rafalgorka

Maria Timofeeva with an impressive 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 R64 win over former AO champion  Caroline Wozniacki. First set was much closer than what the scoreline suggested. Wozniacki played at high level throughout 1 1/2 sets of the match, just ran out of gas at the end. Great match overall though.

16 year old Mirra Andreeva with an emphatic 6-0 6-2 win over Ons Jabeur. Oh yes, those 16 year old Russians are coming and Andreeva has the mighty IMG agency backing so she's here to stay

Happy for Raducanu important win after months of absence 

Nagal vs Shang in Rd 2
 
India vs China CLASH!
 
if Nagal wins, there will be huge celebration I’m sure, well-deserved 
 
ps. I had to check back all I wrote cause my phone kept changing Nagal into Nadal heh. Maybe a good sign 

WOW! Big big result for Indian Tennis!!
Sumit Nagal  ( WR 137) took out WR 27 & seeded player  Alexander Bublik  in the first round proper in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 , 7-6
 
In grand slam tennis this is a first win by an Indian Tennis player over a Seeded player since 1989 

I would prefer Olympic gold.
 
you can win this one once in 4 years, you can win GS 4 times in one year
 
i think here in Poland more people would cherish her winning Olympic singles gold in Paris than winning another GS title
 
winning Roland Garros GS title this season may be easier for her because the pressure will be less even if you remember that Sabalenka and Russians may not be there at the olympics

Update:
 
Boxing:
 
Thanks to ogreman's wonderful work in this post, we now have a better boxing rankings. I made a few changes though.
Kept the universality places unchanged from my previous work.  Decided not to include the refugee athlete from the simulation because in 2020, refugee athletes weren't apart of the official quota Still decided to include Russian athletes in the rankings because we have no idea whether or not they'll be excluded from the OQT's  
+6
 +5
 +3
 +2
 +1
 -1
 -2
 -3
 -6

I think in handball Germany will finish 5th or 6th at the european championships and (if they qualify) it will be roughly the same in Paris. France, Denmark and Norway all have more quality, so normally Germany should beat them maybe 2-3 times out of 10. Spain and Sweden also have more quality in my opinion, but Germany might be able to beat them 3-4 times out of 10.
 
Men's basketball: The goal should be to win a medal. I think the US, Canada and maybe also France/Serbia should be favored over Germany.
Women's basketball: Not qualifying would be a disappointment and if they should qualify, then they should aim at making it ouf of the group.
Men's volleyball: The goal should be to make it out of the group.
Women's volleyball: Don't see any chance that they will qualify.
Men's football: Won't compete in Paris.
Women's football: I think it is pretty unlikely that they will qualify.
Men's hockey: The goal should be to win a minor medal (if they qualify).
Women's hockey: The goal should be to win a minor medal (if they qualify).
Men's/Women's water polo/rugby: Won't compete in Paris
Women's handball: The goal should be to qualify and then to make it out of the group.
Overall: The goal should be to win 2-3 medals in team sports.

Belinda Benčičová you ignorant !

I have nothing against Dokic, I would even say I like her and I was fan of her when she played. But we met her once here in Poland in Katowice when she was playing a small WTA tournament and we bumped on her in Pizza Hut of all the places and what can I say - it looked like she really liked fast food and social media. But back then she looked really sporty. I remember next season she played great at AO (she reached semis if I remember correctly) and I thought she will bounce back for good and have some more good results but it turned out other way. Anyway, a very nice person, we had a nice short chat at this pizza hut

It’s Djokovic, I wouldn’t be counting him out at any of the slams, even with the hardest draw possible. 

Day 1 hasn't even ended and i'm already sick of Eurosport's pampering of Kyrgios as their commentator..  They spend 20 minutes before the match on him and i'm afraid how much more in the next 2 weeks. It wouldn't be a problem if it was some tennis legend, a 6-7 time GS champion and not a moronic clown.

Sure. Still US open is even worse 

Novak having his hands full. 2.5 hours for only 2 sets and 4 games. This Prizmic kid has a future.

I tried to do sth like this during Beijing and it was ok but Wumo does these things much better than me
 
 

According to the Norwegian Ski Federation, Kilde has dislocated his shouler, has a cut in his calf, and several bruises.  Yesterday evening, in Bern, he got underwent surgery. He’s expected to be out for the rest of the 2024 season. 

Seyboth Wild playing really good in 3rd and 4th sets and suddenly a bit of trouble for Rublev

One pick for each day of the Games similar to this contest would be fun. I could make up a slate of picks closer to the time.

W
 
Świątek - Collins
Ferro - Noskova
Svitolina - Tomova
Siniakova - Kudermetova
Ostapenko - Martic
Tauson - Azarenka 
Navarro - Cocciaretto
Gracheva - Vondrousova

Rybakina - Bucsa
Osorio - Paolini
Kalinina - Kalinskaya
Stephens - Kasatkina
Zheng - Boulter 
Raducanu - Cirstea
Zhu - Zarazua
Burel - Pegula
 
Sakkari - Avanesyan
Kostyuk - Mertens
Wozniacki - Timofeeva
Korneeva - L Fruhvirtova
Garcia - Saville
Putintseva - Potapova
Fernandez - Parks
Jeanjean - Gauff
 
Jabeur - Andreeva
Rakhimova - Parry
Alexandrova - Hunter
Korpatsch - Krejcikova
Samsonova - Podoroska
Badosa - Vekic
Tsurenko - Masarova
B Fruhvirtova - Sabalenka
 
But this is W tennis so I will be surprised if I am more than 65% correct heh
 
probably much much more seeded players out in Rd1
 
hardest guess: Garcia vs Osaka
 
the biggest predicted surprise: L Fruhvirtova beating Haddad Maia but obviously it may not happen at all but some other high seeded players may be out early (Ostapenko vs Birrell???

I know noone cares but still here are my 2nd rd brackets 😜
 
M
 
Djokovic - Popyrin
Hanfmann - Etcheverry
Mannarino - Shevchenko
O’Connell - Shelton
Fritz - Carballes Baena
Marozsan - Cerundolo
Mussetti - Duckworth
Thompson - Tsitsipas
 
Sinner - de Jong
Kubler - Wolf
Tiafoe - Machac
Kovacevic - Khachanov
de Minaur - Arnaldi 
Kotov - Cobolli 
Korda - Harris 
Eubanks - Rublev
 
Rune - Djere 
Fils - Griekspoor 
Humbert - Zhang
Shapovalov - Hurkacz 
Dimitrov - Ofner
Marterer - Davidovich Fokina
Auger-Aliassime - Muller
Kypson - Medvedev
 
Zverev - Kwon
Michelsen - Lehecka
Norrie - Lajovic
Purcell - Ruud
Paul - Giron
Kecmanovic - Hijikata
Bublik - McDonald 
Sonego - Alcaraz
 
But probably more seeded players will be out in Rd1
 
The hardest prediction for me: Auger-Aliassime vs Thiem
 
 

Austrian TV reported about a broken leg (open fracture), which means that we lost him for the season  

You just won’t get a soupe here until Paris crosses the line. She is too busy until then 😉

German commentator (and co-commentator Marco Büchel) are angry about there being two downhills both here and in Kitzbühel. Both because it might be too tough on the athletes, but also because it devalues the classics: there should be one Streif winner, one Lauberhorn winner, it becomes less special if there's more of them.

First time in forever that my eternal hope for Clarey is definitely not going to work out anymore
 
Paris would be awesome, or a good old Winnerhofer, but yeah, unlikely

bad news from Today's races...
 
 Nadine Fest heavily crashed in Altenmarkt and injured herself.
a full dignosis is not available yet, even though a shoulder injury was evident before she was carried to the hospital with the helicopter.
 
 Alexis Pinturault also crashed after a jump in Wengen and needed to be carried to the hospital by helicopter, too.
ACL and possibly a wrist injury is the first response for him, which means his season is over.
https://olympics.com/en/news/alexis-pinturault-suffers-heavy-crash-wengen-super-g