Tennis

[Vrede too]

Don't know, but I'm assuming they did as there were no more complaints.

And yeah,
I was saying yes to forcing the mom or dad with the kid to leave.

At first I was going to say that we've evolved for hundreds of thousands of years tolerating wailing babies, but cavewoman was probably told to take a hike, too.

Tell me that next time you're in a movie theater with a baby wailing in your ear.

I posted "take a hike," Mom (or Dad) with the noisy brat.

[GoCubsGo]

Opps, misread.

[Vrede too]

Opps, misread.

That said, I'm more tolerant of disruptive kids than most. If I can I will intervene to help the beleaguered parent or caregiver. Stranger distraction is sometimes successful. Maybe at a tennis match, probably not at a movie, definitely in a plane or other public transportation.

[Vrede too]

A 24-year-old tennis pro struggled to pay for her hotel. Her Cinderella run at the French Open just earned her a 7-figure paycheck.

* On Thursday, Maja Chwalińska made history, becoming the first qualifier to reach a Roland-Garros final.

* The 24-year-old's win over Diana Shnaider also secured her a seven-figure paycheck.

* Earlier in the tournament, she discussed struggling to afford her hotel in Paris.

Polish tennis star Maja Chwalińska just cruised to the final of the French Open, but before her Cinderella run at the iconic tournament, she was worried about how she was going to pay for her Paris hotel.

Chwalińska, a 24-year-old qualifier had to win three matches at the French Open just to get into the main draw of the second Slam of the year. In Thursday's semifinal, she took out Russia's Diana Shnaider to secure her place in Saturday's final.

The win also guaranteed her a seven-figure check.

The Roland-Garros champion will take home €2.8 million, or about $3.25 million, while the runner-up will collect €1.4 million, or about $1.63 million.

Chwalińska is just the second women's qualifier in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final (Emma Raducanu was the first, at the 2021 US Open, which she went on to win), and the first qualifier ever to reach the Roland-Garros final.

... For lower-ranked players, that kind of financial pressure is not unusual. Tennis can look lavish at the top, but outside the upper tier, it is often a self-funded grind. Players pay for travel, hotels, coaching, meals, and the cost of getting themselves from one tournament to the next. A week at a lower-level event can end with a small prize-money check — and a long list of expenses that eat most of it up.

Chwalińska entered Roland-Garros ranked outside the top 100. After Thursday's win, she is projected to jump to around No. 21, a ranking that should give her direct entry into the main draws of the remaining Grand Slams this year, rather than forcing her to claw through qualifying.

How can you not root for the underdog qualifier? Well, the alternative is:

... In Saturday's final, she'll face 19-year-old (Russian) phenom Mirra Andreeva, who's ranked No. 8 in the world and will have fresher legs, having played six matches to Chwalińska's nine. Andreeva is also making her first Grand Slam final appearance.

Guess I'll root for Poland over Russia, but without a lot of enthusiasm. Slava Ukraini!

There's more money in women's tennis than I knew:

First round: €87,000, or about $101,000
Second round: €130,000, or about $151,000
Third round: €187,000, or about $217,000
Fourth round: €285,000, or about $331,000
Quarterfinals: €470,000, or about $546,000
Semifinals: €750,000, or about $871,000
Finalist: €1.4 million, or about $1.63 million
Champion: €2.8 million, or about $3.25 million

That's a lot of payout.

Andreeva wins French Open as Chwalinska fairytale ends


Mirra Andreeva is the first teenager to win the Roland Garros women's singles title since Iga Swiatek in 2020

Teenager Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title as Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska was denied a fairytale French Open victory.

Andreeva, 19, fulfilled the potential she has long shown with a 6-3 6-2 victory over an opponent who was a 500-1 outsider before the tournament.

Russian eighth seed Andreeva is the youngest woman to win the Roland Garros title since Monica Seles in 1992....

Congrats.

$1.63 million. I guess the maids who cleaned and stocked Chwalinska's room will get smaller tips than they otherwise would have.