BSR

Hmm, I'm really picky about cinnamon. As much as I like it, I think it's a disaster when used improperly. If you're looking to spice up Filipino rice pudding, vanilla would be my first choice. Ginger and cardamom would probably work too. Maybe nutmeg? I wonder if cinnamon would clash with the corn. If you really like the flavor of coconut, it's really best plain. I always add vanilla because I love vanilla in everything, but purists like just the coconut flavor.

I just finished The Snow Girl, which I recommend, albeit with a caveat. It's an interesting mystery about the disappearance of a 5yo girl, who wanders off without a trace during a holiday parade. The first 3 episodes are about the disappearance, the search, and the impact on her parents. In the last 3 episodes, we find out what happened to her, where she's been & what she's been doing all those years. The storyline is interesting and original. It's the first series I've seen that shows the life of the missing person. Unfortunately, it suffers from one major flaw: the protagonist. She is a reporter who works on the story and becomes obsessed with it because she feels the police have abandoned the case, just as they abandoned her when she was the victim of a crime. Unfortunately, that's all we ever learn about her -- no further character development, no other insight. Instead of a fleshed-out human being, the lead is almost a cipher or a plot device. Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed The Snow Girl, just didn't like the main character. But if you know what to expect, it's probably easier to take. Everything else about the series is worth your while. 6 40-minute episodes, with English dubbing & subtitles.

For the life of me, I couldn't name the most expensive item of clothing I've ever purchased, but one former co-worker spent $8,000 (of her own hard-earned money) on her wedding dress. Yes, she made a good salary, and it looked beautiful (from the online photo), but still ... eight freakin' grand for a dress you're wearing only once?! I didn't attend the wedding, but co-workers who did said that while the dress was indeed lovely, she was out of her mind to spend that kind of money. Miss Eight Grand left the company a few months later. I've always wondered if the marriage lasted.

I've watched enough tennis to get used to serve speeds in kph, but forehands in kph I can't wrap my head around. I know that a 200kph serve is a pretty fast serve, 210kph is really big, and 220kph is monster. But since a 134kph forehand meant nothing to me, I had to do the conversion. If your forehand averages 75mph (Novak's average before this year), that's only slightly above average on tour. 85mph might not sound like much of a difference, but veeeeeery few guys hit their forehand that big -- Basilashvili, Theim pre-injury, del Potro pre-retirement. Post-2022 US Open, Novak was already the best player in the world. If he's added another 8mph on his forehand, that's downright scary. I do wonder if Novak will continue to hit his forehand that big all the time or if he just mashed the accelerator because of the circumstances (fast court, low bounce, Tsitsipas's weak backhand). PS: I found after posting about Hijikata & Kubler that 2022 men's dubs champions Kokkinakis & Kyrgios were also wild cards. For wild cards to win a Slam once is a crazy fluke. The odds that it happens 2 years in a row must be lottery-esque.

What hamstring? Once you saw Novak moving as he always does, you knew Tsitsipas was going to have to come up with something special, a combination of serving great plus bullying Novak around with his forehand. Stefanos did serve well (broken only twice), but made way too many unforced errors off his forehand (25). In contrast, Novak made only 3 forehand UEs. Coach Goran's big project for the off-season was to beef up Novak's forehand, and it looks like he/they succeeded. Novak's forehand last season averaged ~76 mph, but in the AO final, he averaged ~83 mph. Tsitsipas has one of the biggest forehands on the tour, yet in the final his average forehand speed was actually slightly slower than Novak's. Tsitsipas's average forehand speed for Sets 1/2/3 was 134/131/128 kph (134kph = 83.26mph) whereas Novak's forehand averaged 133/134/134 kph. Great improvement for Novak, bad news for the rest of the tour.

Congratulations, Aryna Sabalenka! She always had the big game to win a Slam but never the nerve. I kept expecting her to crack, and almost did in that first set, but for the first time in her career she stayed strong mentally until the end. She even kept it together after double-faulting on her first match point. The old Aryna might have collapsed after DFing on such a critical point, but Aryna 2.0 took a deep breath, regrouped, and 3 championship points later, the trophy was hers. Congratulations as well to Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler for winning the men's doubles. Wow, hard to believe a wild card pair won a Grand Slam doubles title. Maybe even harder to believe that a couple of 5'10"* guys won a Grand Slam doubles title. I doubt we'll ever see it again. Amazing too that an Aussie pair won the dubs 2 years in a row. * Hijikata is fudging. He's 5'9" on a good day.

Tommy Paul ended Ben Shelton's Cinderella run in the quarterfinals. While Shelton's run was impressive, it was tough to gauge his true level because he hadn't faced a top 50 player. Except for a hiccup in the 3rd set, Paul handled Shelton comfortably. Nonetheless, Shelton, still wet behind the ears on the ATP tour, has a blazingly bright future. I'm so glad to see Tommy Paul finally living up to his potential. Of the American foursome who came up together in the juniors (Fritz, Opelka, Paul, Tiafoe), many tennis insiders pointed to Paul as the most talented., even though he was often the lowest ranked of the four since they turned pro (2015). Paul admits that he was immature in his early pro years, unwilling to work hard because success came easy for him in the juniors (Roland Garros boys singles winner, US Open boys singles finalist). In 2020 he hooked up with coach Brad Stine, a stern taskmaster, and is now reaping the rewards. Honestly, Novak will probably bulldoze him in their semi, but Paul's risen to a career-high ranking of #18 and can definitely get into the top 10 if he maintains the work ethic. I haven't watched the Novak-Rublev match yet, but it looks like Novak crushed Rublev almost as bad as he did to De Miñaur. De Miñaur won only 5 games off Novak, Rublev won 7, maybe Paul can get 9? Even though Khachanov and Tsitsipas both improved a ton over the off-season, Khachanov has lost 7 straight matches to Novak (1-8 head to head) while Tsitsipas has lost 9 straight (2-10 h2h). Unless that hamstring flares up, Novak looks destined for a 10th AO.

When I googled "longest time between Grand Slam titles," almost all the results were the gap between a player's first Slam title and their last, for example, the 17 years 5 months between Serena's 1999 US Open and 2017 Australian Open titles. For the longest dry spell between 2 Slams, a Reddit thread came up with Virginia Wade and Arthur Ashe. Wade won the 1972 AO and didnt win another Slam until 1977 Wimbledon. Ashe won the 1970 Australian, then 1975 Wimbledon. Wade's dry spell is an eensy bit longer because the 1970 Aussie was held a couple of weeks earlier than the 1972 tournament. Not sure that a Reddit thread is the ultimate authority on these matters, but I can't think of a longer drought between a player's Slams. If Azerenka pulls this off, it will indeed be a heckuva feat.

I remember a priest's homily (from way back when I used to go to mass on the regular) in which he reminded us that self-preservation is the most powerful of human instincts. He spoke in the context of how so many say that suicide is selfish, that the person who commits suicide is thinking only of themselves, not the pain of others, etc. For a person to commit suicide, to overcome the most basic instinct of self-preservation, their pain & despair must be beyond what we the living can comprehend. I'm OK with the pictures of Simon Dunn because they provide some context. We see the man's stunning physical beauty and ostensibly wonderful life and are baffled that someone with so much going for him would commit suicide. But that's just it, we only saw the outside. We'll never see his interior life, what he was dealing with that made him lose all hope. R.I.P.

The telephone pole beat the fire hydrant pretty easily. Do my eyes deceive? I could swear that Ostapenko, who appears to have gained 20 (30?) pounds since winning Roland Garros, is faster than the beanpole Rybakina. Either you were blessed with fast-twitch muscles, or you weren't. Novak absolutely crushed De Miñaur, allowing the Aussie only 5 games. De Miñaur has no chance against Novak because the two play a very similar style, except that Novak does everything (tons) better. Much to my relief, Novak commented post-match that he didn't feel the hamstring at all while playing *knockwood* Bummer! Jessica Pegula lost to Vika Azerenka in the QF. Azarenka drives me crazy with that shriek (orgasm? stabbing?) she makes with every shot. Pegula has improved a ton, but alas, back to the grindstone. I'm curious to see how Ben Shelton fares in his QF. His game looks huge (140mph serve, big forehand, great movement), but he hasn't faced a seeded player yet. How will he fare against stiffer competition? To think, he was ranked #569 this time last year and is already up to #43 in the live rankings. The guy's clinched Newcomer of the Year, and it's not even February yet.

I'm rooting for Pegula too, love her attitude. I'm worried about Rybakina, though, who looked really strong beating Swiatek. Jon Wertheim's stat of the day today was particularly interesting. Before today's R16 matches, Novak's career prize was $164.8 million while the career prize money of the other 11 remaining players combined was $87.4 million. It's good to be king.

What's your favorite recipe that is so easy & simple that anyone can pull it off? Yes, one that even your friend who doesn't know how to boil water could make. Mine is ginataang mais, Filipino rice pudding with sweet corn. Ingredients are: 1 13.5 oz. can coconut cream 1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk 2 cans water 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup sweet sticky rice (malagkit, in stock at my local Kroger Asian section, could sub in arborio or any really starchy rice) 1 13.5 oz. can cream style sweet corn (whole kernel corn will work too if you pulse it in the food processor a few times) 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla (optional) Put coconut cream, coconut milk, water, salt into a pot & bring to boil. Add rice, lower heat to medium, stir constantly for 10 minutes. Add corn & sugar, stir constantly for 8 more minutes. Take off heat, stir in vanilla (or don't if you want just the coconut flavor). Serve warm or allow to cool & refrigerate (good either way, I prefer it cold). The only possible way to mess up this recipe is if you neglect to stir it for a while, which will cause the rice to stick to the bottom of the pot. OK, so maybe a bit too challenging for your can't-boil-water friend (we all have one), but a cinch for anyone else. If you like rice pudding and coconut, you'll love this dish. The addition of corn might sound weird, but trust me, it works.

Not sure why Canadian figure skater Eric Radford decided to pose for nude photos, but I'm sure as hell grateful he did. Gotta click-open in Twitter to see the full-size pics.

Hard to put any positive spin on getting routined 63 63 63, but Borna's 1st round loss against Lehecka is at least an eensy bit less embarrassing now that Lehecka went on to beat #11 seed Cam Norrie. Norrie's game ain't pretty, but the guy knows how to win. Never thought Lehecka had a chance, and whaddya know. While watching Lehecka in the final of the Next Gen Finals, I remember thinking that the guy would be pretty good in a couple of years, but I never expected him to be this good in just a couple of months. Let's see how Lehecka pulls up in his next match against Felix. Young players tend to bounce back poorly after 5-setters, mostly because they never played a 5-setter in juniors, Futures, or Challengers, but I hate to underestimate the guy again.

This reminds me of the old Joan Rivers shtick about how all stewardesses are such tramps, they don't wear underwear. Apparently Miss Universe contestants don't either.

I was watching the Sinner-Fucsovics match as well, kinda getting my hopes up after seeing he had won the first 2 sets. Then I saw a point where he hit a sharply angled forehand that pulled Sinner way off court, followed by a slice backhand to the opposite corner. Any topspin backhand would have won Marton the point, but the inexplicable shot selection of a slow slice gave Sinner plenty of time to get back into the rally, which Sinner eventually won *groan* No wonder Fucsovics's ranking has dropped so much. Too bad Marton doesn't win more often, because his victory celebrations are hella entertaining ...

Novak's biggest "opponent" might be his injured hamstring. He had been dealing with it for a while before it flared up in the Adelaide 1 (there were 2 warmup tournaments in Adelaide in consecutive weeks before the AO) semifinal against Medvedev. Because the hamstring looked fine in the final and because Novak had a whole week of rest before the AO, I thought for sure it would be 100% in Melbourne, but it flared up again in his match against Couacaud. On one hand, I'm worried because hamstrings are notoriously slow to heal, but on the other, Novak was able to win the 2021 AO with a torn oblique, including winning his match against Taylor Fritz without being able to hit a groundstroke for 2 sets. The torn oblique looked much improved by his next round match in 2021 whereas this hamstring injury seems far more stubborn. Wait & see, I guess. Rafa said his hip injury had been ongoing as well. It just got a whole lot worse at 4-3 in the 2nd against McDonald. Despite this particular injury as well as the cumulative injuries (rib, foot, abdominal), I am still picking Rafa as the favorite at Roland Garros as long as he is entered because he's won the title 14 times, often suffering some ailment or the other. I do agree, however, that the likelihood of Rafa winning either Wimbledon or the US Open is slim bordering on zero. I have to say something about Taylor Fritz, 1 of only 2 Americans who lost in the 2nd round. Losing must feel bad enough. Watching 8 other American guys get through to the 3rd round while you, the highest ranked of the bunch, are flying home must feel 10 times worse. Correction: Fritz was 1 of 5 American men to lose in the 2nd round, but still, he was the highest ranked (by far) to go out while all his friends (Tiafoe, Paul) are still in it.

Rafa goes out in the 2nd round! Yes, he got injured (hip flexor?), but Mackie McDonald was beating Rafa for a set and a half even before the injury. McDonald used an interesting strategy, one that no one had ever tried against Rafa: pounding the ball hard to Rafa's forehand because he makes more errors on that side. Mind you, that strategy will work only on a fast, low-bouncing court. The fast court speed rushes Rafa, thereby drawing more errors, and the low bounce robs Rafa of one his big weapons, the crazy-high bounce on his own forehand. It also helps that McDonald is lightning-quick because Rafa will hit a few booming forehands before you get an error out of him. Honestly, I don't think this upset changes the draw that much. Given Rafa's poor play leading up to the AO, I never thought Rafa would beat Medvedev in the quarters and Tsitsipas in the semis. @musclestuduws, you better root for Medvedev to get to the final because he's lost to Novak only 4 matches in a row whereas Tsitsipas, the highest seed left in the top half, has lost the last 9 straight matches to Novak. I think the best bet to stop Novak is in the bottom half, Holgar Rune in the QF. Rune beat Novak pretty convincingly in the Paris Masters final just 2 months ago, and at 19yo Rune's playing with nothing to lose.

The first ATP active player to come out, Fabien Reboul, from an interesting angle ...

It was actually 4 sets against Draper, but yeah, Rafa's form was awfully unconvincing. Rafa should have an easier match next up against Mackie McDonald, who had to fight tooth & nail for 4h6m in his first match. If Rafa struggles against McDonald, uh oh.

Yes, a very disappointing result. I had high hopes for Borna because he trained super-hard in the off-season after admitting that he kinda half-assed it from 2015 until his shoulder injury in 2021. Maybe Borna's early success (at 17yo he beat Rafa and at 16yo he beat Andy Murray) made him complacent. Oh well, back to the grindstone.

Congratulations to Richie! It must feel great to win his first title in 4.5 years (2018 's-Hetogenbosch). Gasquet hung in there & fought off fatigue 'til he got a 2nd wind. He also put in some really strong 2nd serves on critical points, even though he's really not known for his serve. This is Richie's 16th ATP title, all 250s. Gotta feel bad for Cam Norrie. Yes, Gasquet played well, but Norrie also choked. Apparently it meant a lot to him to win in his home country. Norrie plays for Britain and lives in London now, but he grew up in NZ. I have to mention Soonwoo Kwon's win in Adelaide because it's so rare that a lucky loser wins a tournament. If a player in the main draw withdraws last minute, the lucky loser (usually the highest-ranked player to lose in the final round of qualifying) gets his spot in the draw. The last LL to win a tournament was Marco Cecchinato in Budapest, April 2018.

I'm a die-hard Novak fanboy because I just love the way he plays -- the insane defense, the sliding on hardcourt, the open-stance backhands. But I must confess, my other favorites, I root for mostly because of the esthetics. Unfortunately, my two favorite beauties both lost yesterday: Borna Coric and Lorenzo Musetti *heavysigh* Well, as long as Novak is playing, I shall be riveted to the proceedings. By the way, Novak was a heavy favorite in the betting odds before the tournament. Before the draw came out, Novak was +100, meaning that you won $100 if you bet $100 on Novak to win the trophy. After the draw came out, once Novak got a total cupcake draw, he went down to -125, meaning you have to bet $125 for Novak to win 7 matches in order to win $100. That's insane.

Unfortunately, Nick has been injured for a while. He was desperately rehabbing, hoping to play singles, but the injury (a cyst caused a small meniscus tear) just got worse. He never planned on playing the dubs. I feel bad for him. He was obviously gutted over missing his home Slam. The good news is that the injury sounds relatively minor. He'll surely miss the Sunshine Double and never plays clay anyway. Fingers crossed that Nick will be 100% for the grass. Correction: he will go under the knife this week and hopes to be back by Indian Wells. Wow, that would be a very quick recovery!