Bagel Bites: Platinum Blonde Life

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: Peak Pit.
• He promised something extra and Carlos Alcaraz delivered. (Tennis)

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• Do NOT let Victor Barber see this. (Reddit)
• Related: Every time I see the name "Victor Barber" I think of this and I can't be the only one. (YouTube)
• Congratulations to Casper and family (+1)! (ATP)
• Matteo Berretini is set to make his return next week at Hangzhou. He hasn't played since Wimbledon. (ATP)
• Say this about Holger Rune: He is cringe but he is free. (Tennis)
• Lots of withdrawals flying around, most of which are pretty predictable: Carlos is out of Davis Cup, Amanda is out of Seoul, Khachanov is out of Hangzhou, Qinwen, Madison and Naomi join Emma Raducanu in skipping Billie Jean King Cup.
• This week in Asian Excellence:

• Sloane Stephens played her first match in seven months this week. (WTA)
• Shame on me, I forgot read the WTA website's always thorough rankings update on Monday. Lots of cool tidbits on the ranking milestones players hit after the US Open. Great work from Alex Macpherson. (WTA)
• Patrick Mouratoglou was asked some questions and he answered those questions. (The Guardian)
• This weekend's Davis Cup tie between Canada and Israel will be played behind closed doors in Nova Scotia. Tennis Canada will have to refund the tickets and take a big loss on on the event. (ESPN)
• Lleyton Hewitt was issued a 2-week ban and fined $30,000 by the ITIA for pushing a 60-year-old anti-doping chaperone after a Davis Cup in Malaga last year. Hewitt vehemently (it sounds like) denied the charge and argued it was self-defense, the ITIA had video evidence and witness statements. I'm very confused (surprised?) that the release actually says the suspension was timed "as not to be 'unduly punitive' on Hewitt by impacting his Davis Cup Schedule...." (ITIA)

Following both parties’ submissions on appropriate sanction, Mr Heron KC issued Hewitt a two-week suspension. At the chair’s discretion*, the sanction was suspended to be effective from 24 September 2025 until 7 October 2025, so as not to be “unduly punitive” on Hewitt by impacting his Davis Cup schedule**, and to provide the opportunity for an appeal to be lodged before the sanction enters into effect. To date, no appeal has been lodged.

• Tomas Berdych doesn't want to be in Florida right now. (Palm Beach Daily News via Yahoo)
• The Boys are back, baby:

• Maybe it was all inevitable: This conversation about the evolution of social media, why it's just completely broken right now, and whether it can ever get back to the good ol' days of low-stakes posting is very, very good:

• Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 professional women's basketball league that gives WNBA players a chance to compete for huge dollars in the off-season, just got a valuation of $340 million. NWSL has some solid WTA connections – Naomi Osaka, Ons Jabeur, Billie Jean King, Serena Williams are all team owners – but Unrivaled isn't too far behind. Former WTA President Micky Lawler has been the league's commissioner since August 2024, and Coco Gauff became an investor in January. (NY Times)

Bessemer Venture Partners, which includes funding from Serena Ventures, a firm co-founded by tennis star Serena Williams, led the Series B investment round that recently closed. Warner Bros. Discovery and soccer star Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures also built on their prior investments in the league. The Series B round also includes Atlanta Hawks All-Star guard Trae Young, among other athletes. A $340 million valuation is more than all but two WNBA franchises, according to Sportico’s 2025 team valuations.

• How Alex Morgan's pink pre-wrap paved the way for her post-retirement future. Go get what you're owed, Baby Horse. (The Athletic)

“Michael Jordan made Jordans. Same with Shaq. His business empire really took off post-basketball. The key is planting those seeds early,” 2017 U.S. Open women’s singles champion Sloane Stephens told The Athletic. Following her success in the U.S. Open, Stephens made partnership deals of her own with Dagne Dover, Lemon Perfect, Free People Movement and Kindbody among others.

“You can’t wait until the last whistle. You start building, so that when the transition comes (at the end of your playing career), it feels natural,” she said. “Alex Morgan did that brilliantly. Long before athlete partnerships were mainstream, she made the pink pre-wrap her signature. Kids copied it, and it became part of her brand identity.”

And while the UC Berkeley graduate often prioritized soccer, Morgan admits she was always interested in the business side of things.

“In soccer, over the last 15 to 17 years, I’ve sacrificed a lot and left plenty on the table to help this league (the NWSL) grow. Like many of my teammates, I often took less than I deserved,” said Morgan, who recently shared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she made $300 per match in her first season, then 22 games long, in the NWSL.

“Now, the league is in a place where players are earning six figures, and soon, seven figures, which is incredible. But that wasn’t the case for me,” Morgan told The Athletic. “So moving forward, I made sure I got my true value. I took less for too many years, and I’m not doing that anymore.”

• I went back to listen to the Served podcast with Andy, Jon, and Max Eisenbud about money and player finances and it remains fantastic. It should be required listening for any fan who wants to understand how and why certain decisions get made:

• I've been enjoying Michael Kosta's podcast, Tennis Anyone. In case you don't know, Kosta was a collegiate tennis player who is now a comedian and rotating host of The Daily Show. The podcast wasn't at all what I was expecting. Love his energy, his love of the game, and his takes. Here are some recent ones I enjoyed:

• His memoir, Lucky Loser, came out earlier this year. You should add it to your off-season reading list. I'm putting it on my Kindle for my China trip. (Bookshop)

• Taylor Townsend is getting her glow-up and she deserves every and all of it. Here she is on The Pivot podcast:

• And with Jemele Hill:

• The Athletic has a sports business newsletter called Money Call, and it's very much worth subscribing to. However, this really peeved me:

• Whether an event is "an exhibition" is completely unrelated to the amount of money being paid! The most basic question is whether it is a tour-sanctioned event that awards either ATP or WTA points. If you want to then argue about Davis Cup/BJK Cup/Olympics, well those events have at different times awarded points and they are now historically embedded in the fabric of the sport as events that we would hesitate to call them "exhibitions". Laver Cup and United Cup? Man, you can argue about those two alllll day. But points are awarded, so no, they are not technically exhibitions.
• Whooooooa TNT might be hiring our very own Laura Robson to host The Ashes??? (Telegraph via Yahoo)
• Sad for Jamie, but big bro cannot be putting pics of little bro on Raya! (NY Post via Yahoo)
• The RodPod is going to do daily podcasts from Laver Cup in San Francisco, where I will, rather ironically, be out of town. But you know who WILL be in town? (Instagram)

• Want a fun daily game? Check out Unzoomed. Very proud of getting Daegu on my third guess today. (Unzoomed)