João Lucas Reis da Silva warming up now on court at ATP 500 Rio de Janeiro, where he’s about to make history as the first ever openly gay fella to play a tour-level main draw singles match. Reis faces Yannick Hanfmann. An interview we did in Melbourne: www.benrothenberg.com/p/gay-tennis...

Kenin’s 32.3% vAce today was the third-highest of her career; her Australian Open R1 loss to Stearns last month, at 28.3%, was fifth-highest of her career.

Sofia Kenin aced 20 times in just two sets today by Clara Tauson. Deep dive on her stunning stat from last year. www.benrothenberg.com/p/aces-most-...

Forgot to share yesterday’s Australian Open notebook here, all sorts of tidbits and nuggets and whatnots to chew on from the year’s first major. www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

The first time I saw this Tara Lipinski commercial during these Olympics I truly *never* would have guessed what her monologue was selling before it gets revealed.

Ben Shelton knocks out defending champ Denis Shapovalov, setting up a final at ATP 500 Dallas between the two top Americans in the ATP rankings. Shelton and Taylor Fritz have only played twice before; head-to-head is 1-1.

Part of the way through. Thanks for making it in yummy bite-size chunks.

College and junior tennis fans will want to read the comments from AO boys finalist Keaton Hance and Columbia's No. 1 singles player and AO qualifier Michael Zheng

Forgot to share yesterday’s Australian Open notebook here, all sorts of tidbits and nuggets and whatnots to chew on from the year’s first major. www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

The Bounces Australian Open notebook column will finally be out tomorrow (Friday) morning, I say here just to hold myself accountable for finally getting this overflowing opus finished. 🙏

Contrast of Forms, by Fernand Léger, 1913, (rotated) 📸 by Mike Segar

WTA #52 Maria Sakkari gets her best win a long time, beating three-time WTA 1000 Doha champ Iga Swiatek 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. That volley miss on match point by Swiatek will sting, oof. 11th semifinal for Maria Sakkari at the WTA 1000 level, which Is pretty heckin’ great.

I had a section in my Naomi Osaka manuscript about Eileen Gu, cut for length, in the section on how switching away from American nationality has become super common across sports. People get very, very weird about Gu, but what she did is deeply normal (and lucrative).

Truly bizarre shit in an otherwise cozy broadcast.

Breaking news at Bounces: Serena Williams is going to gain reinstatement to tennis before the end of this month, when she will have completed her six months back in the tennis testing pool. The Serena comeback is now officially official. www.benrothenberg.com/p/serena-wil...

Zheng Qinwen just hit 20 aces in her comeback match, a win at WTA 1000 Doha. Yes, she was playing Sofia Kenin. www.benrothenberg.com/p/aces-most-...

Very sad to hear of the shocking passing of Mark Hodgkinson, who was just 46. The number of tennis writers we've lost at far-too-young ages in recent years is truly awful. www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/8d019c7...

White Vertigo, the amazing documentary on the first Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics in 1956, is free to watch on the Olympics website…heartily recommend. www.olympics.com/en/original-...

More news on the looming Serena comeback: She recently practiced with a top-100 WTA player, Alycia Parks. “She is in great shape, so I think she would kill it on tour,” Parks said of Serena. www.tennismajors.com/wta-tour-new...

Heckin’ huge effort by Ethan Quinn, saving four match points to beat Hungarian #1 Fabian Marozsan 13-11 in the third set tiebreak. Quinn and Tommy Paul’s wins put the USA up 2-0 on the road on clay. #DavisCup

Mostly spending my day seething about what’s happening at the Post, but would be remiss not to mention how amazing that WTA 500 Abu Dhabi stadium full of Filipinos for Alex Eala just was.

I read the Washington Post sports section on my way to school every morning as a kid, then called Post Haste—the old phone service the Post used to run in the pre-internet days—to find out what the late night west coast NHL scores had been.

Was clear this was coming for weeks, but it’s no less devastating and unforgivable. And that goes to the damage done to the rest of the Post as well, including their great Books section. Democracy dies in darkness, indeed.

Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests

Back home in DC and even further preoccupied by the travesties of mismanagement befalling The Washington Post…wishing the best for all the great journalists and their readers, who both deserve so, so much better than what Bezos has done to the place in the last six months.

After his Australian Open final loss, Novak Djokovic spoke bluntly and bleakly about his future in his Serbian press conference. “I think I’ll come back. But whether you’ll see me here as an active player, we’ll see.” Read the translation at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

At the Alcaraz-Djokovic Australian Open final on Sunday, it became ever clearer that the biggest moments in men's tennis are now property of an extremely exclusive circle of legends. Free for all to read at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/carlos-alc...

The Australian Open men’s final chat at Bounces is now open and live! Come join us to join a community of awake people! Alcaraz! Djokovic! You! Me! bit.ly/3Oheq0n

Honestly it’s the cringiest shit in tennis for me.

Presented without comment

The Australian Open men’s final chat at Bounces is now open and live! Come join us to join a community of awake people! Alcaraz! Djokovic! You! Me! bit.ly/3Oheq0n

As Novak Djokovic gets ready to play for a record-extending 25th major men's singles title, I wanted to reshare a favorite story about an iconic moment from his 16th major win at Wimbledon 2019. The story behind a famous finger, free at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/wimbledon-...

After her big win at the Australian Open, Elena Rybakina spoke of the investigation into her coach, Stefano Vukov—who received a trophy, too. “Any situation like that knocks you off-balance. And it was a very unpleasant experience.” Read at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

Umpire: “Game, set, match!” Rybakina: 🙂 A champ who very much does things her own way. And my gosh, what a match by her tonight.

Bounces chat thread for the Australia Open women’s final is now open! Come chat with your fellow awake tennis fans! Rybakina! Sabalenka! Closed roof! bit.ly/49RqrST

It sure took a while, but the 2026 Australian Open finally served up a couple classic matches. Read at Bounces: www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

New NCR with @tumcarayol.bsky.social on the two classic men’s semifinals that kicked this Australian Open into gear, at last. Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/6rt1...

Join the Bounces live chat for today's men's semifinals! Alcaraz-Zverev on now, followed by Sinner-Djokovic. Will we get a surprise to derail the expected final? bit.ly/AusOpenMensS...

Changeover reading: More details about Serena’s comeback, including the when, who (the former ATP player she’s been training with), and more. This thing is happening, y’all: www.benrothenberg.com/p/serena-wil...

Four consecutive Australian Open finals for Aryna Sabalenka, which is seriously heckin’ remarkable.

Just flashed on the screen and read out by an announcer in Rod Laver Arena:

Changeover reading: More details about Serena’s comeback, including the when, who (the former ATP player she’s been training with), and more. This thing is happening, y’all: www.benrothenberg.com/p/serena-wil...

Awake and want someone to talk about these Australian Open semifinals with? Join us for the Bounces live chat! Open to all, free subscribers included! bit.ly/AusOpenWomensSemisChat

It’s maybe a little worrying that recording these at 2 am lately means I don’t remember what stories I’ve even been telling? 😳

New NCR with @tumcarayol.bsky.social! On the lackluster Australian Open quarterfinals and how they could set up some good semifinals (we hope). open.spotify.com/episode/14OY...

As the cameras roll on, player resentments grow at the Australian Open. "Are we tennis players, or are we animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop, you know?" Free for all to read at Bounces, but please subscribe (free or paid)! www.benrothenberg.com/p/australian...

Djokovic on Musetti: "He was a far better player. I was on my way home tonight. Don't know what to say...being in full control, so unfortunate...he should've been the winner today, there's no doubt."

Novak Djokovic, who won zero sets in the fourth round and zero sets in the quarterfinals, is through to the Australian Open semifinals. If this tournament doesn't feel like destiny for him at this point, what possibly could?

Musetti up two sets to none and suddenly struggling to move after a medical timeout on his right thigh, so he's trying to shorten points drastically. Signs of life for Djokovic?

Bounces chat threads are back for today's stacked Australian Open quarterfinal lineup! Should be a fun time, so I hope you can join us for some second screen chatter with your fellow Bounces subscribers! bit.ly/AusOpenQFChat