The way many on tennis twitter talk about Ukrainian players in the context of the war is utterly insane/horrible. Differences of opinion are one thing, but the total lack of empathy & ability to understand why the Ukrainian players feel and say what they do is baffling/disgusting
@PhilScribe Yes exactly. Plenty of them I like myself. But if you can't detach yourself and understand why a Ukrainian wouldn't feel the same way and wouldn't want to engage with that player in handshakes etc then there's something wrong with you.
Just cannot believe people on here see a person crying in interviews and press conferences and have the audacity to tell them to stop going on about it or to fix their opinion on something completely different first. Is that how you treat people dealing with trauma in real life?
Svitolina and Kostyuk are not asking to be the moral police on the world. Nor should they be treated as saints. They are passionate about something continuously impacting them and their families. They are mostly ignorant of other issues in the world. Like 99% of people are.
Chwalinska won 2 matches that qualifying but lost in the final round. When people talk about "1st round loser" prize money in slams it's worth remembering how many great players are not even guaranteed that in this sport. https://t.co/AKfK46cKt5
Maja Chwalinska is not just a qualifier into a Slam final.
She's a qualifier who had lost in qualifying at 12 of her previous 14 Slams. And has STILL reached a major final.
What was possible in theory has been shown possible in practice. And that's game-changing for the field.
Was in Melbourne during the AO last year. Saw basically every big name during the tournament. But also saw two of the stars of RG 2026 in the qualifying week
The most important thing for Maja Chwalińska to do on Saturday is not somehow get defaulted. If she does she would lose ~65% of her projected career prize money and current projected ranking points.
@carslotte Of the four big events I've been to I would say it was the least 'magical' but probably the most fan friendly and good vibes. Especially compared to Rome and RG. It's also just easier and cheaper to get tickets for whatever court/day you want compared to the others.
Amazingly, Chwalińska had won fewer slam main draw matches before this tournament (1) than even Raducanu (3) and Andreescu (2) had in their US Open runs.
Players to win 8+ matches at a single tournament (non exhaustive list)
10 - Emma Raducanu 2021 USO
8 - Aslan Karatsev 2021 AO
8 - Dayana Yastremska 2024 AO
8 - Valentin Vacherot 2025 Shanghai
8? - Roberto Carretero 1996 Hamburg
Who am I missing?