Chili Bites: Huddle up

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Cincinnati: Draws | Schedule | Scores

• Previously on The Bagel: Support the Girls.
• Alright let’s get this out of the way: Nick Kyrgios tested positive for cocaine during an in-c0mpetition test in Mallorca, which he admits to taking, and is facing a ban of up to four years.

Nick Kyrgios suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine

The former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has been suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine

The GuardianMatt Hughes

• The BBC has a pretty good rundown of why, no matter how nice and empathic one may be to Kyrgios’ troubles – he cites his ongoing mental health struggles – it’s hard not to shake the shadenfreude after how he has treated other players who failed doping tests, even ones who definitively proved melatonin was contaminated. (BBC)

Describing the system as "awful," he made clear repeatedly his opinion that both Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek received overly lenient bans after their recent high-profile doping cases.

"Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist," Kyrgios wrote after Sinner accepted a three-month ban for testing positive for clostebol.

• All of that goes along with over a decade of posting the bloody syringe emoji in the comment sections of articles about other players, his compulsive penchant for slut-shaming WTA players, admitted domestic abuse incidents, and a whole host of other jackassery. Throwing chairs, abusing umpires, six-figure fines, Andrew Tate, it’s a very long and stupid list of offenses who consistently went out of his way to bully and insult people who were forced inside his orbit. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t extend him grace – it is, after all, undeserved forgiveness. But one can be empathic towards someone who clearly struggles – I don’t doubt that – while also rolling one’s eyes and saying “Dude, you’re 30 years old, grow up.”
• And also, what Andy Roddick very clearly and smartly said a year ago:

• It’s all an unfortunate series of events for a guy who may just have been the purest ball-striking talent since Roger Federer. I hope he figures it all out. I hope that this very public humiliation doesn’t drive him towards darker thoughts and darker places. I hope that he figures out what would bring him peace, which isn’t always the same thing as what makes a person happy. And I hope he genuinely pursues and embraces a life full of love, both for others, but more importantly for himself. It’s not too late. But it requires putting in the earnest, difficult, hard work. And, as Kyrgios has said himself repeatedly, that’s not something he’s ever been keen to do.
• I thoroughly understand and empathize with this from Gay Tennis Podcast (Substack):

In his statement, Nick also asked people to “respect his privacy” during this time. Did he give any form of respect to Sinner or other players after their positive tests?

Like I said, I don’t care if he wants to party. I have partied more than my fair share. And I definitely don’t think cocaine is performance enhancing, but the irony of him getting a positive test is not lost on me. Play silly games, get silly prizes. And this silly prize is dealing with the reactions from people you’ve treated horribly for years.

• Iga Swiatek says she got flashbacks when playing Diane Parry in the Round of 16, copping to it feeling very similar to playing Ash Barty.

“Yes! Sometimes when I was playing down the line and then she was killing me with her forehand, I felt like OMG, that is exactly Ash. On the other hand I had been preparing for Ash, so I was ready for it."

• I asked Iga how she’s feeling at this point in the season and maybe whether there’s more gas in the tank than in previous years:

“I played less matches and I feel that. I feel like I had a lot of time between tournaments to come back home. It wasn’t like I was on vacation, but I spent more time at home. Now I feel like it’s time for me to push instead of being super tired of it."

• Yes, Iga was asked about Nick. Here’s her exchange with Tumaini Carayol in the mixed zone:

Q: Nick Kyrgios was just banend for taking cocaine. Today he’s been provisionally suspended, he admitted to it. How much sympathy do you have for someone who didn’t extend much sympathy or kindness to you?

A: “For sure, it’s difficult for him, but honestly I’m so focused on my own process and my own tournament that I don’t really put much thought to it."

• WTA CEO and Chairman Jessica Pegula says a player media boycott at the US Open is on the table, pending the tournament’s final prize money announcement. (Front Office Sports)

• The Chairman steadied herself to hold off Sorana Cirstea in three sets. It wasn’t pretty in the end – she had to serve for it twice – but dub is dub. She’ll face Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals. With the help of that Red Bull, AA is quietly looking dangerous once again. She ousted Linda Noskova in straight sets.
• The other bottom-half quarterfinal will be a rematch of the Toronto final: Swiatek vs. Rybakina. Elena eased past Diana Shnaider in straight sets. Crazy that this is a quarterfinal, but that just underscores how important being a Top 8 seed is right now. Currently, Iga, Marta, and Amanda are on the outside looking in for a Top 8 seed in NYC.

• Over on the men’s side, Tommy Paul saved match point to knock out the top seed (he’s now 4-1 against him) and will face Flavio Cobolli, who ended Rafael Jodar’s run. Arthur Fils handled Alex De Minaur in straight sets and will play a streaking Thiago Tirante next.

• Longtime Forty Deuce friend Max Gao writes on the Rafael Nadal doc series for the LA Times. Very cool, Max!

“Rafa” also reveals the fragile inner workings behind Nadal’s legendary resilience. His obsessive court rituals — including meticulously aligning his water bottles and executing his precise pre-point routines — were not merely superstitions, but coping mechanisms in a high-stress, solitary sport. By 2015, however, crippling anxiety and loss of control left him so overwhelmed that he carried a water bottle everywhere, terrified that he might choke on his own saliva.

Relieved to live now without chronic physical pain, Nadal insists that his decision to open up about those dark periods was born out of a desire to “normalize” conversations around mental health, especially among young men. “I was not able to understand the things that I went through because I had everything; I won everything. So why was I going through all this process of being anxious on court, to not be able to control my emotions, my breathing?” Nadal says. “But the truth is … I was not able to fix it by myself, so I needed some help.”

• Novak Djokovic has a doc coming out on Amazon Prime.

• Simon Cambers takes a look at the ridiculous resale market for US Open tickets. (Substack)

As of August 18, a grounds pass for day 1 of the tournament, via the official ticket resale company, Ticketmaster, will cost you $363.46! That’s £268, 313 euros or AUD $511! 

To put that into context, a grounds pass for any day in the first week of Wimbledon was £33 this year ($44.70). At Roland-Garros it was 39 euros ($45) and at the Australian Open in 2027, they’ll be AUD$49 ($35). A US Open grounds pass on day one, therefore, is more than eight times the price to get into Wimbledon.

• There was a time in American when sports betting meant you had to go underground and deal with shady bookies and ominous men in the middle of the night. Now it’s completely legitimized – beyond legitimized, it’s literally advertised and a multibillion dollar industry. Similarly, there was a time when, if you couldn’t buy tickets directly from events for face value, you had to deal with the scalper market, where there were no guarantees that your ticket would work and scalpers were arrested for even trying to sell.
• Frankly, BRING BACK SHAME. The fact that Ticketmaster itself – the company that is authorized to sell the face-value ticket – ALSO NOW MAKES MONEY IN THE SECONDARY MARKET AS OFFICIAL SCALPERS is downright farcical. There is zero incentive for Ticketmaster to invest in bot-proof systems to allow real humans to buy face value tickets. It is an illegal monopoly and always has been and MY GOD LINA KHAN PLEASE I HOPE YOU GET THE CHANCE TO GO AFTER THEM FOR GOOD ONE DAY.

Everyone hates Ticketmaster. Why’d Trump go easy on them?

The Justice Department settled with Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, raising big questions about the state of federal antitrust as cases against Apple and Amazon remain ongoing.

The VergeNilay Patel

Live Nation and Ticketmaster Operate as an Illegal Monopoly, Jury Finds in Landmark Antitrust Trial

Live Nation and Ticketmaster violated state and federal antitrust laws in dominating the event and ticketing industry, a New York jury found.

TicketNewsDave Clark

• Anyway, I’ll let the other smart Courtney take the mic:

• I will always read Howard Bryant on tennis. Here he is on the question of Venus Williams and wildcards. (Substack)

What is occurring is this: from a tournament’s perspective, Williams is a low-risk and harmless goodwill gesture – respect for who she is and what she’s been: an undisputed legend both on court and in historical impact on the game, and a feelgood inspiration that a player in her mid-40s is even out there at all. There is also little downside to goodwill gestures provided they are neither cynical – fear of backlash is not goodwill but cowardice – nor patronizing. Given the difficult history of how this sport has often treated Williams and her family over the past three decades, her presence represents a late, unspoken apology. More darkly, it is just not worth the hassle of denying her a wild card: the online trolling, the accusations of another chapter of unfairness toward the sisters, the racial sparring facing the tournament that finally says no to her, however justified, that inevitably will follow as this country in both small and seismic ways continues to tear itself to shreds. Better to just say yes.

Nevertheless, it is not last call for Venus Williams as a singles player – it is past call. Williams turned pro as a 14-year-old in 1994 and is half of a tennis dynasty that rewrote history. She has been a pro longer than most of her opponents have been alive. She has been standing in front of Door No. 1 for years and refuses to walk through, but tennis apparently isn’t quite ready to see her go, either — neither party quite yet willing to rip off the band-aid after all these years together. 

• Jon Wertheim has a thorough discussion as well, which pretty much lands on who are we to demand a tournament not do something it deems valuable – however it chooses to measure value – when wild cards are literally about commerce, not merit. (SI.com)

Note golf and its automatic entry exemptions. Golf’s premise and underlying policy: Former champions deserve multi-year (and even lifetime) exemptions. Fans want to see champions, even if they are not realistically competitive. Champions deserve to keep playing even if they are not in their prime. If they deprive a younger or better player of a spot in the field, so be it.

Tennis wild cards are so inherently corrupt and icky. Management agencies use wild cards as inducement chits. (Note the number of non-IMG clients who get Miami wild cards.) The majors not only reserve slots for homegrown players but then trade them with other majors. Who’s gotten wild cards? The girlfriends, friends and siblings of stars. Andre Agassi, famously, would play an event on the condition that his practice partner and buddy, Sargis Sargsian, was part of the deal.

If we’ve conceded that merit has been sacrificed for commerce, it’s a little rich to tell events that seven-time major champions are suddenly barred from these golden tickets (even if they are closer to 50 than 40 and have lost 14 straight matches).

• For the NPR heads out there: Their 90s Logo Collection is fire. Support public radio!

Roland Orzabal Wanted Fame, Fortune, and Therapy

How Tears for Fears beat their “three-album act with one greatest-hits album” fate — and what’s next for the band.

VultureDevon Ivie

• Here was my morning listen on my way into site. This was another infuriating listen (complimentary):

• I saw THE INVITE. I fucking loved THE INVITE. Incredibly funny.

• Ugly people make bangers, my guy:

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• Bop of the Day: Yes, let’s.