tennis, life and a few things in between

Zheng Qiwen (郑钦文, 2002-; 2018, $4,658,739; 4 singles titles) won the women singles gold medal in Paris, on August 3rd, which was very precious. I was happy for her, winning Olympic 2024 gold medal is definitely more prestigous than a grand slam: Olympic occurs only every four years, while grand slams happen four times each year.

I though about Peng Shuai (彭帅, 1986-; 2001-22, $9,617,653; 2 singles titles) rather immediately because of her conduct at 2014 US Open semi final match, when she refused to retire due to her prolong leg cramp. It was unethical and unsportsmanlike.

But I think people will remember her as a brave girl who came out, accusing a high ranking Chinese official of sexual assault. I believe her.

However, my motivation of writing this post, is due to Mehdi Hasan & Victor Gao interview on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head program six days ago. I googled Gao (高志凯, 1962-) who has both wiki and zh wiki pages. Among many coverages and interviews, the 60 Minutes Australia in 2022 caught my eyes, when he said Peng: “she can defend herself in front of whatever man or person in China.” Peng’s post was Nov 6, 2021. Victor was once considered by Foreign Policy as “a reputable interlocutor in U.S.-China relations.” After this interview with Mehdi, wondering if Foreign Policy would say the same now.

郑钦文的赢 彭帅的输 wenxue city

郑钦文(2002-; 2018 转职业, 赢得 4,658,739 美元; 4 个单打冠军) 于 8 月 3 日在巴黎获得女子单打金牌. 这非常珍贵. 我为她感到高兴, 赢得奥运会金牌绝对比大满贯更珍贵: 奥运会每四年才举办一次,而大满贯每年举办四次.

我很快想到了彭帅 (1986-; 2001-22; 9,617,653 美元, 2 个单打冠军头衔), 因为她在 2014 年美国公开赛半决赛中的行为, 当时她腿抽筋 拖了十几分钟不肯退赛 (通常应该是三分钟 … 主办方也有责任-不公平. 现场直播的媒体有些炸锅了 公平是竞赛中最重要的 没有之一). 返回场地二次 就是赖着不肯认输. 这实在是太没有体育精神了. 那是她职业赛中最好的一次 所以她不肯轻易放弃. 相比之下 丹麦的卡洛琳·沃兹尼亚奇 Caroline Wozniacki (1990-; 2005-; $36,095,873, 30个单打冠军头衔) 就非常有风度 不仅没有催 还很关心的过来帮忙 (我不是她的粉).

但我认为人们会记得她是一个勇敢的女孩,站出来指控中国高级官员性侵犯. 我相信她.

然而, 我写这篇文章的动机, 是六天前高志凯在半岛电视台的 面对面 (Head to Head) 节目上的采访被Mehdi Hasan采访. 我在谷歌上搜索了高志凯 (1962-), 他有维基和中文维基页面. 在众多报道和采访中, 2022 年的《60 分钟澳大利亚》引起了我的注意, 当时他说彭: “她可以在中国任何男人或任何人面前为自己辩护.” 彭的帖子发表于 2021 年 11 月 6 日. 高志凯曾被《外交政策》视为 “中美关系中一位享有盛誉的对话者”. 在接受 Mehdi 的这次采访后,我想知道《外交政策》现在是否会说同样的话.

Today’s swim: 1,680 @ 46 all breaststroke; 100 free @ 1:57.74 at the end.

We’ve been struggling with the tennis court line sweepers ever since. Thanks lord we’ve a new one now that looks fancy or so Disney,  and it works.

Playing in the evening has one disadvantage: wine and food are weighing me down – I could only play one set, and lost 2-6.

I swam in the morning 1,260 yards in 30 minutes. Did a little more after tennis – 140 in 3 minutes = 1,400 in 33 min.

My August log: 26,680 yd (15.16 miles: 45.72 min per mile) in 11:33 hr

• ¹ 1,160 in 30
• ² 1,400 in 36
• ⁴ 1,280 in 27: 1,040 in 21 36’28” per mile
• ⁶ 1,740 in 42
• ¹⁴ 1,880: 100 free @ 1:57.74
• ..

Shannon Lam from US, lost to Mia Pohankova of Slovakia (2008-). Lam earned $1,122 prize money … Mia ranks 956 in singles and 1028 in doubles.

Zhang Shuai lost her mixed doubles match today, with Marcelo Arevalo, 6-2, 4-6, 10-12 to two Americans, Rajeev Ram and Katie Volynets.

Jelena Ostapenko (1997-; 2012; $15m) played so well, like in the French Open final in 2017: all angles, daring and went for broke. The score told the story: 6-1,  6-3 v Yulia Putintseva, the Russian born Kazakhstani player (1995-; 2009; $7m). Elena Rybakina is also born in Russia and plays for Kazakhstan, also won her quarters match today. Ostapenko’s hair is remarkable neat.

Elina Svitolina def Wang Xinyu, 6-2, 6-1.

Swimming: 1,160 yards in 24 minutes in free (37’35” per mile), half with flip but all with soft push off. The 500 yards was in breaststrokes, 14 minutes, which is 49’34” per mile. After the update of my iPhone, the time per 100 yards changed to per mile, and I don’t know how to change it back…

Wimbledon 2024, 3rd round, Gauff 6-6, 6-0.

Sonay Kartal (2001-; 2019) fm London; dad was from Turkey. $271,233 with 7 ITF singles titles. She lost to Gauff in the 3rd round, her best showing. In comparison, Gauff who just won their match, (2004-; 2018) has prize winning of $14m.

我以前没见Kartal. 我首先想到的是唐氏综合症. 我确定她不是.

想起小学时的一个唐氏综合症小男孩.他和他的家人住在我姑姑家楼上.他的保姆和我们家很亲近,所以我们的关系还算近.他的保姆对他很好,很善良;很保护他.那时候的保姆一般都很善良能干.我没有见过差劲的保姆. 更不用说杀人放火的那种
顺便说一句,小男孩有一个大姐姐(和一个帅哥约会).她非常漂亮,比我们大院里的刘小庆 (土+肉乎乎的) 漂亮多了, 很有气质.

跑题了? 就是想起唐宝宝, 尤其是他的忠心耿耿的保姆

哈哈, 你说的是罗铮? 他现在的画儿可了得! 你居然看到罗莹谈恋爱? 搞错了吧? 姐姐离婚啦, 现在姐姐,妈妈,他生活在怀柔.

Swimming this month yards in minutes:

1. ³¹ 880 in 21
2. ³⁰ 1,320 in 34
3. ²⁹ 1,860 in 46
4. ²⁸ 1,880 in 52
5. ²⁷ 1,460 in 36: water 85°
6. ²⁵ 1,680 in 29
7. ²³ 1,280 in 30
8. ²¹ 1,160 in 25
9. ¹⁹ 1,160 in 30
10. 

    … the pool is so full after rains

    ¹⁸ 1,020 in 25

11. ¹⁷ 1,580 in 35 ^{1,140 in 24} 
12. ¹⁵ 200
13. ¹³ 980 in 21
14. ¹¹  200
15. ⁰⁹ 1,680 in 39
16. ⁰⁸ 1,660 in 38; 37’35” per mile
17. ⁰⁷ 1,240 in 30
18. 5,960 yd in 142 min ↓
19. ⁰⁵ 1,180 in 25
20. ⁰⁴ 1,960 in 46
21. ⁰³ 1,440 in 36
22. ⁰² 1,380 in 35