heywoodu

Germans A Netflix billboard in Berlin, saying "For all of those who want to see orange during the European championships"

In order to receive a "wild card" in athletics, is a nation obligated to have participated in the previous World Championships?

Good post-match interview for Bertens: "It's a shame but I'm mostly really proud of myself." Exactly how she should be thinking now, she absolutely deserved her place in the semi's with very good play and she should indeed be really proud of what she has done

Well that was a wonderful match Bertens clearly was enjoying the match, often smiling and everything. Besides, she gave the best player of the last 10-15 years a very, very tough time and had an absolutely stunning run at RG. Well done Kiki

And that's the end of the match, Bertens' calf is in serious trouble now.

That's such a shame then, because it looks and feels more like a Challenger than a WTA tournament...let alone a Grand Slam

The French audience once again isn't really there Apparently entry prices for the two main stadiums are insanely high, I don't know why RG doesn't want people to come and watch. This whole match has the atmosphere of the 1st round in our local Challenger tournament on a rainy Wednesday morning

Just seeing Serena's press conference after yesterday's QF...dear Lord, she's sitting there like she just heard the worst news ever, made journalists wait for 2 hours (!) before even showing up and thought "ok, bye" after less than 4 minutes. That was a joke of a press conference, everybody at RG is talking about how shitty she was acting at the presser.. I guess she's not physically very fit neither.

Because of a "fight" with his NOC. Surprise

Apparently I was mistaken, the final which I referred to (D16 and throwing away the last dart in his hand) was in 1999 One year later he got knocked out in the first round and I remember him seeing the camera and shouting "I'm nothing but a loser!!" Typical Barneveld and the typical thing why I don't like him that much

After 1:50 hours the tiebreak starts, 2-2 in the final set Ah those good old times, with Martin Fitzmaurice and his "Aaaaare youuu ready?!! Ladies and gentlemen...LET'S! PLAY! DARTS!"

Bertens just finished her warm up and it looks like her calf is at least "ok enough" to play, which is good news Normally she won't beat Serena of course, but being in the GS semi's after a couple of really hard years is seriously awesome. Injury after injury almost forced her to quit tennis, followed by a period of around a full year (mostly in 2014) where she was living in fear of having cancer, which luckily wasn't the case. Only since a couple of months she can finally train at her best level again and it's great to see she has been improving immensely ever since (of course she already showed fantastic play in the Fed Cup, so in essence it's not a huge surprise that she at some point would get to the quarters of a Grand Slam...it just wasn't really expected yet this time )

I'll do my best Today is an interesting day, with a whole lot of "exotic" nations playing in the World Cup. Reyes and Alcinas are taking on the English team and they might have a chance About my favorites: Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen, Simon Whitlock, Vincent van der Voort, Justin Pipe are some of the names I like. On the other hand, I don't like Taylor a whole lot and I'm definitely not a fan of Van Barneveld anymore. I was when I was little and he won The Embassy/Lakeside 1998 (my dad recorded the final and I think I asked a million times during the months after to see the last few darts, D16 and then Barney threw away his last dart ), but nowadays he is always so negative and that's so freaking annoying

I haven't played in ages, I think it's 10-12 years ago since we had a dartboard in the room which later became my bedroom meaning there was no space for the board anymore I think my best throw was having 2 treble 20's in one throw, but never 180

Epic match between the Netherlands and Russia at the World Cup of Darts, where Aleksandr Oreshkin is sooooo slow and "weird" and fun and awesome Sad to see the Russians lost, it would have been awesome

Probably within the next couple of days. Apparently the B-samples have been/are being tested.

Considering her "improve 2 seconds per month"-rule this year that's slow

I'm disappointed we didn't see a 1:55 yet The Dutch commentator: "1:53.28 is the world record though and that will probably never ever be broken." I think it will, this year.

Yep..

Right before the start I wrote this on a Dutch forum: "I think we'll see everyone together until 600 meters, after which Semenya accelerates, Niyonsaba follows her and eventually finishes second two seconds behind Semenya." Too easy

Another Semenya Show coming up in Rome...

+1 for recognizable animal mascots

Right, Betty Stöve was the last Dutchwoman in the semi's of a singles Grand Slam at the US Open.....1977 She's also the last Dutchwoman to reach the finals, one tournament earlier: Wimbledon 1977.

Yes, one of the nice things of women's tennis (that makes up for the horrible level ) What a day, the first Dutch semi-finalist in a women's GS in God know's how long And so very much deserved even while having a little bit of physical problems (calf) She is right about her match tomorrow: "I'm just going in there and have fun again, we'll see how far I can get". The best way to go into that match, obviously she isn't the favorite so she should just go in there and have fun and see what happens. She has nothing to lose

Well Serena is gonna win this after all. It was fun while it lasted.