Five-ring circus: The Thread of the XXXIII Olympiad

Oh no, Coco.

 

Do we know how many North Korean Olympians who don’t come home with gold end up in a labor camp? It makes me anxious watching them compete.

 

Haven't seen the match yet, but the serve stats... zero aces, seven double faults. One of those doubles on break point to give back a break Vekic had just handed her the previous game (with a double fault on break point), then two more in her next game to put Vekic up a break.

 

It was only one point, but she got screwed by the chair ref. Linesman yells "out," Gauff stops her swing and nets the ball. Chair overrules linesman and says the ball was in and since Gauff didn't return it, Vekic gets the point. Gauff appeals, argues, starts crying and is pretty much done at that point.

 

"Secret Chinese doping program" fits into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles song. I don't know why that matters.

 

As much as I dislike VAR and long stoppages for replays, this kind of mistake surely needs a review and to be overturned. And yet there's not one, and the linesman can't come over and say "Hey, I called it out because it was," and the chair umpire can dig in the heels to stand firm "bEcaUsE I saId So!"

 

Tennis has the one review system I actually like.

 

Do they not use it in the Olympics or did the chair ump just decide without checking? Or did they check?

 

It's clay. You don't need a virtual mark. You have a real one. The ball was in.

The "mistake" would have been not replaying the point, as Gauff's case is that the "out" call affected her swing. BUT . . .

If you look at the video/audio at 0.25 speed, you don't hear anything from the line judge until the ball had left Gauff's racket. It was a hellacious return from Vekic that seemed to clip the front of the line and would give anyone fits to return with anything on it.

 

NBC's Tony Azevedo is really really good announcer. I'm familiar with the sport, my son played at a decently high level in So Cal. But I am learning a ton listening to Azevedo.

Azevedo is a rare legend in a sport who translates to tv commentary.

 

Sounds like Calgon is the sponsor.

 

Aussies learn the valuable lesson that the prevent defense prevents you from winning.