Bagel Bites: Promise Keepers

Internet ephemera from the tennis world and beyond. Have something you want to include? Join the Discord  – we have a really nice and active community growing there – or hmu on Bluesky.

• Previously on The Bagel: STFU.
• After two weeks of a wee bit of madness in Madrid – withdrawals, viruses, upsets, we had whosits and whatsits galore – Jannik Sinner and Marta Kostyuk survived the chaos to lift the trophies. For Jannik, well, all those stats surrounding what he's doing – WHICH IS CRAZY – will follow below. But let's take a moment for Marta.

• There's always something about prodigies, and that thing is promise. But a promise is an agreement, which implies two parties enter into it, and unfortunately for said prodigies, they're never a party to the agreement. They're not out there at 15 or 16 years old promising that they're going to win big titles and be World No.1s. No, that's something we just force on them. And when they break the agreement that they were never a party to, we get mad. We scoff, we mock, we roll our eyes, and we bury them. Because HOW DARE YOU not hold up your end of the deal? Who do you think you are? You lied! You fooled us! You're a huckster! And the mob will gleefully run you out of town.
• It sounds pretty ridiculous, right? But this is what we do. This is what we've always done, particularly in sports. Nobody's bringing this energy to the 15-year-old who gets into Harvard and never wins a Nobel Peace Prize. But boy, do we just love doing this is sports.

• It's so crazy that Marta Kostyuk is still just 23 years old. I was there in Melbourne in 2018, when a 15-year-old Marta – already an Australian Open girls' champion from a year before – truly burst onto the scene. She was fresh-faced, scrappy, and had personality in spades. That last part is really what got the press corp excited. She thought deeply, philosophically, and had, for lack of a better term, a darkness about her. I remember asking her why she started playing tennis, and she said it was the only way to get her mother's attention. Rereading that first Q&A made me chuckle because....this is 15 year old saying this:

WTA Insider: What did you like about tennis?
Kostyuk: I never liked it (laughing). I never liked it! I remember I got this form from the WTA asking me what was my first memory from tennis and I wrote that I was being mad at mom for feeding the ball wrong. That's what I remember clearly. 'Mom! You're doing it wrong! I cannot put the ball in the court because of you!' I was like 4 or 5. 

WTA Insider: So when did you like it? Or are you still looking for that?
Kostyuk: I was always practicing a lot. I always had to go to school, acrobatics, and tennis, so I was quite a busy kid. But I'm really happy that mom was doing this. 

No one was forcing me. I would be winning, 5-0, 40-0, and I would miss one ball and I would throw my racquet and get so angry. 'How could I miss that!' I was a perfectionist. In school everything had to be good, my marks had to be good. In acrobatics, everything had to be good. It wasn't like I didn't care. I was always stressed. People around me were like Marta, enjoy. 

Now when I'm talking to kids I say, everyone is saying enjoy but I cannot tell you this because I never enjoyed it. Only now, maybe here, I'm starting to understand that nothing is that important. Tennis is not so important that it will change my life. 

I hear a lot of players, maybe not top players, say tennis is my everything, tennis is my life. I don't want to take it like this because if I lose or something happens, it would destroy my life. When I finish my career I want to also be good in other things, not only in tennis. I know a lot of players now they are retiring but they come back because they say they don't have anything to do outside of the tennis. I don't want to be a person like this and that's why I don't take tennis so close to me. 

I never have super goals. I think about what is real. When I reach it, then I make another goal. I don't say that I'm going to be No.1 at the end of the year, because if I don't make it, some part of me will not be the same anymore. So everything's fine. 

• But that run to the third round was exhilarating to watch and that conversation sat with me for years. She was a qualifying wild card who earned her main draw spot with a win over Barbora Krejcikova. Her first-round win over Peng Shuai made her the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam main draw match since Martina Hingis. She eventually bowed out to Elina Svitolina.
• It took her years to find her legs on tour. Check out his smattering of interviews I did with her over the years and you get a very clear snapshot of how hard she was on herself, always:

Marta Kostyuk: ‘I was the first who broke through and I was the first who fell’

16-year-old Marta Kostyuk sent shockwaves through tennis last year at the Australian Open. WTA Insider checks in with an older and wiser Kostyuk after her successful qualifying campaign at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Women's Tennis AssociationWTA Insider Courtney Nguyen

Insider Podcast: How Kostyuk learned to live with her emotions

Marta Kostyuk joins the WTA Insider Podcast to dish on what life is really like as a Monaco resident, how she keeps her mind healthy, and why she’s kept her feet firmly on the ground in the midst of a season full of career milestones.

Women's Tennis AssociationCourtney Nguyen - WTA Insider

Discovering newfound stability, Kostyuk connects with new coach

More than a coach on the court, Sandra Zaniewska has become a much-needed confidant for Marta Kostyuk.

Women's Tennis AssociationCourtney Nguyen - WTA Insider

• Pairing up with Sandra Zaniewska has been a godsend for Kostyuk, who found in the former Polish doubles player an intelligent, psychologically kindred spirit who could speak openly and honestly about whatever was on her mind. Winning Madrid is the crowning achievement of a stabilized three years of play, one that saw her finally win her first WTA title at 2023 Austin, make her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne (natch) in 2024, make her first WTA 500 finals in San Diego (2024) and Stuttgart (2025).

• Kostyuk has been building and building and building to her triumphant two weeks in Madrid, and it's impossible not to be happy for her. Coming off the heels of a win at BJK Cup and title run in Rouen, she now heads to Rome with a 12-match win streak under her belt. And she's all set to be a threat at Roland Garros.

• Here's how Tumaini Carayol saw Sunday's rout. (The Guardian)

No match-up represents Sinner’s dominance quite like this one. This is the first time in 10 years that the Madrid Open final has been contested between the top two seeds, but the four previous finals between the top two seeds were played between two of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray, all evenly matched contests involving four of the best men’s players in history.

Today, with Carlos Alcaraz out indefinitely, the gap between the world No 1 and the rest of the field has never been this wide in the modern era of men’s tennis. Sinner actually lost four of his first five meetings against Zverev early in his career, but he has now won their past nine matches, winning the last 14 sets they have played. Sinner now holds 14,350 ranking points, one of the highest totals in history, compared with Zverev’s count of 5,805 at No 3.

• We're two weeks away from the halfway point of the ATP Masters Season, and as Jannik returns to Rome, he is still very much in line for (1) a new record of Masters in a single season and (2) an truly unprecedented – and likely unreplicable – clean sweep of all nine ATP Masters. The record for the most in a single season is six, set by Novak in his 2015 season. A win next in Rome for Jannik would give him his fifth Masters of the year and sixth consecutive, dating back to Paris Bercy last fall. More numbers from the ATP here.
• Oh and Jannik is casually two weeks away from completing his complete set of Masters titles. That's right, with the win in Madrid, Rome is now the only trophy he doesn't have. The only other player to catch 'em all is Novak.
• OH AND ANOTHER THING: All of this is of course leading up to his quest to win his first Roland Garros in a few weeks, which would give him the career Grand Slam just a few months after Carlos did it in Melbourne.
• Mind you: THESE DUDES ARE NOT EVEN TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD YET.

• Hailey Baptiste! Unreal effort to save six match points and confuddle Aryna Sabalenka to snap the No.1's 15-match win streak and end her Madrid title defense. (The Athletic via Yahoo)
• There's not a person in this world who has walked away from watching a Hailey Baptiste thought and not thought "Damn, if she gets just a liiiiiittle bit more consistent, she's gonna be a problem." And here we are. It's nice to know we can still have nice things. Her game is a frickin' delight when she's cookin'.

• I think this is a very wild thing to say less than an hour after winning three games against Jannik in a tournament that neither Carlos or Novak played and you did not play anyone ranked in the Top 10 until the final and in a year where you have lost to Cobolli, Kecmanovic, and Hurkacz: “Well, I think there's a big gap between Sinner and everybody else right now. It's quite simple. I think there's a big gap between Sinner and everybody else. And I think there's a big gap between Alcaraz, myself, maybe Novak, and everybody else. I think there's two gaps right now."
• He's soooooo close to saying, "I mean Carlos, Novak and I have won over 30 Grand Slams, so the numbers speak for themselves."

• Jack Draper is out Rome and Roland Garros. He'll drop out of the Top 100. (BBC)
• The ATP and WTA Top 10 have sent a letter to the FFT expressing their disappointment with the announced prize money at Roland Garros, which continues to trail the other three Slams by a significant margin. (The Athletic via Yahoo)
• Daria Kasatkina "swam in the shit" and then lifted the 125K title in Catalonia. (Daily Express via Yahoo)
• Tennis fans would not have blinked when they saw Eileen Gu decked out in a custom ANTA kit at the Olympics. I know this because I, a tennis fan, did not blink when I saw Eileen Gu decked out in a custom ANTA kit at the Olympics. I did not know they control Fila, Arcteryx and Wilson though! (BBC)

Chinese firms have been known to expand quickly within the country, before venturing abroad where they encounter more challenges while scaling up.

For one there is a perception challenge. Chinese products are often viewed as cheap, low-quality or copycat goods.

Anta has tried to beat that with acquisitions, as part of an approach it calls a "multi-brand strategy". The first big move was buying the rights to Fila in China in 2009 and turning the Italy-founded brand into a major earner for its business, says Elisa Harca from Chinese marketing agency Red Ant Asia.

In 2019, Anta bought a controlling stake in Finnish athletics brand Amer Sports. The deal gave Anta control of Amer's companies, which included upmarket brands Arc'teryx and Salomon.

Anta also owns Wilson, the US maker of tennis rackets and balls used by the National Basketball Association. And this year, it bought a 29% stake in Puma, pledging to help the German firm grow in China.

Madrid musings

Hola from Madrid where the cheesecake is as creamy and smooth as Arthur Fils’ game style!

Finite JestAndrea Petkovic

• Rafael Jodar sure does seem like the real thing, huh?

• Annnnnd now we are in Rome. Here are the draws:

• Nice to see Barbora Krejcikova's name back in a draw! She could face Aryna in the second round.
• More WTA Draw notes: Kenin-Andreescu 1R, winner to play Bencic... Amanda Anisimova is back for her first tournament since Miami, and she could play Ostapenko in 2R....Swiatek could play McNally or Kasatkina in 2R.

• ATP Draw has some very intriguing possible 3Rs: Tiafoe-Fils, FAA-Fonseca, Medvedev-Moutet – oh btw, Medvedev-Tsitsipas (!!!) possible 2R –, De Minaur-Jodar, Tien-Bublik.
• Also back: Novak Djokovic.

• Venus is out here just saying things: "She has great energy - I don't even know if Serena [Williams] has this energy." (BBC)
• Carson Branstine caused a stir with a TikTok video pointing out – complaining? – about the disparate treatment of top players vs. low-ranked players. If you want to know my actual thoughts on this, feel free to ask me in person. (Tennis.com)
• The idea that college tennis should only be for Americans really rubs me the wrong way. But I also don't pretend to know anything about collegiate tennis. I also don't think changing that rule one way or another will have much any impact on top level pro tennis, so this is also a "not my circus not my monkeys" situation. (SiriusXM)

• Speaking of all that: (1) brands and events should think LONG AND HARD about using AI-slop for their graphics – let's not pretend we don't ALL see tournaments, rights holders, and tours/orgs shitting this stuff out thinking no one has noticed – but (2) IF they are going to be soulless content slaves, I don't know, maybe take a look at what your stupid AI machine spits out and use your own two eyes to see "Oh wow, that looks like absolute shit" because (3) failing to recognize that something looks terrible is so fucking embarrassing and you're giving the rest of us a carte blanche license to roast you loudly and publicly for an interminable amount of time:

• Sad trombone: LIV is done, as PIF has announced it will not bankroll the tour this year. And that's probably a pretty good case study on why threats of "rival tours/leagues" shouldn't be taken all that seriously. LIV had all the money in the world, and star power, and no one gave a shit. It failed. You know who came out roses in this? Yes, the few golfers who defected for insane money, but also the guys who stayed with PGA and got prize money increases and equity. (WSJ)

• This is goofy because if it were me, I would be FUH-LATTERED to have been iconofied by Emily Blunt. (Variety)

• Saw DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 over the weekend in Madrid and I had a great time. At a bare minimum, it's just fun to hang out with four of the most delightful actors of our times. And I will be using "You're not a visionary – you're a vendor" and "May the fire from the bridges I burn light my path" for many years to come.

• I watched PETER'S FRIENDS on Amazon Prime last week, a movie that I did not know existed and that I loved immediately. Because again, why wouldn't you want to just spend two hours with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, and Imelda Staunton.

• Also rewatched COPYCAT for the first time in decades and man, why can't we just have these mid-ass movies that are perfectly enjoyable anymore?

• I had no idea that LEAVING NEVERLAND has been pulled down in America. It was an incredibly harrowing watch and if you're able to still access it somewhere, I highly recommend watching it. It's important. (The Guardian)

• I love crazy high-stakes for them, low stakes for me interpersonal drama tea:

The Hollywood Feud of the Century

How the fight between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni led to a $300 million trial that could torch both their careers.

VultureReeves Wiedeman

• Is it time for another re-read of the most polarizing masterpiece in modern literature?

‘Infinite Jest,’ the Internet, and the Politics of Reading | Los Angeles Review of Books

On the internet reception and collective reading of David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary reissue.

Los Angeles Review of BooksManuel Antonio Córdoba

• Bop of the Day: In honor of Jannik Sinner's Sunday win, here is a banger that is tangentially related to "karma" – *stares into camera* – but also is just a banger about cultural misappropriation and the human condition, as you do:

• From Wikipedia:

Described as a catchy dance pop song,^[2] as well as "a cheekily sardonic look at human evolution",^[3] the main theme of "Occidentali's Karma" is the superficial lifestyle of Westerners, mainly based on materialism and appearance, discussing Buddhism, spirituality, and other philosophical views of modern life.^[4] In a critique of Western consumerism,^[5] the lyrics refer to the Internet as the "opiate of the poor" (in reference to Karl Marx and the "opium of the people"),^[6][7][8] selfie addiction, Internet know-it-alls,^[9] and a society based on conformity and uniformity,^[10][11][12] referencing "intellectuals in cafes" and deriding "honorary members of the selfie-addicted anonymous".^[13] As a result, human evolution seems to stumble instead of moving forward (l'evoluzione inciampa, la scimmia nuda balla).^[14]

According to Gabbani, the chorus of the song is a mockery of Westerners who believe they can take Eastern cultures and "Westernise" them.^[16] The song cites such aspects of Indian religions as the Buddha and Nirvana, as well as man's evolution from the ape, an idea which he got from reading The Naked Ape (1967), written by British ethologist Desmond Morris.^[16] 

The song's writers wanted to highlight the way in which Westerners tend to trivialise Eastern culture, using it as a sort of anti-stress remedy.^[23] Gabbani explained that "Occidentali's Karma" is "a sarcastic reflection on the clumsy attempt we Westerners make to seek serenity through Eastern disciplines, only to discover that, stripped of Western or Eastern superstructures, we're all naked apes."^[2]