Monday, March 25th
It was a difficult start of the week. For the passengers of this British Airways flight, who ended up in Düsseldorf (Germany) despite booking a flight from London to Edinburgh. But also for Bianca Andrescuu, whose series of ten wins in a row ended in Miami, after she withdrew from the tournament before her match against Anett Kontaveit. Everything is fine however for Jordan Thompson, who qualified for the fourth round of the Master 1000 after he won a third match in a row (7-5, 7-5 contre Grigor Dimitrov) on the circuit, for the first time in his career. He’s already 24 years old, by the way.
Tuesday, March 26th
The revelation of these first months of 2019 is without a doubt Félix Auger-Aliassime. In Florida, the 18-year old Canadian impressed again after managing to qualify for the quarter finals, defeating Nikoloz Basilashvili (7-6, 6-4) in the process. In a more original fashion, Nick Kyrgios decided to put on a show this week: after an underarm serve the day before against Dušan Lajović, the Australian manage to pull off a winning tweener against Borna Ćorić who looked pretty shocked, but who ended up winning the match (6-4, 3-6, 2-6). In the women’s draw, it’s already time to focus on the semi-finals, after Kontaveitt’s win against Su-Wei Hsieh (3-6, 6-2, 7-5), which enabled her to qualify for the final four. Enough to treat ourselves with some vegan black pudding, a new recipe imagined by the Spanish chef Raul Escuin, who replaces the pork blood with blood taken from… his clients. Simple, isn’t it?
Wednesday, March 27th
It’s the amazing story of the day: after being found motionless, cold, and declared dead by the doctor, a 90-year old Frenchwoman who lived close to Toulouse woke up from the dead under her shroud. A resurrection which didn’t inspire Novak Djokovic, who was inexplicably defeated for the second time in a row by Roberto Bautista-Agut (6-1, 5-7, 3-6). The same can be said for Petra Kvitová, who lost against Ashleigh Barty (6-7, 6-3, 2-6), or David Goffin, who was crushed by Frances Tiafoe (5-7, 6-7). To top things off, Stéfanos Tsitsipás was also easily dominated by Denis Shapovalov (6-4, 3-6, 6-7). Where’s the fighting spirit?
Thursday, March 28th
Don’t wait, there won’t be tickets for everyone! If you want to discover the first unicorn house, which will open in Milano, you can start reserving today. Although it would be sad to miss Auger-Aliassime’s latest feats, as he qualified for the Miami Masters 1000 semi-finals after triumphing against Ćorić (7-6, 6-2). Life is about prioritizing.
Friday, March 29th
Imagine a Japanese train station which would have no entry or exit doors, and which would only be built to admire the scenery around the train station, which you could only leave by train. Imagine Auger-Alliassime serving to win the set in both sets of the match, but ending up losing against John Isner because of too many double faults. Imagine a women’s final between Barty and Karolina Pliskova. Yes, this last truth is the easiest to visualize.
Saturday, March 30th
« All his shots are far better than everyone else’s. When he needs to produce a certain shot, he does it. He goes for it and does it. I don’t think that he has any weakness. That’s why he’s the GOAT. He’s complete. There are no flaws in his game. » Denis Shapovalov was a little resigned after getting destroyed 6-2, 6-4 by Roger Federer. He’d be better off taking part in the regional Battle of underwear organized by the French brand Le Slip Français. But what’s truly interesting, is the women’s final. And, surprise… Barty won the title ! After defeating Plíšková (7-6, 6-3), the 22-year old Australian won the most prestigious trophy of her career. And the men’s final? That’s for tomorrow.
Sunday, March 31st
Isner, expert in Miami, didn’t give up, despite suffering from a foot injury, and Federer made the most of it to win his 101st trophy (6-1, 6-4). Enough to see Isner applying for this job offer published by NASA, which offers 16 500 dollars to anyone who’s willing to lie down for two straight months? Maybe not. But still, we can imagine that the specialist of aces has probably dreamt of being affected by the same genetic mutation that was discovered in Joe Cameron. This 71-year old Scottish woman is currently baffling scientists as she simply can’t feel pain. If that had been possible, the Swiss might have had to battle much harder. Well, we can also highly doubt it…
By Florian Cadu
