“I was always dreaming about tattoos and I was dreaming about tigers. It happened for one week, two weeks, three weeks and then one day I woke up and said, “Okay, I’m going to do this. I’m going to get this tiger tattoo.”—Aryna Sabalenka January, 2022: A tiger blocks Sabalenka’s path. Fear, then more fear. […]
A Performance Piece Directions:1. Speak the words in bold directly to another human being.2. Imagine you are McEnroe playing the four consecutive points described below from his legendary 18-16 Wimbledon tiebreaker against Borg. Hold the racquet like a toothpick, a wand, a paint brush . . . Mac serving at 5-6 (third championship point for […]
Growing up in Saudi Arabia. Why do the women walk behind? Why do they never drive cars? His mother explains. She’s a nurse from Ireland. His father nods. He’s a tennis pro from Nigeria. They had named their son after Michael Jordan. They had named him Michael Mmoh. If you’re outside the top 100 on […]
July 20, 1937: If it happened today, it would start like this: “Hey, Don, look at this text.” Gottfried gives Budge his cell. “Good Luck against Budge.” It’s from Adolf Hitler. Gay and no lover of Nazis, Gottfried von Cramm will need more than good luck to avoid their punishments and prisons. Budge will later […]
Thought Experiment: Push the thesis that Medvedev is an Octopus. Medvedev the Octopus because he’s 6 feet 6 inches of pretzel boneless arms and legs moving in every direction, swirling out deep and deeper behind the baseline. His greatest skill is defense. You cannot hit through him. You cannot hit around him. You have to […]