Ball Girl #058: Hot Take Incoming!!!🔥

Why you ask? Think about it. You are playing....alone. For hours. In your own head. Like people who can do that and thrive at it had two viable career paths in life: serial killer or tennis player.

Just look at Novak Djokovic if you don't believe me- those are the eyes of the best tennis player to date (Sorry Rafa fans) but also of what could have been the next Ted Bundy.

Can I have your number?

• 4: Not to jinx anything, but assuming a win this weekend, Novak Djokovic will claim his FOURTH consecutive title at Wimbledon (and his 22nd Grand Slam title). Disgusting. But we love him.

TL;DR

🎾 Wimbledon men’s semi-finals take place this morning, women’s finals tomorrow, and men’s finals Sunday. Nadal withdrew from the tournament due to an abdominal tear, sending Kyrgios to his first ever grand slam final.

🏁 This weekend is the Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Arena. Unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen is the favorite, at what is essentially a ‘home’ game for him — but hold your horsepowers! The Austrian Grand Prix is a ridiculously fast and narrow course, so anything could happen.

🏀 The Brooklyn Nets are respecting Kevin Durant’s wishes for a trade, but this situationship has some ground rules: they’ll only trade him for an equally impressive franchise star. You know what they say… if you love something, let it go…. for the right price, I guess.

⚾ The historic Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry was rekindled last night at Fenway Park and the energy was electric. The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5, making the Yankees the first team to 60 wins this season.

🏒 The NHL draft kicked off last night. Juraj Slafkovsky was the first overall pick for the Montreal Canadiens.

MLB

Yankees are the first to 60 wins!

• In the 1st game of a 4-game series, the historic Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry was rekindled last night at Fenway Park... and the energy was electric. The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5, making the Yankees the first team to 60 wins this season.

• The Yanks scored 5 of their 6 runs in the 3rd inning: Josh Donaldson cranked a grand slam to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead and on the very next pitch, Aaron Hicks homered to put NY up 5-0.

• Red Sox All-Star candidate Rafael Devers hit a pair of home runs to drive in all 5 of Boston’s runs, but it wasn’t enough to push the Red Sox past the Yankees in Fenway Park last night.

Is HOTlanta cooling off?

• The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in 11 innings last night, breaking the Cardinals’ 4-game losing streak.

• Braves’ Spencer Strider had an outstanding performance on the mound (almost as beautiful as his stache), striking out all 9 batters of the first 3 innings and tallying a total of 12 strikeouts through six innings.

• The Braves have been on fire this month, so last night’s loss to a weaker Cardinals team was a bit shocking. Even though the Braves’ pitching staff struck out a total of 19 Cardinals players last night, Atlanta’s offense was absolute shit. If the Braves ever want to knock the New York Mets out of 1st place in the National League East, they need to start capitalizing with runners in scoring position.

Golf

PGA Tournament named after… a bottle of shaving cream?

• The 2022 Barbasol Championship kicked off yesterday, and the frontrunners are a bunch of literal randos in the world of golf. Adam Svensson sits in first with a studly 10-under first round performance, followed by Ricardo Gouveia and Robin Roussel T2 at 8-under for the day. This is only Gouvenia’s (30 y/o from Portugal) SECOND PGA Tour event… a pro golf bebe.

Tennis

Wimbledon: Tune in this weekend

This morning - Men’s Semi-Final; Tomorrow - Women’s Final; Sunday - Men’s Final

• The Boys:

• Djokovic v Norrie's semi-final match will take place this morning at 9:45am EST. If all goes as expected, Djokovic will take on Kyrgios, who advanced to the final via walkover, after Nadal suffered an abdominal tear and withdrew from the tournament ahead of their semi-final. Good thing for Kyrgios because a) Nadal has won all of this year’s Grand Slams and b) this will be Kyrgios’s first Grand Slam final. Whether or not he is ready to take on World #1 Djokovic (assuming he pulls a W there) is another story…

In the semi-finals, Rybakina took down Halep, and Jabeur defeated Maria, sending Rybakina and Jabeur into the final, set to take place Saturday at 9am EST.

F1

Did anyone else know that Red Bull was invented in Austria????

• My bad, I assumed all toxic drinks come from America! But yes, fun fact: Red Bull did indeed come from Germany’s little brother and the F1 course is named accordingly.

• The course: Like its namesake, the Red Bull course is FAST to say the least. Think 3 back-to-back-to-back straights all with DRS zones.

• The favorite: Did someone order a cold take? Max Verstappen is hands down most likely to win (again). He’s won 3 out of the last 4 Austrian Grand Prix’s, and rumor has it he’s reserved 4 stand sections for his Dutchie fanatics to root for him.

• The dark horse: Lewis Hamilton. He podiumed at the British Grand Prix and it looks like Mercedes finally figured out their porpoising problem.

• Off track tea: I discovered that Max Verstappen fans (called the PitStop Boys) made a music video called “Super Max” and it literally went VIRAL in the Netherlands. My life may never be the same. Why is it low key a banger though

NHL

The NHL Draft is Underway

• The first rounds of the NHL draft kicked off last night. Here’s how it works: each team gets to pick a player in each round, for 7 rounds, and the teams that did the worst last season get first dibs. Easy enough.

• How did the first couple rounds go? Slovakian players were the belles of the ball. #1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky went to the Montreal Canadiens and #2 overall pick Simon Nemec went to the New Jersey Devils. Top prospect Shane Wright went to the Seattle Kraken as the #4 overall pick. Remember these names; they’ll be lighting up the ice next season.

Must Watches this Week

Today (Friday, July 8):

• 9:45am EST - Wimbledon Men’s Semi-Final - Djokovic vs. Norrie

Tomorrow (Saturday, July 9):

• 9am EST - Wimbledon Women’s Final - Rybakina vs. Jabeur

Sunday, July 10:

• 9am EST - Wimbledon Men’s Final - Kyrgios vs. TBD

• 9am EST - Austrian Grand Prix, F1

Time Out for the Tea

Imagine just walking out of work because you were no longer interested in the subject at hand…

ESPN analyst, Kendrick Perkins, did just that after growing tired of talking about the LA Lakers (and their disappointing performance of late). Absolutely hilarious.

Getting lucky at… Wimbledon?

• An area sectioned off at Wimbledon that was originally intended for fans to take a break, as well as an area for prayer, meditation and reflection, is rumored to be the next mile-high club. According to The Guardian, spectators have spotted people leaving the room with “big grins” on their faces, and report there being “no doubt as to what they’d been up to”. Spectators also reported “sounds of intimacy” coming from the facility.

POTUS responds to the Griners

• Joe Biden (finally) spoke to Cherelle Griner, wife of Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February. He assured her that he’s doing everything he can to bring Brittney home.

Baker Mayfield traded to the Carolina Panthers, and wife, Emily Mayfield says the move is “bittersweet”