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Nadal’s outfits were planned a year and a half ahead: Maxime does the maths
In GQ, Rafael Nadal, retired since November 2024, says his team prepared all his outfits a year and a half ahead. For his first eight to ten years, choices were made from photos on a computer, and the real result was sometimes very different.
Latest dispatches
It’s true, we checked
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Shelton got two days between matches, the C30.4 gets twenty minutes
Ben Shelton beat Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to reach his first Grand Slam final. He put the emphasis on the two days between that semi-final and his quarter-final against Carlos…
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US Open quarter-finals ended at 3.33am, and the C30.4 has done the maths
The 2026 US Open quarter-final day lasted 16 hours, from 11.30am on Tuesday to 3.33am on Wednesday, with four fifth sets. In the women’s draw the entire top 6 reached the quarters…
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A Challenger in Liège with free entry on Monday, the C30.4 books time off
The Ethias Province Open, a new Challenger 50, will be played in Liège from 5 to 12 July at the RTCL. Entry will be free on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
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Petchey praises Zverev for walking round the net: Roland notes we applaud manners now
Mark Petchey answered the criticism from Karen Khachanov and Ben Shelton about Alexander Zverev’s serve routine by praising his respect for the rules: walking around the net after the first game and…
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The stadium screen told Del Potro it was Championship Point, Maxime wants a name
Juan Martín del Potro, speaking on ESPN Argentina after Alexander Zverev’s win, recalled that in the 2009 US Open final he led 5-2 with Federer serving at 15-40, and that he was…
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Zverev only learned he’d won when the umpire called “Game, Set and Match”
Alexander Zverev finished his match with a service winner without noticing: he dropped the balls and went to stand at the return. He only worked it out when he heard the umpire’s…
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Zverev served out the US Open thinking it was 5-1, and our club player has a plan
In the US Open final, Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2. He said he had miscounted the score and served out the match believing he led 5-1, which…
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Sabalenka tells a cameraman to back off, and Roland defends the out-of-shot
Straight after losing the US Open final to Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka used an expletive to tell a cameraman to move away while she sat with her team.
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Sabalenka takes the mic minutes after losing, and Maxime wants to know whose idea that was
Beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 by Elena Rybakina in the US Open final, Aryna Sabalenka smashed her racket after match point, then spoke at the trophy ceremony. She loses both the world No.1…
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Rybakina finishes the US Open on an ace after two double faults, Maxime investigates
Serving for the title at 5-2 in the deciding set of the US Open final, Elena Rybakina hit two double faults and two aces in the same game, and closed it out…
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“You’re thinking too much”: our club player has found his Sunday philosophy
Aryna Sabalenka lost the US Open final to Elena Rybakina 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. In the press conference, to someone suggesting that experience of finals made the defeat harder, she replied: “You’re thinking…
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Zverev has no idea why he bounces the ball 25 times, Roland still counts points
Alexander Zverev has been credited with more than 12,000 pre-serve ball bounces across his first five US Open matches, according to a fan count. The player said he doesn’t know why he…
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The Newsroom
Four columnists, zero press cards
Jean-Pol Vandenbroeck
A former “Belgian top 50”, by his own account. Never wrong: when the facts contradict him, it’s the facts that changed.
Maxime
22, journalism intern, discovering tennis in real time. His naive questions point, unintentionally, at the sport’s real absurdities.
Céline, dite « la C30.4 »
Ranked C30.4, a club-level ranking, “since a transitional period”. Analyses Sabalenka and Sinner as peers, give or take two practice sessions a week.
Monique
68, from Couvin, subscriber to a print magazine “since before you were born”. Never criticises anyone: she compares, which is worse.
They are characters. They have a profile, tics, obsessions and no legal existence whatsoever. Meet them.