Congrats to you, but also congrats to SI! I'm proud of them for making such a good decision. You will certainly be bringing this reader to their site on a more regular basis.

OK, now you've got me thinking it would be kind of amazing if Rafa used his twitter to converse with Isner about WWE. I mean, I would judge the hell out of both of them, but it'd be kind of hilarious at the same time.

This one's like a braghumble, though! I like it. XD

I absolutely cannot decide if they're about to do a one-armed hug in that second picture, or just a high five/hand clasp thing. Something about the ambiguity is making me happy.

I was too busy being distracted by the fact that he actually had a hair out of place. No collar, less-than-perfect hair. . . who is this man?? He hasn't been humble, has he?

THAT I definitely agree with. Got a weird vibe from the original poster, but I agree, that is one of my least favorite jokes on what is generally a very enjoyable blog. The term "tranny" alone has too much negative weight to be successfully used in so light a manner, no matter whether or not it's harmlessly meant. Jokes about whether or not the players are gay are a bit hit or miss with me, but as I generally like pondering the possibility I'm usually ok with it. I can see someone else not being, though.

Real Madrid are sponsored by Adidas - poor Rafa! Hope he doesn't have a problem ending points today. . .

I can't tell if you're upset because you think Fran's been deeply disparaged by being called trans; or if you're transgendered or an ally and the joke makes the space feel more hostile to you. Just kinda wondering.

I keep going back and looking at these pictures, and every single time, Petko's facial expression just makes me HAPPY. Her amusement and how worked up Ana is. . . they are the cutest, cutest combination. I laugh every time.

Siiiiiiiiigh I guess he seems sweet and fun but I think Fran is the better option.

Or. . . harmful.

Yes, women expressing their sexuality can be empowering, and certainly women should not be afraid to be sexy (or not sexy, as they're comfortable). But I think in the media's portrayal of women, sexiness is severely prioritized over absolutely everything else, and women (and girls) receive far too many messages about how important it is for them to be sexy. I think this can create unhealthy self-images for women who are exposed to these messages constantly, and can create unhealthy images of women in the minds of men as well. And I think this ad really epitomizes that objectification and sexualization. It's an ad for a tennis game, starring one of the world's greatest tennis players, but it's all about sexiness and not tennis. (And I don't think the "if it were guys, you'd be fine with it" argument works, because men are portrayed so differently in general - male athletes get to be sports heroes, not sex symbols.)

Totally, totally agree. It's so egregious in showing the "appealing to peens and objectifying women is the best way to sell stuff!!" mentality. Really depressing.

The order made sense to me. After Nole's match, I was really excited and wanted to read what the internet had to say about it right away - and fairly soon after, C Note's post about it was up. The doubles was interesting and I wanted to read about it, but didn't feel a need to do so RIGHT after. And it seems C Note did not feel a need to write about it so shortly afterwards, unlike the final. I haven't been reading the blog that long, but the pattern seems like a pretty regular one. I'm also really, really curious as to why you feel like she needs to prove "her allegiances" to you or anyone else. It doesn't seem like she's getting money from anywhere to make a player look good, nor does she appear to be committing libel, so. . . I don't see why her level of enthusiasm about a particular player would be anyone else's business.

I do not have words hearty enough to express my agreement with you. LOVE HER SO MUCH. (I do hink of it as more of an ahhh-hee though!)

As ever, looking at pictures of shirtless Ferru while at the office has lead to me making incredibly unprofessional lusty-faces at my computer. One of these days I am going to have some very embarrassing explaining to do.

Even though this is an entry about how they lost, I myself could not keep the goofy grin off my face as I looked at those pictures. There may have been some audible giggles. At 7:30 on a Monday morning. The power of Fram. Clearly they need to keep teaming up for the good of humanity!!