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(Photo: UTMB)
2. Who should you root for at the U.S. Open? 🎾
The second set of quarter-finals at the U.S. Open are going off right now:
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Jessica Pegula & Aryna Sabalenka won the first two semis
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Iga Swiatek v. Amanda Anisimova @ 1:10 p.m. ET
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Naomi Osaka v. Karolina Muchova @ 7 p.m. ET
But the fan favorite has become clear. It's Naomi Osaka, who has now made her first semi-final at a Major in four years. After winning four Grand Slams at a young age, the Japanese-American player (who relinquished her U.S. citizenship to play for Japan) took a mental health break and then more time off from tennis to have a kid. As she tried to get back to the top, the #1 player in the world saw her ranking drop as low as #833 — which makes it harder to get into tournaments and work your way up.
And when Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka met up in the Round 16 earlier this week many remembered the last time they faced off, when Coco was just a 15-year-old phenom in tears after getting beaten and Naomi brought her into the post-match interview 🥰
📺 WATCH: Naomi Osaka: The Second Set
🎾 DOUBLES: Venus Williams' and partner Leylah Fernandez are out now of the doubles tournament, after losing to Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova. The unlikely pair, who are 23 years apart in age, had been bringing joy to the crowds
💜 RIP: Angela Mortimer, a three-time British Grand Slam champion who was also partially deaf
3. It's time to consider moving the next Olympics out of L.A. — and out of the U.S.
In 1936, the Berlin Olympics famously gave an international makeover to a still emerging Nazi regime. Just three years into their takeover of Germany, the Third Reich used the Games to help consolidate power internally and to put on a global external show that staved off international condemnation for a little while. It is largely considered to be the first known instance of sports-washing and the first mega Olympics to be used in a political fashion.
It was also something we should have learned from.
Purely by the definitions of autocratic and fascist states, many observers and experts agree the U.S. has now crossed the line into that territory. The question then becomes is that a regime that should be given an international platform? If all of this happened in just eight short months in the U.S., what will happen by 2028? Can a U.S. government that is denying visas for Little League teams and for the Senegal women's basketball team, that is grabbing people off the street, be counted on to create a safe environment for visitors from all over the world?
It's a concern being raised both ahead of the 2028 Olympics and the joint 2026 World Cup (hosted in conjunction with Canada and Mexico). However, with the Olympics being centered in L.A. and in California — which has been a target of federal action — the tensions and potential repercussions are more acute.
This is leading to calls to cancel the 2028 Olympics.
🎧 LISTEN: We talk more about the question on today's Feist podcast episode |
