Monday, October 22nd
Some medical news to start the week : in Ethiopia, surgeons have discovered 122 10-centimeters long nails in a patient’s stomach. Enough to feel a little stomach pain. On his side, Roger Federer is still dealing with a painful hand. Which would explain his bad patch this season. « I’ve been feeling the pain for about three months now. This is not an excuse, but it has had a bad impact on my forehand. Especially during the final in Halle, and later at Wimbledon as well », the Swiss complained. Nevertheless, he played at the Basel Open, where Marco Cecchinato lost against Henri Laaksonen (4-6, 2-6). Just like Milos Raonic against Jürgen Melzer (6-7, 5-7) in Vienna. It’s on guys !
Tuesday, October 23rd
Wednesday, October 24th
Banning the local population from falling ill. That’s the humorous solution imagined by the mayor of Ychoux (France) to warn the authorities about the lack of medical resources in his area. A town where we shouldn’t see Fabio Fognini, Grigor Dimitrov or Jack Sock, who all got migraines from respectively losing against Marton Fucsovics (6-4, 3-6, 2-6), Mikhail Kukushkin (4-6, 6-4, 4-6) and Ernests Gulbis (5-7, 4-6). Everything is going well however for Angelique Kerber, who defeated Naomi Osaka (6-4, 5-7, 6-4).
Thursday, October 25th
There are more bad news regarding health issues coming in. This Thursday, Caroline Wozniacki (who was knocked out after losing 7-5, 5-7, 3-6 against Elina Svitolina) announced that she was suffering from an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis which provokes tiredness and the swelling of articulations : “At the start, it was a shock. You feel like you’re the fittest athlete in the world (...), and all of a sudden, you have to live with this (…) Some days, you wake up and you can’t get out of bed.” As for Karolina Pliskova, it’s quite the opposite : the Czech, who is in great form, defeated Kvitová (6-3, 6-4) and qualified for the semi-finals. In other news, please know that a young 18-year old guy from Marseille who was meant to take his driving test failed as he arrived on site...driving a car. Of course, the examiners didn’t enjoy it. A true champion.
Friday, October 26th
Tears were shed again in the world of tennis as we learned about the passing of Todd Reid, the 2002 Wimbledon Junior champion, who qualified for the third round of the Australian Open in 2004, at only 34 years old. To try to forget, tennis fans can watch Kiki Bertens qualify for the semi-finals after Osaka’s withdrawal or watch Sloane Stephens crush Kerber (6-3, 6-3). The richest of these fans can also buy the new Elan skis, which are covered in Swarovski crystals. The cost ? 799 euros.
Saturday, October 27th
Svitolina reached the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals after knocking out Bertens (7-5, 6-7, 6-4) ? Kei Nishikori did the same in Vienna after defeating Kukushkin (6-4, 6-3) ? Kevin Anderson as well after knocking out Fernando Verdasco (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) ? Marius Copil imitated them after defeating Alexander Zverev in Basel (6-3, 6-7, 6-4) ? And Federer as well after destroying Daniil Medvedev (6-1, 6-4) ? All of this suddenly became anecdotal with the terrible news coming from Pennsylvania : eleven people were killed and six injured after a man opened fire in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. To make things worse, a helicopter carrying five people (including Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the president of Leicester football club) crashed outside the stadium of the city. No one survived. Silence.
Sunday, October 26th
A day of (small) celebrations. The twentieth edition of the Potirons de Bazinghen (a pumpkin festival in France) ended with the display of a pumpkin weighing 132 kilograms. In other news, Anderson defeated Nishikori (6-3, 7-6) and qualified for the ATP Finals in London, Federer crushed Copil (7-6, 6-4) and won his 99th title (his ninth in Basel) and Svitolina won the ATP Finals after defeating Sloane Stephens Sloane Stephens. Images which can cheer us up (a little).
