephens' loss to Swiatek, leaving only Serena and Andreescu, and they can't meet in the final again, because they are on the same side of the draw. Serena and Venus couldn't revive the old doubles magic last night, and it was pretty obvious that they hadn't played together in a few years. I doubt that we will ever see them together again in anything but an exhibition match for charity. Hradecka's new young partner Noskova was impressive, and Lucie was impressive herself, considering that she hasn't won a major title in nine years and is almost as old as Serena.

I don't know whether I was more surprised by Borna's loss or Brooksby's win, especially with that score.

I have noticed those brain symptoms even though I have not had COVID (to my knowledge). Stress has a lot to do with them, and getting COVID after you have done everything to protect yourself is a stressor in itself.

Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, is by Jennifer Raff, a Professor of Anthropology and Genetics. It's an attempt to analyze the evidence--genetic, anthropological and archaeological--for and against various theories about where the variety of peoples in the Americas that the first European explorers encountered, when they began arriving on the Atlantic shores in the 15th century, had come from. As soon as they realized that this wasn't Asia and these people weren't "Indians," they had to try to find some explanation for their existence. The Europeans arrived with the belief that everything worth knowing about history was in the Bible, yet it said nothing about these continents or people and their societies. The early beliefs, such as that these were the "Lost Tribes of Israel," didn't pan out, and as modern sciences developed, what knowledge they provided led to many new theories that were advanced and discarded. The scientific discoveries in geological sciences led most of us who were educated in the first two-thirds of the 20th century to be taught that the inhabitants of the Americans had crossed a land-bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and had traveled south once the glaciers that covered much of North America receded, However, the developments in genetic science during the last decades have led to questioning of many of the details that were originally proposed by anthropologists and archaeologists. Raff is a highly trained geneticist, who takes the reader through the process of extracting information from human remains, as well as the evidence from archaeology and anthropology that are coordinated with the genetic evidence, but many of the chapters may make your mind reel while trying to keep everything straight. The short story is that, yes, the basic theory of the crossing from Siberia is correct, but the timelines and the distribution of the peoples who came are much more complicated than we were taught in high school. I can't pretend to remember all of it, or even understand some of the conclusions, but I found the journey fascinating.

Neither one. It's a 1952.

Serena won the US Open for the first time in 1999, and she is one of only three former champions in the draw to make it to the second round; the others are Sloane Stephens (2017) and Bianca Andrescu (2019), neither of whom has particularly strong records since their championships. Angie Kerber (2016) withdrew before the tournament started (announced she was pregnant); Venus (2000,2001), Osaka (2018, 2020) and Raducanu (the defending champion) all lost their opening round matches, and everyone else since 1999 is retired. There is no one left in the draw who has ever defeated Serena in any major final except Muguruza, and she has had a bad year. Maybe fans' hopes for a Serena farewell victory aren't as hopeless as predicted a few days ago.

Any idea what is going on here?

The going's great, in my 88.

When I was in grammar school in New Jersey in the 1950s, I had a penpal in Leeds, England. It sometimes took weeks to get a response from him. When I was in college in Pennsylvania in the 1960s, I would write letters to my best friend, who was in college in Vermont, and it would take at least a week to get a letter back (long distance phone calls were too expensive for us). When I lived in England in the 1970s, I would make tape cassettes and send them to my spouse in Philadelphia; it usually took about 10 days to get a tape in response. When I lived in Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, if I wanted to have a conversation with a family member in the US, I had to go to the local post office, and wait in a booth with a phone while a local operator put through a long distance call to an American operator, who would connect me to the person I wanted to speak to (if, of course, the person was at home). And now I can sit at my computer in California and type a comment, and get a response from you in Australia a minute later. Yes, it's amazing!

He refers to his "Prince Albert"--does that nose ring do double duty?

Cum along with me, in my merry Oldsmobile.

I'll remember to say that the next time I beat my regular doubles partner.

Nick certainly looked like he was trying to get it over quickly.

Fritz was the overwhelming favorite on paper, so losing would be embarrassing, but he and Brandon have been friends since they were children, and their mothers were pro doubles partners, so winning might have been awkward in other ways. Kyrgios, however, seemed to have no qualms about rolling over his longtime friend and doubles partner Kokkinakis, who is trying to rebuild his singles career.

Stef won only one game in the fast first two sets, and he actually snapped back at something coming from his box; after that, Apostolos seemed to pull back, as though he didn't think it was worthwhile pushing, and Stef actually played better, but couldn't maintain it.

First man through is JJ Wolf, a young American who just took out the 16th seed RBA in straight sets. He looks good without the mullet and in sleeveless shirt.

BTW, what happened to Sandgren? He seemed to drop out of sight everywhere. Is he even playing challengers?

I actually belonged to GAA back in the day (early 1970s), but I don't recognize anyone in the photo.