Bagel Bites: But I didn't get the evite

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• Previously on the The Bagel: Taylor Fritz fell asleep.
• The Athletic reports that a big ol' meeting between the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros, ATP, and WTA took place in London last week to discuss the PTPA lawsuit. I'd take a bit of it with a grain of salt as it seems like a lot of the detail in the back third of the article certainly sounds like talking points PTPA would happily leak. But this was interesting:

Gaudenzi and the PTPA had been talking to this effect before Tennis Australia’s settlement with the PTPA was announced. But that announcement remapped the terrain of the fight.

That deal essentially meant that Tennis Australia had switched sides, in a tacit agreement to help the PTPA wage a fight against its former allies.

• Ok I have a solution: Everyone into a room for a night of Among Us and let's just air it all out, fam.
• The Pablo Torre effect: Ben Rothenberg reports that Andy Roddick's Served has an investigative reporting episode in the works on the PTPA. (Bounces)
• Ben is on the ground at Melbourne Park and interviewed Joao Reis da Silva, who lost in the first round of qualifying:

• The Missile is out: Milos Raonic officially announced his retirement over the weekend. Hell of a career for Milos, with his big serve and quirky but ever-earnest ways, he reached a career-high No. 3 and beat Roger Federer en route to a Wimbledon final. Here's Mike McIntyre on Milos' legacy:

• He had very large calves, a hit face that proved a challenge for photographers (sorry, it's true!), and maybe was the first guy to wear the arm sleeve? But he was always such a pro in press conferences and interviews, a gentleman, and gave us two ever-lasting pieces of tennis culture:

1. "Hypothetically yes, technically no." What an iconic line that I STILL use frequently. Here's the ESPN recap:

At first, it wasn't even clear if the issue was whether Milos Raonic had touched the net or if the ball had bounced twice by the time he had touched it. But it was clear that Juan Martin del Potro was angered. (After the match, he tweeted, "Very upset about the match I lost ... I think everyone saw what happened.'') And that, Raonic was unrepentant about not giving his opponent the call. When told del Potro should have had the point, he replied in a now-famous answer, "Hypothetically, yes; technically, no."

But though that was technically his position, hypothetically he changed it the following week. "I feel like I made a mistake in the spur of the moment, something, I guess, because I hadn't been faced with it before. I'm disappointed with myself how I dealt with it, and it's something I learned a lot from,'' he said.

"I really didn't have the opportunity until really the last two days to think about it that much. It's something that I feel sorry about and something I want to apologize to Juan when I see him here. I don't think I dealt with that the right way, and I think it's something that I probably should have in that situation, and probably in the future, call on myself."

2. THE SONG:

• Here's a beyond thorough recap of the WTA's Week 1 from Todd Spiker. (WTA Backspin)
• The Athletic ponders this "hinge" moment for Iga Swiatek, who is still caught between two ways of playing her tennis. I'm glad this play-style crisis is being discussed more openly – huge props to Laura Robson and Andrea Petkovic who were fantastic on it in their United Cup commentary hits – but I would also caution against obsessing about it in the same way that I caution people from obsessing about Coco's serve and forehand stuff. As The Athletic write:

Even when changing styles in real time, in 2025 Świątek won a Grand Slam title, a WTA 1000 title, and finished nearly 2,000 points ahead of No. 3 in the rankings. 

• There's what happened at that Coldplay concert and then there's this wholesome Swaggapino moment: Alex Eala sets her parents up on the Kiss Cam in Auckland:

• Yes to this: "The very thing that’s cool about this WTA era is top players showing visible disgust at losing to peers/rivals, but respecting peers enough to admit they’re also the reason those top players are pushing for improvement and consistent level. It’s like people online have never played sport before." (Bluesky)
• What do we think of this thought experiment:

• Pete Bodo takes a look at Joao Fonseca's upcoming season. (Tennis.com)
• It bears noting that the Brazilian teen withdrew from his two Australian Open lead-ups with a back injury. I did not know that he suffered a stress fracture in his back a few years ago. (ATP)
• Side note: Does anyone else's computer go nuts when they go to the Tennis.com homepage? My PC's fan sounds like a jet engine every time and I have to close the window. It's only an issue on the home page.

• If you think Swiatek-Bencic was the best WTA match of Week 1, you did not watch Swiatek-Lys. (WTA)
• New year, same recommendation: Always read the WTA's Monday morning rankings roundup.
• Sarah Spain had Giri Nathan on her podcast Good Game to preview the upcoming Australian Open and all the chatter about an ATP-WTA merger, and it's worth a listen. The whole podcast is worth a listen, but Giri's hit starts at 17 minutes:

• One thing I will push back on is the idea of skipping tournaments resulting in "a penalty". I'm not saying there is or isn't one, but I just want to stick a pin in this for now because I think we throw that word around a lot and take it for granted but maybe don't ACTUALLY understand what it means in the context of the WTA and ATP, which are two tours with different rules. I think sometimes there's conflating going and maybe non-current information floating around, so I do want to get to the bottom of it over the next few weeks. Bear with me.
• The merger discussion was good. If you've followed me for a while, you know that I was vigorously nodding my head at Sarah's point that sometimes merger means losing the power and teeth that you have. I also agree with Giri's point that there's a lot of talk from the current players, not when push comes to shove, no real spark of revolution, which – and these are my words now – kind of betrays the fighters who came before them.
• On that point, former USWNT national team players Christen Press and Tobin Heath see a similar thing among today's current USWNT, which makes me think: is this a Gen Z thing or just the natural order of things once the fighters win enough fights for the next generation to be comfortable? Their whole interview in Defector is a must-read for any women's sports fan:

You can sometimes detect an edge in how the USWNTers of the previous generation—who fought for and won pay equity, while in many cases being outspoken on various social justice issues—talk about today's crop of stars. During the live show, Press expressed her ambivalence about the current generation's public complacency. "I played soccer during the right time for me because I wanted to do that work. That is why I played. But it's a gift to not have to do that work. And so it's like, we fought so that this generation could just ball out, right?" she said. "And we get to see that, and we're like, 'Wait, aren't you going to fight for more? Like, carry the torch!'"

Rapinoe identified a "more conservative" shift among the personal brands of current American stars. She gave a word of wisdom to the next generation: "Somebody's profiting off you, so you may as well be a part of it." 

• Said differently: "This pussy don't pop for you." (THR)
• Good find here by a Redditor:

• If you're unaware of how Tennis Abstract uses the ELO stat, here is Jeff Sackman's breakdown. The upshot that is the more relevant to me: ELO takes into account the quality of the opponent.

The principle behind any Elo system is that each player’s rating is an estimate of their strength, and each match (or tournament) allows us to update that estimate. If a player wins, her rating goes up; if she loses, it goes down.

Where Elo excels is in determining the amount by which a rating should increase or decrease. There are two main variables that are taken into account: How many matches are already in the system (that is, how much confidence we have in the pre-match rating), and the quality of the opponent.

If you think about it for a moment, you’ll see that these two variables are a good approximation of how we already think about player strength. The more we already know about a player, the less we will change our opinion based on one match. Novak Djokovic’s round-robin loss to Dominic Thiem in London was a surprise, but only the most apocalyptic Djokovic fans saw the result as a disaster that should substantially change our estimate of his playing ability. Similarly, we adjust our opinion based on opponent quality. A loss to Thiem is disappointing, but a loss to, say, Marco Cecchinato is more concerning. The Elo system incorporates those natural intuitions.

• The Body Serve isn't sweeping Marta Kostyuk's "misquoted" quotes under the rug:

• Gabriel Diallo coaching news from Carole Bouchard:

• Needless to say, Carole shot out of the cannon in Week 1 and when that happens, her work ethic is second to none. Here is on Hong Kong's Coleman Wong. (The Second Serve)
• Let Daniil be Daniil:

Q. You said I think after the semifinal win last night that you were trying to be a bit calmer and not getting as fussed on the court as well. Obviously a lot of fans enjoy your emotion out on court, as well. How are you juggling that, the Medvedev that gets something out of doing that and also maybe, yeah...

DANIIL MEDVEDEV: No, the most important is I always stay true to myself, so meaning when I get angry and even I do bad things, well, sometimes I have to apologize, but it's the way I am. It's my emotions. But I also know that these emotions, they can be fun, can be a bit too much, but many times they can cost me a bit of energy and a bit of concentration during the match.

So of course I always said it's better to stay calm. It's easier, but then that's something I couldn't do. So I'm happy that here I managed to find kind of a flow which I was following, and I do think there are so many fans around the world, so some people like angry Medvedev and some people like calm Medvedev.

If I play well, if I stay true to myself, there is going to be people who love me and people who hate me as well.

• Daria Kasatkina got her first win as an Australian by beating Maria Sakkari in Adelaide:

• Notable notes: Clara Tauson retired with a low back injury after losing the first set to Ajla Tomljanovic in Auckland 1R.... Jacqueline Cristian d. [4] Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets.... Olga Danilovic knocked out defending champ McCartney Kessler from Hobart.... Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Sebi Korda in three sets but his right shoulder is no bueno.
• Some on-court wackiness from the last few days:
  • Ugo Carabelli doing his best Andy Murray/Svetlana Kuznetsova impression:

• No one EATS like Gaston, finds some TREATS like Gaston:

• I had Cypher as my No.1 seed but pleased he was able to make the Final Four amongst the all-time GOATs. (The Ringer)
• Please read Brian Phillips' 2026 Guide to Slop. (The Ringer)

The idea of integrity is antithetical to slop. So is the idea that purpose, need, or ambition can exist outside the realms of power and money. The worldview that produces slop is one in which only a sucker would make something for the love of making it. Only a weirdo would feel a need to experience art as the authentic response of a human mind to the conditions of its moment, design as an attempt to solve real problems, or communication as more than an information exchange. Quality, other than the baseline quality of photorealism in an image-generating app, is a dead end; no one will care or notice if movies look worse or if search results lie. Slop is a radical extension of both the corporate cost-cutting impulse and the impulse in media and entertainment to chase the lowest common denominator. It encodes the belief that no one needs more, no one wants better, speed and convenience are all that matter, truth and beauty are fake.

• Okee doke! That's it for today. Gonna go watch HAMNET and THE MASTERMIND now. Will try and stream this week so keep an eye out on Discord and Twitch. L8r Sk8rs.