tennis, life and a few things in between

A hearty thanks to our guide, Nuno of in Regua, Portugal, the ex-marine: we had a wonderful time on the quiet Douro River. The bonus is the little raindrops. I loved that too. He’s easy-going and worldly, shared many cool stories – thanks!!

I made a reservation on WhatsApp, which is straightforward. They’re great, and respond in a few minutes, even on a Saturday.

We passed three bridges, as the name indicates. The only company was fish that jumped out of the water, duckies, and on the way back, a small ferry.

From our boat to their outfit is an easy 16-minute walk on the promenade.

They do ebikes too. There are lavatories for boys and girls.

There is no certainty in the competition 比赛没有定数. Therefore, we love to watch, to follow, to spectate, and to play.

The 2026 winter Olympics in Milan, Italy have concluded, with the US ranking second in medal haul, behind Norway.

This morning, we received many congratulatory phone calls and texts on the US men’s ice hockey team’s 2-1 overtime win over Canada. Men’s ice hockey is traditionally the last event of the winter game. US women defeated Canada on Thursday, Feb 19, 2-1, too: a double dose of happiness.

Since 1994, the summer and winter Olympics have been held separately. For ice hockey, men’s going back to 1920 @ Antwerp, women’s since 1998 @ Nagano.

Canada is the ice hockey nation: their men’s team won 3 gold medals in the last 9 winter games (1994-2026), while their women’s team won 5 of 8 winter games (1998-2026).

This year, Alysa Liu’s two gold medals, one for the team USA and one for herself, which I wachted and felt it was the best performace of a figure skater, not only techically sound, but her enthusiasm is spiritual and so contansious, so free, so engertic. No other skaters exhibit so much joy!

人靓技绝
轻轻松松
清清爽爽
坚毅如钢
柔情似水
感染力强
十全十美

There are countless competitions worth talking about, but I consider the following 3 wins in the Cold War (1945-91) were most memorable:

1. ¹⁹⁵⁸ Van Cliburn ^1934-2013 won Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow
2. ¹⁹⁷² Bobby Fischer ^1943-2008 def Boris Spassky ^1937-2025 in Reykjavík
3. ¹⁹⁸⁰ Miracle on Ice, US def ussr in Lkae Placid, NY

Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, causing the judges felt obliged to ask permission from Nikita Khrushchev to give the first prize to an American.
“Is he the best?” Khrushchev asked.
“Yes.”
“Then give him the prize!”

There’s this famous photo of blading NK bear hug 玉树临风 young American.

He was the only classical musician to be honored to a ticket-tape parade in New York City.

Bobby Fischer won 12½–8½:

• a lonesome kid from Brooklyn, New York, with thin support
• Henry Kissinger, the U.S. National Security Advisor called Fischer to persuade him to continue playing, famously telling him, “The country needs you to play”.
• Boris Spassky had a huge team catered to him, from technical, psychological, and analytical.

Miracle on Ice, men’s ice hockey, 1980.2.22 in Lake Placid, NY

• it was the semi final round, 4-3
• ussr was four-time defending gold medalist: won the gold medal in five of the six previous Winter Olympic Games (…1956, 1960 US; 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 US, …)
• US def Finland in the final
• Of the 20 college players = amateur, 13 went on to play in the NHL: 7 never reached the NHL.

So here it is
奥运的冰球比赛一直是业余球员的事儿1920-1998.
苏维埃赢了很多 但那是在NHL的职业冰球队缺席的前提下; 而且也仅仅比🇨🇦(6个)多二个金牌而已.

众所周知 苏联的运动员都是国家圈养的 =职业.

再有 我一直觉得奥运的🎾🏀🏒🥎 应该留给业余选手
但又不否认这些职业球员的高素质 和精彩技能.
可能是鱼与熊掌吧

My purple nail polish matches my sneakers -:)

The Color Purple was a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1985, aming at winning an Oscar (he didn’t). Recently, there is a second movie 2023 of the same name … oh well

Back to tennis.

Aaron and I vs Edwin and Joe. We’ve no biz of winning at all! I said to my partner that my aim is not getting bageled.

• Def Ed/Nina: 6-1, 6-4
• Edwin/Joe: 6-4, 3-6
• Lost to Edwin: 6-3, 6-4 in 2023

I served first:

• 40-0, unbelievable.
• 40-40, omg
• won the game in deuce

It gives me a lot of confidence, and leads the set: 2-0, 3-1, 3-3, 4-3, and eventually won at 6-4. I made a few volleys that are in good form.

There are few close calls made by my partner. Since this is the first time we’re teaming up, I said nothing:

• because he’s the better player?
• it’s a Billy Bulger moment?

Edwin is a 4.0 player but he commits quite few doubles faults, as well as unforced errors.

My partner

🎾 6-4, 3-6 [愉快]

11男加 + me
俺打的真不错
没误发;被破发一次

Ed也应该是4.0 但他和那个女娃还差一点.好几个误发:不应该的
每次都想起好早以前一🇨🇳男娃 每次他的搭档误发给我 他就说, “她是女生,你瞎紧张啥呢?”

Edwin 总是进攻我的正手.大妈开始几球不行.马上调整.后来还赢了好几个 – 开心🥳

打完后教练都说不错

开开心心过周末

… a few serves

^{an awesome hand … should have bid to ask for kings}

It’s an exceptional night of bridge for me: I made two grand slams, although unbid.

We played a total of 21 hands, with the same partner (Barb and I, v Joyce/Matt). Barb played 12, winning 6, and I played 5, and won 5. Host Matt played 1 and lost pretty badly.

The recap:

• We made 3 rubbers.
• I made two unbid grand slams
  • The first hand was a gs, I bid 3N (another time)
  • The 2nd one is the best, I opened bid @ 4h
• Barb made a grand slam, bidding 2S
• The host M only gets to play 1 hand and lost

The second grand slam is worth considering / talking about: I’ve 4 aces, 25 hcp, 7 hearts. I bid first. My thinking goes: I’ve a game, so I bid 4♥️. But if I bid something less, I might have to stick with it. The 7♥️ gives me a way out. My partner has six clubs, including K.

Mark the guru said,

I would bid 4 clubs. This is “Gerber” asking for aces. You will get a response then of 4 diamonds from your partner, indicating none (you already have 4). Then bid 5 clubs to ask for kings. If your partner bids 5 diamonds, indicating none, I would then bid 5 hearts and stop. If your partner bids 5 hearts. Indicating one king, I would then bid 6 hears. If your partner bids 5 spades, indicating 2 kings, or 6 clubs, indicating 3 kings, I would bid 7 hearts.

Ok: here is another community tournament this morning: $5 plus a can of balls to enter. Four women and eight men signed up.

I picked Dunlop Black Max: unyielding and small. It seems everything is being updated, except my tray serve. Ok, today, I tried to toss the ball first. A small step.

Matt drew me from the hat and we won the tourney, with pro set format:

1. def Becca & Gordo: 8-2
2. bye
3. def Sandy & Todd: 8-6

8-2, bye, 8-6 we won the Vintage racket tourney
赢
教练带来好多旧拍子比赛. 我用的是Dunlop Black Max. 又硬 又小
球拍一直在改进: 啥都在进步  唯独俺的发球盘子改不掉

周末愉快

140 University Town Center Dr Unit 275,
Sarasota, FL 34243

… more pix on Google Maps, Yelp,

An average Lululemon store. It looks less crowded than their Hyde Park location.

They haven’t been doing great for a while. Reasons may be many, but adding men’s part might have diluted their brand power.

I bid 6 NT, and won a grand slam – all 13 tricks. It’s a wonderful 50 minuetes of play, before the book club.

36 hcp: I’ve 23 hcp: ♠️ AKQ ♥️ Q♦️ J 10 6 5 ♣️AKQ97. My P has 13 hcp: ♠️982 ♥️A 10 3 ♦️AKQ 7 ♣️10 3 2.

Janet is very gracious, helping us with which bid is asking for A and K, which is a prelude to a NT bid. 

This year US Open starts on Sunday Aug 24th, instead Mondays in the past.

The mixed doubles were played ahead of the main draw opening, on Aug 19 and 20. Essentially, taking away the normal mixed doubles players’ oppertunity.

I’ve my tv on all the time, watching the mutiple courts coverage. It streams on Disney→espn: streaming is a complecated business and I don’t even want to know!

Day 1, Sunday 8.24

• Ben Shelton def Ignacio Buse (2004-; $282,522) 3, 2, 4
• Ben Bonzi (1996-; $3,468,947) def Medvedev (1996-; $46,936,309) in 5 sets
• B Nakashima d. J. De Jong in 5
• M Giron d. M Navone
• Z. Svajda d. Z. Piros 4, 2, 5
• Taylor Fritz d E. Nava 5, 2, 3
• E. Spizzirri d. S. Dostanic 5, 4, 6
• Pegula d. M Sherif 0, 4 
• Bencic d. Zhang Shuai 3, 3
• Ostapenko d. X Wang 4, 3 
• McCartney Kessler d. Magda Linette 5, 5
• Janice Tjen (2002-; 2018, $82,632) d. Kudermetova in 3

Day 2, Monday 8.25

• Barbora Krejcikova d. Victoria Mboko 3, 2
• Frances Tiafoe d. Yoshihito Nishioka 3, 6, 3
• Renata Zarazua d. Madison Keys in 3
• Coleman Wang d. Aleksander Kovacevic 4, 5, 6

There are few players from the countries that I don’t see often:

• Colrmsn Wong of Hong Kong
• Janice Tjen of Indonesia
• Victoria Kasintseva of Andorra, a qualifer

Madison Keys looks smart and fit, and has match point …

Yoshihito Nishioka (西岡 良仁; 1995-; 2014, $6,926,298) acts like a 12-year-old or a brat: stomping his feet and destroying his racket when the point didn’t go his way.  Practice more to get better at the game!