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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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Agassi: “They’ll do it again in two days,” Maxime counts the hours
After Team World’s 13-5 defeat to Team Europe in the Laver Cup final, captain Andre Agassi said he felt for his players, who must fly straight into the ATP 500s in Beijing…
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A 2017 like from Alcaraz for Cobolli, the club player has a 2016 photo waiting
Flavio Cobolli told BBC Sport, after Team Europe’s Laver Cup win, that he’d spotted a Carlos Alcaraz “like” on one of his Instagram posts from 2017. Both players are straight back on…
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Alcaraz finds the ball “much bigger”, Maxime grabs a tape measure
After Team Europe’s win over Team World at the Laver Cup, Carlos Alcaraz told the press that the slow conditions have more to do with the balls than the surfaces. He wants…
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De Minaur calls it a coin flip against Zverev, Jean-Pol tossed the coin himself
Beating Alexander Zverev 2-6, 7-6, 11-9 on Saturday at the Laver Cup, Alex De Minaur claimed his second straight win over the German in the competition, before calling the format “a bit…
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Alcaraz “too young” to marry a fan’s sister, the club player gets the dodge
Interviewed by Sam Querrey after his 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 win over Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup, Carlos Alcaraz answered a spectator who asked him to marry his sister, on 26 September…
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Federer misses the crowds and the hotels, Jean-Pol says he called it
Roger Federer said, speaking from the Laver Cup in London, that playing in front of 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 people is something he misses enormously since retiring. He also says he loved…
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Di Pasquale beats Federer in three sets in Sydney, the club player knows that set
On 27 September 2000, Arnaud Di Pasquale, ranked 62nd in the world, beat Roger Federer, ranked 36th, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 for the Olympic bronze medal. In the third set, Federer threw his…
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Jacquet beats world No. 30 in Hangzhou, Maxime hunts for a “top player”
Kyrian Jacquet beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry, world No. 30, in the Hangzhou 250 quarter-finals. At 25, he will enter the top 100 for the first time when the tournament ends.
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Arthur Fils denied wild card in Tokyo, Jean-Pol claims he called it
Arthur Fils, world number 11 and Tokyo champion in 2024, missed out on a wild card for this year’s ATP 500 after registering late. He now needs two qualifying rounds, or a…
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Agassi cites six other ways to win a match, Maxime hunts the list
Captain of Team World for the second year running, Andre Agassi was asked in a press conference about Alexander Bublik, a newcomer to his squad for the Laver Cup. His advice: controlled…
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Tiafoe targets the world top five from 8th, the club player approves
Frances Tiafoe reached the best ranking of his career after his US Open semi-final, his third Grand Slam semi-final. On the Tennis Channel podcast Big T, he said he wants to become…
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Zverev admits he lost track of the score in the final, club player knows it
Alexander Zverev secured his second Grand Slam title of the season at the US Open, beating Ben Shelton, after Roland-Garros. He told Carlos Alcaraz, during a training session at the Laver Cup,…
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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.