Monzanator

Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Maria Sakkari in three sets in Nottingham QF. Sakkari was in a bad mood today...

Yesterday's evening session at the Polish Nationals was wiped out due to thunderstorms & rain so the action kicked off at 11:00 am today. Ewa Swoboda won the 100m dash with 10.99 (+ 2,4 wind so it won't count as official).

It feels like they're "simplifying" the points system in the last 20 years over & over and yet the same nations end up dominating the sport

Polish National Championships start today. It will be held in Suwalki, very close to the Lithuanian & Kaliningrad Oblast border

Tara Moore (tennis) busted for nandrolone. https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1622647/British-star-provisionally-suspended-failing-drugs-test-tennis-news

Looking at that Australian squad, it's quite sub-standard to say the very least compared to the Cahill & Viduka heyday. Even Mathew Ryan is only a reserve at Sociedad. No wonder they struggled to get the automatic spot.

Australia beat United Arab Emirates 2:1 in the Asian play-off and will face Peru next week.

Longer careers? Don't see that happening in women's event. Japan might push Russia in numbers but that is it. USA & Canada have tailed off and so has Europe in general. Modern teenagers have easier ways to earn money than to grind on the ice rink until late 20s. All it takes is another mental health alert and nobody will say anything when they retire at age 21. The war in Ukraine won't last forever and I suspect a new Eteri-like coach will emerge to send more Russians into competition. Every nation has a sport they want to dominate. USA has basketball, Norway cross country skiing and Russia ice hockey & figure skating among winter sports.

The Angels hot start in April is history as they fired Joe Maddon amid a 12 game losing streak. They got swept over the weekend by Philadelphia Phillies which only fired their own manager Joe Girardi on Friday I guess that was the last straw. Meanwhile it's still cooking in New York as Yankees & Mets lead each league and don't appear to be slowing down.

Why have two Pacific Games to begin with? Other than trying to block off Australia & New Zealand from sweeping 98% of the medals?

Why "Mini" Games? Still miss the chance when Nauru was supposed to host the World Weightlifting Championships.

Grass season has started. Camila Giorgi won her first match in Nottingham against UK-Turkish wildcard Sonay Kartal but Emma Raducanu retired with abdominal injury vs Viktoria Golubic. It's becoming clear Raducanu's fragile body is not up to par to compete full-time on the WTA circuit right now.

We'll compare the notes in three-four years time. The only country that can somehow compete vs Russia is Japan and their Asian work ethic. USA has regressed badly, the gymnastics sex scandal and similar coaching methods in figure skating also make their reality much different than "before 2014".

Dustin Johnson has resigned from the PGA Tour and joined the LIV Invitational Series. That's the most high-profile coup for the Saudi Arabia/Greg Norman series.

Russia will still dominate the ladies competition IMO. Tutberidze can be easily replaced by another new coach while young girls in the "western" democracies just don't have the work ethic required to be a top figure skater these days. Too much social media & stuff. Maybe if they come from Asian background which is focused on work. If people think Russia stops winning the ladies competition because Tutberidze will lose her magic formula then it's very naive indeded. Hell, I expect more girls from outside of Russia will stop doing figure skating because of the raised age limit.

Need For Speed line is back?

You mean "szukać"? Yeah, I know it means something different south of the border

Volleyball sucks in Commonwealth countries so I'm gonna take a wild guess Canada is the favorite here?

@hckošiceA quiz about Slovakian language on Poland's biggest news website Asking about "nemocnica" is probably for Gen Z who might have not seen the TV series https://podroze.onet.pl/ciekawe/kojarzysz-jezyk-slowacki-w-tym-quizie-814-pkt-to-niezly-wynik/dfmjk9k

Yeah, this reminds me of these African teams when before every World Cup seemingly at least one African team always argues about money The only difference with Canada is the argument takes place five months before the World Cup and not five weeks.

Most popular dish in Poland. Top 15?

Nadal wins his 14th French Open title. 6-3 6-3 6-0! He won the last 11 games of this final.

Tomas Walsh 22,31, Joe Kovacs 22,00 in shot put. Milica Gardasevic wins long jump with 6,81 PB. Camacho-Quinn 12,43 into 1,4m head wind.

Two sets down... Ruud led 3-1 in the second but lost five games in a row.

Men's final has started. There is some speculation about Nadal since he allegedly called a last-minute press conference after this match