Six-Love: China, Saudi Arabia, Rolex-Trump, Israel, PTPA...and Victor Barber

Catching up and circling back to a half-dozen of the many recent cultural flashpoints in professional tennis.

Photo on Unsplash

Just a few days shy of Bounces completing its first lap around the sun, I thought this was the right time to circle back on a bunch of various stories I’ve covered here in the recent and not-as-recent past, since many of them have had intriguing new updates and developments.

But before diving in, one quick programming note: the first monthly virtual video gathering for all Bounces subscribers at the founding/“Double Bounce” level will be taking place this Tuesday evening ET over Zoom; the dozens of folks who are in that level will be getting a message from me with a link and all the details. I think it will be fun! If you aren’t yet at that level but want to join us, please do upgrade!

There are six items on the agenda for this post, with lots of political and cultural topics cropping up (as per always) in tennis lately:

• Cheers and Boos over Cultural Collisions in China

• Saudi Arabia Is No Laughing Matter

• Trump’s Rolex Invitation Gets Senatorial Scrutiny

• What Was the Real Reason Canada-Israel Was Played in an Empty Arena?

• PTPA Adds Major Opponents

• Victor Barber’s Fans Are a Cut Above

I can guarantee that this will be the only article you’ll read this week that mentions all of Luigi Mangione, Elizabeth Warren, Gianmarco Soresi, Mossad, Louis C.K., and Victor Barber.

For all that and more in this ~3,000-word post, please do subscribe to Bounces! Thanks! -Ben