May 14, 2021

Here’s your roundup of the five most interesting things I’m enjoying or thinking about this week.

1.) Nadal’s Entertaining Wins

The Italian Open is in full swing, and Rafa’s first two matches were highly entertaining. First up, world #18 Jannik Sinner gave him a very competitive two-set match at 7-5, 6-4. Then world #14 Denis Shapovalov took him to a three-set tiebreaker where Nadal edged him out. Next up, Rafa will meet Alexander Zverev, who he recently lost to in the quarters at the Madrid Open.

2.) Umpire Asks for Backup Support

During Camila Giorgi’s Italian Open match, things appeared to get a little out of hand when her father and coach became overly involved in the match, which appeared to make the chair umpire uncomfortable. At one point, the umpire was filmed asking a member of the tournament staff to stick around for support because Giorgi’s father was particularly mad.

Omg, the umpire asked for someone to be around her because she’s afraid of Giorgi’s father because he’s mad. This is insane! pic.twitter.com/LbDun41xB1

— LorenaPopa ?️‍♀️? (@popalorena) May 10, 2021

3.) Djokovic Throws a Tantrum

On Tuesday, during his Italian Open match against Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic became increasingly frustrated at the rainy conditions having felt it wasn’t clear if the umpire would suspend play. Before long, Djokovic’s emotions boiled over, and he was caught screaming, “How much more do you want to play?” at the umpire.

“How much more you wanna play?!”

Novak Djokovic wasn’t happy with the rainy playing conditions at the Italian Open… ? pic.twitter.com/4GLZVW0JsZ

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) May 12, 2021

4.) Sabalenka Reaches New Heights

Aryna Sabalenka has had an excellent start to the year, and last weekend she took down world #1 Ash Barty to claim the title at the Madrid Open. Sabalenka had lost to Barty in the quarters of the Miami Open in March and earlier this month in the finals at the Madrid Open, so this win was sweet and pushed her ranking up to a career-high of #3.

5.) Roger Federer’s New Book

Although we haven’t seen much of Roger Federer on the court lately, he has kept busy training, launched a video as Switzerland Tourism’s new ambassador, and most recently launched a new children’s book with Globi, a popular Swiss cartoon character that he enjoyed as a kid.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Roger Federer (@rogerfederer)

If you have a moment, I’d love to hear your feedback. Which topic is your favorite? What would you like to see more or less of each week?

Share your thoughts in the comments below and have a great weekend.